Indonesia: Life In The Islands

I Finally Buka Puasa (Well, Sort Of)

Today I went to Pak Tedy’s house for some good old fashioned home cooking—following the daily fast of course. Due to the lack of food in my house I was all set to fast as well—I cheated in the morning with a cup of coffee (but only because Pak Tedy was two hours later picking me up!) but I didn’t eat anything.

Instead of going right to his house we went to Malang Town Square (people in Indonesia often take you on their daily errands like grocery shopping and laundry without a second thought) and I was somehow charged with picking out the ingredients for traditional Indonesian food. I picked out chicken and a durian, the national fruit of Indonesia that smells suspiciously like rancid road kill. I had never tried it before, nor had I ever fasted for an entire day…

Then lunchtime came and Ibu Tedy put a delicious plate of French fries straight from the oil in front of me. I protested weakly, and then ate more French fries than anyone should ever permit themselves in one sitting. I also ate some tempe (fried soy beans) and tahu (fried tofu). Who sees the common theme in these foods?

Apparently the rainy season started TODAY, because right as we were leaving to practice riding motorcycles it started to downpour. It was so intense that you just heard a steady pounding on the roof. I assumed motorcycle riding was shelved, but no! We just rode them through the different rooms of the house practicing hairpin turns. Very resourceful.

After that I watched Malang TV for a while, which was showing a rather fascinating documentary on berang-berang­, or otters. I found it interesting that the singular TV station for the town of Malang was broadcasting a two hour show on otters during the day on Sunday, but maybe otters are really important here. Halfway through the program Pak Tedy’s nieces insisted I take a nap and I didn’t want to deny them, so I slept for an hour or so.

Layne came over before dinner and the rain stopped, so we went to the parking lot of a mosque and practicing shifting and using our brakes. We’ve been riding motorcycles for three weeks now and today was the first time anyone told us that there is a foot brake in addition to the handbrake. I’d been wondering why I kept skidding out and coming perilously close to hitting walls when I try to stop. We raced around for about an hour, to the endless amusement and chagrin of several boys dressed in prayer attire who were waiting to pray Mahgrib. They thought we were hysterical at first, but after a few skids and close calls, they sat and watched us with trepidation, screaming “hati-hati!” (caution!) if we started to come anywhere near them. They gave me a safety lecture when I was done. They were about fifteen.

Buka puasa was a bit of a letdown. I had thought there would be some whole song and dance, maybe some prayers or chanting to celebrate the end of the fast, but people just waited until 5:35, loaded up their plants, and chowed down—two minutes later they were watching TV. Layne and I confronted our durian fears and dug in. As we said to Ibu Tedy, “kami suka ini, tapi kami tidak cinta ini” (we like it, but we don’t love it). The first few bites aren’t bad—it tastes like a semi-rotten melon. But the texture is disgusting. It’s yellow and stringy with some mushy oozing parts thrown in. I started to feel worse the more I ate, so I backed off. I was prepared to say that it was no big deal, but now it’s been three hours since I ate it and I still have a nasty little durian aftertaste in my mouth. I might have to reevaluate the powers of the smelly fruit.

Pak Tedy and his wife very candidly informed us that “durian is power!” and it increased their libido—why else would they have five children? They thought that was hilarious (they also thought it was funny to give all of their children names that start with "A"). After many hints and many many family photos we were on our way home, with boxes of chocolate, durian breath, and promises to go everywhere from Manado to Makassar to Banyuwangi. Ah, family life.

posted by Caitlin @ 10:12 PM