Here is an update from my weekend! After a lovely spa day with Femmi, Dierdre, and Dustin where we had lovely 2 hour massages for 170,000 rupiah (~$17), I was off on an ibu overnighter as I like to call them. Many of the teachers from school want to have me stay over at their houses, and it is always an experience, but often takes a lot of energy so I try to space out the visits. This weekend I stayed over at Ibu Yana's house. I knew it was going to be interesting because she knows only a few words in English, and most of our conversations would be in Indonesian. She picked me up (along with her daughter and husband) at my house then we were off to the mall. I don't know if she was trying to cater to my American taste, but she gave me the options of McDonalds or KFC for dinner. We ended up at KFC after I tried to get her to go to an Indonesian place, but Indonesian KFC is still a cultural experience. People love KFC over here. They are massive, open 24 hours, have free wifi, lots of fried chicken, but instead of a biscuit on the side, you get a packet of sticky rice wrapped up like a hamburger. After dinner we walked around the mall, did some grocery shopping, then headed home. It is now a well known fact that I love papaya and mango, so teachers often have it at their house for me, and we had it as our midnight snack. Very thoughtful.
The next day we had pempek, for breakfast! With papaya and mango of course. Pempek is basically fried fish dumplings, and it is the dish that Palembang is known for. People love it here. It was gross the first time I tried it, but I've since warmed up to it a bit. Pempek kulit is pempek made from the meat close to the skin of the fish, and it is my favorite type (the darker of the two shown below). After breakfast, I showered and dressed and we were off! Where exactly, I had no idea, but that is usually the case.
First we went to Ibu Yana's sisters house to pick them up for where ever we were going, took plenty of photos (this happens everytime I meet new people), then we all got into the car. We showed up to something that looked very busy, and after walking through a crowed of people and turning the corner, I found out it was a wedding! My first in Indonesia, and it was just like I'd been told. You invite everyone you know, and their mother, and get dressed up in super cool outfits (at least in Palembang, see below!) for a long ceremony. The ceremony was all in Indonesian, so I wasn't exactly paying attention, but when I heard a few English words I knew they were directed at me. I looked up and sure enough the MC was staring at me, along with several hundred wedding guests. I don't know what he said next, but based on the gestures and the eruption of laughter that followed, I knew a joke had been made at my expense. At least I'm used to it at this point!
After the ceremony, everyone shakes hands with the bride and groom, and eats whatever food is there. The majority of the crowd rushed in line for the food, but small crowds worked there way over to the newly weds. I got the feeling that weddings are the kind of thing that people go to just for the food... And boy what a mess that makes! Imagine hundred of plastic chairs lined up in rows, with dirty dishes stacked on top and underneath. It was dangerous just maneuvering our way out! After eating, then shaking the hands of the bride and groom (I stopped up the whole line to get the photo below, but I knew it'd be worth it) we continued on with our adventure.
We went back to Ibu Yana's sister's house, after stopping to get mango, because they had heard I liked mango, and ate some mango. Then we got back in the car, and from what I understood, we were taking Ibu Yana's other home. Everyone around here knows the English for "go home". It's its' own verb over here. My first week or so here everyone would say "go home" when I finished classes, and it sounded like they didn't like me and wanted me to leave, but I think the tone and translation don't exactly match up. Anyways, we were assisting her sister so she could "go home". I thought we'd drop her off at her house, there'd be more photos, then I'd be on my way. But we just kept going farther and farther out of town. I learned that I live pretty close to the edge of the city, and about 10 minutes beyond me you start to see different living arrangements. Not the suburby/city that is most of Palembang, but rickety looking houses and walkways on rickety looking stilts, and lots of vegetation. It look like what I thought Indonesia was going to be, and I want to go back and take pictures, it was beautiful.
We kept going until we reached a giant arch, where we parked and started walking. It didn't look like any houses were around so I was very confused, until I saw the river right there. We were at a dock and she had to take a boat back home! Suddenly all of these little clues that I'd been picking up in Indonesian made sense. Why it 2pm was so important, and why it would take her four hours to be home, why her husband/children weren't at the wedding, and why her sisters were so excited to see her. I was very happy to put to the pieces together, and to see the river! It was the closest I'd been, and I had been wanting to check it out. This combination made me quite a spectacle. Here I was, a crazy foreigner bouncing around this tiny dock taking pictures of everything. People are staring at me all the time anyways, I might as well give them something to look at every once and a while! The boats were very cool. Colorful, hand painted, intricate, and very crowded. I definitely want to take one someday, but first I need to find somewhere along the river to go...
Ibu Yana at the dock.
S
