Chinese New Year

As I mentioned in another blog, last week was Chinese New Year. Let me set the stage. The MAF team gets together weekly for a meal and Bible study. We eat at a local restaurant and have been regular customers of a particular one which we call B-21. B-21 is the restaurant's street address. I don't even know its real name. Anyway, this restaurant is owned by a man of Chinese descent - as are many of the successful businesses here in Tarkan. But again - that is a story for a different time.

There is a troupe of "lion" dancers here in Tarakan who for a fee will put on their dance. Many businesses, individuals with large families or organizations will hire them to come to their place of business or home. The MAF bunch was particularly invited to join B-21's party. I will include a few pictures although video is really what it requires to get the full effect. The only "music" used for the troupe to dance to is drums and cymbals. They keep a beat and the "lion" matches his dance to the beat of the drums. When the dance was over, the troupe packed up their gear and headed off to do another performance. I pitied the poor guys inside the costume - they were sweating profusely - and I'm sure they still had many places to go yet. After the performance, Mr. B-21 invited us to join him and his family/friends for "soto". (Soto is an Indonesian chicken soup.) All the children were given 5,000 Rp notes - the equivalent of about 50 cents.

We went to another Chinese couple's house to pay our respects for the New Year. There I found out that I was born in the year of the Rooster. :o) Hmm.

Last week two Muslim girls from Kathy’s English club invited Kathy and me to an acara (a gathering). As a result, I have another cultural experience to relate.

There are many ethnic groups represented in Tarakan and each observes its particular rituals. The ritual I was invited to was the ritual of “bathing” a seven months pregnant woman along with her husband. Since my Indonesian isn’t very good and translating sometimes is difficult, I am unclear about the purpose of this ritual. I believe that it is to insure the birth of a healthy baby.

A special woman, a dukun (distant relative of witchdoctors??), performed the ceremony which was held out doors. Two big basins of water were placed in front of the seated couple, who were clothed in colorful sarongs. The dukun threw bunches of flowers into each basin. The flowers had to be 7 colors and 7 fragrances. After stirring the water and flower mixture, she began pouring scoops of water over the woman’s head – three scoops were the required amount. Then she rubbed the young woman’s face, arms, and legs with a spice which looked like saffron. She followed that with a milky looking concoction and then a sprinkling of special water that she had brought with her to the ceremony. When she finished bathing the woman, she proceeded to do all the steps again but to the husband. After she finished bathing him, 6 other women (relatives and/or friends) each took a turn doing the same steps on husband and wife. By this time, the poor woman was shivering and didn’t look to be enjoying herself. Although I must say, it was such a hot day, that water looked rather refreshing to me.

Of course, I don’t believe there is any country in the world which doesn’t combine its ceremonies with food. The food was good. It was the usual rice, noodles, vegetable mixture, chicken and beef. I like the “meal” food but I have a hard time with the sweets. I work really hard not to be impolite and try everything. But the sweets are hard to get down: jellied cake, pressed rice with coconut and a red sugar filling, a spicy mixture of grated fruits (including cucumber).

Although this family is Muslim, this particular ritual was not associated with any religious customs but rather is a custom that must have been passed down for generations.

Our Host's home and the church of Long Bawang

The Merlion of Singapore and inside the Suntech City Mall

Orchids at the Botanic Garden of Singapore

Singapore and Long Bawang

Singapore was an amazing place. I guess no more amazing than any other large metropolis. But I was looking at it through the eyes of someone just having spent four months in Tarakan, which isn’t a bad town but certainly not a metropolis.

Plan A for my trip: get my paperwork to the Indonesian Embassy on a Monday and leave on Friday with visa in hand. Need I say that I had to go to Plan B? I didn’t have the paper work in hand until late Wednesday afternoon; too late to take it to the embassy. Thursday morning early found me at the embassy hoping to expedite the process and still be able to catch my Friday flight. No such luck. My Friday evening flight had to be changed to Monday evening. Oh well, that gave me a couple of extra days to shop in Singapore. But not Dolce, Prada or Gucci. Rather what made my heart race was IKEA, Carrefour, Market Place, Cold Storage with their scented candles, chocolate instant pudding, almonds, raisins, sunflower seeds, Playdoh, Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, Snickers etc. ☺ I left Tarakan with a 10kg suitcase. I returned with 24kg. ☺

I didn’t spend all my time shopping. I went to the Botanical Garden, the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, the National Museum, the Merlion Park, and took a walking tour of Little India. Oh, I went to a movie theatre and watched a movie. We don’t have cinemas in Tarakan, so that was a nice treat.

A couple of weekends after I made it back to Tarakan I had an opportunity to have an experience the polar opposite of my Singapore trip. I went with the Holstens and Maynards to a village in the interior of Kalimantan. (David Holsten is the MAF program manager in Tarakan; Tim Maynard is the Maintenance Specialist.) David had been asked to speak at a church service for the CMA Bible School’s new semester. All of us were privileged to stay at the home of the school’s director. We were hosted simply, rustically yet with cheerful, generous hospitality. We were treated as honored guests. It’s quite a humbling experience. At Saturday night’s service, while the worship team led a song, we were asked to go to the front of the church while the rest of the congregation filed up to shake our hands and welcome us. That was a lot of “Selamat Malaams.” (Good evening)
The only thing about the trip that was a tad difficult for me was the bathroom facility. ☺ It consisted of a rustic squatty potty and a bucket of cold water for a shower. Since we were there only 24 hours, I opted for a sponge bath. Of course, the other had to be faced –no waiting 24 hours there. I got some pointers from Natalie Holsten on the best way to deal with that issue and am happy to say I survived. ☺

That is enough for this update. Maybe next Sunday I can recount some tales of the Chinese New Year celebration we had today. February 14, 2010 is the start of the Chinese year of the Tiger. But that will have to wait for another time.