Tempo Doeloe

When I brushed my teeth last night there was a fish in the sink.

I have no idea where that fish came from, but Mr. Naim has two large Indonesian fish in large tanks. One is in the office, and one is in the living room in his home. The first time I saw them feed it, I was amazed. They dropped in a large, red, ugly centipede and in one strong fluid twist, the fish had swallowed it whole.

Much has happened in the past few days. Thursday night was the start of Tempo Doeloe, one of Indonesia's largest festivals, right in the heart of Malang. People from all over Indonesia visit Malang to attend the four-day cultural celebration. In an already crowded city, this means there are A TON of people. People flock in the streets leading up to the festival, because parking is scarce and you have to walk a long ways. I went with Ocha and Vidia Thursday night, then the teachers from the kindergarten Friday afternoon, then Mr. Naim's family on Friday night. Each time was a little different. On the first visit, Ocha, Vidia, and I dress in the traditional batik. One of the places we stopped at had snakes. I first held a small one...and then they brought me out the monster snake. I tried to get Ocha to ask what kind of snakes they were, but she responded with something like "yes we are going to eat." I get so confused sometimes. When I went with the teachers, we stopped at all the historical places, naturally. They like to put the old-fashioned things on display, from the time when the Dutch ruled over their Indonesia colony. When I went with Mr. Naim's family, we did a lot more walking around. I had again the traditional drink I had the first night. It is rice based, with soft chunks of another type of rice product and cassava root. It was pretty tasty!

Friday morning, the kindergarten had a field trip to a country club pool. It was very nice, and fun to be helping the kids swim. I got to swim a few laps in the bigger pool when everyone was showering and changing. With waterfalls at one end and tropical plants all around, it was a serene and beautiful place.

On Saturday, I made omelets for the family. It was much more of a success than the burritos.