It seems that a lot of my friends use this time of year to get some valuable self reflection and assessment time squeezed into their busy lives. I myself have been wanting to do just that. And it seems like there is absolutely no better place to do this than in the middle of nowhere with a mile long beach at my disposal. As it turns out, sometimes things aren't so easy.
In the beautiful country of Indonesia, privacy does not exist. This is one of those things that I'm just going to have to get used to no matter how uncomfortable it is. Privacy is something I have always thought to be a necessity for myself. Time for reading, thought processing, exercising, showering, eating food with friends, the list goes on.
I am learning that, here, none of these things are deemed as personal time.
We just went through the busiest of the holiday seasons. Just like in the states, everybody here goes home for the holiday. In this case, they all go back to their villages from larger towns. This equals huge buses blasting music and stuffed with humans, so much so that the more fearless ones sit on top of the bus with little to hold onto.
And foolish me, decided to travel for the New Year Holiday as well. I wasn't entirely sure what I had in store. But I was hoping for some time alone camping on the beach. I should have known better! Since August, my privacy has been slowly dissipating. Now it is rapidly dissipating and I am wondering how these people do it. It probably doesn't help that I am blazingly white. A beacon in a sea hi jabs and short, dark haired humans.
So while I didn't receive that longed for beach relaxation time, I did get invited to about 6 Manggarai ceremonies. I know you're probably thinking, ooooooooooooh, foreign ceremonies, I want to go! But let me stop you right there and tell you about the ones I attended and then you can decide if you're coming with next time or not.
These ceremonies all took place inside of family homes. These are made of dirt, bamboo, and tarps. You walk into a room full of men and smoke. You then walk around the room and shake every persons hand and individually wishing them a happy new year. You are instructed to sit down and handed a cup of far too sweet coffee. Then, the mandatory chicken sacrifice. I'll let you decide how that one works.
After the sacrifice, you sit in the sweltering hot room and drink your coffee while everybody stares at each other in silence with the occasional smile, chain smoking. Nobody tells you what is going on. Eventually food comes and you are surprised by the feast they have prepared from their meager homes. They set it all out in front of you on the floor like a buffet. I like to watch the locals make their plates first so you can see how much to take as to not take too much. I have found that this is very much a western thing to do and for me, unfortunate because I am always much hungrier than what I am fed! wah wah.
Everybody hurriedly eats their plates of food which are 90% white rice and the dishes disappear. Then, because it is a ceremony for the holidays, we all get a shot of warm beer. Yum! While we digest, the women who have been hiding in the kitchen the whole time now get to eat. When they finish eating, we are allowed to leave, you know, if we want.
A lot of their ceremonies (and wow are there a lot) have a lot more stuff going on. Music, bigger feasts, more sacrifices, more traditional clothing. But these holiday ones are easy in comparison. I attended 3 and missed 2, what a busy holiday I had. But no worries, I will be participating in another ceremony in 3 days where a whole other slew of other things will be sacrificed, traditional clothes donned, and much sugary coffee consumed.
I hope you all got that much needed self reflection time out of your holidays and that you also put visiting me in Indonesia and attending a ceremony with an extremely old culture on your 'To Do 2015' list.
I'll be here waiting. And so will the whole village.
In the beautiful country of Indonesia, privacy does not exist. This is one of those things that I'm just going to have to get used to no matter how uncomfortable it is. Privacy is something I have always thought to be a necessity for myself. Time for reading, thought processing, exercising, showering, eating food with friends, the list goes on.
I am learning that, here, none of these things are deemed as personal time.
We just went through the busiest of the holiday seasons. Just like in the states, everybody here goes home for the holiday. In this case, they all go back to their villages from larger towns. This equals huge buses blasting music and stuffed with humans, so much so that the more fearless ones sit on top of the bus with little to hold onto.
And foolish me, decided to travel for the New Year Holiday as well. I wasn't entirely sure what I had in store. But I was hoping for some time alone camping on the beach. I should have known better! Since August, my privacy has been slowly dissipating. Now it is rapidly dissipating and I am wondering how these people do it. It probably doesn't help that I am blazingly white. A beacon in a sea hi jabs and short, dark haired humans.
So while I didn't receive that longed for beach relaxation time, I did get invited to about 6 Manggarai ceremonies. I know you're probably thinking, ooooooooooooh, foreign ceremonies, I want to go! But let me stop you right there and tell you about the ones I attended and then you can decide if you're coming with next time or not.
These ceremonies all took place inside of family homes. These are made of dirt, bamboo, and tarps. You walk into a room full of men and smoke. You then walk around the room and shake every persons hand and individually wishing them a happy new year. You are instructed to sit down and handed a cup of far too sweet coffee. Then, the mandatory chicken sacrifice. I'll let you decide how that one works.
After the sacrifice, you sit in the sweltering hot room and drink your coffee while everybody stares at each other in silence with the occasional smile, chain smoking. Nobody tells you what is going on. Eventually food comes and you are surprised by the feast they have prepared from their meager homes. They set it all out in front of you on the floor like a buffet. I like to watch the locals make their plates first so you can see how much to take as to not take too much. I have found that this is very much a western thing to do and for me, unfortunate because I am always much hungrier than what I am fed! wah wah.
Everybody hurriedly eats their plates of food which are 90% white rice and the dishes disappear. Then, because it is a ceremony for the holidays, we all get a shot of warm beer. Yum! While we digest, the women who have been hiding in the kitchen the whole time now get to eat. When they finish eating, we are allowed to leave, you know, if we want.
A lot of their ceremonies (and wow are there a lot) have a lot more stuff going on. Music, bigger feasts, more sacrifices, more traditional clothing. But these holiday ones are easy in comparison. I attended 3 and missed 2, what a busy holiday I had. But no worries, I will be participating in another ceremony in 3 days where a whole other slew of other things will be sacrificed, traditional clothes donned, and much sugary coffee consumed.
I hope you all got that much needed self reflection time out of your holidays and that you also put visiting me in Indonesia and attending a ceremony with an extremely old culture on your 'To Do 2015' list.
I'll be here waiting. And so will the whole village.