Lately my posts have been a bit negative, which frankly have been matching my general mood. Actually negative is too strong, maybe just a little fed up or ticked off. Mostly I think the things that seemed cute or endearing at first have started to wear. That has combined with the fact that I’ve been switching between great traveling with returning to the pesantren; of course I’m going to prefer traveling over working, who wouldn’t?! But as so often seems to happen in Indonesia just as I was getting beaten down I was yanked back up.
Yesterday was a rough day in which I didn’t really do anything besides chill in my room, which was made annoying because there was no internet or TV (neither are things that are necessary, but when you have them and they’re taken away, that is incredibly frustrating). There were a number of other factors, but the take home was that I was pretty down. Then last night’s dinner was not the same vegetables and white fish; I had a streak of 8 straight lunch/dinners that were identical, and rather bland (stop complaining Aaron, you could have cooked yourself!). English club went well last night which helped too, but the real topper came this afternoon for lunch.
Before I continue I have to correct a previous statement I made. I claimed that Indonesian food wasn’t delicious. I stand corrected! Apparently I’ve just been eating the wrong stuff. There are some special occasion foods that I’ve had here (meaning ‘Bugis Land’). These standbys seem to show up at every wedding or party I’ve been too. They include a potato/noodle/carrot/corn/and oh yeah, chicken-innards soup, a somewhat sweet and spicy beef stir fry (sometimes with peanuts), and my personal favorite: a cucumber/pineapple/carrot/chili salad. Really good itik (a smaller duck) that is stir fired with sweet and a little spicy sauce is also a pretty common meal for a smaller party, and is my favorite dish in Indonesia. Also there are numerous kinds of traditional sweets that are usually ok, but just not as good as Western Sweets (something about using rice flour I’m guessing)
In general, these standby dishes are good, especially as a switch up from white fish and white rice, but not exactly delicious. Well today for lunch Daya invited me and all the teachers to her grandmother’s house; I am as full as I’ve been in a LONG time! All of the standbys I described above were there, but the best samples I’ve had. In addition, there were a couple other chicken and itik dishes that were really, really good. Usually chicken in Indo is tasty, but not overly tender (just missing those USA added-hormones!), but one of the chicken dishes today was fall apart juicy. There was also a good homemade gado-gado (vegetables in a chunky peanut sauce, and a street food standard). Oh and I almost forgot the little cupcake things (putu) with coconut, rice flour and brown sugar. The ingredients are the standards for the sweets here, but I think it was the texture of these that was particularly delicious! After today the best 3 meals I’ve had in Sidrap have all come with Daya’s family, granted one was not made by them.
Oh and as I was leaving I felt incredibly honored as I was given a specially wrapped takeaway gift. Oh I should explain, it turns out the lunch was to celebrate the Prophet’s Birthday, and everyone that came got a little takeaway with different traditional sweets and a plate of rice (fried in coconut oil) and an egg which is a Bugis tradition for the Prophet’s Bday. Most people’s was in a black plastic bag, but mine was elegantly wrapped in a banana leaf (see picture below). The only other person to get such special treatment was Imran. Daya and her family have been so unbelievably kind to me. They always make me feel like family.
And on today, I needed it!
P.S. Oh Indonesia! I wrote the above post in the afternoon. It’s now the morning after a night in which I woke up with some serious stomach discomfort. I’m feeling just ok now, but I feel like I have to add to my quote from above: just as Indo beats you down, it pulls you back up…just so it can beat you back down again. Sigh!
I’m really doing fine and I don’t think this is anything serious, it’s just frustrating.
P.P.S. 2 days later, I'm back to health
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