Warning: This post contains graphic images of a cow being slaughtered. After reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and nearly becoming vegan in the process, it was quite ironic that I found myself in the middle of an animal sacrifice ritual. Let me clarify: Idul Adha is an important Muslim holiday that highlights the … Continue reading
Thailand is a tourist’s playground. Getting around is simple and systematic. Travel agents can be found anywhere to help you arrange your transportation to any part of the country, including to its “isolated” islands. They speak good English. A system of planes, trains, buses and boats are coordinated efficiently and filled with tourists from all … Continue reading
Back in the day, teachers may have received apples from students. In Indonesia, entire classes of students celebrate certain events (such as getting through reciting the entire Al Qur’an) by giving all teachers food boxes. This is a common affair, but today I broke a record. Today alone, I received THREE food boxes and some … Continue reading
A characteristic of my village neighborhood is that it is lined with mango trees. Every house has at least one. Mine has two. I was completely unaware of this until about a month ago, when small budding fruit started to appear on every tree. Now, growing green mangoes hang gloriously on all the trees and … Continue reading
Ramadan ended with the Idul Fitri holiday, which required me to accompany my host family to Jember and visit more than ten different houses of close family and friends. (Ten doesn’t sound like a lot, but trust me, it is.) In each of these houses I met more than 25 people, sometimes we went to … Continue reading
Nasi is the staple of the Indonesian diet. Plain white rice is eaten at every meal—breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you didn’t eat rice, Indonesians believe that you didn’t really eat. Beras, or uncooked rice, is the basis of many other dishes too. Lontong, is rice cooked in a special way, so that it makes … Continue reading
Back in training, I had the opportunity to attend many, many weddings. Based on this, my language instructor constantly joked about how much I like parties—which is true. Yet, an Indonesia wedding isn’t the type of event one imagines in the West. First of all, the actual wedding ceremony takes place at another time and … Continue reading
in the land of dragons 