New Food Friday--Sates

As I said last week, I'm starting to try all the different kinds of sates...there are tons of them! This week you may think it's boring and that I played it safe, but I'm including it because this chicken sate is by far one of my favorite foods in Malang. You can buy chicken sate anywhere...at warungs, restaurants, from the guy who walks through neighborhoods with his kaki lima. There is one place in Malang that my friends took me to and it's become my fave. They use a creamy peanut sauce mixed with a sauce they call "kecap manis"(no it's not anything like ketchup, more like teryaki sauce). It's delicious!!

New Food Friday...Starting the Sates

I meant to post this last Friday, but apparently I don't know how to work the "Schedule a Post" thing. :) So here we go:
One of the common foods here in Indonesia is sate...basically meat on a stick, like a kebab. Since there are so many different kinds, I decided that over the next few weeks, my New Food Friday will be dedicated to trying all the different types of sate. In my trip to Jakarta this past weekend, I began trying new sate. My first try is called "Sate Padang." Padang is a part of Sumatra(another island in Indonesia). This sate was very different than the common chicken sate with peanut sauce. When my friend said it's sate lidah sapi (cow tongue), I cringed a little and was kind of hesitant to try it. But, it actually was pretty good! The sauce was more of a gravy sauce that used black pepper. That's really rare for food here, since they usually use cabe, or a jalepeno type pepper. Everything mixed was a little too heavy for me, but it was still good. I actually liked the cow tongue and I think if i didn't know it was cow tongue beforehand, I'd like it more :)

Experiencing Jakarta

If I ever thought Surabaya, Boston, NYC or any city I've been to is big or busy, that thought has been crushed by Jakarta. Even though the population of 9 million is just a little bigger than NYC, it seems so much bigger and overwhelming! My friend from my kos, Kurnea, invited me to come visit her and her family while she is home for break from university. I got the chance to got there for 5 days and stay with her family(her parents and 2 younger sisters). It was a blast!! I wish I could have video taped the time there, so you could get a full image of the city and what my experience was like, but I only have a few pics to share. The first two days we mainly just stayed and hung out at her home because of the rain. it rained constantly there and Jakarta is prevelent to flooding. So, that mixed with all the traffic, we didn't have a desire to go anywhere :)

I got to visit a lot of her friends and neighbors. Her neighbor across the street just had a baby 5 days ago!

This is the only child that'd take a picture with me...all the other kids ran away from me because I'm white haha. They finally warmed up to me the last day!

On Sunday we had a packed day! We left at 5am to go into the center of the city and around Jakarta. We went to one of the popular sites, Monas, and wanted to walk around until 10 when you can go to the top of the tower and look out to Jakarta, but the rain foiled that plan. It started downpouring!

Me with Kurnea's family and her sister's boyfriend and his mom. Please take note of how much I'm crouching down :)

Me in front of the tower, Monas

After going to Monas, we drove around other parts of Jakarta and then they took me to the "Old City." This is the part of the city that has a lot of influence from the Dutch when they colonized Indonesia. We went to one of the museums that has a big courtyard and ate lunch there.

When we got there, there were people practicing for a performance. There were traditional dancers and musicians playing traditional instruments.

One of my favorite things was a place where you could rent "antique" bicycles with special hats. It was so much fun. Most of the bikes were 2 or 3 seaters!

For some reason, I just think this is a funny picture of us in action riding the bike :)

On the last day there, I went with Kurnea to her old high school, where her mom teaches. They asked if I would help do conversation in one of the English classes there. There were about 40 students in the class, ages 15 and 16. The teacher had me talk a little bit and have them ask questions and then we played a game together. It was so much fun to interact with the students there! I did, however, get asked to be someone's girlfriend about 10 times...these kids are bold!

I had such a great time getting to experience a different part of Indonesia and a different culture in Jakarta. Thank you so much, Kurnea, for your hospitality and the memories from that trip!!

 

Happy New Year!

New Year Eve is unique in that it's a holiday that no matter where you're from or what religion you are, everyone celebrates it. I've been in Indonesia for the major Muslim holidays, the major American holiday(Thanksgiving) and one of the major Christian holidays(Christmas). Even though I don't consider New Years Eve to be a major holiday, it seems universal for people to celebrate it. For New Year's Eve, I went to my friends', Kalyn and Tony, home for dinner and to watch a movie. They live in a neighborhood up on top of a hill that leads up to one of the mountains here. From the neighborhood you overlook the city of Malang(my favorite place for sunrises!!).

Where we watched the fireworks from. It's hard to see really, but the city of Malang is at the bottom and then there are surrounding desas around it.

There were so many people out watching the fireworks...and so many people setting them off! I've never seen anything like it before. Every kampung and neighborhood in Malang were setting off fireworks, and not just one or two, whole fireworks displays! Even in the desas(villages) far off in the distance, you could still see flashes from fireworks. I guess that's what happens when you're in an Asian country and so close to where fireworks originated :) Living here, every now and then...actually a few times a week, I'll be going about my day and all of a sudden have a realization of where I live. I just shake my head, smile and think "I can't believe I live in Indonesia!" Usually it's when I'm riding my motorbike and take in the people around me, encounter something that's abnormal to what I'm used to, or when I get a glimpse of God's beautiful creation surrounding me. New Years Eve was another moment like that. Despite the times I get homesick here and all the people and things I may miss about being back in the states, these moments bring me back to the right perspective--how blessed I am to be here and to be in the center of where I feel God has called to me be. I'm really looking forward to this new year here and wish you all a happy new year and fresh start to 2012!