Holidays

It's that time of year again when all night parties take place here in Indonesia. The countries largest religion has it's feast after a month of fasting, today.  this means last night the sound of men "singing" was heard all around the town. It began at like 6pm last night and stopped at 7am this morning.  It was a long, long night and when you add to it the power going off twice, well, let's just say we will all be taking a nap today~! 

When we lived in Java, this holiday was a much bigger deal, with parades and firworks and the whole shabang!  Because Papua is a much more Christianized province of Indonesia, it's not nearly as ramai (party like or busy).  Christmas time however, we have been told, is much like Christmas with the Griswolds so we will have to see. Maybe we can get in on the action and deck our house out this year with lights and the whole shabang!  Joel will be thrilled. He is the king of Christmas lights.

 

It's weird to even think that the "holidays" have already begun there at home.  I'm sure Wal-Mart is full of Christmas deco and displays of Christmas trees.  Here, when you wake up and it's already 90 degrees, it's really hard to remember it's  the "fall" season back home.  We have put up pictures of fall trees and I have some dried leaves that mom sent last year that I can use to decorate.  We'll do our best to make it feel "fall-ish".  Hey why don't you take some pictures for us of the beauty you see there?  We'd love a glimpse of a red maple or yellow oak.  I can just see it now, if I close my eyes!  Meanwhile, we'll enjoy our fresh-off-the-tree fruit salads, avocados, and all night singing parties!