Author: tompepinsky

Today is the first day of Ramadhan, otherwise known as Puasa, we think. You know what that means? Starting today, no more free lunch at the Freedom Institute for the month!

Ramadhan is the holiest of the four holy months in the Islamic lunar calendar. It commemorates the time when the Prophet Muhammed began receiving the Qur’an. During Ramadhan, observant Muslims are supposed to refrain from eating, drinking, having sex, and otherwise acting improperly; i.e. no swearing, no gossiping, etc. These prohibitions last from sun-up to sun-down, meaning that observant Muslims fast during the day. Special dispensations are given to travelers, small children, the sick, pregnant women, and others for whom fasting would be unhealthy or impossible. The symbolism of Ramadhan is purifying one’s thoughts, showing piety, and remembering the teachings of Muhammed. Additionally, fasting reminds wealthy Muslims of the plight of the poor, who often go hungry.

At the end of Ramadhan, known as Eid al-Fitr (in Indonesian, Idul Fitri), there is a three-day period of celebration where Muslims break their fasts and give money to the poor. Today is also considered a holiday, as many people return to their home towns and villages to begin Ramadhan with their families and friends.

This made finding a taxi yesterday very hard, and today, quite easy. Furthermore, the streets are relatively (and we mean relatively) empty today, while we were stuck in the worst traffic we’ve seen last night. Last night the muadhdhin (muezzins) were really out in force, waking us both up.

Today being an official holiday in Indonesia, the Freedom Institute is technically closed, but we came this morning anyway since we have special privileges. It turned out that the library really was closed, and no one was here, but we still can sit in our office and use the internet. Instead of reading original sources, I (TP) have been downloading articles while Julie entertains herself otherwise.

We are thinking of traveling to Bogor this weekend, so if there is a break in posts, that’s why.

So I’ve (jm) been collecting some observations to post for a day that we have nothing else to talk about. Well that’s not entirely true. We attempted to watch the debate via internet today, but it didn’t work as well as last time. So that led to lots of starts and stops and we generally had no idea what was going on. But we were certainly pleased with the results of polls taken right afterwards. We hope that they reflect the true sentiments of Americans and stand up to more in depth polling done later.

Ok, so some things that I find interesting:
I got a handful of coins as change the other day and they were all 500 rupiahs (about 7 cents). There were three different years represented, 1991, 2000 and 2003, and the design, size and color of each coin from each year was different. Now I don’t know much about economics (except for what Tom teaches me) but that doesn’t seem very efficient.
The taxi drivers are maniacs and drive like crazy. However, when going over speed bumps they usually go so slowly that we almost roll backwards. Weird.
People don’t have a problem with naked children here. We always see kids up to about 5 years old running around the pool buck naked and it’s kind of weird, at least for us.
All the foliage around here consists of giant leaves. We have yet to figure out why everything is so huge here. Any armchair botanists with an answer?
Burping is common practice. I will often be typing away in the office and hear someone else belch through my earphones. And the cabbies do it too. Tom finally realizes that burping in front of people isn’t always hysterical (but I think it’s pretty funny nonetheless and have to try not to giggle at people).
Coconut oil tastes really good, but even it gets old after a while. We’ve given it a valiant effort but are now switching back to regular salad oil (which is much more expensive but a lot lighter). Consider it going “un-native”.
Guys at the gym here spend more time staring at themselves in the mirror than working out, just like at home. However, instead of listening to Metallica, here they listen to Justin Timberlake.
On our bus ride a few weeks ago to the resort, they played karaoke on the bus. On the list of pastimes here, this one is really high (but gets annoying really quickly).

Ok, that’s enough, I have to save some for some other time…