Tom Pepinsky

Category: General

  • We are such idiots

    So those of you who know us know how much we love our cat and how much we miss him this year.  In a sense, it’s nice to be in Java, where cats live all over the place (dogs are considered unclean by Muslims, so they are a very rare sight).  On the other hand, it can be sad because we can’t pet or play with the cats that we see, and they also are often not in the greatest shape.

    At the guard post outside of our apartment tower, there is a cat who has apparently made it his terrority.  It’s a good spot because the guards will often throw him a bone or two after they are done eating, and because he can watch everyone coming and going.  We are always eager when we pull up in a taxi to see if he is out and about.  We have named him Tika Splotch, which combines the Indonesian words for "three foot" and a description of the coloring of his face.  When we first met him, he had a lame leg, but he got better quickly.

    Anyway, Tika has again become a Tika–his left front leg is hurt, so he’s been hopping around sadly and looking extra pathetic and skinny.  We are very worried about him because he can’t hunt when his leg is hurt, and his normally manly howl has turned rather pathetic-sounding.  So, yesterday, after seeing him howl at us, we bought him a tuna sandwich from the convenience store downstairs.  He scarfed the whole thing down, even the bread, like he hadn’t eaten in days.  (Of course he could be completely playing us.)

    We felt so good about ourselves for feeding him yesterday that we decided he could have another treat.  This resulted in a ten minute head scratching session in the canned and potted meat section of the convenience store this morning.  We finally found one can of tuna packed in water, and took half of it down for him this morning.  As soon as he saw us walk out the door, he was up, meowing, and hopping around us.  We think we’ve created a monster.  He was very appreciative of his tuna snack, and he’s obviously very hungry still, but we are a bit worried that he has come to associate us so quickly with food.  We’re going to have to fight the urge to keep feeding him now because he might stop hunting if he thinks we are a dependable food source.  Also, the grant is already feeding two of us, and we can’t afford a third who only likes tuna.  Sigh.

  • Selamat Idul Adha 1425 H

    This means "Happy Eid ul-Adha" for the year 1425 on the Muslim lunar calendar.  Today is a big holiday in Indonesia, as Idul Adha commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God, and God’s eventual substitution of a lamb for Abraham’s son.  Now, many of you may be saying "Wait!  It’s Isaac who was supposed to be sacrificed!"  Well, this is a big difference between Islam and Judaism/Christianity.  In the Qur’an, Ishmael, Abraham’s first-born son with Sara’s slave Hagar, is the legitimate first-born one, and he’s the one whom Abraham almost sacrifices.  In Islamic tradition, the Bedouins/Arabs are descended from Abraham through Ishmael, just like in Judeo-Christianity where Jews are descended from Abraham through Isaac.

    At any rate, last night the muezzins were really excited, and they were so loud that we almost couldn’t fall asleep.  There is some disagreement between us as to whether they went on all through the night, but by the time we woke up, they were back at it again. And yes, today is another holiday, so everything is closed. Traditionally (in Indonesia at least) Muslims will slaughter a lamb or some other animal and eat it to celebrate Idul Adha.  It’s considered very important to share this meal with people who cannot afford it–we saw a sort of Idul Adha lamb feast sign-up sheet in our apartment lobby yesterday.

    So remember, if you’re a Brit or Aussie who likes to say "Happy Eed" to
    your Muslim friends on Eid ul-Fitr, that’s kind of weird, because there
    are many Eids.

    When we listen to radios in the car, lately we’ve been hearing a lot about the weather in Mecca and Medina.  This is because Eid ul-Adha falls during the time of the year when Muslims can complete the hajj, which as you probably know is the pilgrimmage to Mecca that Muslims who are able are supposed to do once in their lifetime.  Here’s an online description of what the hajj actually entails.  You can also do a "lesser hajj" (called an umroh in Indonesian) at any time during the year, but that doesn’t actually count.  We’ve seen lots of signs at travel agencies advertising umroh and hajj packages; in his later years, Soeharto liked to stop by Mecca for an umroh on his way back from overseas trips.

    We also figured out what the "H" in "1425 H" stands for: it stands for hijra, the Arabic word meaning "decampment" or "withdrawal" which refers to the journey of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina.  This is year 0 on the Islamic calendar, so 1425 H means 1425 years after Muhammad moved to Medina, just like 2005 AD means 2005 years after Jesus was born.