Realia Party - Buka Puasa

Yesterday I joined in the fast again, because my language school was hosting a “buka puasa” celebration for students and teachers. See pictures here. After fasting all day, again a challenge for me (this time because I didn’t manage to eat much at 3 am due to the early hour and my lack of appetite), we gathered at the school at about 5:30 pm. Everyone sat in a circle on the ground and one of the female English teachers opened the gathering with some nice words in Indonesian…and asked me to translate to English! Eek. Without butchering her meaning too much, I managed to translate for everyone. This was an empowering experience, and showed me how far my language has come from four months ago when I arrived barely knowing how to say “good afternoon”.

Next, everyone in the room politely attacked the large table of food and drink provided for breaking the fast. I gulped down a few glasses of water and then savored the sensation of food…eating is so satisfying when its been 14 hours since your last meal!

After a fun and social time at the school, many of the younger teachers and students headed to a nearby restaurant called “Special Sambal.” This is my favorite place to eat in Yogya because it has a nice atmosphere (sitting on the ground on mats with all light coming from candles or lamps), cheap food (about $2 for a huge meal), and very spicy options (about 20 different kinds of chile paste…yum yum). We hung out here for hours, talking and playing silly games. The atmosphere was wonderfully normal – almost like hanging out with good friends from the US, and I realize now how much I’ve been missing this kind of easy and fun social interaction while in Indonesia.