Part 2 of "A Wedding and a Circumcision all in one Day"

On to the next part of the day… and the question of how do you have a wedding and a circumcision in one day. Well, they were two different events, but led to an intriguing blog title. Across our yard, just through our gate, the party had started nearly 2 days before. In Javanese culture a young boy gets to choose when he gets circumcised. This is a coming of age moment. So our 12 year old neighbor boy decided it was time for him. One of our friends helped take him to the doctor to get the deed done.

 Ouch. Let’s leave it at that.

And then began the setting up for the party. Building a stage and a tent of sorts, and setting up the sound system that would change our world for the next 2 days.

This is when the “Dangdut” began. Dangdut music loved very much in Indonesia and it is very hard to describe. I tried describing it as ABBA/disco/polka/Bollywood  but it really doesn’t fully encompass this music. The music includes intense base so you can “feel it” and “berdangdut” (dance to the music.) I even looked it up on some websites and learned that it comes from Arabic, Malay, and Hindu influences. But you didn’t come here for a history lesson- you came here for our experiences in Indonesia- and what we experienced is this- the base was so loud it shook our bed until 1am!

It was funny- even though it is always difficult when a night of sleep gets interrupted, I found myself laying there in bed, earplugs only taking some of the edge off, with my foot even bopping to music the music at times. And when I peeked out the window at midnight and saw a huge crowd of young guys dancing to the beat- I couldn’t help but smile. Yes, this is beyond loud, but this is the country we moved to, and on this night I found myself appreciating the culture in such a new way.

                Greg joined the more formal meeting earlier that night- but didn’t understand much of it because it was all in Javanese- the 2^nd language of the area we are in. So he sat there, his body aching from the hike up the Volcano, and instead of the clouds he got lost in earlier that day, he was now getting lost in the clove cigarette smoke of most of the men sitting around him. (He is such a trooper.) He stayed for 3 hrs, came home, and crashed even with the music blasting. Here we are, kampung (village/neighborhood) people, struggling to learn this new way, but we have moved here for Indonesia, and this is Indonesia.