Catch Up
Sorry for being a complete blog delinquent for the past two weeks. I won't fill in the day-by-day details, but will recap what's been going on:
All of the week of Aug. 21was spent prepping for our own Panjat Pinang, or tree-climbing contest.
On Wednesday afternoon, Marc and I set out in search of a place we could get fabric banners printed. (Yes, we wanted banners printed on Wed. and our event was on Sunday, but a Friday pick-up would still give us enough time. Keep in mind that we wanted to do announcements over the mosque speaker systems on Wed. evening, but we were told that it would be "too soon" and that Friday night would be much better.) Marc had a vague idea of where a banner place was, and we buzzed back and forth on the motorbike on the street, looking for any indication of a banner printing shop. Finally, we got off the bike, and basically wandered down the street, asking anyone who was around "bendera?" (Banner?) With the help of a couple kids, we found the place, and after a few minutes of hand gestures, consultation with our dictionary, and my two-minute scratchy sketch, we placed our order. I was kind of amazed how quick it all was; I only had a sketch of the layout, some handwritten copy, and an idea of a picture for the banner, which they would actually draw and enlarge for me. The cost for all of this? $3 US.
After a couple days of nonstop shopping, cutting, painting, pasting, tissue paper fluffing, number crunching, and generally wanting to punch people in the face, Sunday arrived. It rained that morning, the first time the weather was anything but hot and sunny the whole time I've been here. By 9AM it cleared up though, and the sky broke open into the most beautiful blue. Our naked tree, with a bare ring at the top was already set up. We tied up decorative strands of flags, strings of kid prizes (pencils, hair ties, stickers, candy, etc.) and hung the prizes from the top of the tree. I had assumed we'd be hanging up pictures of ducks, pigeons, pots, and pans, but no, we actually hung up the actual things. (The birds were all in little baskets.) The only items we didn't hang were the construction materials (cement, plywood, metal roofing, etc.). By noon, our tree was a pretty, colorful pilar rising up from the rice field, prizes and decorations flapping cheerily in the breeze, bordered by palm trees. Pretty tree!
Each RT (neighborhood) in the town was allowed to field two teams, and I believe that every RT did participate in the event. Even Hands On had a team, which was ... comic relief. The pictures tell the story better than I can, so I'll just refer you to them. I think each team did eventually make it to the top, even us, and all of the prizes were collected. Ben (a Hands On volunteer) had an unfortunate incident involving a ripped pocket an exposed white buttcheek winking in the sun. Oh mans. I laughed so hard and I smiled nonstop this whole day. My cheeks hurt, and that pretty much never happens. Lately I'd been feeling a bit annoyed with people and wanting to recede into privacy a bit, but at the end of the day, my heart felt so full and I loved everyone and I basically wanted to run around waving my hands going "wooooooo!" Not a bad way to feel.
All of the week of Aug. 21was spent prepping for our own Panjat Pinang, or tree-climbing contest.
On Wednesday afternoon, Marc and I set out in search of a place we could get fabric banners printed. (Yes, we wanted banners printed on Wed. and our event was on Sunday, but a Friday pick-up would still give us enough time. Keep in mind that we wanted to do announcements over the mosque speaker systems on Wed. evening, but we were told that it would be "too soon" and that Friday night would be much better.) Marc had a vague idea of where a banner place was, and we buzzed back and forth on the motorbike on the street, looking for any indication of a banner printing shop. Finally, we got off the bike, and basically wandered down the street, asking anyone who was around "bendera?" (Banner?) With the help of a couple kids, we found the place, and after a few minutes of hand gestures, consultation with our dictionary, and my two-minute scratchy sketch, we placed our order. I was kind of amazed how quick it all was; I only had a sketch of the layout, some handwritten copy, and an idea of a picture for the banner, which they would actually draw and enlarge for me. The cost for all of this? $3 US.
After a couple days of nonstop shopping, cutting, painting, pasting, tissue paper fluffing, number crunching, and generally wanting to punch people in the face, Sunday arrived. It rained that morning, the first time the weather was anything but hot and sunny the whole time I've been here. By 9AM it cleared up though, and the sky broke open into the most beautiful blue. Our naked tree, with a bare ring at the top was already set up. We tied up decorative strands of flags, strings of kid prizes (pencils, hair ties, stickers, candy, etc.) and hung the prizes from the top of the tree. I had assumed we'd be hanging up pictures of ducks, pigeons, pots, and pans, but no, we actually hung up the actual things. (The birds were all in little baskets.) The only items we didn't hang were the construction materials (cement, plywood, metal roofing, etc.). By noon, our tree was a pretty, colorful pilar rising up from the rice field, prizes and decorations flapping cheerily in the breeze, bordered by palm trees. Pretty tree!
Each RT (neighborhood) in the town was allowed to field two teams, and I believe that every RT did participate in the event. Even Hands On had a team, which was ... comic relief. The pictures tell the story better than I can, so I'll just refer you to them. I think each team did eventually make it to the top, even us, and all of the prizes were collected. Ben (a Hands On volunteer) had an unfortunate incident involving a ripped pocket an exposed white buttcheek winking in the sun. Oh mans. I laughed so hard and I smiled nonstop this whole day. My cheeks hurt, and that pretty much never happens. Lately I'd been feeling a bit annoyed with people and wanting to recede into privacy a bit, but at the end of the day, my heart felt so full and I loved everyone and I basically wanted to run around waving my hands going "wooooooo!" Not a bad way to feel.
posted by Stefanie at 6:45 AM
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