Life's Not a Night Bazaar

Today after the kids got home from school, they finished their homework and we were all just kind of sitting around the house sweating. So we decided to go for a walk.

W has become very proficient in opening the front gate. 

It sounds like a simple task, but with the padlock, it's actually a bit of a pain. So I'm grateful for W's enthusiasm for the task. So we started walking. But within 200 meters, it started pouring rain. Fortunately we had brought umbrellas, which came in handy during the 200 meter walk back to the house.

For dinner, we ate at home. Sate/satay with peanut sambal and bakmi goreng. Our next door neighbor has been offering us food on a regular basis, and yesterday we made an arrangement with her to prepare two meals for us each week. We forgot to take a picture of the food before we ate it, so we could only hold up the evidence of our eating after the fact.

This evening there was a big Chinese New Year celebration in our town. And some students in my department invited us to go along with them. The food stalls lined the streets teaming with motorcycles. It wasn't a pasar malam (or night bazaar) but it made me think of the idea of one. And since it wasn't a pasar malam, it reminded me of the title of a book by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. A translation of the title is the title of this blog post. I know it's not the standard translation for the title, but it's my favorite translation for the title.

A lot of the photos turned out blurry in the darkness as we walked quickly through the crowd.

One of the students shepherded S so vigilantly as we weaved through the crowds and heat.

For me, this photo accurately catches some of the atmosphere

This was the central attraction

Here's a closer view of it.

Selamat tahun baru imlek