I felt like a celebrity among the locals after the ceremony. Ha ha. Maman & Papa,,, you’ve got at least 3 different invitations to stay in Bantul homes when you come to visit Indonesia! (=

After the ceremony, pak Parjiman, mbak Indah and I walked home & had lunch together, on the floor of pak Parjiman’s home.

A carpet is always laid out when we eat here in Java. We take our shoes off, then sit on the floor together,,, and usually eat with our fingers. Today was the first day I’ve ever had a whole roast chicken served- and we basically had to tear it apart with our fingers to eat it. An interesting experience (= Mother B would be proud. Ha ha.

Pak Parjiman’s younger brother was fascinated with my military background,,, and was happy to tug on my ear all afternoon about that.

After lunch, we jumped on scooters & drove over to Pak Parjiman’s mother’s house. This is the place where she died 107 days ago, during the earthquake. A brick wall fell on her. =/

His younger sister lives in a temporary Ratan home that he built, until they can afford to rebuild little by little. She is still traumatized, and refuses to leave the grounds of her old house to live with Pak Parjiman & his family in his house (which is still standing, and safe enough to live in, albeit with visible cracks & damage in the walls)

She buys & sells chickens everyday to get by. “Scraping by” might be a more descriptive way to put it.