Independence Day Celebration

August 17th is Indonesia's Independence Day. This day is widely celebrated because it is the only holiday that all of the relegions represented in Indonesia can agree on. In fact everyone goes all out...they paint the fronts of their homes as well as their gates with vibrant colors. The curbs throughout town are repainted yearly in anticipation of this holiday. They hang flags everywhere. Each neighborhood celebrates together, but you don't have to necessarily have your party on August 17th. Our neighborhood, Dukuh Krajan, has it's celebration right in our front yard...we have heard it's quite the party.

In anticipation of Independence Day, the national staff at MICS (Mountainview International Christian School) planned an afternoon of games. All staff along with their families were invited to participate. Our family had a great time taking part and in just watching. They started out the afternoon with "tug-of-war" which is known by everyone no matter where you're from. My team proved to be the strongest at the end of the day.

Then there were the games that we had never seen before like the "greased watermelon" game. Jeff got to participate in this one...and he was excited! The object of the game is to extract the most coins out of the greased watermelon. They cut slits in a watermelon and then stick coins in them. After that they "grease" the watermelon with sweet soy sauce and hang it from a pole. Each team had 3 participants who took turns extracting the coins with just their mouths...unfortunately they use the same watermelons over and over again and Jeff's team was the last to compete. (This isn't exactly the most sanitary game, same watermelons & the same coins used for the different "heats"!) Jeff was the third player on his team to go and there were only 5 coins left...he only got 2 because the last 3 kept sliding up into the watermelon and he couldn't latch onto them.

Then there's our favorite game...the "eel" relay! I'm serious, they used real eels. You had to dig them out of the mud and run them to the other end and put them in a bucket. Abby and her friend did it for my team. They loved it! It may sound easy but the eels don't exactly cooperate. They are extremely slippery and once you drop them in the grass it's hard to get them picked back up. Abby and Naelyn won with 7 eels in the bucket!

There were a few other games such as "teklek" (looked like a 3 person cross country skiing team/on the same set of skis!) and bust the water bag (blind-folded). We're planning to introduce a few of these at our next big bash in the states! So everyone be ready to enjoy some Indonesian Independence Day celebration games! Dana