Oh, Ibu

Even though we're on holiday today, we had Ibu Sri come in to work (she's the "helper" for my apartment building - all 3 of us share her!). I didn't care so much about getting dishes done or floors cleaned since I'd been keeping up with that on my own over the weekend (I try not to let myself get TOO spoiled by her that I forget how to clean up after myself). I wanted her to come so I could learn to cook Indonesian. Yeah, yeah, I've been here 3 years and I cannot make a good Indonesian meal. I've gotten pretty good at making American food with Indonesian ingredients and other invented foods that are a blend (or maybe a clash) of cultures. But a straight up 100% Indonesian meal? I can't. But I want to be able to when I'm home this summer.

So I wrote down some ideas last week of foods that I could probably hunt down ingredients for in America. Some of these are my favorite foods, some are Aswan's favorites, and others are just traditional Indonesian foods that I'd like to be able to cook for my family! I had 6 or 7 foods on my list, and Ibu and I hit 2 of them today. I can now successfully cook fried rice and 4 kinds of sambal (Indonesian hot sauce made with a pestle and mortar). I really love getting to spend time with Ibu Sri. She is truly an amazing woman. She was born into Islam, but converted to Christianity when she was younger. She has shared her life story with me before, sometimes tearfully. It hasn't been easy. But through it all, her faith is SO strong!

It's always funny to hear what she thinks of Americans. Here are some misconceptions she had that came up.
1. All Americans are Christians.
2. Americans don't get sick. They die of old age.
3. Americans are in general very healthy because they eat such good food and exercise a lot.
4. American children never have birth defects or mental handicaps.

So we talked about all these things. Now she knows... It's amazing what a limited view TV can give of things. It's a good reminder to all of us not to believe everything we see!