Where on earth are we?

We live right up in the top right corner of Papua.

The Wedding

Cathy from next door got married. In Indonesian culture, marriage is the most significant life cycle experience for a woman--the end of childhood, the achievement of adulthood, the binding together of the couple and their families, the promise of children (Culture Shock! Indonesia p.146). Here some neighbours construct the archway for the groom's family when they come to collect the bride.

There was a constant stream of relatives coming and going in the lead up. Our garage was taken over a few times for the extended families to meet, organise and give funds towards the wedding and reception, to which 800+ were invited.

Our house and another neighbour's were used for hair and make-up preparations starting at 4.30am..

The bride waits inside as the groom is brought to her family's home in a beautiful and moving procession of dancing and drumming. The groom's female relatives proceed to the closed door, knock, wait, knock again, and ask the family for the bride. This was the high point of the day for me.

Some of the men wore the coloured cloth of Timor province, where Cathy's father is from.

It was a big day for Soren whose job was to accompany the bride and amongst other things, keep her cool with a fluffy pink fan! He did us very proud!

Catholic church ceremony.

If you look hard enough you might see me underneath the layers of make-up and hairspray. Personally I thought I looked quite scary (though it was fun to have the pampering) but Phil assured me I looked perfectly lovely. A seamstress came to Cathy's house and measured up about 40 women for their kebaya (the thing Ibu Susanna and I are wearing) and mine turned out beautifully!

After tons of speeches and thousands of photos Soren's wedding duties are over and he can relax with neighbour buddies Gaby and Agnes. You wouldn't know it, but Reuben had a vomiting and diarrhoea bug that day. Fun!



Our garage was converted into a pumping dance hall, complete with mirror ball above the washing machine. We put the kids to bed (they miraculously slept through the incredible noise) and joined in, only to conk out after about an hour and go to bed at 10pm like a couple of old grannies. Haven't had that much fun in a looong time!

July Randoms

Beautiful niece Marlena ready for Year 12 formal with Mum and Dad looking very suave. One of the things I did in my 'gap year' was babysit for Marlena on Mondays. She was a baby then and I still can't get my head around the fact that she is finished school. Can't wait to spend time with them all in December.

My baby Autumn at 14 months in her Aussie animals suit.
Reuben and David whom we babysat along with his two sisters the other week. They are fabulous and we had crazy fun! Seemed so peaceful and calm and easy when they went home and there were only three to deal with. The illusion didn't last.

Two beautiful faces, Aussie and Nimboran.

These three normally happy-looking kids graduated from the local PAUD (Play Group) to Grade 1. I used to take Reuben to this group and help teach, so I'm a bit attached to them. Indonesians will often wear white face cream to a special occasion (light skin is considered beautiful). People don't generally smile in photos either. The kids are with their teachers, the Minister of the church the Play Group operates out of and other VIPs.

Autumn starts to lose her cool. When the invitation says 3pm, that means arrive from 4pm, start around 5pm, or whenever enough people have shown up and everything's ready.

The twins who live across from us.

Lovely Merlin from our neighbourhood. I find her hard to understand as her Papuan Malay is thick and fast!

More neighbours.

Songwriting Workshop

A week-long Kemtuik songwriting workshop culminated in the recording of 10 new songs.

We learnt about finding the theme of a text on which to base a song.

Ethnomusicologist friend Erin ran sessions on various aspects of music and worship.

We spent some time practising reading Kemtuik too.
Practical time..

The elders we invited as language and culture consultants got to work too and wrote some songs in traditional styles.

Then on Friday an American colleague who helps run a local radio station brought his equipment to record them all.

Sago palm frond-stem wall panels and a thatched roof make for a nice quiet studio (though Philip had to keep the chickens away)..

..and we discovered that coconut husks are good for keeping the vibration out of mic stands.

Meanwhile friend Welly kept Erin's baby well-fed and entertained.