Birthday

So I celebrated a birthday overseas this year. That's a first for me and it was such a great weekend! Another first was being surprised with a party. Wasn't expecting that at all, and it's so nice to have brothers and sisters in Christ over here to spend it with. Thanks again to everyone that was able to come and those who sent me messages and emails. It really means a lot when you are away.

Here are a few pictures from my extended birthday weekend. 

This birthday cake was so good! It had a lot of character too. Thankful for the hands who made it!

So after the party, some of us decided to go bowling. I want to say that I am not a good bowler at all so the pictures that you are going to see in a second are completely out of the blue and it must have been some sort of birthday thing. No idea how this happened and I know that it will never happen again... 

Cordova gave the the nickname of "twin" and it must have had some power in it. Yes, I actually bowled 7 strikes in a row. Craziness!

8 strikes total with a score of 228. Feeling a little younger!

My birthday just happened to fall during a trip that we took to Thailand. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock in Phuket. 

They advertise Thai boxing by having the men fight on top of a float that is going down the street. Great marketing strategy.

The next day we got on a ferry for an hour and a half boat ride to a small island called Ko Phi Phi. They played Kung Fu Panda along the way and it made me think of my buddy Raymond. Miss you man! Glad to get off the boat though...

This is the view from the awesome tree house type hotel room that we stayed in. What an awesome view! This island was pretty deserted. I hear that they filmed the movie "The Beach" here. There were no roads to get around on. If you wanted to go to the other side, you had to ride in a wooden long boat or walk.

This will give you an idea of the type of island that we were on. Not sure if any of these are where we were though... Really pretty place and the people were very nice too. 

In all, I had many smiles on this birthday and it will be one that I will never forget. I really missed spending it with family and friends at home, but it was really great to be here too!

Ramadan

This past Sunday marked the end of the Muslim fasting month, Ramadan. Living in a Muslim country Ramadan is a huge part of life here. Muslims, who follow the teachings of Islam, fast from food and drink from around 5:30am until right around 7:38pm. The fast each day starts and ends with a call to prayer. We hear this 5 times a day and sometimes a person at the mosque will be speaking in Arabic throughout the day as well. Not being able to eat or drink in this very hot environment has got to take some adjusting!

I had the chance to break the fast with friends on a couple of different occasions. Locally this time is called "berbuka puasa" which literally means "to open the fast." While some opt to break the fast with their families at home, others choose to go to a local restaurant. In order to get a seat at a restaurant, you need to get there around 6:30 to 6:45 and sit at the table waiting on the call to prayer. The food is brought to the table usually pretty early and everyone sits and talks until it is time to eat. It was pretty interesting to take part in and I am grateful for friends who let us tag along with them. After the fast is broken, everyone usually goes back to the mosque to have another time for prayer. This may be different in other parts of the world, but that is the general practice here. Restaurants will stay open all night long serving food to those who choose to eat either really late or early in the morning before fasting begins again.

There were a couple of things that I loved about Ramadan. One is the discounted food everywhere and the night markets called "Bazaar Ramadhan," that were held each afternoon. I love mingling with the people and trying new things. Also, different restaurants would offer different Ramadan specials. I got kind of used to them and now I miss it! For example, at Subway you could get one of three 6 inch sandwiches, a cookie and a coke for 10 Rm. That's about the equivalent to  $3.30 in US dollars. I think I am adapting more to the culture here because everyone loves to talk about food.

At the end of the month of fasting, there is a huge celebration called "Hari Raya," which means "day of celebration." The official celebration lasts for two days, but people usually celebrate all week. We were invited to one of our friend's house to celebrate with them. It's kind of like one big block party in the village or neighborhood. Here are some pictures from that day. 

 

This is some traditional food eaten at Hari Raya. The food on the right is a spicy rice noodle dish called Laksa. The sauce on top had a fish in it as well. There was also other types of cookies and crackers to eat as well. The food on the left is a type of cubed rice and you dip it in the peanut sauce that is in the bowl beside it. That was really good! 

We celebrated at the home of our first language teacher. My friend Aaron and I decided to dress in some traditional Batik which went over well with our friends!

During Hari Raya children will visit their neighbor's homes where they are given a small amount of money as a way to celebrate with them. This is called duit raya. I wanted to get in on this action!

Another tradition during this week of celebration is fireworks. They are shot off pretty much all night long. These are not your typical fireworks either. We are talking about the M1000 type that sound like a shotgun going off. No idea where they purchase them either because I have never seen them for sale. Apparently the people in our apartment complex have a stock pile of them because they do not seem to be running out any time soon!

This month also served as a great time to pray for the people here. I love these people a great deal, and hearing the call to prayer reminds me of my need to pray for God to pour Himself out on this country and the World.