Soccer in Manado

We have an interesting, if small (ok, miniscule), circle of friends in Manado (outside our workmates, that is). They are the South American contingent of the professional soccer scene here - and celebrities to boot! I certainly wasn't anticipating becoming 'famous-by-association' (I thought my fame would be born in and of itself!?), but when my picture ended up in the society pages of the Manado Post, I had a good laugh! Now the people in the streets aren't only calling out after the "Bule", but the friend-of-the-wife-of-the-Chilean-soccer-star-Bule!

We have become pretty good friends with the Coach of the team and his daughter(Chileans), as well as the star player (also from Chile - a conspiracy if you ask me!), as well as a few of the other team members (mostly Latinos... for the obvious reason that poor Martin has only me to speak spanish with, and needs a break once in a while!) Just before heading to Raja Ampat, we had a chance to go to a big game... between two rival teams in North Sulawesi.

The game was a blast. Soccer is THE sport of choice here, and it draws quite a mixed crowd - The stadium was PACKED! So packed in fact that I couldn't help but think what chaos would ensue if the natural disasters that have been plaguing Indonesia this year chose that moment to toss an earthquake our way!

Have joined this 'facebook' network that seems to be the latest fad these days...

I thought, really, this is a joke... waste of time... but it's amazing to see how rapidly it's spreading!!!

(note: this is probably not a positive point... i only get access to the internet once in a while, and i can see myself wasting it all away playing around with this... yikes)

Roast Dog

Sorry, Bowser, I can hardly believe it myself...

WARNING: Content may be objectionable to your sensibilities (it is to mine!)

In Indonesia (well, Manado area is reknown for the practise), I find myself commonly asking the question "teman atau makanan?" (friend or food???), to avoid making friends with a doggie on death row.... You see, puppy chow up here doesn't come in a can... it's chowing down on the puppy itself.

"A party just isn't a party without a dish of roast dog", said a friend when I inquired about this 'delicacy'. It's part of the Minnahasan culture of North Sulawesi - I can't help but think that it arose from a dire need for protein at some point in history. Of course, it's possible they just picked it up as a replacement for cannibalism when it became uncouth and a dying trend.

I have yet to overcome my western sensibilities to try it... (maybe I keep thinking of Dice, whom I miss terribly). I have used as my excuse the fact that the mouth-afire, burning spices that they use to garnish the pups just doesn't seem delicious to me. This was before I could use cruelty to animals as another basis - I have just recently found out that they 'tenderize' the meat while the dog is still alive - how awful! Now, I have always subscribed to the motto "try anything once", but I'm afraid on this one, I'll have to pass. Same goes for the sausages. (The dogs are kept hungry for the last few days of their sad little lives, then, the eve before the roasting, they are fed lots of red meat, which essentially gets 'naturally processed'...)

This was a picture taken from the balcony of our home-stay the first month living in Manado... luckily we were spared bearing witness to the tenderization process.



To confuse things even further, dog isn't listed on any menu as dog (is there shame deep down for eating our loyal, furry friends?), but instead as RW. And, because it actually LOOKS like a delicious dish, Martin came too-close (for his comfort) to discovering how it tastes... I came to his rescue, having read about the alias, before he made the mistake of ordering (let alone eating)!

This was an old post that was kicking around in my 'drafts' section, and since I haven't posted in a while, I thought I would just throw it out there... sorry. Next post will be more on our current trip to Raja Ampat, and my work.

The house!
Here I am, finally getting around to posting a picture of our 'tiny' home in Manado as we're about to abandon it for several months! (That's me on the side terrace!) Now you can all have an idea of where we live... and where you can come visit! Note: This picture was taken AFTER we cut back the jungle that was our yard, but no doubt upon our return from Papua this time, it will be overgrown again!

Cap Go Meh!

This was the event that everyone was waiting for... the Chinese New Year Parade!





A few high/low-lights:

• Beautiful colours, floats and flags
• Thick crowds - more people than I knew existed in Manado! (& viewing from perches/rooftops, etc!), and of course, their resulting GARBAGE underfoot!
  
• Sad little princesses getting sick atop their lotus-flower floats from the heat... (this was obviously not a factor overlooked by parade organizers - there were pukebuckets on hand!)
• Dragons...
• Huge bamboo musical instruments! (my favourite of all)
  

Gong Xi Fa Chai!

The year of the dog in the Chinese lunar calendar has come to a close, and we're looking forward to a prosperous year of the pig. We're told that Manado is the place to be for this event, outside China of course, so we're holding our breath in eager anticipation for the big celebration this coming weekend.

A snippet from history: Traditionally, a festival is celebrated to welcome the first sun in the spring after a long cold winter in China. The cherry blossoms on the trees come to bloom in this season, giving the high hopes of an abundant harvest in the year to come for the farmers.

As Chinese people migrated to other corners of the world, they have brought this tradition with them although in some part of the world, like in Indonesia, it has been assimilated with the local tradition. Ethnic Chinese in Indonesia are mostly not farmers... they tend to be the leaders in trading business. There are no cherry blossom trees in Indonesia, however, the hope of a prosperous year is still symbolized by hand-made silk cherry blossoms which are hung on bare-branched trees.

During Soeharto’s reign in Indonesia (35 years up until May 1998), everything about China (culture, language, religion) was banned in Indonesia. Ethnic Chinese were not allowed to take civil servant positions, had special identity cards, and could not attend public universities. This made the life of ethnic Chinese very difficult, although some did well economically through this era of oppression. No Chinese New Year celebrations were allowed in Indonesia during this time.

Things changed, when in the year 2000, the Indonesian President at the time, Gus Dur, lifted the ban and declared Chinese New Year a national holiday.