Indonesian Birthday

As tradition goes in Indonesia, if it is your birthday you are expected to throw your own party for all of your friends or in the grown up world, take all of your coworkers out for lunch.   My 23^rd birthday happened to fall on a Saturday eliminating the option to celebrate at work and I was happy enough to have quiet day with a few friends (while I stressed about how time was passing and there are so many other adventures I want to have!).  We ended up having a really nice time, Carolyn and Sumi’s best friend Yani came over to our house and a woman from the neighborhood came to give us all full body massages.  This turned out to be quite an experience and not at all reminiscent of Thai massages I enjoyed so much a few months ago.  Well, this rather large woman seemed to use the weight of her body to knead my body into mush as she belched a cacophony of burps and other throaty grunts. Indonesians tend to be quite generous publicly with their burping but this woman was over the top to the point they practically echoed.  That may have hindered my relaxation a bit but afterwards we indulged in ice cream we bought from a nearby home industry run by a Chinese family.  Jackfruit is definitely my new favorite ice cream flavor with durian a close second.  Afterwards Carolyn and I took the motorbike to our favorite coffee shop (out of the two that exist in Jambi) for some good pizza and later to a shack on the river’s edge for a few celebratory beers.