Yes

Every day I see my dream, every day I see my dream...

Hey there everyone, it is your favorite and most dutiful blogger. Another two weeks has passed which means it is story time yet again. So grab your popcorn and sit tight folks!

There is a new regular occurrence in school and I am not quite sure how I feel about it. I am referring to...the marriage proposals. At first it was just some of the boys joking around, funny stuff, but now it is the male teachers too! Sometimes they ask me to be their girlfriend, sometimes their wife and other times they try to set me up with their sons. This is real life people! I could come back to America as someone's wifey. So that is what is happening now at school these days in Indonesia.

Last Sunday was Eid al-Adha which is a religious holiday for Muslims. On this day people are supposed to go pray, sacrifice a cow and prepare a meal to eat with their family and friends. So, along with my family, I got all dressed up and went to pray. Once the prayer was done, we traveled to my uncle's house (on my mother's side) for the first meal. I got to talk to my cousins, including a little girl who was very taken by me and insisted on teaching me Indonesian (she also mocked me because she thought I said "yes" and "okay" funny). Then we went to my aunt's house (on my father's side) and they were in the process of killing the cow in the front yard! It was so gross and bloody, and my ayah kept asking me if I wanted to take a picture. NO WAY MAN. We ate some more food there and then left from my grandparent's house (father's side again). When we got there, we ate. I ate so much food, they probably could have just rolled me from house to house. Afterwards I was off to Kelsey's house for a rotary gathering. I wasn't aware of this until I got their, but the adults were hoping that each student would make a food from their country...so Kelsey and I decided to team up and make burgers. I like to think that I am a pretty good cook (I mean, I am not terrible)  but I am not really sure how the burgers turned out. The patties they supplied us with were super thin and looked like pepperoni, so those were some interesting burgers to say the least.

For those of you who know what is in theaters currently, you have heard of Annabelle. For those of you who know me, horror movies and I don't mix well. However, basically everyone in Indonesia likes horror (I am trying not to stereotype, but I haven't been proven wrong yet), so I should have known what I was in for when my sister said we should go see a movie. So there I was, sitting in the theater, wide eyed and fully terrified. For over half the movie, I was hiding behind my purse while I could hear screams from the movie and my fellow viewers. Somehow I made it out of the theater alive (I figured I would maybe just die in the movie from spontaneous combustion due to fright) but now I freak out every time I go to bed. Fortunately I have compiled this bed time checklist:
1. Make sure door is fully closed (if not, it won't creak when someone opens it and you will die)
2. Close curtains (don't you dare let anyone peek in and kill you)
3. Close closet doors (no creepy shadows, no problems)
4. Say prayers (ward off them evil spirits)
5. Don't mention Annabelle, dolls or say "I like your dolls" at least an hour before sleeping
6. Always turn your back to the wall if you need to sleep on your side (to prevent attacks, not tempt them)

One day, my class turned into High School Musical. A guitar randomly appeared and they all broke out into song (and it wasn't just my class, other classes caught the singing bug too). I fancy that I have a stellar voice and I am known to sing in the car or shower but when everyone in the class burst into song, I was a little less than eager. I was more like Patrick Dempsey in the movie Enchanted, when he is the only one questioning why everyone is singing and how they all know the same song. They all wanted me to join in, but alas, I was not feeling like it. However, my classmates do not give up. Me saying that I didn't want to sing must have sounded like "If you keep asking and begging me, of course I will do what you want" to them because they were relentless. Finally I ended up singing a little jig just to get my ipad back (it got real when my friend took it to force me into singing). Moral of the story: Indonesians like to sing, and will force you to sing too.

Well that is all for now people, hope you got a chuckle or two! I leave for a rotary meeting in Batu, Malang tomorrow so I should probably pack for that. When I get back, just a few short days until I go to BALI with my family! Needless to say, these next few weeks will be super exciting so you better stay tuned for my next blog post to hear about how they went and what I did.

Until next time,
your wandering Holman

P.S. For those of you who have seen Eat Pray Love, just know that I am on the look out for my Javier Bardem.