9/28/10

IDUL FITRI

idul fitri is a festive day which marks the end of ramadan, the muslim month of fasting... it is the biggest holiday of the year and i was so glad to be in a madurese village... everyone cooks amazing traditional food and then goes from village to village and eats all day long.. by 9 am i had already eaten 3 or 4 meals and was struggling.. also i wore a traditional shirt and hat, as well as my madura sarong so as not to look like a complete jackass.. everyone was so nice and although im not muslim they made me feel very welcome and comfortable.. they all laughed at my butchered attempts to pronounce arabic greetings...







9/26/10

written and directed by faroha....

faroha is my little sister in madura.. she is 10yr old and has a very charismatic personality that always keeps everyone around her smiling.. she kept taking my camera and making video so i told her that when she grows up she ought to pursue a career in film or television and i am happy to produce her first short film....

9/21/10

2 weeks in a madurese village...

after my buddy mudz left to go back to new york i returned to patria's village in northern madura to spend some more time.. indonesia is a muslim country and madura is probably its most religious island.. it is prob 99% islamic and the religion is seen in all aspects of everyday life.. there is no such thing as premarital sex, alcohol, gambling, or eating pork.. many misconceptions i used to have about islam and arabic culture in general have been completely shattered and proved false as these are some of the most accepting, generous, and least judgmental people i have ever met.. i will write about that later..

in the village i became very close with my family and hope to return to the village to help umi, who is normally alone.. umi is patrias mother and she is in her 70s.. everyday she work extremely hard maintaining her cows and farming.. often working through severe pain but somehow keeping a positive demeanor.. patria has 36 brothers and sisters and 4 mothers, it is not uncommon in madura for a man to have up to four wives provided that he can support them all.. i learned so much about madurese culture and the local language which everyone spoke exclusively only using indonesian when communicating with me.. daily routine included picking beans, drawing water from the well, and cooking.. my little sister faroha is 10 yrs old and has the most amazing personality.. she kept taking my camera and making videos so i will put together some clips later..














9/5/10

2 'bule' and a 'becak'

bule: someone of european desent
becak: an indonesian rickshaw, basically a wooden carriage with a bicycle on the back

the mud man, aka 'the villian', is a close friend of mine who flew to indonesia from brooklyn to spend a couple weeks catching up with me.. muddy and i go way back as we used to be band mates years ago in chicago and have remained close friends ever since...
this was the most legendary 2 weeks for sure and involved riding a becak (indo rickshaw) 100+ miles across madura, lots of hitchhiking, sleeping in picturesque islamic villages, wrecking a rented motorbike in bali, and sleeping in javanese seaports.. muddy is a chef in nyc and he and i share a devout passion for kick ass food, we ate an enormous amount of amazing meals, but that is for a separate post...also had a blast with my good friend husny in surabaya.. husny quite simply is the king, he is a sharp guy who speaks 5+ languages and knows everything there is to know about surabaya, he made my rickshaw dream come to life... legend...