Today we attended church and heard a good sermon about God’s wrath. Too many people nowadays only want to think of God in terms of love, but he is a God of anger as well.
Yesterday two of the MAF families here hosted a combined birthday party for their children who are both turning one. They invited many kids from the kampung to come. Typically everyone sits down and then someone prays and then they sing. Then came the cupcakes and juice and then everyone got to eat Kroepoek (I think I spelled that wrong). See photos… The idea is to eat it while it is hanging up without using one’s hands. Then it was over and all the kids took home a goody bag with treats and a rice meal with some egg in it. This is traditional that you are given a meal to take home.
I never cease to be amazed that the people here so badly want to be white. They keep out of the sun as much as possible and there are many women who put a lot of white makeup on their faces. Sometimes they use powder which also acts as a sunblock. They often do this on their babies so that they look really white. If you go to the store here, there is a plethora of whitening products available. Dove, who in North America has an ad campaign touting acceptance of all different types of bodies and looks, has a huge line of whitening products available here. Seems like a bit of a double standard doesn’t it? I personally feel that the women here are more beautiful without any makeup on, but they’ll never feel that way. Living here is great for one’s self esteem if white, because they think we are all the most beautiful creatures on the earth… We’ll do our best not to let it go to our heads…