This is the view of Tual from where we tied up our dinghy to the back of a coast guard boat. Then we climbed over two other boats and had to jump down onto a huge black fender and step up again to get to shore.
After we cleared in on Wednesday and said goodbye to our agent, we met Dinda in front of her cell phone shop. She bought some chocolate bananas for Jade and Luz, and asked us to sit down on the bench. Jade asked Dinda where she would get a headscarf (hijab) like hers. Dinda replied that she had so many at home, she would bring some for Jade the next day. Jade said, “could you also bring one for Luz and my mom?” I asked Dinda if it would be possible to visit a mosque, as Jade was interested and had never seen a mosque before. Dinda replied, “of course. we will go in the morning.”
The next day, Thursday, we met up with Dinda and her best friend Kiky. Dinda put our hijabs on, while a crowd of about 20 people watched and then wanted to take pictures with Jade & Luz. We waited about 30 minutes for the prayer to be over before heading to the mosque. Tomu and Riki went on a walk through the market while Dinda brought us inside her store to give us a break from all the people.
Dinda showed me how to wash before you pray: wash your hands, then take some water in your mouth and spit it out, then wash out your nostrils, and your ears, and your arms up to the elbows and your feet and legs up to the knees — and you do all that three times. Then she showed me the women’s section of the mosque, which was separated from the rest of the mosque by wooden panels. There are prayer garments in the mosque for women to wear — a loose fitting poncho that has a hood and covers the entire arms, and a long skirt that goes underneath. These prayer garments are worn on top of the regular hijab and clothes.
After visiting the mosque we went out to lunch. We had nasi padang and ice tea, and it was delicious!
After lunch we took a bus (for 33 cents each) to the Telkomsel office to register our phone IMEI numbers in Indonesia — a requirement before your Indonesian SIM card will work. Then it was time to pray, so Dinda and Kiky went into Gota, the big supermarket, to pray. Gota has an area specifically designed for prayer.
Dinda and Kiky came to the boat that afternoon for a visit.
The following day, Friday, Riki and I took the dinghy into town at 7:30 am to meet up with Dinda. She had arranged for mother, their truck and their driver to take our jerry cans to the Pertamina gas station to fill them with DexLite, the middle grade diesel available in Indonesia. We, as foreigners, aren’t allowed to buy it because there is a limited supply. They made 4 trips to the gas station, and Riki made 4 trips out to the boat with the jerry cans to fill up our tanks. Tomu helped Riki transfer the diesel to the tank. I think we finished at 4 or 5 pm. So different than driving the boat up to a fuel dock and filling the tanks in 30 minutes!
Dinda took me on the motorcycle to drop off our laundry and to print out our ballots. We voted by sending photos of our ballots via email. 🙂 I chose to wear hijab when riding the scooter with her — my hat just flapped all crazy. Also, it felt respectful to me, and like I fit in a little bit better. However, Dinda said no one would think I was Indonesian because I am too tall and my skin is too light. One woman came up to me from two blocks away to ask if I was Muslim because I was wearing hijab. One older woman on the bus asked me in Indonesian if I was from Japan or China. I replied, “China”, and that my mom was from China. Then she paid for my bus fare when I got off!
Kiky and her mom Fatma bought a dress for Jade and a pink bunny hat whose ears move when you squeeze the flaps for Luz. Luz is obsessed with bunnies, so she was over the moon!
After 5 days in Tual, we motored for 2.5 hours to get to a fabulous white sand beach.
After all of those stories about Indonesia, I have found the people to be so very kind and generous. A woman bought the kids ice creams on the beach.
It is an adjustment because not too many tourists visit the places we have been so far, so we are something like celebrities. At the beach the kids were crowding around our kids, wanting to play. And people are so excited to see us, kids (and adults) call out what English they know, “mister, mister, what’s your name? where are you from?” They also want to take selfies with us. Tomu has learned to keep his hat low over his eyes and not make eye contact when he doesn’t want to engage. Jade asked me how to say “can you please give us some space?” I had some moments of walking around and feeling the particular joy of exploring a new place and communicating successfully with the local folx in their language.
We have been hanging out at this anchorage for 4 days. We started home school again, and have been playing lots of games. We plan to leave tomorrow and head towards Triton Bay, on Papua island.
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