weddings...javanese style...

after relaxing time at home it was time to journey to Dian and Ingmar's Javanese wedding celebrations in bandar lampung on sumatra, indonesia, via sydney, singapore and jakarta...and what celebrations they were!

i feel very privileged to have been welcomed into these elaborate ceremonies and days with their families and community in bandar lampung...it was exhausting but fascinating all at once...the official proposal was followed by ceremonies to cleanse and purify the bride and groom, planting snippets of their hair for fertility, the offering of gifts from the groom's family to the bride, the night of the angels, or "ladies' night", official service in the church and then javanese reception - Dian washing egg from Ingmar's feet, feeding each other, serving each other tea, honouring parents, greeting all guests and taking photographs, watching wayang kulit puppet shows....all amidst a myriad of costume and make-up changes! i don't know how dian and ingmar, and their families, handled it....but it was great....was really noticing the role of the parents in all the ceremonies...which i thought was quite nice....following are some shots from different days of the ceremonies...

relaxing in redcliffe

i had a really relaxed and lovely time in redcliffe...relaxing with my family, hunting down a few winter bargains and catching up with a few friends...i went to the Missy Higgins concert with my friend, Leah (above) and my sister, Kylie...won the Fitzgerald Family sweeps for the Melbourne Cup (hence the big hat in the photo with my sister, below)....met my friend's daughter, Zali, for the first time (she's the hot babe in the glasses), and her aunty, Erin, who is one month away from giving birth to a cousin for Zali....celebrated Diwali with my family at Indian restaurant....caught up with old friends, Leah, Kelly, Karen and Maggie, over few glasses of wine and the sunrise...

surpriiiiiise!

me mum and dad
Originally uploaded by Zozo.

after a couple of days in sydney i finally arrived in Brisbane and my sister, Kylie, my surprise accomplice, picked me up at the airpot and we headed to Redcliffe...we lured mum and dad to a cafe by the beach for an innocent saturday morning coffee...and then we sprung the surprise! they really couldn't believe their eyes i don't think....and after several times answering the question "what are you REALLY doing here?", i managed to reassure my parents that I wasn't pregnant, married, deported or fired, and had merely travelled thousands of miles to have a holiday and spend time with them :) kylie really is a brilliant lier though, they really had no idea and we spent quite a bit of time unravelling all the lies that had been told in the preceeding months

up from down under

ok ok....so my blogging tardiness has been well and truly noted...thanks Minni, Micha etc...so after taking a week or so to settle back into life and work (and the weather!) in Amsterdam, here's some verbal and visual recollections of my surprise visit home to Australia and trip to Indonesia for Ingmar and Dian's wedding there....

despite the last two days of sufferance under food poisoning (big thanks to pita, oliveira, alfy and nicky for taking care of me in Singapore! although the notion of "hard" boiled eggs there remains a mystery!!) it was an AMAZING trip...lots of relaxation and quality time with my family and friends in Oz and being welcomed into the intriguing intricacies of a Javanese wedding...

my first touch down was in Sydney for two days where i was hosted by Gerardo, who after being the longest serving MC member in history :P is now doing his traineeship there with GE...had a lovely time catching up with my school friend, Tash, who just moved there from Dublin, and a bunch of AIESEC alumni - Mary, Toby, Josh, Robin, Chris, Mads and Brett, who have all pretty much made Balmain their home...was great also to catch up with Sonia and Caesar who were on my EB at Griffith and Lana and Mel from my MC...was very proud to hear of Mel's efforts to conquer her fear of flying!