Nyepi

One of the advantages of living in an officially multi-religious state (Indonesia formally recognizes 6 faiths) is that you get a lot of holidays. Today, for example, is Nyepi, the Balinese Hindu day of silence. There aren't too many Hindus in Jakarta, but Nyepi becomes its own sort of day of silence here: offices are closed, people have left town for the long weekend, and the roads are blissfully half-empty. Coming up are the Prophet Muhammad's birthday and Good Friday -- both government holidays too.

Because religion has an official role here, you get asked about your faith at a lot of strange times and places. When I had to report my lost ATM card to the police earlier this week, for example -- which seemed weird in itself, but the bank insisted -- the officer asked my religion and wrote my answer on the form. Then he asked me exactly where and when I lost the card. I refrained from pointing out that if I knew those things, I would know where to find the card. Instead I just made some stuff up, which must be what everybody does.

I didn't take a picture of the policeman, but you can imagine a guy in a tan-and-brown uniform that didn't look very comfortable, playing solitaire on his computer in a tiny box of an office underneath a local overpass. There was no AC and the room was pretty hot and sticky, even though this is the cool time of year. It must get pretty unbearable in August.


Anyway, I guess I'll just have to post a picture of the kitty instead. Susu is improving by leaps and bounds; her digestive problems have cleared up, which is giving the sores and other stuff a chance to heal. She's used the litter box faithfully for the past two days so we're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. She's pretty hyper sometimes, especially when she's chasing crumpled balls of paper, but she still likes to sleep on the back of my neck while I type on the couch. In other words, she's a pretty cool cat.