Easter in Jakarta is always an interesting holiday. Unlike Christmas, which is widely celebrated on a secular level, much like the U.S., Easter is not a major holiday. In December, stores are packed with Christmas trees and decorations, and many of the malls will have choirs from around the city singing carols or putting on shows. While there are many expat haunts that offer an Easter brunch, finding baskets, chocolate bunnies, and any type of egg is a challenge.
This Easter also came at a time of heightened awareness for terrorist activity. In the weeks leading up to Good Friday, liberal Muslim organizations and one Jewish organization received book bombs in the mail, four in total. A few days later a lone terrorist took his own life exploding a bomb at a mosque where the anti-terrorist police prayed together, injuring thirty of the officers. On Good Friday, Jakarta police discovered more than 300 pounds of explosives on the gas line feeding the local Catholic church. The timer scheduled the explosion to coincide with the start of the Good Friday mass.
We decided to spend both Good Friday and Sunday at our home, avoiding locations frequented by expats.
Sunday morning, our son, as usual, was the first to rise. We kept him quiet in our room for about twenty minutes, hoping our daughter would soon wake up. When he began insisting on his morning milk, we woke our daughter and let them have their Easter Egg hunt.
Our daughter was familiar with the activity and ran around the house finding egg after egg. Our son had no idea what was going on. He was quite thrilled to find an egg that made noise when he shook it, and quite content to stand in the middle of the room shaking it, watching his sister run around and find more. When we opened it for him and he discovered there was chocolate inside, he was no longer interested in the noise it could make. He also lost interest in his sister's activity.
Unable to find an Easter basket, my wife found very colorful hats that we filled with green paper cut into thin strips and what few chocolate eggs we managed to smuggle back from our last trip to Singapore. As is our tradition, they both also received a small gift. The Easter Bunny has nothing on Santa, but he does like to drop a toy with the candy.
We will have one more Easter in Jakarta before returning home. I hope the next one does not require us, for safety reasons, to hide in our house.
This Easter also came at a time of heightened awareness for terrorist activity. In the weeks leading up to Good Friday, liberal Muslim organizations and one Jewish organization received book bombs in the mail, four in total. A few days later a lone terrorist took his own life exploding a bomb at a mosque where the anti-terrorist police prayed together, injuring thirty of the officers. On Good Friday, Jakarta police discovered more than 300 pounds of explosives on the gas line feeding the local Catholic church. The timer scheduled the explosion to coincide with the start of the Good Friday mass.
We decided to spend both Good Friday and Sunday at our home, avoiding locations frequented by expats.
Sunday morning, our son, as usual, was the first to rise. We kept him quiet in our room for about twenty minutes, hoping our daughter would soon wake up. When he began insisting on his morning milk, we woke our daughter and let them have their Easter Egg hunt.
Our daughter was familiar with the activity and ran around the house finding egg after egg. Our son had no idea what was going on. He was quite thrilled to find an egg that made noise when he shook it, and quite content to stand in the middle of the room shaking it, watching his sister run around and find more. When we opened it for him and he discovered there was chocolate inside, he was no longer interested in the noise it could make. He also lost interest in his sister's activity.
Unable to find an Easter basket, my wife found very colorful hats that we filled with green paper cut into thin strips and what few chocolate eggs we managed to smuggle back from our last trip to Singapore. As is our tradition, they both also received a small gift. The Easter Bunny has nothing on Santa, but he does like to drop a toy with the candy.
We will have one more Easter in Jakarta before returning home. I hope the next one does not require us, for safety reasons, to hide in our house.
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1 comment:
Why hide in your home?
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