Surprise! The longhouses have wifi in the morning! Who knew?
Tuesday morning we woke up at 5am to pack up, grab an early breakfast and head to the dock by 6:30am. we took a boat from Kuching to Sarikei. I was exhausted and it was a relaxing 3 1/2 hour ride and we got to sit outside in the fresh air for part of it which was refreshing.
Once we arrived in Sarikei I could feel the heat hit me like a slap in the face. It was very hot and at first I wasn't sweating so I could feel my body temperature rising. I felt a little light headed. The problem was every time I drank water I immediately had to go to the bathroom and they are getting a little less accessible. One that we used in Sarikei was all squat toilets. I definitely am not comfortable using them, all though I can, it makes me nervous.
We grabbed some lunch at a delicious vegetarian stall, the non vegetarians were very gracious. As soon as we walked in the whole food court area turned around and starred, and kept starring as we walked to our seats. Because it was a smaller town they were not as accustomed to tourists.
The drive to the long house I was fighting off sleep. The pastor who was driving us warned us not to wear bikinis to bathe in the river because the last Americans were quite the show when they wore theirs and it was not received well. Dr Perumal joked that the locals might faint from shock and we certainly didn't want to have that happen. He told us to bathe in the sarongs that he had bought us. The idea of managing a sarong for the first time and bathing in the river made me a little more than nervous.
We were greeted by the pastor's little grandson as we pulled into the Adventist longhouse of the Iban people. Some aspects of the village were quite modern at first glance. The two main longhouses are beautiful, have electricity, limited wifi and fans. But other aspects are very rural. The women were all gathered in the main hall that connects the houses, picking pepper plants. Most of the women were dressed in sarongs and a few of the older women were topless. The children ran out to watch us and the older kids peeked through windows. The elected chief of the longhouses told us there are 57 houses between the two longhouses! All the girls set up our mattresses and pillows, no need for blankets or sheets in this weather and no misquotes so far, in the main room of the chiefs house and went out to try to meet the children. It was difficult at first because they don't know any English and I don't know any Malay. Thankfully Ashlee Sumilat is Indonesian, and the language is similar to Malay, so she was great with the kids. It was really good for me to finally force myself to learn a little Malay. It is hard though! Not only is it different from anything I've ever heard, much less spoken, there are so many new words and names being thrown at me, like rapid fire, that I can't keep up. I sat down to help one of the ladies pick pepper plants. She was very patient and had the most beautiful dimpled smile as she showed me what to do with hand signs. In the middle of helping her, another woman brought the lady's new born baby to be breast fed. She continued to work as she fed the baby there. The average age that girls get married here in this area is 15. By the time they are in their late fifties they are already great grandparents.
The ladies, Zoë, Jenna, Ashlee, Pam and I attempted to help make dinner. I was helping crack the eggs when one of my eggs was black inside! I have never seen such a thing. I didn't open it enough to see what was inside but unfortunately it spilled into the bowl and we had to start over. I felt really bad. In the end it was harder for the ladies to explain and speak English so we mostly just played and took pictures with the adorable children leaning in the back door. Ashlee and I taught them slide and before we knew it we were all playing hand games in English and Malay and it was a melee of fun.
Dinner was eaten on the cool tile floor of the kitchen in good Iban style. The food was very good and all vegetarian. They cooked quite a bit and don't have a culture of leftovers so they encouraged us to eat it all up. But because of the stifling heat even the boys, who had played an intense game of soccer, weren't especially hungry.
The sun was starting to set at the end of dinner so we all hurried to get ready to bathe in the river. We were all nervous about how it would work. Like really nervous. Freaking out a little bit. I tried to tie my sarong like the locals, like a strapless dress, and said a prayer it would come undone and fly off at an inappropriate time. The problem was that the chief walked into the room unannounced while we were changing to open the doors and tell us that it was too stuffy to close up the room. Thankfully we were all able to cover up half way decent before the pastor walked in unannounced to make sure we knew that it was important to tie the sarongs tightly, otherwise it would fall to our ankles. We couldn't believe it. I started to feel the sense of true communal living and cultural privacy. No individualism here.
Walking to the river in our sarongs felt like a parade through the village. Every starred and said "hallo" with friendly smiles. When we got to the river there were families bathing in sarongs and the boys in our group were a little down river. We timidly got in but were instantly refreshed. The tight, hot, burning feeling I had on my skin all day was finally gone. The problem was the current was extremely strong so we stayed close to the edge of the river and held each other down when we rinsed our hair. As much as I was anxious about the experience it turned out to be pretty amazing. The river was cool and refreshing and the fading sky was picturesque. No ones sarongs fell down either so that was a plus!
After our shower we got ready for bed and headed out to the communal area outside our room for worship. The chief and a handful of families joined us and as we sat there singing songs and listening to our devotional by Pam, I couldn't help but feel the specialness of the moment. People brought together from across the world, different cultures and languages enjoying fellowship and worship together as a family!
I am currently posting this at 5:30am Wednesday morning with torrential rains. The older girls in the longhouse are ready for school and checking FB next to me. This is such an incredible experience that I can't afford to forget any of it.
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