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It being late mid-week, we were too lazy to cook last night, so we ended up having dinner at one of our favourite Indonesian restaurants, Raos in Mount Lawley. The food there is always tasty and it doesn’t cost a mint, either. We had ayam goreng, sayur cap cay and tahu bandung with nasi putih. That’s fried chicken, mixed stir-fried veg, fried tofu in peanut sauce, and steamed rice.
For dessert, they have a variety of interesting ‘ice’ drinks on the menu. M wanted to try the ice teller but they were all out – I had no idea what that is, but have since discovered that it’s an “avocado smoothie with young coconut, jackfruit, and topped with sweet vanilla syrup and condensed milkâ€. I think I’d have to be in the mood to try that – it’s the idea of drinking avocado that puts me off. I’d stick to ice cendol (green mung bean gelatin teardrops in brown sugar and coconut milk). We were so full after the meal that we couldn’t have fit any dessert in, anyway.
Last night M finally asked the waiter the question that bugs him everytime we go to Raos – what does the name mean? Because Raos is pronounced like the German raus (as in komm raus – “get outâ€), it has particular connotations for M, who as a child would be told by his parents, “Raus! Vrooot1! Get [outside and play, stop making yourself a nuisance in the house]!â€
This Raos has far more pleasant connotations. The waiter asked if either of us spoke Indonesian, and M pointed at me. The waiter said it had a similar, but not quite the same, meaning as the word enak, which, in Bahasa Indonesia has a couple of main meanings:
I love words which don’t quite have full equivalents in other languages. I translated for M, and guessed that it’s a bit like calling your restaurant “Tasty†or “Yummyâ€. I asked the waiter where the word came from, as it’s not standard Bahasa Indonesia as far as I know. He agreed and told us that it was from the language of the restaurant staff, Bahasa Sunda, Sundanese (which is from West Java).
As we ate I mentioned how there are different words for “full†in both Malay/Indonesian and Chinese. In English, the glass is full and I am full, but the glass is penuh and I am kenyang in Malay/Indonesian. In Mandarin the glass is mÇŽn and I am bÇŽo3. Similar concepts in Cantonese, Hokkien. M shared the Dutch phrase his Dad, W, would say after eating, which translates to something like “Fat (full) tummy†(which I am not even going to try to transliterate here!). I’ll have to ask W to say it at Christmas.
1That’s my approximation of a Dutch dialect word – I have no idea how it’s really spelt.
2Quinn, G 2001, The Learner’s dictionary of today’s Indonesian, Allen and Unwin, Sydney.
3I hope the tone marks display in your browser.
Christmas feels different this year. Every year the university where I work closes down over the Christmas and New Year period, effectively giving us employees close to two weeks of holidays on top of our annual leave allocation. It’s quite good really but lest you think we’re getting something for nothing, we have this benefit in exchange for working a number of public holidays during the year. A case of minor suffering throughout the year while all your friends and family enjoy long weekends or the odd day off here and there, and delayed gratification for you, with enjoyment at the end of the year when you have a nice amount of time off where most people only have a couple of days off.
Christmas feels different this year because of the fact that we’re working all the way up until Friday 23 December. In previous years we’ve usually had a few days of the week prior to Christmas off as well, time to do that frenzied Christmas shopping and last minute whatever and get into the spirit of things. There’s not going to be much time for that this year. (I really dislike the consumer insanity that goes on at this time of year, but that’s another story.)
Also, I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I seem to be a lot busier this year, with all sorts of meetings to attend and things to write up and training sessions to present. My schedule for next week is looking horrendous. (I’m really looking forward to the break – M and I don’t go back to work until 9 January!)
My parents are away, too, and won’t be back in town until a couple of days after Christmas. This is the first time I can think of that I won’t be celebrating Christmas with them. Still, despite their absence it’s looking like it’s going to be busy as usual with lots of people to catch up with.
And the weather is very strange at the moment. Usually at this time of year we have average temperatures of around 28˚ Celsius (~82˚ Fahrenheit), the skies are clear and blue, rain is a distant memory and you think of sitting around outdoors sipping something cold. Instead, for the past week or so it has been cool (around 18˚ C/65˚ F), the skies are grey and cloud filled, it rains every so often, and you wish you hadn’t packed all your winter gear away. It could still warm up in time for Christmas, though, although this morning (15˚C/59˚F at the moment!) the thought of a 40˚C/104˚ F Christmas day* seems like a fantasy.
*Christmas Day in Perth is often a scorcher, not ideal weather for eating turkey and drinking eggnog.
Categories: celebration, Christmas, culture
