Matzo and Easter Eggs? - Celebrating Passover and Easter in Jakarta

What a mitzvah . . . we had a Passover seder in Jakarta!!  (my grandma would be so proud!)

Our new friend, Andrew, hosted the Passover seder.  He is American, has been living in Jakarta for 
20-some years and is a partner in a law firm here.  
Also, a Michigan graduate!!

Wow, THIS is a seder table, don't you think?  Seating for 24.  From what I heard, the invite list started out small, but one-by-one people kept asking to join, including 5 or 6 single Jewish guys Andrew knows.  And, what good Jewish family is going to say no to taking in a wandering Jew who wants to celebrate Passover?   . . . Exactly!

Natasha and some of her new friends.

For the seder, I contributed this children's seder plate, a strawberry dessert, and also made a family recipe of charoset, used in the Passover seder.  I almost used a charoset recipe on-line from Wolfgang Puck, but then I thought better of it.

This was the more grown-up seder plate we used.  Notice on both plates the use of green wasabi for the maror.  Waaaaaaaaaassaaabi?

We planned to use someone's family Haggadah for the seder, but when I came early and showed this children's Haggadah to Andrew, he liked it so much he sent his driver out to go make copies.  The driver returned 30 minutes later with 25 copies of the Haggadah, bound and with plastic cover.  Shout out Grandma Judy, for sending this to us!!

One of the guys at the seder had just returned from the U.S. and concidentially brought back some matzo which came from Israel!  We were all amazed to be eating REAL matzo in Jakarta, rather than just using Carr's crackers and pretending it was matzo.  I'm pretty sure the guy who brought it didn't know that it would be used to serve 24 people. But just as the Jews did when they were fleeing slavery in Israel, we each took a small bite and shared the rest amongst our brethren and sisteren.  :-)

Andrew and my friend, Bonnie.

Our host lit the candles and we all sang the opening prayers.  Some of us were a little rusty on the words and the melodies, but we gave it the good ol' college try.

The men all sang the prayer over the wine in a deep baritone key and swinging their arms a bit, as if they were in a late-night Irish pub.  Afterwards, Bonnie and I both spontaneously and without any coordination started playfully mimicking them by singing in our deepest voice: 
"Men, men, men, men . . . . Men, men, men, men . . . " 

After dinner the kids all ran throughout the house, looking for the "afikomen," which is the matzo broken during the seder ceremony and used for dessert.  Different families have different traditions relating to the afikomen. Some have the children hide it, while the parents have to either find it or ransom it back. Others have the parents hide it and then the children look for it. The idea is to (hopefully) keep the children awake and attentive throughout the Passover seder.  Here, the girl who found it is giving some to the other kids.

Natasha and Cassidy, Bonnie's daughter.

After dinner, everyone was singing any Passover and/or Jewish songs they knew.  Logan got into the spirit of things by dancing the Russian kazatsky dance in the middle of everyone.  

All of the kids who were at the seder.

Andrew entertained the kids with some magic tricks.

Lastly, after dinner to wind down the evening, there was guitar-playing and singing.  This man was actually just visiting Indonesia from Los Angeles.  He was in Jakarta doing a movie about slavery for a large American network.  Appropros to the holiday we were celebrating, in addition to being a scholar on slavery, this guy is a Jewish history professor and taught us a lot throughout the seder.

And that, my friends, was our Passover 

celebration in Jakarta.

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And now, for something completely different . . .  EASTER!

Logan, Natasha and I went back to our former residence, Hotel Kristal, to celebrate Easter with some friends.

This is one of Natasha's best friends.

Logan also ran into a friend at the Easter celebration.

During the Easter party, the host led the children in games, fun "science projects," and dancing.

First, a warm-up game . . .

Then, some science experiments . . . mixing dry ice and warm water.

And making plaster molds of the kids' hands . . .

Then some dancing/exercise . . .

Finally, the kids got to decorate their own cupcakes.

Logan and the host, 
Pak (or Mister) Ray.

After some games inside and a heavy rain outside, the event planners LET THE EASTER EGG HUNT BEGIN!

Natasha was an excellent Easter Egg hunter - she found 7 Easter eggs, while Logan found 2, and I found none.

The Easter Egg hunt took place in the garden areas 
surrounding the pool.

And that concludes our Passover and Easter celebrations!