Laughter -- A Good Medicine

    Last week's blog was difficult to write and brought many tears as it reminded me of a very sorrowful time in my life. In order to maintain a  healthy balance, I thought it might be good to write about something lighter this week. In my life I have found more and more that it is helpful to be able to look on the bright side of things and even sometimes to laugh at myself or the situations that I find myself in.

    Life in Indonesia as an expat can sure be funny at times. Actually, sometimes you find yourself wondering whether you should laugh or cry! When I first moved to Indonesia, as a newly married young woman, I found myself getting more and more frustrated preparing hot meals. This was because I would try my best to have a hot meal ready at a reasonable time, only to have sudden visitors show up at our house before we had managed to eat it. I learned from my Indonesian husband that if the visitors were close relatives you could just add a few extra plates at the table and invite them to eat with you. (I learned quickly that for this reason, you should always cook more than your family would normally eat.) However, if the visitors were not close relatives then you just had to put the meal on hold until the visitors left. Being a Westerner, this was difficult for me to adjust to. In the first place, my logical Western mind reasoned, "What happens if you actually are quite hungry??" And secondly, I reasoned, "How many times can one re-heat a meal and still have something that resembled a meal??" 😕

    Well, after multiple times in which I faithfully re-heated a meal several times in one night, I could handle no more. I exploded. I think that was one of our first big "fights" as a married couple. My husband looked at me blankly, obviously not comprehending why I was so angry. "Why would you heat the food up anyway?" he asked incredulously. That's when I found out that most Indonesians couldn't care less if their food was hot or cold. Their social connections, good relationships, and great times talking together, are much more precious to them than eating a hot meal,. That was definitely one time when I felt that it would be much better to laugh my head off than to continue being angry. And I also learned to sit down and eat my supper real fast too -- because I did NOT wish to eat my supper cold!! 😂

    The immigration office is one place you learn real fast that it's better to laugh than to cry. Cuz if you don't, believe me you will end up with buckets full of tears! I remember one time in particular. After multiple trips to the immigration office for the two of us, my husband and I had figured out a better system. My husband would make the many trips back and forth to the immigration office alone. Then, when at long last the immigration staff required my signature and/or photo, then I would come along. That way, only my husband had to waste a lot of time. I could get some work done at home.

    That particular time, I was about eight months pregnant. My husband was trying to renew my visa before he left on his trip out of the province. He worked hard on it, tried to push the immigration officers to work more quickly, putting on his best smile and talking nicely with them. (I believe one of my brothers would call this practice "buttering up".) Finally, a day before his intended trip, my husband came home from the immigration office saying that all was set. All I had to do the next day was go in, sign my name and take home my visa. I thought, "Hmmm... Really? Sounds too simple..." 😳 But I went in the next day as instructed, taking with me one of my sisters-in-law. We informed one of the immigration staff that I was there, signed my name, and sat down to wait. And wait. And wait. After about an hour I was sick of waiting. I have to think fast, I mused, or we will be here all day! I got up, walked over to the office of the head of immigration, and knocked on his door... 

    I stood at the door of his office, gently rubbing my big pregnant belly and said in a pained voice, "Sir, please, I am so sorry but you know how it is when a woman is near the time to deliver a baby..." The man's head jerked up and he instantly barked out orders to his men, "Hey! Why did you not arrange this woman's visa?! Where are her papers?!" One of his men pulled my papers out from under the stack of papers in front of his boss. The head of immigration immediately stamped them, apologizing profusely, and sent us on our way within ten minutes' time. Before my sister-in-law and I even got to the car, we doubled over with laughter. Needless to say, we also laughed all the way home!!😂😂

    Intersections and specifically red lights in Indonesia often manage to get me riled up. When I am at a red light and happen to be the first or second car in line, and the count down timer gets to three seconds left, the cars behind me almost always start to beep at me. Now if you are from a Western country you will know that you will get into serious trouble if you start to drive while the light is still red, even if there happens to be only three seconds left. So this annoys me that I am following proper rules and getting beeped at for doing so. I have learned to have a sense of humor though, and at the same time still stick to my principles. If the cars behind me are all honking their horns, I will look casually out the window, whistle a tune, tap my fingers on the rolled down car window, and pretend that I do not hear a thing. Then as the light changes to green I go peacefully on my way. 😂 However, as I often do when some Indonesian custom or habit particularly annoys me, I will usually sing the Indonesian National Anthem very loudly all the way home. If my kids are with me at these times they think I am a little cuckoo, but somehow it relieves my stress. "Indonesia!! Tanah airku!!" I bellow at the top of my lungs. 😂😂

    Don't get me wrong, I really do love Indonesia. There are many things that I love about this country, most particularly the warm and friendly people that live there. But there are inevitably also clashes. Times when I feel annoyed, because things are so different from the culture that I was raised in. And then humor and laughter can sometimes be very helpful to get me through those times. Proverbs 17:22 says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Please do not misunderstand me, it is not possible to always be cheerful and in certain situations may not even be healthy, but when it is possible, the Bible says, it is like taking good medicine when you are sick. Besides, when we are able to put these relatively minor events into perspective and focus on the "inexpressible and glorious joy" (1 Pet.1:8b) that we have in Christ Jesus, it becomes even easier to have that cheerful heart. Hopefully this blog has given you some good medicine for your soul today!

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