Nice surprise today: I was invited to another wedding, this time next to my colleague Yani's house, and again on short notice:he called just before 9 to say he'd pick me up at 9:30 on his motorcycle.It was a looooong ride out through heavy traffic, clear out of the city - he said 10 km but I'm sure it was 15 or more, through rubber plantations and open jungly areas with some fancy newer homes scattered around too.His house is simple but spacious and open, with a wonderful old padded rocking chair and a huge ancient china cabinet, both made from best-quality Sumatran hardwood.His 5 kids and wife seemed very happy to see me again , and dozens of neighbors were excited too.He showed me an enormous photo of me ( plus a long story and a smaller picture of my head perched on a cartoon body -?!? ) in yesterday's paper:half a page high!Luckily the photo is a good one.I took a picture of the picture to post online and will save the actual paper as a memento.I doubt that that will happen again in my lifetime; in the US I'd have to be elected President to warrant such an honor.

I brought my GOOD ( but bulky ) camera this time, and it paid off - I got excellent shots both at the wedding and around his home,'people pictures' with sharp, well-exposed closeups and bright colors.My first really good photos in Indonesia.I'll post some to Facebook soon, and to my blog.I need to wait for a time when the internet is operating at a reasonable speed again.

The wedding was much smaller ( though still 200+ ), more informal ( kids running around everywhere laughing, and many guys smoking - including both dads and the flute player in the band, who somehow even held a lit cigarette WHILE he was playing ), and cheaper ( e.g. a single not-so-graceful dancer rather than 2 'pro' troupes ) compared to the one I attended 2 weeks ago.They made a bigger deal of my being there today - perhaps seeing the picture of me added to my 'cachet'?Speaker after speaker referred to me at some length ( though I had no specific idea what they were saying ), and I was asked to go up on stage to congratulate the couple.One speaker clearly fancied himself to be a comedian/ raconteur/advice-dispenser and went on loudly and interminably, to the increasingly obvious distaste of the MC, a very soft-spoken and charming woman who handled her role very professionally.Except for that guy, and the lack of a fan to evaporate the sweat continually running down my face, I actually enjoyed this wedding more, as it was much 'homier' and more 'real', done in a traditional way without being lavish.As before,the sound system was cranked up much too loud, and the resulting distortion plus about 7 levels of echo effect made much of the speech-making and singing incomprehensible. My eardrums were vibrating in a bizarre uncomfortable way at all the high notes. Evidently that's just the way people expect it to be done here at such events; no one's really listening anyway, I expect.As before, lunch was served afterwards and was more tasty than two weeks ago with great ( non-fiery! ) sauces for both the chicken and fish, and a delicious soup as well, with redskin peanuts in it among many other things.After lunch and many more photos with the couple/family, we went back to Yani's house, where hordes of kids were waiting to see me and get their photos taken so they could see themselves.In that neighborhood digital cameras may not yet be so common that it's 'old hat', though cameras incell phones ( HP, 'handheld phone' here, pronounced hah-pay ) are fairly common.Soon it was time for the longer - due to Sunday afternoon traffic - ride back here to wait for Herizal's family to take me to the PIM Mall where I had offered to treat them to dinner at Pizza Hut - their request, and a much bigger deal here than in the US.