Indonesia, I love you.

Indonesia is on my mind. After another senseless terrorist attack, this one in Jakarta, I can't help but think of this country that Jay and I have become quite attached to. I've been thinking of all the strangers I've met in Indonesia and how absolutely wonderful they have been (I swear, even the cab drivers trying to rip you off are nice and sweet in the middle of the rip-off process). America has much to learn from Indonesia and lessons of Indonesian tolerance are a great start. Indonesia may be the most populous Muslim country in the world, but it is so accepting and tolerant of other religions and people. Unlike Donald Trump followers, I fully realize that 99.99999% of Muslims are good people and my gosh, one only needs to travel in this amazing country to open your eyes and learn. We have met Muslim men who are married to Christian women. We have been followed by giggling women in headscarves trying to get selfies with the token white tourists in the background. We have been approached by cheerful Indonesians practicing their English demanding to know where we are from - when they discover we are from America, they exclaim with pride "OBAMA!!". So many of them want their photos taken with us (it gets embarrassing but it is always fun). We communicate through laughter, photographs, smiles, light touches on shoulders, and respect. As far as I can tell they don't see people for their religions.....they see people for people. Human beings who are generous, warm, caring, poor, middle class, laughing, happy. Mark Twain once said "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” How true....and how I wish I could drag blind men like Donald Trump to Indonesia where women in headscarves would (if they didn't know who he was) surround him giggling and asking to take a photo with him. You can't hate when people that wonderful are standing next to you. You see, it isn't just terrorists that are terrible. It is people like Trump who feed the hatred and bigotry of the tiny tiny tiny population of people out there that actually want to do harm to others. I'm taking a deep breath right now. I can see all the good in people - I simply can't figure out why others cannot.

Jay was popular in Toraja with Indonesian tourists

Wonderful street markets and a Torajan woman

Indonesian hospitality at its best (on Christmas Day in a predominately Muslim city). We think we were the only white tourists staying at this hotel in Makassar. We got a phone call from the manager shortly after getting into our room - he and his son wanted to bring us tea (and cake!) and take photographs with us to post on their website. Seriously amazing and sweet.

This photograph is perhaps my favorite from our recent trip - and it is the story I wish I could broadcast to the world. I want people to know how wonderful Indonesians are..... we arrived at this hotel and immediately were asked for more money from the cab driver than we expected (this, by the way, happens in every country we travel to and is not unique to Indonesia). Our debate over the fare cheerfully went on between Jay and the driver while I realized the hotel was hosting two weddings! While the fare negotiations respectfully raged between Jay and said driver, I hung out with all the fancy wedding guests who spoke one or two sentences of English. They all wanted their photo taken with me and I finally asked if I could get a photo of them - how cute are they??! Some of the women snapped shots of Jay with their smartphones and came giggling over to me to show me photos of my own husband. They thought it was a hoot! And all of them kept pointing to my height and then their height and bursting out in laughter at how tall I was (or short they were)? This lasted maybe about 10 minutes but it will stay with me forever. I loved every one of them. My heart goes out to them today..... be strong Indonesia.... you are loved.