"Thank God I found the GOOD in Goodbye!" - Beyoncé

It happened. We threw our going away party last night. But for all intents and purposes it was more of a gathering of friends to break the fast. It was absolutely wonderful having all our friends, and those who have practically become family, all together in our house. We got to gather together, give thanks, and celebrate; because these past six weeks have been well worth celebrating.

We had our first Selamatan. A Javanese tradition celebrating the unity of everyone participating in it, sort of like an Indonesian Thanksgiving. And what would our first Selamatan be without a tumpeng? It's a giant food platter shaped geographically like the mountains (which are spiritually and culturally important in Java). The tumpeng is a symbol of gratitude and there's a ceremonial practice in how it is cut and served, honoring a particular person (or people, in our case).

Our tumpeng.

As Wikipedia so eloquently explains, "with tumpeng, people express the gratitude to God and appreciate togetherness and harmony" and I don't think I could find a better example of what occurred last night. I am so thankful for everyone who's been a part of this trip. Hands down my favorite part of Indonesia is the people I've met here.

And by no means could we end without a bang... but thanks to Nana and Ayu we ended with quite a few, as they bought us fireworks as well.