Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You

Have you ever complained about your country? Your president? Your government officials?Well, I do. A lot. But nevertheless, I still love my country.

About two weeks ago, me and my friend Inti went to a show called "Beta Cinta Indonesia", which means "I Love Indonesia". It was a Guruh Sukarno Putra's (GSP) production, and he's a politician, an artist, and son of Indonesia's first President. Now, I really really really dislike politics. Each time I read too much about politics on the news, or even on the internet, I got very upset and annoyed. But I do love art.

And I really love shows like this, but I do not love the ticket price! The cheapest went for USD 25, and they were all gone. The cheapest available was USD 75, which was the bronze ticket.
That called for a little pep talk, creating some excuses we could possibly make to justufy paying that much amount for a show.
"Well, my budget for Broadway shows used to be 75 bucks..." I said hesitantly.
"And I spent 90 Euros to watch a classical concert in Vienna..." Inti added.
We looked helplessly at each other.
"Oh, booger! Let's get the tickets, then!" I said.
"Hurray!" she welcomed.
(Have you ever had similar experience when you had to persuade and cajole yourself to jump into a purchase?)

However, we were lucky. When my boss heard my moaning about the show's expensive ticket price, he told me that using a credit card from a certain bank would get us a 50% discount. Aaaand... a friend of Inti's was willing to lend her her debit card. So we ended up getting the tickets for only USD 32.5 each! So happy! Thank you! Aah, those good, kind people!
Anyway, since the theme is about loving one's country, Inti and I decided to wear Indonesian traditional fabric outfit called batik. And it was the correct "dress code"! Almost everybody in the audience wore batik, too! Even the foreign audience!

As for the accessories for the evening, I layered four individual necklaces like these...

... and wore them like this... Who needs to buy new layered necklaces at the store, when you can create one (or more than one) from your very own existing collection? Anyway, I also wore this outfit to go to Church before the event. It's sweet, modest, and modern with a touch of traditionalism. Haha!

This is what the pattern looks like up close. This is yet another handpainted Banjarnegara batik, influenced by Chinese blue and white pattern.

The new Jakarta Theater can be very cold, perhaps because it's a new building, so I brought my trusty wool cardigan in mint green! Better be prepared!

And I layered some bracelets, as well. No need to buy new layered bracelets, as well!

Inti and I snapped pictures of each other when we were waiting for the door to be opened...

The show was being held at Teater Besar or The Grand Theater. Last time we went there, it was matinee show (Read the post here). After sundown, it looked even more magnificent.

Outside the theater building, they had all kinds of street vendors and stalls selling local, Indonesian and international food. I had "kerak telor", a kind of dish made of egg, sticky rice, and shredded coconut spice, which is a local Jakarta traditional food. Yummy!

What do you think this picture is? At first I thought the vendor sold fries. But on a closer look, it turned ou they sold fried mushrooms! How extraordinary! You could choose the powdered spice of your own choice, like original , BBQ, and I picked cheese flavor.

And the fried mushrooms are sold in this small brown and green paper bag container.

Inside the theater, they had also some kind of bazaar going on.

Now, let's jump to the show. Ow, let me admit this. Actually, we were not supposed to take pictures. However, everybody did so finally I disregarded the rules too and snapped these. Haha!

Well, I think it's perfectly fine, as long as you don't use flash that may distract the performers on stage.

At one point they had this collage of various Indonesian batik prints in multicolors. So pretty!

And the grand finale was just super-gorgeous! The dancers wore extravagant costumes with giant, colorful feathers that was associated with GSP dance company in the '80s.

Until next time!