Thursday (10/2): Last Christmas, I gave my wife Bernie this “spare no expense” trip-of-a-lifetime to Singapore & Indonesia. She has not been home to Indonesia, since her family emigrated to the Netherlands in 1957. (And a few years after that, legally immigrated to the United States.) The last week, we’ve visited many places, but today was all about trying to find her childhood home in Jelbuk.
Jember is both a regency and a city in that regency (county). Kind of like Milwaukee, which is both a city and a county. The regency of Jember is in the province (state) of East Java. Jelbuk, is in the Jember Regency, about 10 miles north of centre city. Somewhere in Jelbuk is where my father-in-law, Jean Louis Gabel, had his tembakau (tobacco) plantation, in the 1940s and 50s.
Our guide Riky, and his driver — I wish I remembered his name! — picked us up at 9:00 a.m. The problem was, Bernie has no recollection of where in Jelbuk the plantation was, nor the name of the street, or any other clues. (Afterall, it’s been 68 years.) So, we basically drove down random Jelbuk roads, hoping it would spark a memory. We came up empty handed.
We stopped at a number of Jelbuk’s tobacco-related businesses — Jember Regency is famous for its tembakau — to see if any old-timers remembered “where the Dutch were”. Everybody was very polite, kind, and helpful, but ultimately, no luck there either. We took a break at a durian warung (Indonesia’s ubiquitous roadside stalls). Then it was off to Bernie’s childhood church — which we did find.
Gereja Katolik Paroki Santo Yusup — Indonesian for “Catholic Church of Saint Joseph” — is on Jl. R.A. Kartini, a leafy side street in “old town”, centre city. I dropped some rupiah in the offertory, blessed myself with holy water and, shockingly, was not smited. The guard — everything has a guard here — took us around the church & parish school, which have been renovated several times since the 1950s.
Time for lunch. They have American franchises in Indonesia. Not a lot, but a few: KFC, Baskin-Robbins and, of course, Mickey D’s. While I did eat local food, I wanted to try McDonald’s just for comparison.
As a control, I ordered a Big Mac meal deal. Kiosk was easy to use, and I didn’t need Riky to translate. Cost Rp 64 (the “,000” is unstated, but understood.) Actually kind of pricey, for Indonesia. But only $4 US. McSpaghetti, with chicken drumstick, was only Rp 27! 😆
So, how was it? Amazing! The fries were hot, not room temp. Easily the best Big Mac I’ve ever eaten. 👍
