30th June 2003, Monday
Well, it's been a long time since Wednesday 4th June!
So what happened? I'll tell you... a lot! Where the main thing is that Rena and I are now married!!
I'll try and recapitulate.

Thursday & Friday 5th and 6th June
Those days were quite hectic, getting all our documents in order to get married. Everything was last minute, but finally done. There were some little annoying nuisances, like some 2nd degree family members on Rena's side trying to kick up a fuss because they thought Rena was too young to get married to me. They were concerned that we (or Rena's parents) had overlooked the fact that quite a few years separated our ages (ahemmm.. that's why Rena and I took so long to get to a decision ourselves, 7 long years). Thank God Rena's mother had the right words to put them in their place. So the problem was temporarily solved.
Yes, and on Friday I had my haircut, so I would look reasonably decent when we get married on Monday. Rena tried out her wedding dress and decided on the hairdress that she wanted for the occasion. On Monday we'd have to get to the beautician at 6:30 in the morning to prepare her for our marriage at 10:00.

Saturday 7th June
The day drawing us to our matrimonial was getting awfully close.
In the afternoon we went to church for confession with Reverend Binzler. Rev Binzler told Rena that she was also allowed to do confession even though she is a Protestant. Rena felt that she would like to do so and did.
In the evening we got busy making the service booklets for our wedding ceremony in church. We were allowed to choose what kind of sermon, prayers etc. we would like, so we had spent the past 2 evenings studying the Bible taking our picks (quite refreshing actually, if you're not used to reading it frequently).
Finally we had assembled the whole 12-page bundle (it was going to be a short ceremony anyway), I designed the layout, put some appropriate pics in it and printed it and Rena made the little booklets, tying each booklet together with silver thread. We were lucky we only invited a few people, so we just made 30 booklets. This procedure out of the way, Rena and I had a good dinner outside and went to bed early because tomorrow, Sunday, my son Marc and his little son Thomas (my grandson) and Patricia, my daughter, would arrive early in the morning.

Sunday 8th June
Early in the morning we got up and were collected at 7:00h by a good house friend of the family, Docter Enny Walujan and her husband Hengky, who had offered to come and help collect my children from the airport.
At 9:00 Marc, Patricia and Thomas checked out of customs with their luggage. Marc already knew Rena since he had been in Indonesia a few times already since 1994. Meeting Patricia was great! I hadn't seen her in more than 13 years! Patricia had left for Italy when she was 21, where she became a photo and advertising model and a dancer. And each time I was in Holland, she was touring somewhere in Italy or France. This would be Patricia's very first time in Indonesia!
Now here she was, all of 34 years, grown up, pretty and still single (with boyfriend in Holland though). It was wonderful seeing her again after all this time. Marc was his usual self, robust, behaving all stable and selfconfident, as he should as a financial director. And my grandson Thomas, now 4 years old, a full mixture of Dutch/Indonesian and India (his mother). It had been 3 years since I last saw him when Marc brought him to Indonesia the last time around.
Marc, Patricia and Thomas immediately hit it off great with Rena. It was as if they had known each other for years!
All of us drove to town, where I had booked 2 rooms for them in a hotel, so they could freshen up and we could have lunch. I had found them a good clean hotel, complete with aircondition, hot and cold water etc. in Jl. Jaksa at Rp.150.000/per double room/night.
We had lunch at a great chinese food place and afterwards were taken to Ancol by Dr. Enny and Hengky. Ancol is a recreation area North of Jakarta, by the seaside, where you can find anything from Dunia Fantasi (Jakarta's version of Disney Land) to a lavishly spread out swimming park with enormous slides, Pasar Seni, an art market, musical performances etc. etc. and a long beach.
We spent some time at the swimming pools (for Thomas), where Patricia took the opportunity to laze underneath the palmtrees... where she wanted her photograph taken... because of the palmtrees!
Afterwards we strolled through the arts market, where Patricia suddenly became all dynamic and vigorous, running from stall to stall checking out all the local artistry. Patricia today likes to design interiors in Holland and was looking for items to be placed in a Country & Western Style bar, with Indian artifacts.
At 19:00h we all got tired and Rena and I took them to their hotel. After all, Rena and I would have to get up early tomorrow, for the hairdresser. Tomorrow would be our big day!

Monday 9th June, Wedding Day
Rena and I got up at 5:30h, bathed and took a taxi to the hairdresser's. We arrived at 6:30h. They plucked and combed and smeared and brushed and blew Rena for 2 hours. When she was ready she look very nice and very nervous. We got a cab back to collect Marc, Patricia and Thomas from the Hotel at 9:00h, and all of us arrived at the Saint Theresia Church at 9:30h. A half hour before our wedding ceremony was to take place.

When we got there, ofcourse, no one was present. So we waited around at the back of the church in the shade in the garden. At 9:55h, no witnesses yet, no priest, but the first 4 visitors had arrived, close friends of Rena who had taken leave from their office.
Suddenly a distant cousin, Windy (not invited), of Rena materialized with an unknown person. He came to us with a concerned look on his face, saying that he wished to speak to the priest (who had not yet arrived).
Rena and I already suspected traffic of being the culprit, causing everyone to be late. Traffic in Jakarta is hectic in peak hours. And this is peak hour!
Anyway, Windy then started asking all sorts of questions. Saying that he represented concerned family members on Rena's side (cousins and aunts) who doubted the validity of our intended marriage. He insinuated that we could not get married in a Catholic church since I was married before in a Catholic church (not true, I had been married before in a Protestant church, my ex wife being a protestant). Furthermore he queried if Rena were baptized at all. Then he posed that I could not have been divorced since I lived in Indonesia and my ex wife was still alive and well in Holland, and he was going to let the priest know about this. He said that he felt it was his duty to bring all this forward as a concerned (Catholic) church member who "would not want the St. Theresia Church to make an embarrassing mistake". Besides, he said, Rena's cousin, Grazio Fernandez, who was going to be the reader of prayers in church, is a Muslim.

All very serious accusations indeed! Rena immediately called the Priest's home, only to hear that he was on the way to the church. But, so his housekeeper said, a Mr. Windy had called 3 times at midnight last night to inform the priest about these things, and Rev. Binzler had been awoken from his sleep and was not very happy.
I must admit that my emotions were on fire about this whole affair, but on the other hand I thanked my lucky stars that all documents to deny these allegations were in my possession. Marc had brought some from Holland and all the other documents I owned myself here.
All of a sudden everyone arrived all at the same time, approximately at 10:20h. Rena's parents and brothers, our witnesses, our mutual friends, everyone! Including Rev. Binzler who called me aside to ask: "Who is this Mr. Windy". I explained the whole situation and gave him all documents that we brought just to be on the safe side, my previous marriage document from the Protestant Church (not accepted as a valid marriage by the Catholic Church), Rena's certificates of baptism, my divorce papers, extract from the civil administration in Holland, certificate of Catholic baptism of Grazio, etc. etc. Done! Rev. Binzler had a quick word with Windy, who disappeared without greeting after 10 minutes, and our marriage ceremony could begin! Thank Goodness! Rena's bubble of confidence was just about to burst...

The small church, yet so spacious on the inside, allowed the sun's rays to quietly slide inside through the multicolored windows in its dome. It was a nice, cozy and friendly wedding ceremony. All our most important friends were present and it passed like a summer breeze from the opening prayer to our 'I DO'. No dissonant, no discord, no falter (except for the moment when Rena's mother had forgotten where she had put the wedding rings that Rena gave her to hold). Everyone held their breath very briefly until the little red box with those 2 important items appeared and we could put them on each other's fingers.
We were married! If only for now just in the eyes of God and our friends. We didn't care for more at this moment.
In the beginning Rena had been jittery because of all unexpected events, but as the ceremony progressed she calmed down and after the passing of the rings I could see her cry a little. Reverend Binzler has beyond any doubt contributed the absolutely greatest part to our unforgettable moment of getting together! Thank you, reverend.

After the service everyone got a little box with munchies prepared by Rena's mother. My father was too old to attend. Geoffrey McKell had made some good video footage and stills (I still have to see them), and Marc has shot some digital photos and video as well. Patricia had come in a sarong with selendang (drape) that I had sent her 4 years ago through Marc.
After one hour of being together with our close friends and families we broke up and Rena, Marc, Patricia, Thomas and I went to Marc's hotel to get changed and look for something to eat. We ate in a nice Bistro, Ya-Udah, run by a German in Jalan Jaksa. Then we sat around to make our plans for our honeymoon, mostly a treat by Marc and Patricia, to Bali on Wednesday.
In late afternoon we did some shopping. After that we met my foster daughter Christy who happened to have just arrived from Holland as well.
Christy, real name Wiwin, is a girl from very poor parents in the little forest village, desa Nganjuk, East Java, who used to watch over my youngest daughter Iris when I was still married to my previous wife in 1991. Christy was 12 years old then and had just finished primary school after which she had to look for work to help out her parents. In 1995, after my divorce I took Christy as my foster daughter and sent her to school, which she gladly did. She grew up from ugly duckling from the kampung into a pretty looking girl of 20 when she graduated from high school. She could not find a proper job in Indonesia and I did not want her to become a servant. Christy had been with me during my rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, happy and laughing when things went well, in tears for me when things were bad. Then, beginning last year I found her a family in Tricht, Holland, who were willing to take her as au-pair for a year, to look after their little children. Christy took the opportunity. Now, one year later, 24 yrs old, Christy is a maturer, more selfconscious young lady who speaks English and Dutch pretty good. She arrived back in Indonesia the day Rena and I got married. She will stay here in Jakarta for 6 weeks, after which she goes to Spain, where she is invited to work for another family with children for 2 years.
While in Holland she was in touch regularly with Marc, Stanley (another son of mine), Patricia and Iris and they are close together.
Stanley could not come because he recently became a father. Iris is now 14 years old and still goes to school in Veghel, Holland. She has many activities, playing violin, harp and saxophone, besides being a member in the Dutch junior ice skating group that became national champion this year. So Iris could not come either. I heard say that she'll come next year and so will most of my family. Wow!

In the evening we went to the Jaya Pub here in Jakarta, all of us. The owners of the Jaya Pub, Frans Tumbuan and Rima Melati, are long time friends of mine and still distant relatives from the Minahassa. Frans lived and worked in Holland. Rima was (and still is) one of Indonesia's best known movie and television actresses from the old school (she also played in a number of series in Holland). They met over 20 years ago and got married here. Frans has meanwhile also become a well known actor in Indonesia. Together, among a great number of activities in the field of acting and producing, they also exploit a number of restaurants, bars, food shops, art shop, production houses and accommodations.
In the past I regularly used to sing in the Jaya Pub as a guest singer, as well as in a few of their other restaurants and bars.
I had called Frans to meet because I would like to stay in their cottages in Legian, Bali. They have the Rima's Cottages and also a Jaya Pub there. It was for this reason that I wanted to meet them.
When we arrived, Marc, Patricia, Christy, Rena, Thomas and I, they had set a long table for us in the restaurant area of the pub. Frans was there as well as Rima, as usual looking warm and lovely as ever. I introduced them to Patricia (they already knew the others), and Rima and Patricia seemed to match well together. Before I knew it Rima was already offering Patricia to introduce her to some producers in Holland when she gets back.
We had a wonderful wedding meal together, complete with wine, and ofcourse later in the evening I had to get on stage and do a few songs. Then, to my surprise, Patricia, who claims having a voice like Rod Stewart, went on stage too to sing together with the Jaya Pub singer Felix. For, supposedly, lack of beautiful voice she did what she is really good at, dancing Salsa, Rumba etc. on stage! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
We found that Frans and Rima had reserved us 2 cottages at their place in Legian, and at reduced prices as well! The heavens must be looking down kindly on us these days!!
Needless to say that the night dragged on until 02:00hrs in the morning. A wonderful wedding night!

Tuesday 10th June

Today Rena and I busied ourselves with preparing our clothes, cleaning up and finishing all the usual chores after a wedding. Marc, Patricia and Thomas went to stay with Dr. Enny who had invited them in her house. They also visited my 93yr old father who lives in Cinere, South Jakarta, with his 2 nurses.
In the evening Rena and I went to bed early, to rest from the exhaustion and lack of sleep in the past few days. We were pooped!

Wednesday 11th June, Start Honeymoon

Today is the day that we shall leave for Bali; Marc, Patricia, Thomas, Rena and I. Christy could not come because she wanted to get her visas ready for Spain and then visit her natural parents in Nganjuk to give them some direly needed money that she saved up from her work in Holland. In Bali is where Rena and I shall have our honeymoon in company of Marc, Patricia and Thomas. Our plane leaves at 13:30h.
Rena's close friend Henny and her husband Andre had offered to take us all to the airport. We had promised to meet up at 10:30h in a large shopping center, Ratu Plaza, where Marc wanted to buy some pirated DVDs at rediculously low prices (2.5 Euros for the latest movies).
Even though we left according to schedule, 11:00hrs, the trip to the airport lasted longer than expected. The tollroad was blocked because of demonstrations, and we barely made it on time for check-in at the airport.
Once in the plane we felt that we could all relax, except Patricia. Patricia had suffered from a phoby making her restless in airplanes and in large crowds where she knows nobody. Marc had already forewarned me to give her special attention, so she felt cared for and in a trusted environment, making her restlessness less.
Upon arrival in Denpasar, Bali, there was a young man waiting for us in the reception hall carrying a big board: "Mr. & Mrs. Roderick". Nice!
We were taken by car to Rima's Cottages in Legian, next door to the Bali Jaya Pub, close to the shops and not far from the sea. My watch showed 17:00hrs.
The cottages were lovely. There were 5 of them. All of them set in a small garden with lots of green in Bali style, 2 little bridges crossing a little stream, filled with Koy fish, that snaked through the garden. The cottages were built in typical Bali style, each with its own veranda with chairs and a small table in front. Inside they were spacious, containing all the regular requirements like aircondition, clean and tidy bathroom, cabinets, makeup table, television, double bed etc., all in appropriate style to match their natural environment. It made my imagination fly back to many years ago when we lived in similar environments in different places of the Emerald Belt.
The garden with cottages were bordered on the frontside by a cozy restaurant with front doors on the road side and at the backside it bordered on the Jaya Pub, soundproofed by a small hallway. You could enter the Jaya Pub through a side entrance pathway which ended in another complex of accommodations surrounding a lavish swimming pool inbetween the shadows of green trees. I called it little Paradise and Thomas called it his own private pool. Indeed, most of our time in the cottages Thomas could be found in that Pool with Marc as guardian.

Tuesday 24th June

4th June 2003
Not many exciting things happened today. Except, Rena woke up with stomach problems also this morning. We'll just have to be carefull I guess.
In the early morning I went to the cybercafe where I usually go to and brought Rena's laptop with the files for the website. After a few trial and errors I managed to get it up and running.
The problem I had was that I could not access my normal website at http://rodcwahr.bravepages.com for maintenance. So I had to quickly find a new free hosting domain, which is what you are looking at now at http://www.100free.com. It is a nice free hosting site, with 25Mb of space free of charge. I like it especially because I can just upload my data with normal FTP. And the registration was very quick also. Quickly I had to set up a Guestbook at Dreambook, and you're looking at the website now!
Ofcourse all of these free webhosting sites have the same common problems, which are: advertisements and relatively slow access. But in comparison with Geocities and Tripod I think the access time at 100free and Bravepages is pretty good. Only, Bravepages puts their ads at the top of our pages, while 100free puts them at the bottom. I like at the bottom better, it does not distract as much as at the top. Yet, in all, I guess we're just so lucky to be able to place a website in so many free webhosting sites, besides getting free email addresses!
Marc, my son in Amsterdam, was great, he requested the data from the civil administration in Amsterdam and The Hague that I am required to give to the Dutch Embassy here; citizenship registration and my old divorce papers. He sent them all by DHL 2 days ago and they arrived today.
Tomorrow I am scheduled to go to the barber and Rena is going to go and fit her wedding dress. She has chosen to go in traditional Sarong Kabaya and put some Melati (flowers) in her hair. I like the idea, although I haven't seen the dress yet....
Sarong Kabaya consists of a sarong (traditional cloth) which is wrapped tightly around the waist and goes straight down to just above the floor and a kabaya is a traditional top (usually made of lace). Rena is going for a silver embroidered sarong and a white kabaya.
It is all getting pretty close now, and we are getting more and more nervous, but excited!
Oh yeah, before I forget, I put a photograph of Rena and myself on the Wedding page on this website. It is a preview of things to come, and it fills the page a little up.

3rd June 2003
Today I've not been feeling great. Last night I started out with stomach problems. Rena and I had a meal in the (excellent) Ya-Udah bistro here in Jalan Jaksa and I must have eaten something that was not so good before then. Anyway, this morning I had an extra 4 hours of sleep. I was supposed to go to the barber but I just could not bring myself up to it;
This wedding website is starting to take shape, it is still only on my hard disk, but hopefully tonight I'll be able to upload it as it is now.
Rena and I have been thinking whom to invite, there won't be that many. We just want to keep it nice and quiet, AND CHEAP! In Indonesia people usually go for big weddings. A plain persons wedding will usually have a few hundred people visiting. And I remember a nephew of mine marrying 10 years ago, which was a big thing, and they had 3000 visitors! And it lasted 3 days because it had to be done according to the bride's Padang custom and the bridegroom's Java custom. Lots of fanfare, dancers, costumes etc.
Well, Rena and I decided on just a very few close relatives and friends, and so we will have about 20 people attending, and no reception!
For witnesses we have 2 friends, Geoffrey McKell and Arnold van Heesch. The priest that is going to marry us is Rev. Siegfried Binzler S.J. He is truly a wonderful person to talk to, he is in his seventies, so very relaxed and so absolutely non-dogmatic.
Geoffrey McKell is a well known cameraman and producer who also lives here in Jakarta. He shoots a.o. for Discovery Channel amd CNN, he has won a major award for a series he did for World Wildlife Funds (WWF).
At the moment Geoffrey is shooting the reconstruction of a Bugis boat that was built in the 5th century. In that period the Bugis were already traveling and trading with Madagascar. They even have a place in South Africa where the descendants of the Bugis are. In a few months Geoffrey will go with the reconstructed vessel to follow the same route. I believe that it is a project for or in cooperation with the BBC. Geoffrey is going to shoot videos and photos of our wedding as well.
Arnold van Heesch is a very good friend. He is Dutch and used to be involved in a lot of large Real Estate projects in Holland and abroad. Now he lives in Jakarta carving out a living like most of us try to.

2nd June 2003
I had not connected my scanner to the computer yet, so today I'm doing so. In the past this was not necessary since I had a digital camera, but as it was stolen in January I now have to scan in the pictures that I have...
I also went to talk with the Dutch Embassy, and the usual administrative burocracy threw another cinch in the cable. Apparently I have to get an original statement from the civil administration of Sumbawa Besar that I was born there. Hmmm... I'm glad I wasn't born in Hongkong like my father was. So I'll just have to postpone the registration of our wedding at the civil administration of Jakarta until I get hold of the document in a few weeks. I'm going to Sumbawa anyway, because my son Marc and daughter Patricia are visiting from Amsterdam and they want to go to Bali and Sumbawa.
At least our wedding in the church on the 9th is not being endangered.
Today I have booked the tickets to Bali. Garuda has a special offer. Apparently when Marc wanted to order tickets in Amsterdam for the trip Jakarta-Bali, it cost US$ 218 single fare per person. Well, I have got tickets now that cost us Rp.450.000 (Approx. US$ 50) one way, per person, with Garuda, with a Focker 28. Not bad huh!

1st June 2003
Since quite a few of you asked us to tell a little more about our wedding, and also asked to see photographs when they become available, I have started to think about setting up this webpage.
So today I have started quickly putting together the concept and I hope it is sufficient to keep you posted.
Today, Sunday, I was rebaptized. My baptism documents have gone lost a long time ago. And in order for our priest to be able to marry us in the Catholic church I had to be rebaptized.
Rev. Binzler is a great person. He made things as easy as he possibly could. Unfortunately, the witness I had asked to be present for the event called off at the last minute. So there I was with Rena, and no witness. The baptism was going to take place outside behind the church, where there is a place for prayer near a large Maria statue. There was another baptism, a baby that was going to be baptized and they were before me. So I looked on and listened well to that ritual.
When it was my turn, I told the priest about my predicament, no witness...
Luckily enough there was a bystander, a gentleman from Flores who spoke no English (this was an English language ritual), but who was quite willing to stand and be present at my baptism. So at least the event could take place.
So as of today I feel a little reborn. I told Rena that she should regularly look at above my head to make sure that my halo is there. Rena told me that it would be useless, once a sinner, always a sinner.