It was great to watch her compete. I was fulfilling my dad role of loud and partially obnoxious cheering (this is a tradition that was passed on to me by my father who would loudly cheer at my basketball games and occasionally 'encourage' the refs to make certain calls).
Everything was going great until Kristi scooted away from me a little bit. I asked her what was wrong. It was a hot day, but I didn't feel like I smelled any worse than usual. She told me that I was embarrassing and that people were staring at me. I looked around the gym and realized that she was right... lots of people were staring at me and laughing in an amused, but approving, manner.
It was then that I also realized that we were the only non-Indonesians in the whole gym. Also, Jaiden was the only non-Indonesian on any of the teams. I was cheering like an American. Indonesian culture values the community over the individual. Indonesians tend to cheer loudly and can get really wild at sporting events, but it seems to always be in the context of community. They cheer together, in a group without wanting to draw too much attention to one or two individuals.
So I enjoyed watching my kid play, applied some cultural understanding to a new context, and kept on cheering...
