Selamat Hari Minggu!!

So Friday we had our orientation to IMLAC, the language school we will be attending. It is conveniently located next to the school that the kids go to. We are very thankful that we already have some language as there were times when only Indonesian was being spoken. There were a number of people at the orientation who knew no Indonesian whatsoever. Let’s just say that we felt sorry for them.
I mentioned last time that Indonesians wear uniforms to school. Our kids do not have school uniforms, but they do have special clothes for PE and as they are in the younger grades they just wear their PE uniforms to school on the days that they have PE. They also have a special shirt that they wear on Fridays. The school colours are blue and grey and the sports team name is the BAIS Eagles. You can check out the school at http://www.baisedu.org
Yesterday we decided to go swimming. There is a pool nearby, but Hugo went there beforehand to make sure it was open and wouldn’t you know it, it was closed for some special event. So we looked up another pool and called up a guy named Pak Alpin to see if he could bring us. Pak Alpin, who looks like an Indonesian Phil Collins, is an angkot driver who loves to do charters for buleh’s (white people). Of course he does, he makes more money bringing us somewhere and waiting and then bringing us home than he would if he drove his route up and down the hill all day. Anyways, he was actually on the other end of town and so we were about to call a taxi, when he called back and in Indonesian style, had done some rearranging and was now waiting for us at the top of our gong (narrow pathways between houses used to go to the top of the hill instead of going the long way on the road.) So we went with him. On the way he was stopped by the police because he was driving off his route. As I was sitting in the front, I noticed that when he got his paperwork out he slipped 10,000 rupiahs into the folder with the papers. A little bribe. Well it worked like a charm and we were off in a jiff. It was a bit of a drive there but it was quite nice. There was a little pool for kids and then a big deeper pool that was covered. It was a nice relaxing time.
This morning we went to church again. As Sundays is the day they have a huge market (pasar) somewhere downtown, there are tons of angkots lined up at the top of the hill waiting to fill up. Then there are tons of people going up the hill for whatever reason. Sometimes we have a hard time finding an angkot who will go down the hill for us right away. They always want us to charter them which costs us waaaay more money. This morning we did find one and we hopped on. And then more people hopped on. We lurched our way down and then got stuck in a massive traffic jam due to a broken down angkot in the middle of the road. Thankfully some guys decided that maybe it would be a good idea to move it out of the way. Thank-you! Then we could move again and more people hopped on. There were 18 of us on board and then the driver! On the way down the hill the driver kept stopping for people who were waiting for an angkot, all the while dollar signs were dancing in his head, and every time we said,”NO! Tidak!” We probably could have squished more people in if some sat on the floor…. Anyways, we made it to our stop and there was a great reshuffling of bodies, and a sigh of relief, as we departed the angkot. We had a very good sermon about the things that the modern Christian family has to deal with and how they should be as a Christian family to counteract the negative effects of high-tech lifestyle, post modernism and hedonism. Then, thankfully, two of the guys from church brought us home so we didn’t need to use an angkot again.