So last night someone decided that they really, really wanted to have our bike. It is a rather nice looking bike I must say. However, Hugo always puts a lock on the front wheel (see photo). So I guess whoever tried to steal the bike got a bit angry that he couldn't steal it, so he decided to take a knife to the seat. Thankfully, the seat is just cheap vinyl and we can easily get a new cover put on. Thankfully he didn't decide to take a knife to the body of the bike. I guess we'll have to start putting the bike in the house at night....

On Friday Hugo and I helped out a new couple that's just come here from New Zealand. They are with MAF and will be heading off to Medan, Aceh when they are done language training. Here you have to show the ropes to all new people or it is incredibly difficult for them to do anything especially with no language. We're still so thankful for the help of the other families when we first arrived.

Friday evening we took the kids to Bandung Hypersquare. There is a playground there with a tree house, swinging bridge, slide etc... But the best part was that there were bikes the kids could ride. For Mikah, Christiaan and Aidan, it has been about 7 months since they've ridden a bicycle. We met our friends David and Santi there for supper and then the kids went and played again.

Today, Sunday, we took an angkot to church and I think we broke the record for number of people on board one angkot. I believe it was 21 including the driver. Aidan was in the front seat, not a bench seat, with two other guys; very cozy... But I think we got to church in record time too as the angkot was pretty much full right away, the driver just bombed down the hill.

Now it is pouring rain. We haven't had a ton of rain lately so that's okay. Tomorrow it is back to school again. We are over half way done!! Yippeeeee!!

Afgelopen maandag ochtend is een van onze oudere buren over leden hij was een leraar aan een christelijke basis school. Hij was een 63 jarig man die mij graag hielp met mijn huiswerk en zeer vriendelijk was tegen alle buren. Een van de winkel eigenaars waar ik ook regelmatig mee praat zei dat hij het ongelovelijk vond dat ze als Christenen zolang tussen de moslims konden wonen, en dan ook zo’n goede relatie hebben met hun buren. Deze man heeft een ongelovelijke invloed gehad op de buren het is dan ook zeer jammer te zien dat zijn kinderen niet het zelfde karakter hebben. Bid dan ook voor zijn vrouw, twee zoons, en twee dochters die niet sterk in hun geloof staan.Ook hier is de gewoont anders dan dat wij gewent zijn, hij was opgebaart in de woonkamer en we hadden maandag avond een bijeenkomst met zijn familie en vrienden in de woonkamer dat normaal gesproken al vol is met zo’n 10 mensen maar er waren er zo’n 40. De begravenis was dinsdag wat ongewoon is voor Indonesische begrippen anngezien normaal gesproken de begravenis de zelfde dag van overlijden is dit is de moslim gewoonte.

Yesterday I took the two neighbour ladies and their kids along with Marc and Brynne to the Jump'n Gym. The neighbour kids had never been there and were so excited that the night before Asila didn't want to go to sleep because she was afraid we would leave without her. That morning Bilal didn't want to go to preschool because he was afraid we would leave him behind too. They had such a nice time together and myself and the two ladies got to walk around the mall. Both of them had never been to the mall either. Not that it's such a great thing to go there as it is generally rather expensive. I wouldn't buy clothes there either. But it was an experience for them all. Then we went to McDonalds for lunch. It's quite hilarious because they all wanted rice and chicken-it's chicken like KFC chicken. They thought it was rather strange that Marc, Brynne and I didn't eat rice. Because, you know, you're not really full until you've had rice to eat... It was a really fun day and I hope I can take them to the Jump'n Gym again sometime. For us it is quite cheap during the week, less than $2 per child, but for them they can't help but think about how much rice they could buy for 15,000 rupiah. The kids here hardly ever go anywhere. They hardly ever leave the area around our houses. So I'm glad to be able to give them a fun experience.

Today Hugo and I went up to the hot springs. And you have to go up to get there. We were up pretty high in the mountains and I was thankful to be wearing my WindRiver rain proof jacket. It didn't really rain, but the wind was quite chilly. The hot springs area is neat. It is quite old and in need of some updating, but the pools were nice. You can also rent a private bath room to enjoy the hot water in peace and quiet.

This sign we saw on our way home. It says "dua (2) anak (kids) cukup (enough) and then "KB" which means birth control....

Today we didn't go to the funeral service. Last night there was a service in the home of Pak Sandroto's family. Hugo went there and squished into the house along with a ton of other people. There were so many people there that they were sitting outside the house along the gong. Of course, as at all events here, they used a microphone with amplifier so everyone could hear. I could hear the singing at our house. This morning they had another small service at the house before the body was picked up by the "mobil jenaza"-literally meaning "corpse car". It's basically a van with lights on top of it. There was to be another service far away from here. Here there are normally three kinds of cemetaries. Those where christians and muslims can bury their dead and then there are separate ones for each religion. It depends on where you live. Because we are in the big city, there are designated spots for christians to bury their dead. The muslims here prefer it if there is no mixing. We did not go to that service as we found out yesterday that one of our teachers was in the hospital with hepatitis A. We rent our motorbike from Pak Okie. So this morning we went to visit him. He's pretty exhausted right now. Here in Indonesia they really look at things differently than we do in North America. There is no antibiotics for Hepatitis A as it is a virus. You just need a lot of rest and fluids and avoid fatty foods. However, Pak Okie has to take two different kinds of "medicine" three times a day. Who knows what they're getting him to take. The ward that he is in looks like something out of a movie set in the 1950's. Nurses wearing white uniforms and the traditional hats. Even the room doors were retro. But it was very clean and quiet there. Of course, here when you visit a sick person you are expected to give an envelope containing money...
After that we travelled around Bandung looking for this big store called ACE. It's an american store that sells almost anything you'd need for your home and a lot of it is imported. We wanted to start checking out the prices of appliances that we'll need to get when we move to Papua. They're a lot cheaper here and there's a lot more selection. Anyways, by lunch time we still hadn't found it. We even asked some people if they knew where it was. I think we asked the three people out of the 6 million living here who don't know where the store is... Anyways, we had lunch and then called a friend who gave us directions. On our journeys this morning we really got to experience the culture and smells here. I wish we had smellmail so I could give you an idea of what it's like. We drove around so much that the tops of Hugo's hands were burnt by the sun. I felt so dirty by the time we got home all I wanted to do was have a shower. There is so much pollution here and more than one time we ended up behind a belching bus, cough, cough... But we finally made it to Ace and I got my bottle of Shout stain remover for $7. Insanely expensive, but the only absolute kind of stain remover you can find anywhere here. So I'll take what I can get.
Tomorrow the plan is to take the two neighbour ladies and their kids to the Jump'n Gym. They've never been so they're pretty excited about it.

This morning the owner of the house we live in died. Hugo often went to his house, as it is very near ours, to talk with him and get his homework answers. Recently Hugo found out that Pak Sandroto was a Christian and had previously been a teacher at a local Christian school. A while ago he had already suffered a stroke and was wheel chair bound. This prevented him from getting out much so he was always sitting in his chair out on his balcony and he loved it when Hugo came by to chat. Last night at 2:00 he passed on. This morning Hugo and I went to their house to give our condolences and of course, an envelope with money in it. They had the body lying on a mattress in their guest room; the room you first enter into when entering the house. When we entered, the body was completely covered but they asked if we wanted to see him. So Hugo said okay and they pulled the blanket over his face down. He looked very peaceful. This was my first time seeing the body of a recently deceased person. It was strange to look at a person and not see their chest rise and fall.
When you greet or say good-bye to people here of the Sundanese culture you put your hands together and bring them towards the other person. They will do the same and one of their hands will briefly go in between your two. You also slightly bow your head down. We did this when we arrived at the house and when we left. Tomorrow is the funeral service and we plan to attend if possible. We don’t have school this week. This morning we had our evaluation and we have both passed onto unit 5 and we both had positive evaluations.

Apparently this super hero can't finish his breakfast because he doesn't have a mouth....

Three days ago the ATM's at our local 7/11 (tuju (7) sebelas (11)) were robbed. It happened early in the morning and the thieves made off with 500,000,000 Rupiah. Quite a sum of money. About $64,102 CAD! Apparently there were guns involved. Just to be on the safe side, the police arrested all the store workers in the area, all the angkot drivers and all those walking around the area at the time. Just to be safe... Anyways, today it was all still closed. But it turned out to be a good thing for us as it forced us to go to a different bank machine. I managed to find one that will let us take out even more money than the ones that were robbed! This is very exciting as we pay $5 each time we withdraw funds out here. So there was a silver lining to this whole event...

Today Mikah and I went shopping. Took an angkot and took a couple pics inside to give you an idea of what it is like:

This fruit is called rambutan and it is in season here right now. You break open the fuzzy red things and inside is a fruit that looks like a grape without the peel. Inside that is a pit. It is quite sweet and tasty, but sure makes a lot of garbage!

Hope you all have a good Sunday!

Words of "wisdom"..

Heard at the supper table last night...
three year old child,"I don't want to get married."

Parent,"Why not?"

Child,"Because I don't want to die."

What have we been teaching this child???!!!

Blog a la Nederlanse

Nog een paar dagen en dan is Unit 4 achter de rug, dit naar school gaan is wel even wennen we hebben misschien niet zo lang school van 13:00 tot 15:00 maar we hebben zo’n 2 uur huiswerk en dan moet je ook je vragen nog beantwoordt hebben bij een vriend of een goede buur. Je leert wel veel over de gewoonten van de Indonesiers zo als: als je een goede friend tegen komt zeg je niet “goede morgen” maar gewoon “morgen” en dan “wat ben je aan’t doen” of “waar ga je naar toe / kom je vandaan”, je hebt altijd tijd voor vrienden, buren, of familie gewoon even een praatje zelfs als je wat laat bent voor werk, al zeg je dan “sorry hoor maar ik ben laat voor werk tot ziens”. Nou is dit natuurlijk niet veel anders dan Nederland maar als je hier goede morgen tegen een bus chauffeur of de winkelier zegt wordt er vreemd naar je gekeken zo als ze hier zeggen “Lucu sekali” = erg grappige.
Mensen wonen hier natuurlijk ook anders en hebben een zeer andere huis inrichting zoals onze buren als je het huis in loopt is er een oud studenten bank in de “gastenkamer” 2m x 5m en dan de woonkamer 3m x 5m met een vistank een kleine boeken kast en een tafel met een TVtje. De keuken is een aanrecht zonder sink en de kooktoestel “op olie” staat op de grond en je kan de badkamer zien want er is een half muurtje tussen de badkamer en de keuken dan is er ook nog een trap naar boven zonder railing, we weten niet wat er boven is zo ver zijn we nog niet geweest. Er zijn twee kleine slaapkamers beneden, er wonen moeder met twee zonen (25 en 14) dochter en schoonzoon met dochtertje (4) en een nieuwe baby en dan komt ook regelmatig de neef slapen want het is dichterbij school. De schoonzoon werkt voor een medicine bedrijf de zoon zoekt voor werk maar werkt af en toe als motor reparatie monteur, moeder heeft een gado-gado (een soort salade met pindasauce) stand op de straat bij onze kampung haar man is al een paar jaar geleden overleden de familie is zeer gast vrij en we hebben dan ook regelmatig thee daar. De familie is zeer Sundanees dat is West Javanees maar niet van Jakarta. We hopen meer van ze teleren en daar door ook meer van ons tekunnen vertellen. In Indonesie kun je niet vrij uit evangeliseren aangezien een van de 5 prinsipes is dat elk geloof is even belangerijk en het is dus niet goed als je zegt dat ze een verkeerd geloof hebben. We bidden dan ook dat de mensen door onze levenstijl vragen krijgen.

Today Christiaan's class had an Egyptian presentation for the parents. It was really cute, complete with a pharaoh and a mummy (see photo).

No other important new news to report. We're all healthy! For the time being....

Many Indonesians have trouble hearing the difference between the words “kitchen” and “chicken” and we think, well, what’s so hard about that? Until you try to learn their language….

Words that sound alike but mean very different things:

Doa – pray
Dosa – sin

Boleh – yes you may
Buleh – white skinned person

Kelapa – coconut
Kapala – head

Istirahad – break
Istri – wife

Undang – invite
Udang – shrimp

Bolos – play truant
Balas – reward

Alat – tool
Alamat – address

Tinggal – live at
Tanggal – date (day/month/year)
Tunggal – the only one

Bintang – star
Binatang – animal

Menengok – visit a relative or sick person
Merokok – to smoke

Janji – promise
Jangan – don’t

Cincin – jewelry/ring
Cincang – chop into pieces (it’s what we call ground beef)

More reason to be thankful...

The other day I decided to buy Ibu Nina some diapers for her little baby girl. I bought a pack of 14 diapers. I think all of you back home would say, wow, that’s a small package, it’ll only last about 2 days. To Ibu Nina, who normally buys one diaper at a time, or maybe a pack of 6 if her husband has just been paid, this was a very big package of diapers. Normally her baby wears these thin cloth diaper type things that you tie on. But as soon as the baby pees she needs to be changed because her clothes get wet. So Ibu Nina spends an enormous amount of time washing the baby’s diapers and clothes in between feeding her. They also have to wash everything by hand as they don’t have a machine. So I felt rather sorry for her and decided to buy her some diapers. The pack of 14 only cost me about $3.50. Unlike with us, I’m sure this pack will last more than 2 days as they normally only use them at night or if they have to go out.
Just another reason to be thankful for what we have the ability to buy…

This is the best "before" photo I could find of our kitchen. The next photo is what Rp 600,000 will buy you... Our old cupboard doors were growing mould on them and they also didn't allow any air to circulate in the cupboard and so it was a veritable petri dish down there... not very healthy. So while we hated to have to spend money on a house that's not our own and that we're only going to live in for another 6 months, we feel that it's better for our health this way.

This morning I went outside our front door with my school book in my hand to go and see if someone could answer my questions of the day. Ibu Umi from next door, the house with one window and lots of people living in it, waved me over rather enthusiastically. So I went in and sat down. I wondered what was up. Turns out her son needs to buy books for school. There are some books that the students share between a few because you can write your answers in a notebook. But most of the other books you have to buy because you have to write down the answers in them. They needed Rp112,500 in order to buy all the necessary books for the second semester of school. They said that they would repay us by the 10th of the next month as that is when Ibu Nina’s (Ibu Umi’s daughter, the one with the new baby who by the way has been named Mita) husband gets paid and then they can pay us back. Normally it is expected that they show me the books that they bought so that I know they are not lying. But as we live right next to these people and see them work hard every day to eke out a living here, I quite trust them. After we had finished talking about that, I went and got them the funds. Then it was time for the baby to be bathed and Ibu Umi asked me if I wanted to see how they do it. So I went into the back room of their house where they have their “kitchen”. It’s hard to explain what it is like, but I’ll try. There really isn’t a kitchen at all. There is a small counter top in one corner but it doesn’t have a sink. There is no sink at all. Beside that, surrounded by 4 foot high walls, was a squatty potty toilet. There is no door to this “washroom”, only a doorway. None of these walls are painted and are just the colour of the cement they were made with. Then Ibu Nina told me that her brother wanted to “use the water” so I vacated that area of the house quickly. Her brother closed a curtain in the doorway between that area of the house and the rest. That’s as much privacy as you get... Wah duh! It’s no wonder they think our house is sooooo nice. So, while my kitchen is incredibly tiny, at least I have a one with a sink and a tap and a fridge and a double burner gas stove and an oven box. (see photos that I posted in August of our kitchen…) And while our bathrooms aren’t beautiful to look at, they have doors that you can lock and showers that spew out hot water and sinks to wash by…
The Indonesian government has started a program whereby families that are very poor can get a special paper which enables them to visit the state run hospitals and see a doctor and get medicine free of charge. With this paper they can also get rice for a lot cheaper from their local RT guy. However, to qualify for this special letter, you must live in a house that has a dirt floor, is not made out of cement-just weaved bamboo or cardboard, and is not very big. You must also not have a job or own the house yourself. This should give you any idea of the poverty that exists here. People like our neighbours are considered too well off to qualify for that kind of governmental help. Makes us all thankful to live in a country like Canada where good health care is available to all.

On days when it isn't raining, the kids like to play together outside. Not much room, but they have fun anyways.

Today, it's raining... but that's a good thing, we don't want our well running dry again...

Have no Fear!

To all of you who thought we were homesick after reading my last blog, have no fear. We are not homesick, these are just humorous observations we’ve made so far. We love living here! (Although Christiaan really misses our big yard back home...) When you move to a country such as this one, there is very little that is the same. You must adjust or go bust. (I just made that up…) And all the things that, when you first arrived, you thought were gross or weird, just become normal.
Yes Nicole, most people in Canada buy No Name ranch dressing, and if they had it here I would gladly buy it, but Kraft Fat Free is the absolute only kind of ranch dressing they have. There is just simply no other choice. It’s also about $2.50 for a tiny bottle… so we don’t buy it very often. That’s part of life here. You just make do with what’s available and hope your taste buds (and those of your kids) eventually adjust… That’s the same with the milk here. Yuck in general. But there is a kind of fresh skim milk you can buy that’s drinkable. It also costs $2 for 1 litre! Thankfully most of the kids are happy to drink the UHT milk which is a little cheaper. Again, thankfully, take-out pizza from the local Pizza Hut is much cheaper than back home (although again, it doesn’t taste nearly as good as Panagopolis…). Generally though, we eat a lot of Indonesian food as it is cheaper and we really like it a lot. There are times though, when you just want a good baked potato instead of white rice… Potatoes are available (one variety only), but again a lot more expensive than rice…
BTW, apparently today is the first day of the muslim new year. We thought that maybe last night there would be fire works etc, but nothing of the sort. Just a nice quiet night…

Things we've learned/experienced so far...

If it feels like something is crawling on you, there probably is something crawling on you
If the thing digging around in that corner looks like a rat, it probably is a rat
If you hear noises up in your ceiling, it’s probably a rat too (we have a flat roof so no problems like this-friends have had it happen)
If the angkot you’re riding on seems full, there’s probably room for at least 5 more people
If it feels like there aren’t any windows open in the angkot, there probably aren’t, because, remember, wind is bad, bad, bad…
Hang on to your wallet when riding on an angkot…
Always make two choices when ordering anything anywhere, because there’s a good chance your first choice is out of stock.
When getting a doctor’s prescription, there’s a good chance that half of the items listed are vitamins…
Make sure to rinse your feet off after walking through rain water (it rises pretty high here during downpours) to avoid mysterious rashes
Don’t be freaked out about sharing your home with little lizards, they eat mosquitos
Oh the sound that’s made when you squash a cockroach…
Always carry extra Kleenexes in your purse as toilet paper is never a given in public washrooms…
Don’t make use of too many electrical items at one time in your home or you’ll find yourself in the dark
Water pressure is a fond memory of old…
As is drinkable tap water…
And lots of kitchen counter space..
And really tasty hot dogs that aren't bright red..
And Kraft Ranch dressing with the fat still in it (we can only buy fat free ranch dressing in small bottles-not the same…).
Pointy noses are the best…
So is really, really white skin…
Streets = garbage can, recreation area, eating area, place to sell whatever you can possibly sell
Rivers = garbage dump, laundry facilities, toilet, bathtub…
MPV=multi person vehicle=motorcycle
When a baby’s poop changes colour it means he wants to be smarter…
This is also true when a child loses weight…(I learned this very important info only recently from our neighbour ladies)
If you haven’t eaten rice with your meal you’ll get hungry really fast-you need to eat rice with every meal
People are much, much more important than time!

So yesterday we decided to take Christiaan to get his blood tested as he hadn’t been feeling well at all and was still covered in little spots and complaining of a very sore head. The idea was that the lab would check for dengue fever. Instead they did a host of other tests including checking for typhoid fever, but did not check for dengue. The nurse from the kid’s school called the lab and asked them about it and they said that they check all the pertinent blood information and if the numbers are not within normal range then they go ahead and check for dengue. But as Christiaan’s numbers were okay they said that that meant he didn’t have dengue. So even though we specifically asked for a dengue check, they still did things there own way. The reality is that even if the blood seems normal, he could still have dengue. Anyways, it’s an expensive test, for here anyways, and we already paid a lot for the other tests, so we won’t bother going again unless he really doesn’t improve. The reality is that there is no special medicine that you give for dengue, you just need lots of rest and fluids. So that’s what we’re going with right now. So far only Hugo and Aidan have avoided this thing, whatever it is. According to the nurse from the school, it could also be a strain of rubella. Even though we’ve been vaccinated against it, there could be a deviant strain here. We know that it is recoverable as Marc has completely recovered from it. We had his stool checked about 2 weeks ago and he was all good (thankfully!). He has been much happier lately than before. Brynnie’s big spots are now drying up into little ones although she still has some of the little tiny spots like Christiaan. But she’s still quite happy and very active. This is all simply part of the fun of living in a tropical climate in a country like Indonesia.
At church there is a couple that quite obviously enjoy eachother’s company. He looks to be in his early thirties, she a bit younger. I asked our friends about them, like do they plan to get married? David said, ”Well, they do love each other… but she’s Chinese and he’s from a different Indonesian ethnic group (I can’t remember the name he said, it’s one of the smaller ones.).” So I’m thinking, what’s the big deal? Well, Indonesians don’t really like Chinese and Chinese would rather their children married with fellow Chinese descendants. A couple generations ago a lot of Chinese people escaped China to come to Indonesia in the hopes of a better life. And life is generally better here as there are more freedoms than in China. However, the Indonesian government isn’t a big fan of them and gives them a special designation on their identification card, even if they are born here and their parents are born here. They also have to pay a lot more tax and are refrained from working in Academia, public service and other governmental occupations. The thing is that a lot of the Chinese who came here worked very hard and opened businesses, especially textile shops and factories. So a lot of them are wealthy and they also employ a lot of Indonesian workers. Although there are many who are not wealthy as well, the general Indonesian population views them with suspicion. Back in 1998 there was a bit of an uprising due to the fall of the rupiah and basic economic problems. Some students in Jakarta started demonstrating against the president at the time, Suharto. Four students were shot and rioting followed the funeral. For some reason people started looting businesses and shops owned by Chinese. Also a lot of Chinese women were raped. This of course led to an exodus of Chinese people. There was a fact finding mission into these events and it was determined that there were a number of groups of people made up of men who “were well-built with short-cropped hair (they refrained from saying the word soldier.). But when the Chinese left, a lot of Indonesians lost their jobs. Even my pembantu’s speak negatively about them. I think a part of it is jealousy and a part of it is the fact that the Chinese still maintain a lot of their cultural traditions. Also a lot of them are Christian, Buddhist or Fung Shway (not sure I spelled that right). They are also the one group that likes their helpers to wear special white uniforms with checkered trim so everyone can see that this person with them is a helper. (Not a big fan of that whole practice) So anyways, this poor couple from church, who although love each other, may never be able to marry as long as their parents do not approve. Kind of sad, one would think that being Christian would superscede all that, but I guess that isn't the case here.

Today just I went to church with just Christiaan and Aidan. The idea was to not pass on the virus, as it is obviously contagious, to the other folks at church. But Christiaan isn't fully recovered, he had a fever on Friday night, and went to bed tonight with a fever again and has little red spots all over. Brynne looks really awful still. All her spots have pustules now. I'm not sure the doctor was so right in his diagnosis of an allergic reaction. We may take Brynne to get her blood checked tomorrow morning. A bit frustrating not to be able to completely trust the doctors here. One really has to take charge and do a lot of research on their own.
We were unable to visit Ibu Tati on Saturday as her husbands older sibling passed away the night before. It turned out to be a good thing because Mikah and Christiaan were both not feeling too hot that day.
For the rest we're doing fine. We had a good dump of rain today which freshened everything up again as it was getting a bit dry here.
Selamat Hari Minggu to you all as you are just starting out your sunday as we are ending it off having just listened to a very interesting sermon by Rev. Wielenga on 1 Sam 21; David's visits to Nob and Gath paralleled with Christ's suffering for us and what we need to do here now.

Well, there’s another virus making the rounds of our home. Wah duh! Didn’t expect to get sick this much!? Thankfully this virus just makes one feel kind of lousy and have a fever for a night or two. Unfortunately Brynnie is suffering from it at the same time as reacting to her immunizations last week and she seems to have some sort of allergic reaction right now. At least that’s what the doctor thinks. Brynnie is covered in large red welts that are hot to the touch. She woke up with them, poor thing. But inspite of it all, she still has a tremendous amount of energy. The doctor prescribed amoxicillin so hopefully it helps whatever infection she’s fighting. It’s always a hoot to go to the doctor’s clinic here. For minor things and vaccinations I go to this beautiful new hospital but I’m not sure that the pediatrician there is very experienced and I trust a local doctor more (at least right now). When you go to the clinic you just put your name down on a list and wait. Today, I came 15 minutes before the clinic opened and I had to wait 1.5 hours to see the doctor. Ugghh… Not real fun, but we survived. Thankfully my Indonesian is a lot better now and I was able to understand him quite well.
Tomorrow we hope, provided everyone is healthy, to visit one of our helpers, Ibu Tati. It will be interesting to see where and how she lives and to meet her family. It will also be interesting to see how it goes as she insists that the entire family must come.

Today we started Unit 4, yeah! Four times a week we have to hand in a written assignment as the focus in unit 4 is more on reading and writing than on pronunciation and grammar. We do however; still get grammar class once a week. We also have to do 2 formal presentations this unit. At the same time as working on reading and writing, we will be learning more about the culture here. We’ve already learned some, but now we will delve even deeper into it. Today we learned that while in other countries it is common to greet anyone with a greeting such as “Good morning, how are you?” Here that is only used in formal situations. Most of the time you will greet friends and neighbours with a greeting like “where are you going?” or “where are you coming from?” or “buying lots today?” It is quite funny that they don’t ever say hello. But because we are foreigners, a lot of people do greet us with “selamat” out of respect. If you pass someone you don’t know, you just nod your head and smile.
I often chat with the mother and daughter that live beside us. On the photo is the daughter with her two daughters. The mom’s name is Nina and her mother’s name is Umay. They all live together with Nina’s husband, and her two younger brothers. (I have mentioned them before.) Ibu Umay’s husband died about 7 years ago. They have one window in their entire house. They also do not have an oven and cook using a kerosene burner. They also do not have a fridge so when everyone in the kampung received meat on Hari Kurban, they had to eat theirs right away or it would go bad. Had I been more on the ball, I would have offered them a corner of my freezer… These two women are so much fun to talk with. They have such a great relationship. Ibu Umay I always there to help her daughter with the kids or the wash and ironing (they iron absolutely everything, and I mean, everything…). They are also extremely culturally correct. The other day Nina apologized for having her feet out in front of her while nursing the baby while sitting on the floor. It is impolite to point the soles of your feet out. Of course I told her that that is really not impolite to me and not to worry, but it is so ingrained in her that she can’t help it. Nina and Ibu Umay love to tease each other too but they do it in such an Indonesian way. I can’t even really explain it as it is so tied into the language and culture. But it is very cute anyways. It has been a real treat to get to know them and they have helped me with my language a lot.

Nina, and her two girls. Asilah is holding her new barbie that her dad bought her because she wouldn't stop crying after they came home from the hospital with the new baby. She is still very jealous of her new sister...

P.S. We thought the kids would start school today as well, but they are still off until thursday!

Blog a la Nederlanse...

Wij wensen jullie allen een gezegend nieuw jaar.
In een moslim land waar we nu wonen zegt Kerstfeest niet veel. Het maakt ons bedroeft om te denken aan al die mensen die denken dat ze hun eigen weg naar de hemel moeten kunnen bewerken. Gedenk ook deze mensen in uw gebed dat ze de blijdschap van dit goede nieuws kunnen delen. Dat ze mogen begrijpen dat Jezus de enig weg naar zaligheid is.
We leven met en onder de mensen met een Moslim geloof en dus wanneer zij speciaale feestdagen hebben kunnen we dat meemaken. Het eerste feest dat we mee maakte was Ramahdan dit is de maand dat ze vasten van zon’s op tot zon’s ondergang, niet eten, drinken of roken dus. Uit respect for dit aten en dronken we dus ook niet in publiek. Elke morgen rond 2:30 kon je de mosque horen om de mensen te waarschuwen dat het tijd was voor de laatste maaltijd van de dag, sommige mensen gaan daarna weer slapen sommige blijven ook op zoals een van onze pembantus. Deze hele maand is besteed om je zonden te gedenken van het afgelopen jaar. De maand eindigt met Idul Fitri op de laatse dag van vasten rond om 18:00 komt de mosque weer tot leven maar nu met het zegen van een kort gebed dat de hele nacht door gaat tergelijketijd zijn er mannen en jongens aan het trommelen en word er vuurwerk afgestoken dit we hoorde dat dit tot ongeveer 4:00 s’ochtends duurde wij waren rond 23:00 inslaap gevallen. De volgende dag word besteed aan het beszoeken van familie en frienden waar er veel word gegeten. Dit was eerste keer dat Erica werd uitgenodigt bij de buren in huis.
Het tweede feest is Korban dit van 30 tot 31 Dec en met dit feest wordt herdacht dat Abraham zijn zoon “Ismael” wilde offeren maar dat de Here een ram in de plaats heeft gegeven, de Moslims geloven dus dat het Ismael was en niet Isaak, op 30 Dec rond 18:00 begint de mosque met het gebed wat eindigt rond 5:30 s’ochtends en dan een paar uur later worden de geiten en koeien geslacht. Het wordt verwacht dat een ieder die het kan betalen een geit of een koe (voor de rijken) koopt een geit kost ongeveer Rp 750.000 wat is iets hoger dan een gemiddelde maands loon. Er zijn dan ook niet veel mensen die dit kunnen betalen Hugo heeft wat foto’s gemaakt van het verdelen van het vlees, dit wordt gewoon buiten op de grond gedaan, ze verdelen daar 4 geiten en een koe voor zo’n 160 families. Dit feest is dan ook voor het delen met de armen zodat ook zij soms wat vlees krijgen. Al moet het wel de zelfde dag gegeten worden aangezien de meeste mensen geen koelkast hebben.
Na de nieuw jaar hebben we 2 nachten in een hotel in Lembang geslapen een stadje ten noorden van Bandung het ligt wat hoger en de lucht is zuiverder, een zeer goede plaats om aardbeien te telen en andere planten het is dan ook bekent om de tuincentrums en bloemen winkels. Wij maken ons klaar om weer aan school te beginnen terwijl de kinderen to de 11 Jan nog vrij hebben. We hopen eind Jullie klaar tezijn en dan ook in Papoea te beginnen.

Wedding A La Indonesia...

Today we went to church and heard a good sermon about the importance of a life devoted to God and not to other things like television or money.
After coming home from church Mikah and I went to a wedding reception being held at the bottom of our hill. The entire RT was invited as the bride is the daughter of the RT head. So Mikah and I went with one of the other MAF wives to check it out. There was a couple canopies set up for shade and under one of them was a stage with two sets of enormous speakers on it. On the stage was a young woman singing her heart out but the sound wasn’t that great as the speakers were cranked to maximum volume and therefore rather crackly. In front of the stage under the second canopy were rows of chairs for guests to sit on. Upon arrival you are shown to a table where you sign your name and receive a thank-you gift (a key chain with a thank-you note attached). Then you enter the tiny house and go to the back and give your congratulations and put your envelope with money (no toasters or kettles please) into the fancy box with a slot on the top. The bride and groom are very elaborately dressed and have powdered faces (to look more white). Then you go back to the front room and get some food from the buffet there. Upon exiting the house you receive a cup of water (these are presealed cups of clean water-very popular here) and a plate of fruit (a tiny banana, mandarin and a rambutan (a redish hairy looking fruit that you break open and inside is a white slippery fruit with a pit in the middle)). Then you sit down and “enjoy” the music and dancing. The singer was fairly provocatively dressed and was dancing in a very provocative manner. At one point she invited two guys from the audience to come up and dance with her. Even though this culture is very muslim, they still try to be western and a blind eye is turned in situations like this. Anyways, you eat your food, it’s almost impossible to talk with each other as the music is deafening, and then you go. I don’t think people here really go to wedding receptions to share in the couple’s joy, they come for the food. For some of the families down at the bottom here it is the only good meal with all the food groups that they’ll have for a while. Here divorce is extremely common and polygamy is becoming more and more common as well. Apparently the Koran allows for up to four wives, if you should so desire....
It was another unique Indonesian experience. And the families of the bride and groom were very excited that we buleh’s came…

This is the result of a buzzer-happy mom....

Hey all! We’re back from our 2 night trip to Lembang, a little town in the mountains. There we visited the beautiful hotel Sangria and made good use of their pool. We had a nice enjoyable time as a family there. Nice to get out of our kampung for a few days. Here we are living within feet of our neighbours with little privacy, so it was nice to get away.

The photos are of us in the hot (warm) tub, the method they use to grow strawberries here, lots of people have horses here that you can pay to ride, and the street near the hotel is lined with little warungs (shops). It is really fresh up in Lembang, meaning a lot less polution, and the weather is a lot cooler which is why they can grow strawberries and other plants there. Lembang is actually famous for its horticulture. You can even buy poinsettia's there!

This was the scene today in front of the mesjid closest to our house. They slaughtered 4 goats and 1 cow. Then they divided up the meat, by weight, into those black bags to be distributed to all the families in our RT. An RT is the lowest division in the city. Above the RT is an RW who is in charge of 10 RT's and so on... As you can see from the photos it was a very sterile environment...

We have already welcomed in the new year. We lit off some fire works earlier in the evening with the kids. Then at midnight we went up on our roof (it's flat) and watched as a bunch of houses around the valley up on the hills (rich folks) were lighting off some very beautiful fire works. Thankfully, things are a lot quieter tonight than they were last night!

Again, Selamat Tahun Baru from us all down here in Indonesia!!

This morning on our way to church we were treated to the sight of dead goats with their necks slit having been sacrificed to celebrate Hari(day) Raya(big) Kurban. Last night they were calling Aluah Akbar for the entire night without ceasing... so needless to say, the grownups in this house are a little fatigued today. Then at 7:00 the calling stopped and we heard a sermon extolling the virtues of helping one another in times of need. I don't know if I've mentioned before, but we live about 75 metres from the nearest mosque. But there are many mosques very close to us and they all call out to pray at around the same time, but not in sync of course, and with the volume as high as it will go. It is quite the sound to hear. I wish I could record it for you to hear. Especially at night when sound travels really well; it is amazing to hear. Unfortunately it is all in vain as they are praying to Aluah and not Tuhan (our God).
Tonight we plan to welcome in the new year with the other MAF folks that are still around. The plan is to light fireworks off our roof. Hopefully, it doesn't rain....
We would like to wish all of you God's continued blessings in the New Year! Selamat Tahun (year) Baru(new)!

What to do when it rains aaallll day long...

Hari Raya Kurban

Right now we are listening to the repeated prayers to Aluah as it is Hari Kurban right now. All week there have been goats and cows for sale by the side of the road.
Eid ul-Adha is celebrated by Muslims worldwide as a commemoration of Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael for Allah. (Muslims believe that Abraham had to offer up Ishmael, not Isaac) Others celebrate Eid ul-Adha as it marks the end of the Pilgrimage or Haji for the millions of Muslims who make the trip to Mecca each year. Like Eid-Ul Fitri, Eid ul-Adha also begins with a short prayer followed by a khutba (sermon). In Mecca, the khutba is delivered at Mount Arafat.
It is celebrated approximately 70 days after the end of the month of Ramadan.
Eid ul-Adha is four days long starting the day after the pilgrims in hajj (annual pilgrimage to mecca by Muslims world wide) descend from mount Arafat.
Men, women, and children are expected to dress in their finest clothing and perform prayer (Salat) in any Masjid or mosque. Muslims who can afford to do so sacrifice best domestic animals, usually sheep, as a symbol of Ibrahim's sacrifice. Any faulty animal scarification may not be acceptable by Allah (Quran,Hadith); this sacrifice is called "Qurban". The sacrificed animals (camels, cows, goats and sheeps) have to meet certain age and quality standards. At the time of sacrifice, Allah's name is recited along with the offering statement and a supplication as Muhammad said. The meat then is equally distributed amongst the sacrificer's family, friends, relatives, and the poor and hungry. The regular charitable practices of the Muslim community are demonstrated during Eid ul-Adha by the concerted effort to see that no impoverished Muslim is left without sacrificial food during this day. Coming immediately after the Day of Mount Arafat when Muhammad pronounced the final seal on the religion of Islam, Eid ul-Adha gives concrete realization to what the Muslim community ethic means in practice. People in these days are expected to visit their relations, starting from their parents, then their families and friends.

Today our neighbours invited us to a celebration for their new baby. Normally here before a baby is 40 days old they cut a bit of hair off the head and put it in a bowl with water and flowers. Not sure why they do that, but anyways, they at some point want to cut off all the hair as it is the hair from inside the mother and it is considered dirty. We didn’t go for the party as it started at 6:00 and like the house blessing party we observed a couple months ago, the men were sitting together and the women apart and they prayed and sang for a good half hour first and then they ate some appetizers together like deep-fried banana and other deep-fried delicacies. Then they gave all who attended a Styrofoam take-out container with white rice (of course) a piece of chicken, a hard-boiled egg swimming in hot sauce, some cabbage and cucumber and a piece of Indonesian kroepoek (not nearly as good as the dutch style…) to take home. We came when the party was basically done after our kids were in bed. But we still got our take-out meal. So we were able to visit with the parents of the baby, especially the dad. It was nice because we don’t often get to chat with him as he works in the morning and the evening and is home for a siesta during the afternoon. Today he had permission to stay home in the evening for the celebration. He works at a hospital and dispenses medicines like anti-depressants and epilepsy drugs. He didn’t formally train at university to do this, but went through a 2 month training program at the hospital. Our neighbours are always very honoured if we take the time to visit with them. It is really great for our language and cultural training to spend time with them. They are a really nice family.
P.S. This post is actually from 2 days ago, but because of the earthquake in Taiwan we have been having internet issues...

It's Thursday and we're at the pool right now. I'm making use of the wireless internet available here. It's a tiny bit faster than our access at home and right now we can't get on the internet or access our email at home. So if you've emailed us in the past couple days and we haven't replied, well, we just haven't seen it.
We are having an enjoyable holiday so far. We took the kids to a bigger Jump'n Gym yesterday and they had fun there. Today, as I already wrote, we are at the pool. It's been a long time since we've been swimming as the weather has been so rainy and cold (at least cold for us...). So it's great to get a little vitamin sun today.
That's about the scoop from here! Praying that all is well with all of you also!

Selamat Boxing Day!

Aidan and Hugo on the go carts. Quite hilarious, Aidan had a few spectacular crashes into the tires along the sides.

Today we took the kids to Bandung Super Mall again. We had promised to take them back when we had holidays as the last time we went it was so incredibly busy you could hardly move. Today it was soooo quiet, very nice. It did get a little busier towards mid afternoon, but by then we'd already had our fun. Please see photos for more about our fun... The last photo is of a bunch of kids that were waiting by the entrance to the mall. They try to earn some money by bring people to their cars under cover of their umbrellas. Of course it was raining by the time we went home and I was trying and trying to get through to the taxi company but to no avail. In the meantime these kids were standing in front of us literally staring at us as though we were an attraction at the zoo. That hasn't quite become entirely normal for us yet... There were taxis dropping people off in front and I ran up to one from our preferred company (BlueBird-clean cars and drivers who don't smoke...) but was told that I'd have to put my name on the list. I kind of acted like I sort of understood but not really and the next time a Blue Bird taxi came the door guy called me over so I guess magically the list disappeared and we were first. Turns out that BlueBird is not actually allowed to pick people up in front of the mall. People are supposed to go outside the mall grounds and wait. So we were just very fortunate that today the rules were bent for us and we made it home safely and in good time. Always an adventure here... Hope you all had a nice relaxing Boxing Day!

Selamat Hari Minggu

It’s the day before Christmas and it’s raining again. It’s amazing how fast our thoughts have changed from, please rain, to, can we please have some sun? We managed to get in this family photo just before it started to rain, hence the spots on Hugo’s shirt… (that's our house on the left)
Well, we have all fallen victim to the evil flu. Aidan was the last victim to fall. Hopefully that means we will all be healthy for the rest of the holidays. The kids had their last day of school on Friday and will be going back, along with us, Jan 8, 2007. Hugo and I had our evaluations on Thursday and they went very well. We have officially passed unit three and are on our way up to unit 4. Yeah! Unit four is 2 hours in the afternoon but there’s more homework of the written variety.
We want to wish all of you, wherever you are in the world, a blessed Christmas as together we remember Christ’s birth.

We have been having quite the rain storms here. If one were to venture outdoors, one would become drenched in seconds. Today we had a thunderstorm that was so close that the lightening and thunder were virtually simultaneous. It was incredibly loud!
In this country they are much more formal than we are with regards to what you call eachother. In Canada we adults just use first names unless we are speaking to an elderly person or a member of parliament. Children of course use the terms Mr. and Mrs. for grownups. Here, it is quite different. If you don’t know each other yet you must use Ibu for a married woman or Nona or Mbak for an unmarried woman. You may say their first name after the title though. Once you get to know each other and know who is older, the older person may call the younger by name only but the younger person must always use the title. Sometimes an older person will call the younger person Dik which is short for Adik which means younger sibling (even though they aren’t actually related…) At school we must call all of our teachers title first and then name. We must use Ibu even for the unmarried female teachers out of respect. Outside of school we can call them whatever they tell us to as some of them are a bit more modern… All the above rules apply to men as well except they are addressed as Pak if married or Mas if not married. In Canada we use the word “you” when talking to someone as well. Here it is more polite, at school especially, to use the proper title (don’t have to use the name too). It is actually very polite to use your own name when talking about yourself too. That’s weird to do so I’m not really doing it… At school before going home, the teachers must go to the head of the school and ask permission to go home (even though some of them have worked there for almost 20 years…). When asking permission, they must say their title, first name and then ask. Like, “Boleh (may) Ibu Erica pulang (go home)?” I never imagined that there would be this many little things to learn here!

Here in Indonesia people eat a tremendous amount of rice. They eat it for each meal. So when the price of rice goes up, there’s a bit problem. This has happened a few times recently. There have already been demonstrations in Jakarta about it. The reasons for the rise in price are various. The rain came very late this year so the crops were affected. Also there are probably some unscrupulous government workers who sell rice to other countries for a profit instead of selling it to their own people. There are also those with lots of money who buy up tremendous amounts of rice and then sell it little by little for a lot thereby controlling the market. But the fact remains, the price of rice for the average person here has risen. Those who are very poor are beginning to resort to eating sweet potatoes or roots. Unfortunately, while roots might be a lot cheaper, they are also a lot lower in nutritional value. They are only a source of carbohydrates. Apparently the government is supposed to be controlling the price of rice but I’m not sure about all the details yet. Anyways, this is big news here right now and many of the “little” people blame the current government. They feel that life was better under the dictator Soeharto because at least then people could easily buy rice and milk. I think that time makes people forget the bad things….
On the family front, Hugo and I are feeling a lot better, but now Marc is sick with the same flu bug we had. That leaves only Brynne and Aidan who haven’t had it yet….
Tomorrow is our last day of school! Yippee!! Then on Thursday morning we have our evaluation, and we know that it is just a formality, they never fail you if you’ve made it past unit 1… phew….

Today a group of kids and some older "kids" from church came and sang some Carols and read some scripture about Christmas. Here you don't sing in front of the house, you go into the house. This is out of respect for our muslim neighbours and so that we don't all get eaten by mosquito's. It's really neat to be one in faith with these people in this foreign country so far away from home.

Update on the sewage issue: Apparently on Saturday already our neighbours had toilet sewage in their bathroom but they didn't say anything to us. We didn't see anything until Sunday and it wasn't until today that our neighbours told Ibu Tati about it. The people here are so non-confrontational that they didn't even eat so that they wouldn't have to use the toilet. Too funny! Anyways, the neighbour man hired someone, after we agreed to each pay half, to come and unplug the drain. Here that is not so easily done. They first had to dig out the concrete around the pipe beside our house. Then they had to cut open the pipe and use some sort of a long tool to push the blockage out. Then they had to repair the pipe and the concrete. Not very practical. But then they also cement toilets into the floor here... Anyways, the problem is solved thankfully!!

Well, it’s Monday morning and I’ve just dragged myself out of bed to check email and post a blog. Yesterday Hugo and I were hit with a nasty virus that made our entire bodies ache, throw up, fever and the rest… We have never ever been that sick before. At 2:30 yesterday I finally called the other MAF folks here and asked them if they could take the kids. The kids were doing great considering Hugo and I were both in bed so they had no supervision, but when Brynnie got up from her nap we needed help. Unfortunately now the drains of our house, and two of our neighbours are plugged and so any sewage water is coming up in all our bathrooms…. Yuck… One of my Ibu’s is on her way to talk with the landlord about it. Lets hope they just fix it and don’t make a big deal about it. Ibu Tati said that her daughter is doing a little better now but is still sick. But that Typhoid, it can last up to 5 weeks. Christiaan was also sick on Saturday so lets hope that Hugo and I are the last to get this nasty, nasty virus…

Today Ibu Tati came to work a bit late, had phoned first but didn't say why. When I went downstairs to see her it was obvious she had been crying. Her daughter, Bunga (means flower), is very sick with Typhoid fever. Last night she was delirious and didn't want to sleep all night. I have to admire Ibu Tati's dedication to her job with us, but I sent her home to be with her little girl. Typhoid fever is quite common here but it is still rather frightening as people can die from it. It can also take about 5 weeks for one to recover from it. Bunga has been sick for 2 weeks now and so is in the second stage which can be quite bad. Please pray for this little girl to get well and for her family to one day come to know the truth. It is difficult to witness here as you are technically not allowed to evangelize. You are allowed to answer questions, but you are not allowed to try to convert people outright. So we try to show by our way of life and how we treat others etc... Ibu Mysiah has once compared how we pray before and after meals to their prayers 5 times a day. Unfortunately she did this before our language was at its current level. I hope that one day she brings up the subject again because now we have more language to be able to talk better with her about it. One thing I did explain to my helpers was that Christmas trees and other decorations are not a Christian thing, but merely for decoration only. They were quite surprised by this as like many Indonesians, they assume that anything western is Christian.

A photo of Bunga and Brynnie sweeping the floor together.

Indonesia is a very superstitious country. This is still a long-lasting influence of the Hindu background and animism. Today as part of our homework we had to ask Indonesian’s about some of their superstitions. I spoke with one of our neighbour ladies and as we are both women, we talked about superstitions during pregnancy. For example, when pregnant, women should not cut up chicken. If they do the baby might be born missing an arm or leg. Also, the father must not go fishing. If he does, the baby might be born with a cleft pallet. The father also must not play cards or the baby may look like one of the characters on the cards…. And the list goes on… As you can guess, when a baby is born with something wrong, the parents feel an incredible amount of responsibility as they must have done something to make it happen.
Indonesians are also very suspicious of large dark trees. They feel that there are ghosts inhabiting the tree that will snatch children away.
I have written before about "masuk angin", but in case you didn't read it before I will explain it again. Indonesians believe that wind(angin), "entering" (masuk) your body is a bad thing. When air is still it is okay, but when it is moving fast, it is bad. Therefore when riding a motorbike, you must wear something like a jacket, if the zipper is broken, wear it backwards, or a vest. This bad wind entering your body will make you sick with many different things like, the common cold, or the flu. Even while riding crowded stuffy angkots, people will close the windows because they are afraid of the wind.

We are now officially in our last week of unit 3! After this unit we will have 2.5 weeks off, yeah!

This week I decided to put Marc and Brynne on antibiotics. Brynne’s bacterial infection has reoccurred and Marc has been complaining off and on of a sore stomach (we know he has drunk tap water a few times...) for a few weeks now. So I talked with the doctor’s assistant from the kid’s school. She recommended different antibiotics for the both of them. Brynne’s comes in enormous red capsules; suspension antibiotics are only recently making an appearance here and are very limited and expensive. So I have to open up the capsule and empty out the contents onto a piece of paper. It is a fine white powder which I then divide into three even piles. One pile I mix with yogurt and give to Brynnie. The rest I put back into the capsule for the next dose. Quite the procedure. Marc’s antibiotics come in a pill like a large Tylenol. For 10 pills it cost $2,000 Rupiahs, about 25 cents canadian!! First I have to split it, then crush the half and mix it with yogurt. For the both of them I have to do this twice a day. Hopefully these antibiotics will cure whatever ails them….

These are two things that I think we North Americans are missing, but which Indonesians find very practical. Who loves to bend over when sweeping the dust into the dust bin? Never bend again with the long handled dust pan!

Note the strainer that goes into your kitchen sink drain. Never worry about losing your wedding ring down the sink again!

Blog a la Nederlanse...

Zo al weer een poosje geleden, we zijn nu in onze derde week van Unit 3 en we kunnen steeds meer met onze buren en vrienden praten, Dit betekend dat we ook steeds meer leren over onze buren. Vandaag voor het eerste een lekke band gekregen met de motor, s’middags is het mijn taak (hugo) om de kinderen van school te halen. Normaal brengt Erica ze naar school in lopend zo krijgen we allemaal wat beweging en ik haal ze dan op met de motor, ik loop s’ochtends alleen naar school en met Erica terug. In iederegeval ik was op de motor en had Marc met me mee en ik zou Christiaan van school halen hij blijft s’maandags op school voor het voetballen, we waren bijna bij school toen ik merkte dat mijn achterband zachter werd dus bij school gestopt Christiaan opgehaalt en lopend met de motor naar de banden plak “winkel” het is een zijl gespannen langs de weg waar 1 of 2 jongens zitten die banden plakken voor motors, fietsen, en auto’s. Mijn lekkeband koste me 5000Rp dat is ongeveer € 0.50 en het was in een kwartiertje gedaan. Op deze foto is er ook een kleine Warung te zien waar je kunt eten, drinken en wat andere dingen kunt kopen. Wat ons op valt is dat je veel mannen en jongens langs de straat of bij de kleine “Warungs” ziet zitten. Ze spelen de hele dag domino of schaak. De vrouwen of meisjes zijn thuis, normaal gesproken spelen de vrouwen geen domino of schaak, ze “mogen” dit niet want dat zou betekenen dat het huis werk niet wordt gedaan. Er zijn ook andere voorbeelden er is een jonge familie vlakbij ons die een Warung hebben ze zijn net een paar jaar getrouwed en hebben een dochtertje dezelfde leeftijd als Brynne, ze werken alle bij in de Warung waar ze dan overdag ook leven, eten, en hun siesta houden, het dochterje speelt in het winkeltje of er voor, de kinderen leer hier vroeg om uit tekijken voor motors.

Mikah, Christiaan, en Aidan hebben het nog steeds goed naar het zin op school. Ze hebben alle 3 met het Christmas progamma mee gedaan Mikah moest een “Solo” singen en de jongens zongen in het koor, heel mooi en goed voor berijd.
Aidan heeft de gewoonte om elke dag even langs de school zuster te gaan, kijken of ze er wel is en misschien heeft hij wel een schrammetje of of iets anders kleins zodat ze wat voor hem kan doen.
Christiaan vind voetbal heel leuk maar vindt zijn sinterklaas kadootje ook heel leuk een gameboy spelletje waar hij dan ook regelmatig komentaar overgeeft hoe ver hij is en wat je allemaal moet doen.
Mikah leest veel, tekent, en maak hele wereldjes met de playmobil, my little pony’s, en lego.
Marc is een handvol voor de Ibu’s hij speelt graag met motors, gereedschap, bijde echte en speelgoed. En af en toe laat hij de Ibu’s ook schrikken zoals laatst sloot hij zich zelf op in onze slaapkamer en deed als of hij sliep, wel de Ibu’s zagen het al spelen met het stopcontact, met onze`spullen, of uit het raam. Toen zxe eindelijk de deur open kregen lag hij op bed met de handen onder het hoofd.
Brynne word took steeds ouder ze is een echte scharrelaar en de buren hebben haar de ook regelmatig op bezoek, ze houd van trap op en trap af deur in deur uit, de buren en de Ibu’s vinden dit maar niets want ze zijn bang dat ze valt. Indonesiers zijn zeer voorzichtig met kinderen??
We hopen dat jullie allen goede voorbereidingen hebben voor de feestdagen groeten van uit warm Bandung. Feunekes Familie.

A little more info about the island we are living on..

Java (the island we are currently inhabiting) is by far the most populous island in Indonesia, with approximately 62% of the country's population. With 130 million inhabitants at 940 people per km², it is also the most populous island in the world. If it were a country, it would be the second-most densely-populated country of the world after Bangladesh except for some very small city-states. Since the 1970’s the Indonesian government has run transmigration programs aimed at resettling the population of Java on other less-populated islands of Indonesia. This program has met with mixed results, and sometimes caused conflicts between the locals and the recently arrived settlers.
Javanese are the largest and most dominant ethnic group in Indonesia. Approximately 45% of Indonesians are Javanese including one of our pembantu's, Ibu Mysiah. The majority of Javanese people today are Muslim, but their culture owes much to animism as well as Hinduism. The first religion of this region of the world was Hindu, later the Mulsim faith came and the two were somewhat blended along with animism. Only the island of Bali remains truly Hindu.
As is true with many of the cultural groups in Indonesia, the Javanese also have their own language. It is quite complex when compared to the more easily learned national language of Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian). The Javanese language has nine levels ranging from low to high, reflecting status, age and familiarity between speakers. There are regional variations too. The Javanese language of East Java is more course and generally considered less respectful than that spoken in Central Java. In Central Java, politeness and good manners are highly regarded. Loud displays of emotion are considered quite rude. Thus, the Javanese are known for their indirectness and deference to authority in order to avoid negative, embarrassing or uncomfortable feelings. This trait stems from the Hindu court traditions of pre-Islamic influence.
The Sundanese people are the second largest ethnic group in Indonesia. Ibu Tati, our other pembantu, and all of our close neighbours, are Sundanese. Despite inhabiting the western third of the island of Java, the Sundanese are not Javanese, any more than the Welsh are English. The culture and language of Sunda are quite distinct from those of Java, although they are certainly related. They are a soft-spoken people with a strong desire to help others.
Sundanese culture combines very diverse elements. While more overtly Muslim than the Javanese, many Sundanese maintain customs and beliefs rooted in older religions. Sundanese language and manners range from highly refined and formalized, to downright vulgar and ribald. Such contrasts are reflected in the performing arts, ranging from the exquisite melancholy of courtly poetry sung in tembang Sunda, to rhythmic farts squeezed from the armpits of ngajibrut street entertainers. Concerts are rare: ceremonies and celebrations are the most frequent occasions for musical performance. Music, dance and theatre can be for ritual, entertainment or both.

Here is the little cutie. Note the Koran and ginger above her head. Her grandmother told me that her nose isn't nice like white kids noses that point up. People here are not only obsessed with white skin, but they also love our noses because they point up somewhat. Their noses are much flatter and point down. Too funny! She's as cute as a button just the way she is!

So I visited with our neighbour this week. The one who just had a baby. She's as cute as a button, but yet unnamed (the baby that is...). I think they try to figure out her character first or something. I asked if I could take a picture of the baby and they said sure. This was the first time the baby had been photographed. They don't own a camera so they don't ever expect to have many photos and any photos they do have are proudly displayed in their home. They also don't use diapers on the baby because they are just too expensive. They just change the baby's clothes a lot and she sleeps on a rubber mat in a stroller that folds down flat. Currently she is sleeping with a little copy of the Koran and some ginger. I asked what the ginger was for and Nina, the mother, said that it is an old belief that it will keep bad spirits away....
I'm having trouble posting photos right now, but as soon as the problem is fixed I'll post a photo of the little cutie...
Otherwise things are pretty normal here. We have been getting some massive torrential rain storms with some incredibly loud thunder. Wah duh! The gongs down to our house get so slippery when it rains because they are so dusty otherwise. But we have no shortage of water right now and we can enjoy a luxurious hot shower on a daily basis! Yippee!!

Marc opening some presents.

The crowded living room.

Ibu Mysiah grinding fresh spices with a mortar and pestle.

Ibut Tati decorating the cupcakes she baked.

It's a party!!

Well, we had our party for Marc, and we survived. It is not even 8:00 and all the kids are in bed and the house is back in order and spotless! Quite the experience again it was. My helpers came in at 11:00 am and began preparing the food. I was expecting about 30 guests to come so we needed a fair bit of food. We made fries (store bought) and chicken strips (homemade) for the kids. For the grown ups we made chicken legs (like shake’n bake, only deep fried of course) the sundanese dish made with beef called rundang, and chop chai (stir fried vegetables). We also had kroepoek (a must here), lumpias and a fruit salad made Canadian style (by me-the only thing I made). Here normally fruit salad is actually spicy. The ladies ate tons and tons of it because it was so tasty. My secret, canned peaches from Del Monte… Shhhh…
So the idea was that we would start at 5:00. Somehow the other pembantu’s were told that it started at 4:00- so we had guests long before we were ready. But Indonesian kids are incredibly patient; they just quietly sat and waited while our kids got a bit wild with boredom. The funny thing was that in the empty house next door to us there was a circumcision party today. Here boys are circumcised when they are a bit older and can understand why. And then they have a big party right after-the boy gets no time to recuperate first. Anyways, that was going on next door. Which was a bit of a worry. You see, here people are really good at crashing parties, especially ones with lots of free food. Anyways, we opened the party with prayer (already there were a few boys hanging around the front door) and then we sang a whole bunch of songs and then the kids went to eat. That’s when some of those from outside wormed their way in and once in how do you say no? Well, we kind of ran out of fries pretty quickly, but here that doesn’t matter because kids are just used to eating rice. Then the adults went to get their food, again some people we didn’t know were helping themselves. No big deal, we had a ton of food for everyone. It was just funny because they basically took the food and ran. Then we handed out cupcakes and after that goodie bags to the invited kids. So it went pretty well. It was incredibly crowded in our house, but everyone had a good time and the food was really, really good. As most of the invitees were pembantus of other MAF’ers, the house was cleaned up in no time at all!
In the meantime, this morning our neighbour finally had her baby. A little girl. If I can I hope to visit her tomorrow as that is a very special thing to do. Of course, here, instead of bringing flowers, bring an envelope with money!

P.S. There's a problem with blogger so I'm unable to post photos at this time...