Last week our friends David and Santi took us out for dinner to a restaurant called The Valley. We had a great night time view of Bandung and the steaks were good! We've really enjoyed getting to know this young couple. They are really great friends and we will miss them. They plan to get married November 8, 2008.

On Saturday one of the teachers at school finally got married. The one who had been dating for 12 years... Love the outfits they wear eh? Anyone involved in the wedding-relatives and helpers like guest book attendants all wore the same outfits. Bright blue with gold. Yikes, not my style... All the women are completely made up to the point that we didn't even recognize someone from school that we see almost every day! They even wear fake eye lashes and they all look the same.

At church today they asked us to say some words after the service was over. So we did our best to express how we felt, off the cuff... I think we did okay... After that one of the Evangelists who is actively involved in this little church said a special prayer for us. It was nice. I guess our faithfull attendance, even though we have to take public transportation, made an impression on them. Then of course we took some photos. That's what the group photo is all about. Just a bunch of people from church that were there every Sunday. It did feel weird that it was our last Sunday there. The week of "lasts" has begun....

1)Brynnie and Michelle hanging out. 2)Marc actually agreeing to a photo with an Indonesian!! 3)The family of Pak Okie.
Pak Okie is one of the teachers at our school. We rent a snazzy little Suzuki Shogun (125 cc) off of him. People here often rent out there motorbikes because it allows them to pay for it with credit and once it is paid off, they use the money to pay for school fees etc... This little family just moved into a "new" house last weekend. They can't afford yet to buy their own house so they just rent. The house they were living in was incredibly small. There was a small living room about the size of a laundry room back home, two tiny bedrooms and a kitchen area. In the kitchen there was only a enough counter for their kompor (2 burner gas stove). Beside the kompor was their washing machine. There was no where for them to prepare ingredients to be cooked so they often just bought their meals from a warung (little shop). Now they live in a three bedroom house that actually has a kitchen with space to cook. Pak Okie's wife says that now she has a big kitchen, like mine (yikes, I always thought mine was tiny tiny), so maybe now she'll feel like cooking seeing as she actually has room to cook. They're a great little family that we are thankful to have gotten to know! We had them over for supper today and I showed them how to make pizza from scratch. They really love it!
Only one week until we leave!!!

Yes, that's Mikah in the middle of the rice paddy. What you can't see is that she's walking on a small pathway... had she not been she would have been in big trouble as it is rather muddy in the field itself.

Today Hugo and I left the house at 7:30 am with Brynnie to get more blood tests done. We went back to the place we had gone to on saturday and they told us that they could only do one of the tests and that we had to go somewhere else for the other test, or we could go to the other place for both tests or they could have someone from the other place bring the special petri dish, or whatever it was, over to their place but then we'd have to wait. Uggghhh... Anyways, I talked a bit more with the lab technician and explained the situation to her and she said that it was weird that Brynnie didn't have a fever. She said that usually when you have bacteria in your blood, you will have a fever. So that made me think some more and I decided to try to go back to the first doctor that we had seen about this back in October. He must have changed his office hours as he wasn't in but there was another doctor in whose name was Dr. Johannes. I thought that sounded like a good Christian name so I agreed to see him. We were number 1 on the waiting list! But.... this is Indonesia so even though you are number one that doesn't mean that you will see the doctor immediately. We had to wait about 20 minutes before he even showed up. Anyways, he explained that of course the bacterial blood culture was negative as the bacteria in her blood had been killed by the antibiotics. However, you can have bacteria in your skin and it won't show up on a blood test. He recommended that we keep using the antibacterial cream we've been using and gave us a special antiseptic type soap to wash her with once a day. So, then we figured, we're at a doctor anyways, might as well get her shots all done. So poor Brynnie had four shots today and wasn't at all happy about it. I was just glad to hear that they had all the shots she needed. So hopefully this new soap will help things along. I felt much more confident in this doctors abilities than the other one's....

The countdown continues... only 6 more days of school....

The Amazing Winking Lego Woman....

Created by Mikah Feunekes (we only have one eye block so therefore the winking)

On Saturday Hugo and I went to the hospital with Brynnie to see the doctor about her blood tests. We had to wait quite a while to see him even though we were the first patients to arrive as he was checking up on another patient somewhere else in the hospital. So the doctor tells me that the blood tests show no bacteria in her body. So I ask him well then where do the spots come from? (the first time she had this I went to a different doctor and he did a quick little test that showed that there was bacteria-now we are trying to find out exactly what bacteria) He says, maybe allergies? I'm like, but allergy spots don't have fluid in them and don't leave scars... (where did this guy study medicine?) Anyways, he tells me that he isn't sure about the accuracy of the test and recommended that we go to a different lab. So we went to the best lab in Bandung, where we've had tests done before, and they tell me that they can't do the test that day as the tools they need to do the blood culture are at a different place that is closed on saturdays so we need to come back on Tuesday. So we hope to go tomorrow morning early. Hopefully we won't get sent away again....
So this morning my neighbour Ibu Nina, Ibu Umi's (who used the money) daughter, came over and apologized to my pembantu and they talked about what had happened and Ibu Tati forgave her. Ibu Nina also said that they had gone to the RT and paid the money and apologized to them as well. Apparently the RT's wife told them not to ever do this again as it will make foreigners not want to live here. Quite right I'd say... Glad that's all sorted out and everyones apologized and forgiven eachother.... :-)
This coming weekend one of our teachers is getting married, finally... He has been dating a girl for 12 years now. She was of our cousin faith and has since become one in faith with her boyfriend. I'm not sure how long ago she actually did but I think a few years already. Anyways, they had been waiting for permission from their parents to get married. I think her mother was the one that held things up so long. Our teacher is turning 40 this year and she is around 35! I still find that whole thing quite amazing! We are hoping to go to the party at least. I'd love to see the church ceremony, but the whole thing starts at 8:00 on saturday morning at a church that is quite far away and the party is on sunday. Weddings here are a multiple day affair. Rather exhausting I'd say....
On another note regarding weddings, a long time ago I wrote about a couple in our church who had been dating for a while. She is of Chinese descent and he is of mixed ethnicities. Her parents really didn't like their daughter dating someone who is not of Chinese descent even though this guy is a Christian and very active in the church. Now, the girls parents have moved her back to their home town to get her away from this man and it is quite possible that they will never see eachother again. Rather sad eh?

Today we made some family photos. This family photo was taken by an Indonesian friend who lives beside the rice field behind us on the photo. Later on in the day the new Dutch folks took some more photos of us and we of them. Don't have those yet... This photo was the best of the bunch that we have so far....

Today we went to church for the second last time here in Bandung. The preacher today had a good sermon on Philipians. How we should be thankful for what we have and not be a slave to our wants and desires but be focused on what God wants from us. It is easier to pray for things than to thank God for things that we have already received. We need to make sure that we are always thankful for all that we have whether we have a lot or a little.

We are very thankful to have been able to attend this church during our time here in Bandung. This is a small church with a big vision. It is also somewhat unique in that after the service there are always snacks and water so people are encouraged to stay and chat and get to know one another. For us from the Canadian Reformed church in Aldergrove, this is a completely natural event, but here it is not. At most churches here, people just leave and go home once the service is done. I never realized, until now, how much culture affects the way in which we worship and the way in which the communion of saints manifests itself. When people ask me how we do things back home in Canada, I always say, well, in our church, which is made up mostly of Dutch immigrants or first and second generation Dutch Canadians, we do things this way....

Another thing I've come to realize is that the role of a house wife here has a very different meaning than that back home. Back home the role of a wife and mother is to make her home a happy and, hopefully, clean one, and to teach the children etc... Here, if you are of the upper class, being a housewife means telling the pembantus what to do and probably being involved in the family business. Any children are often left with the pembantus. Of course each family will be different in how much responsibility they give to their helpers. There are some who essentially leave the raising of their children to their helpers. There are others who are much more hands on. But the truth is that if you are of the upper class, there is a good chance that you have never cleaned a toilet or the like. The women of the lower class or regular folk, are responsible for everything around the house. Each morning we wake up to the sound of our neighbours sweeping their front walks. Then they wash all their clothes, by hand, and hang them out to dry. Then the house is swept and mopped. Then they will cook for the day. Usually only one time. After that they are free to do whatever until the laundry is dry and needs to be ironed. They iron everything... But if you are an average housewife, you will only go out of the kampung to go to the market to get your basic foods and to visit the doctor or maybe every now and then, visit family. Most wives hardly ever leave the kampung. I think I would feel a little claustrophobic if I never got out like them. Our neighbours were born in this kampung, were married in this kampung and had their babies in this kampung. I just can't imagine.... The guys are only responsible for earning money for the family to live. Only if a husband can't work, they may open a little shop in their house to survive. Or the wife may try selling things door-to-door. Usually men are rather hands off when it comes to matters of the house. My neighbours think it is so funny when Hugo makes me a cup of tea. They say that they have never ever been served anything by their husbands.... I tell you, I'm sure thankful for my husband who helps out and doesn't just sit and watch tv if he's home....

I forgot to update you all on my discussion with Ibu Tati. The morning after I talked with the neighbours I talked with Ibu Tati. I asked her to please answer my questions with honesty. I asked her if she had paid the RT money late the month of May. She swore by Tuhan (God) that she didn't. She said she gave it to Ibu Umi in the envelope that Hugo had made ready. She also said that she hadn't given permission to the neighbours to use the money. What had happened was that when she went to give them the money for June, Ibu Umi asked her to hang onto it as she was afraid of using it like she did in May. So they basically told her that they were using it and asked her not to tell me. So she said that she wouldn't if they paid it right away. Well, they didn't pay it right away and then Ibu Nina had gossiped to the other neighbour that the money was paid late, obviously to cover their tracks. This family actually has a reputation for being like this. Ibu Tati told me that she was warned by some people around here to be careful around the neighbours. In fact Ibu Tati said that Ibu Umi asked her if maybe she could pay the money and then later Ibu Umi would pay her back. Ibu Tati smartly said that she didn't have the money. Also, Ibu Tati has on a few occasions loaned money to Ibu Nina so she could buy milk for her daughter. She did get paid back but very late after the date promised. My other helper, Ibu Misiah, has also loaned money to Ibu Umi that has not yet been paid back. So who would you believe? I gave Ibu Tati a big hug and I told her not to worry about it as I believe her and still trust her. She's a great lady and I feel priviledged to have had her working in our home this past year. I feel bad for her that this had to happen to her as well, it really does leave a sour taste in ones mouth. Even though I told the neighbours that I forgave them, I actually don't feel that way in my heart after I spoke with Ibu Tati the next morning. It really, really disappoints me, but the fact is that I'm going to move away soon and I know that I did my best to help them in a good way and I guess that's all that matters. But it sure makes it a bit hard when they live about four feet away from you.... (Still don't know if they've paid the $ to the RT yet or not. Maybe I'll check on monday-he knows what happened so he knows that they owe the money and not us)
Today I took an ojek (motorcycle taxi guy) for the first time to the store. I had heard some not so nice stories about how crazy these guys drive, but my driver was great. He didn't go too fast and didn't do anything crazy. I did however, say a little prayer before I put on the helmet he gave me as it had just been on his head and I hope he doesn't have lice.... Anyways, I got to the store in 5-10 minutes instead of a half hour! :-) Simple pleasures people, simple pleasures...

This was the scene at our house this evening as we hosted a welcome/good-bye/birthday pizza party. The welcome was for the new Dutch family, the VanDijk's, with their four kids that just arrived here a week ago. Pieter is a pilot and they will be moving to Papua as well once they are done language training in about a year. We, of course, are leaving but another family with MAF from New Zealand is moving to Medan at about the same time we are leaving. It was the birthday of one of the other MAF wives today as well. So instead of having three separate parties, we were very frugal and had one party. As you can see, everyone enjoyed their cake and ice cream...

We are now down to two weeks before departure!! :-)

More Fun...

So today I talked with Ibu Tati again to verify the details of the whole RT money story. She said that she had let the neighbours “borrow” our RT money for a month and that they were supposed to have paid it to the RT by now. Hugo went to the RT today and the money still hadn’t been paid so he explained what had happened and that the RT didn’t need to pursue anything as I (Erica, yippee) would talk with the neighbours about it. I went to an American woman who has been living here for 12 years for advice. So tonight I asked Ibu Umi if she would come and talk with me. I told her that I felt very sad that she didn’t come to me and ask me for help when she needed the money. Instead she used my money without asking me first. I told her my heart was breaking because she as my friend had done this. She said she was very sorry about it and asked (on her knees, many times) if I would forgive her. She tried to turn on the tears but wasn’t quite successful in that while she said over and over again how poor they are and how there is never enough money. She asked if we could go back to the way we were before. I said that yes I forgave her (many times) and that I really wanted things to go back to the way they were before and that I wanted to leave here with a happy heart. Then I asked to speak with her daughter, Ibu Nina. I told her that Hugo had gone to the RT and found out that the money hadn’t been paid yet and that I felt very sad about it all…. I also expressed sadness that she had said that maybe my helper had used the money and therefore lied about it. But then she explained what had actually happened. In the month of May, she received an envelope from my helper for the RT, about 7 days late and it was in a different envelope than usual and didn’t have any writing on it like usual. So she just said to the neighbour that the money was late and wondered why. She really shouldn’t have said anything, because her saying that only made things worse. Anyways, at that time they needed the money for Adit for school and so they asked Ibu Tati if it would be okay if they borrowed it and paid it back with the next months RT money. Ibu Tati said it was okay (she really didn’t have any right to give them permission and they shouldn’t have asked her). I have a funny feeling that maybe Ibu Tati did use the money for a few days even though she said that she’s never done that. She knows that if she needs money she can ask me. So I told her I was sorry that I hadn’t understood the whole story properly and I was glad that now I understood things better. So now, tomorrow, I have to talk with Ibu Tati again about the whole thing and find out if she indeed did use the money. Oh joys… and we’re only 2 weeks away from leaving…

So today we went back to the hospital for Aidan's post-op check-up. All is healing well and he can now be bathed again. He is definitely more mobile now than yesterday. At the same time we saw the pediatrician with Brynnie as her bacteria just doesn't want to go away even after a round of antibiotics. So they took some blood from her. I also saw the ear nose and throat doctor there as I have been having some ear and throat pain on my left side. She found nothing really wrong, only a huge wax build-up in my right ear (which she thankfully disposed of). She did find that I had enlarged granules (?) in my throat and asked me if my throat is often sore. It is and she said that when a throat is sore the granules enlarge and if it happens a lot they don't want to get small again. She thinks that maybe it is the result of allergies. Allergies have a habit of being really bad here as the air is very polluted here in Bandung. Anyways, now we need to wait for a few days for the results of Brynnie's blood test. They are going to do a culture and check for drug resistance.
We also found out that for about the first month that we will be in Papua, we are going to live in the same house that we did last time. The house they are building for us is not yet completed. While I'm not surprised, this is after all Indonesia, I'm still disappointed as that will mean living for another month in someone else's house with someone else's stuff....

Chillin' like a villain...

Fun, fun, fun....

Yesterday we went to the hospital with Aidan to get him circumcised. We had made an appointment for 9:00am the week before. But of course, what should have been a half hour affair turned into an all day affair. The doctor was in an emergency surgery so we were told that it would be a 2 hour wait. So we left and did some shopping and came back. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. Finallly the doctor came and started seeing people ahead of us who had come after us! Grrrrr…. Anyways, I guess he just wanted to get some consultations out of the way first. Then it was finally our turn. It is quite a nice hospital. It was just opened this year and everything is brand new. All the instruments used were sterile and the doctor was good. (all muslim boys are circumcised here so they’re really good at doing the procedure) Aidan did not enjoy it of course, especially not the needle to numb things up. But he did okay. Then we had to wait and wait for the medicine and cream prescribed by the doctor. By the time we got home it was about 3:30… But that’s just the way things go here….
So yesterday while I was at the hospital with Aidan, my helper told Hugo that the money that we had been giving to our neighbour to give to our R.T. (kampung head) and for garbage pick up had been paid late. Each month we have to pay these two fees and our neighbour, Ibu Umi, has been doing that for us. It’s just that we are always at school when they come around and I guess my helpers just felt that it was best to get the neighbour to give the money. Anyways, it turns out that Ibu Umi has been using the money and then paying the guys late. Soooo, I’m rather disappointed to hear that. I feel rather weird about it. I trusted her and she has abused that trust to a certain degree. So now I’m wondering if I should address it with her or just leave it as we are moving in a few weeks anyways. Ahh, the joys of living here….

Unit 9!!

Well, here we are, 3 days into Unit 9 and 3.3 weeks away from moving to Papua. It's still rather surreal really...
Yesterday I had the "pleasure" of skipping school as I was sick with the flu. Just a 24 hour thing thankfully so today I was able to attend again (without going to see the doctor too!). I hate wasting skips on being sick...
The focus of Unit 9 is how Indonesians come to their decisions. They really do have a different way of thinking then we do. There are still so many superstitions that are passed on from generation to generation. However, in this age of the world wide web and satelite T.V., many of those superstitions are being left behind. Except for masuk (enter) angin (wind) of course. Today I met up with our neighbours son-in-law and he was wearing, I kid you not, 4 layers on his upper body. A t-shirt, his work shirt (he's a security guard), a thick downy vest, and a leather jacket. He was also wearing a toque on his head. The temperature was well above 20 C. He told me that he wears all that because of the wind... I was feeling claustrophobic just looking at him...
So hopefully by the end of Unit 9, we'll be able to make decisions just like Indonesians... or maybe not...
I'm thinking about writing my final paper for Unit 9 on garbage and how Indonesians treat in in comparison to how we treat it. Not 100% sure yet. They really are funny about garbage though. They never throw anything away that might possibly be used later on or by someone else, even if it is broken. But when they do throw things away, like food wrappers, they just throw it wherever. Even inside their houses sometimes! But then later they will sweep it up. It's the same with the kampung. People are always just dropping their wrappers wherever and then every now and then the R.T., head of the kampung, will organize all the women to clean everything up. And we westerners are thinking, why not just put out garbage cans for people to use? There are no garbage cans in public areas here. Only at malls and even then, not nearly as many as back home. Even in the food court of a mall you will be hard pressed to find a garbage can. Anyways, one day I asked one of the warung (small shop) owners about having a garbage can because he just has a corner in front of his shop that he has dedicated for garbage. He told me that he's tried to do the garbage can thing, but that someone always dumps the garbage out and steals the can! What a place!

Thanks for the advice from those who commented on my last post.
The original loan was for 200,000 rupiahs. So the idea was to pay back in three installments, 50,000 75,000 and 75,000. So they still owe 150,000. I can't lengthen the loan period as we will be leaving here Aug 3. So I will wait and see what they do. They have paid me back any other monies I have ever loaned to them, although the previous amounts were never quite as high as this one.
It still amazes me how little money these people live on. You hear people talk about the poverty line in many Thirld World countries being living below $1 US a day. I bet that each person in that house eats close to or less than $1 a day in food. When I think about what I spend on a meal for us all, wow, there's just no comparison. If we didn't ever eat bread, cheese, real meat, fruit, drink milk or pop or juice, we'd be there. For them it is a big deal to buy a package of Indomi for everyone. Indomie is the Indonesian version of Mr. Noodles (only yummier) and costs anywhere from 800 rups to 1,000 rups a package. So that's between 10 and 14 cents each! They eat tofu, tempe (also a soy product), eggs or occasionally fish for protein. Of course, they eat rice at pretty much every meal.
I still can't bring myself to eat nasi goreng for breakfast... :-) But I'll have sausage, bacon, eggs and hashbrowns....

The other day Ibu Nina came to me as it was technically time for them to pay another installment on the loan I gave them. I don't know if you remember but about 2 months ago her brother Augus had a motor, that he had been fixing for someone, fall off the back of a borrowed motorbike while he was driving and he didn't realize it. In order to save his reputation, he of course had to replace the motor. They needed to borrow 200,000 rups at that time to buy a new motor. A month ago they paid me 50,000 and this month they were supposed to pay 75,000. But, Agus has just been hired to work for the company that makes Buavita brand juices and they also produce milk. Here in Indonesia, nepotism is alive and thriving. Agus only heard about the job because it was offered to his brother-in-law (whose friend is in personnel), Ibu Nina's husband, but as he has just taken a new job himself, he asked if his brother-in-law could try for the job. So Agus had to write a test and be interviewed and he got the job. This is a really big deal for this family. Previously Agus had been fixing motorbikes for people, but many times people didn't pay him the full amount right away or didn't pay at all saying they would pay later, or paid him well below what the work was worth. If I understood correctly, now Agus can make 2 million rups a month which is a great wage. He is on a three month trial period first and then they can decide to make him permanent or not. If he is accepted as permanent, he will qualify for their benefits program. There are many companies here who only hire people on a contract basis for short periods of time so that they don't have to pay for any benefits. (kinda sounds like Wal-Mart or something...) As health care is big business here, it's a big deal to have health insurance. Anyways, they couldn't pay me the 75,000 that they were supposed to because he has this new job and he needs to have money for travel. He won't get paid until the end of the month of course. So I'm still debating about what to do. Do I forgive the loan or not? He will definitely have the $ for me at the end of the month, but is that what I should do? It is really easy just to forgive the loan, but the problem is that you can help create an unhealthy dependence on others. If I hadn't helped them, where would they have gone for help? On the other hand I'd like to help Agus. He's almost 29 years old and not married and wasn't able to finish his studies at university because his dad died. The fact that he didn't have a "real" job has prevented him from actively looking for a wife. He also doesn't own a motorcycle himself. He's never been able to save enough for one as he always helps his mom pay for his younger brothers school expenses. So now that he has a real job and it is a bit far away, he would like to buy a motorbike because that is the best way to travel to your job. It is much faster and cheaper than taking angkots and ojeks (motorbike taxis). What would you do?

There has been some major digging going on around here. First our neighbours had their well dug 3 meters deeper as it had already run dry. Now all around the top of our hill and near our school, there are pipes being laid for air (water) minum (drink). Only you can’t actually drink the water that is going to go through these pipes. So what has been happening is that there will be a group of about ten guys who’ll start digging up along side the road. The first guy has a sledge hammer and he starts the whole process. The next guy has a big pick ax type thing and he starts breaking up the pavement (they’re digging up the side of the road, not the grass alongside the road as there are many parts with no grass, just a cobblestone sidewalk or nothing). The next bunch of guys have hoe type things and they dig up a trench. The next group of guys lays the pipe and attaches the pieces to eachother. Then there’s another group of guys that puts all the dirt back in the trench. The last couple guys have a machine (the first of the bunch to actually use a machine) that vibrates up and down to flatten the dirt down again. That’s as far as they go, so far no one has actually fixed the pavement. We’ll see what happens after we get a few days of torrential rain…

Today we went and got Mikah and Brynnie’s ears pierced. That was an interesting experience. We took an angkot as near to the road with all the jewelers as possible and then walked the rest of the way. Brynnie just looked her eyes out and kept stopping to stare. Can’t blame her. There is a sort of sidewalk to walk on, but every few meters there is a hole that you have to walk around or fall into the gross sewage underneath. Then there are the sellers that line the sidewalks. It is amazing what you can get from the side of the road here. There are the guys with their little carts selling food; guys with their little stalls where they replace the soles of your shoes, even soccer cleats; the guys with their treadle sewing machines ready to alter any clothes you’ve just bought from the stores behind them; the guys who’ll frame your paintings or photos right there and while waiting for customers they are busy staining frames, right on the sidewalk; then there’s the guys selling flipflops or accessories (Indonesians are accessory crazy) or pirated Playstation games. There are cars parked along both sides of the road and there are supposed to be two lanes of traffic, but there’s more like 3.5 usually. Wow! It was pretty crazy. Anyways, after some asking, we found a jeweler that actually does piercing. Brynnie didn’t watch Mikah getting hers done so she had no idea what was in store for her. She actually managed to sit still long enough for them to do the deed. She cried rather angrily at first but then the store people started giving her all kinds of candy and that did the trick. Now people will stop asking me if she’s a girl or a boy – I’m not kidding you, I get asked that so often even if she’s wearing a pink dress… All Indonesians get their daughters ears pierced not long after birth. Some feel that there are some protective qualities to pierced ears with regards to evil spirits… Gold is huge here too. We bought some little gold earings for Mikah to wear after her new holes have healed well. This is how the average person saves money. They don’t put it in the bank because banks charge fees, they just buy gold instead and then when they need the money, they sell the gold. So the prices of gold in the stores fluctuates along with the market. Right now it is 160,000 rupiahs for a gram. The earings that the girls are wearing now aren’t real gold, I’m not sure if they are even gold plated, but they came in sealed packages that said they were sterilized piercing earings from the U.S.A. Anyways, it only cost $4.50 for each girl including the earings and piercing. Not bad eh?

Again, couldn't get her to stay still long enough to get a good photo....

This is the closest we got to celebrating Canada Day...

Couldn't get her to stand still for a photo...

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!

As you can see, the photos aren't in any particular order... I hate uploading photos on blogger, they never seem to go where I want them to.... Anyways, note how little Hugo's horse looks... Check out the folks on the photo with Marc (who didn't want to have his photo taken of course) and Mikah are dressed. The girl on the right was swimming dressed like that. One of the rules listed on a board by the pool was that you had to wear polite, or modest swimming clothing. The photo of all of us on horses was taken as we were making our way through the tea plantation. All those little bushes were fairly recently harvested of their leaves to make tea. The little house is that villa that we stayed in.