Happy Holidays!!

While I was away, our dear friend & neighbor Lisa spent most afternoons at our house making sure our family had dinners taken out of the freezer, lunches made and generally keeping the house a "warm" place to come home to for the kids & Henry. It worked out well & the kids really enjoyed it! During that time Lisa used her photography skills on the kids - here's a few great shots of them. I was hoping to use them as Christmas cards but just didn't quite get that far. I am happy to say I am not feeling any pressure to conform to the expectations of a commercial & hurried Christmas season. We're looking forward to a relaxed 2 week vacation for the kids - definitely doing some sleeping in (so don't call us before 9:00 a.m.), maybe going up Mt. Baker, having family here for Christmas dinner, and visiting some friends.

If you are someone who didn't get that Christmas card from us this year - here's the photo. Our family wishes you a wonderful Christmas and God's blessing in the New Year.

Our last day in Bali...

The last day was spent at this nice hotel in Bali - the Jayakarta. It was a very beautiful hotel - with many pools, gardens and trees. When we landed at Bali airport we saw signs welcoming delegates to a Climate Change Summit being held in the city. Is it just my strange sense of humor - but if you lived in this country and bought into the idea of global warming you'd be on this committee too!! (100 degrees is warm enough, thank you)

Time to say Good-bye

Monday morning we packed our bags and cleaned up the house. Ed & Femmy came at 9:00 and we visited until Y & ML arrived. We all drove to Kupang airport - our plane was delayed by 3 hours. This was apparently very normal - some days the plane doesn't go out at all. It was for this reason that we booked this flight 2 days before our Bali flight to Taipei. We arrived in Bali on Monday afternoon and our flight out was for Wednesday. We were able to change this to Tuesday without a problem. Both of us were ready to go home to be with our family and familiar surroundings. It was a wonderful trip - we were very thankful we were able to make this trip and that we were blessed with safe travels.

Sunday - at Ed & Femmy's

On Sunday we went to Ed & Femmy's church and then to their house for the day. It was a very hot day so the kids decided to cool off.

To the beach we go...

On Saturday afternoon we went to Laciana Beach with everyone in Y & ML's household. That includes two helpers - Nika and Febbe, the driver Mun, four students from Sumba Rian, Sony, Daniel & Waseri. ML took marshmallows with - she had quite a few bags from people who visited from Canada and we roasted marshmallows on the beach. In the one picture, Becky is eating a "wood potato". It is a tuber like vegetable that looks like a piece of wood but tastes like a sweet potato. They just threw them into the fire till they were black and then picked them back out and peeled off the black "skin".

Saturday - fitting in the last few things before leaving.

We visited someone who makes the traditional Rotenese musical instrument - the sasando. Since Yonson is from Rote Island he explained a bit of the background. A young boy played the instrument (somewhat like the sound of a harp), then the dad came out to play the bongos, then the mother came out to show us the dance and finally a little boy came to show us his dance - a fast paced, foot moving dance that took a lot of energy.

Farewell Evening

On Friday evening, Yonson & ML organized a farewell evening for us. Most of the people there were family members, some neighbors, their pastor, and some student teachers from the school. The helpers cooked most of the food - they did a really nice job. At this point we were able to eat rice again without our stomach objecting.

Fresh pineapple - Yum!!

These, on the other hand, are super delicious when they're picked fresh. We were amazed at how the land provides so much for the people living here.

Fresh coconut...

We discovered that the coconuts we buy in America are actually very old. Indonesians would probably feed them to their babi's (pigs). They cut the tops off the coconut so we could drink the clear liquid inside and then the white is very soft. We were embarassed to say that we actually preferred the old ones - it's really what you're used to.

The December Tree

This tree is in full bloom - bright red (orange) and translated is called the December Tree.

Friday - going out with Ed & Femmy

Today we spent with Yonson's brother Ed and his wife Femmy. They had suggested an outing to Baum which is at a somewhat higher elevation and cooler than Kupang. They took us to a place that cooks BBQ pork - and we sat there and talked for quite a while. The pork was delicious - and our stomachs were feeling better. On the way back down the mountain Ed stopped at many different places to let us sample different fruits being sold at the side of the road, or pointing out different trees and plants. Ed loves plants and the back of the car was soon full of all the clippings and "starts" he picked for his yard. The large green fruit you see in this photo is called the "jack" fruit - it's definitely huge. We all could eat from it and still have leftovers.

Ed and Femmy's kids came with as well - Moses (5), Grace (3) and Micah (1) as well as Ed's older sister Nona and neice Angel. We needed to be home by 5:00 because ML had planned a Farewell Evening for us.

Starting to feel better....

This morning we were scheduled to help the students in the Junior High with their English. We were feeling a bit better but still very weak. We dragged ourselves out of bed and were picked up by the driver, Mun and dropped off at the school. Most of the kids did very well - but they need the practice in having conversations instead of learning the "theory" of the English language. Later that day we went with ML to her church where they teach an English class to the neighborhood kids. There were quite a number of them ranging from age 5 to age 13 (?). After a brief bible lesson, we taught them the song "In the Jungle" so they could practice animal words and then played Red Rover with them. Lots of fun.

How many ways can you cook rice?

For breakfast, lunch and dinner....but mostly plain white rice with some vegetables and fish on top. I think the change in diet caught up with us because today (Tuesday) we both woke up sick. We had stomach issues, felt feverish and achy - and we were very happy that the bathroom was close to our bedroom.

Here's a few pics or ML & kids.

Monday, Nov. 26

Today was spent with Mary-Lynn and kids. We taught Dawid & Victor while ML taught Becky. We went to the little store down the street just so we had a few familiar items to use in the house we're staying in. There are many "stores" here - just the front of someone's house where they sell food, some produce or resell some store items. Many people don't have transportation or a lot of money to make a big trip to a grocery store so they make a lot of little purchases. We did our own laundry - just a bucket of soapy water and lots of muscle. We are even happier with our washing machines than before... Here's a few photos of the place we stayed in.

Our first Sunday

Our first Sunday was spent with Yonson & ML - at their church in Oesapa - in the city of Kupang. We socialized afterwards and had a nice time trying to comunicate with the people there. This church is a mission post and does not have afternoon services yet. We had lunch with the Dethan's, read books to the kids and went with Yonson to the church at Tarus (top photo). We could walk to this church - a couple doors down from Yonson & ML.

Catch that plane!!

This morning Yonson and MaryLynn were supposed to pick us up at 8:00 in the morning to catch our 10 o'clock flight to Kupang. They arrived an hour late (true Indonesian style) and we had to literally run through the airport to catch the plane. Actually, Yonson ran ahead of us with our tickets to make sure the plane wouldn't leave without us. Because we didn't have tickets we were not allowed to enter the secure area. We stood there not knowing what was going on - till finally Yonson came back to get us. We made it on our plane and after 1 1/2 hour flight arrived safely in Kupang. Yonson had hired a "bemo" and his driver was there with their van to pick us all up. Oh yes, did we say it was hot?? When we ask people here what the temperature is they just smile - no idea... just hot... everyday... We are guessing it's around 100 degrees farenheit. We arrived at Yonson & ML's house and just rested, played memory with the kids. It rained very hard for maybe 20 minutes - but it's still hot when the rain is done.

This photo is of a sign in Kupang airport - just one of the many things that kept us laughing. Between the awkward moments in trying to communicate and translate, to being reminded to uncross our legs in church (big faux pas), to having to use the squatty potty during our travels, there was never a day that we didn't have a good laugh about something. Well, maybe the day we were sick we didn't have too much to laugh about...