Canada Day, American Indep Day, and a working week

Tuesday, July 2, 2019
We shopped yesterday for movie night. I don't have room in the freezer so I wrap the frozen food in a big towel and blanket and leave it on the counter - it has to last 2 nights, until I cook on Wednesday morning. (It's still kind of frozen when I unwrap it on Wednesday morning.)

The most fun guests come to stay overnight. Anna will stay until Thursday, but Tirza and Mathieu are only staying one night. They're in time to have lunch with our team.

After, we sit on the porch while I grill them for questions to interview prospective interns. They are so helpful! And they're fun besides. They head to the Young Adults dinner at Vieira's in the evening and let themselves into the house when they get back. I spend some time learning emotion words in Indonesian.

Wednesday
I cook from 6-10am. Our guests rest upstairs. I can't believe how fast the cooking goes - we'll have 3 kinds of meats, pasta, potatoes in the slow cooker that will be mashed later, spinach in cream, and other goodies for the movie night crowd.

Then the day is ours. We eat lunch at Kalpa Tree and walk around the neighborhood.

There's a blaze of color all around - after rainy season, the trees burst into flower. The brightest are at the entry to the neighborhood cemetery, where all the graves are aligned with Mecca.

Suddenly, it's time for dinner-and-a-movie night.

We have about 70 over for the very American movie Field of Dreams. That leads to all kinds of conversations afterwards. The porch empties about 11pm.

Two of our Jakarta guests leave for the train station after supper. There's nothing as relaxing as a train ride - the view of the forests, the tea plantations, and of hundreds of motorcycles waiting at the crossing while we buzz by? All good. Unless it's night time. Then it's just nice not to have traffic weaving in and out and lights of various brightness.

Thursday
It's America's day (Independence) - and lots of friends post greetings. The differences between the American and Canadian cultures come through this week, along with pictures of families celebrating. Canadians post warm wishes and hopes for relaxation. Americans post patriotic notes and fireworks.

We head for the hills, walking through rice fields above the city with a group of 14 Internationals, including a few Americans who are missing the red, white, and blue (and fireworks). A man is  walking out of the forest with 20' long (6 meter) bamboo trunks on his shoulders - we let him pass on the trail. 

 Coffee is drying on tarps in the sunshine - it grows well in our volcanic soil. We examine a bag of fresh-picked berries. They're ready for roasting.

In the jungle trail on the way back, an enormous stand of bamboo has fallen across the path. So we duck under.

There are a few iffy bridges along the way but no one falls in today.

On the way home, we pass a mini-gas station - an umbrella shades the single portable gas pump from the 80o sunlight.

We're not back at the house until almost 5pm. There's a traffic jam most of the way. We pause for a yogurt bar after a 3pm lunch at the Mandarin, a Chinese-style restaurant in Lembang (the city north of Bandung).

Our last guest has to catch the 7pm train. She quickly packs up, heads to the station, and is on her way to Jakarta. No time even to shower.

Friday and Saturday
Friday is office day - with a variety of guests stopping by. One set is from a local frozen chicken processing company - they want us to buy from them for movie night. "We'll taste it - and if it's good, it's a deal," I tell them. It's good. The price is competitive. And they deliver. Woohoo.

Saturday morning, W goes from one meeting to another in town. After he returns, I redo the bulletin board at the International Church - W comes along to drag the supplies for me. What a guy.

Sunday
As usual, we speak together. After, W hosts a theology class and I sit in with the digital media team as they sort through options. They're so smart - and funny as they joke and work together. Ivo's doing a great job leading the team.

Fatimah joins Aris and us for lunch - it's nice to have restaurants all around. It's also often cheaper to go out than to cook. When we get home, we prep the week ahead. W texts the group processing our visa. We get a call back - they have forgotten that our paperwork expires Tuesday. What now? We'll find out tomorrow. (Below, the beautiful waterfall that was our Thursday destination.)

Monday
After a 7-9 meeting with a dear colleague and friend, I feel an urgency to work. The study on the porch is not for me this morning. When I feel this strongly about not participating, I pay attention.

Instead, I listen in from my home office. I spend the morning sorting the week ahead - I write a few weeks of program inserts, send emails, write agendas for meetings, and WA requests. I catch up on Sunday and set up the whole week.

Why on earth? Mine is not to question why. Internally I hear, "Just do as you're told." So I do.

Mid-afternoon, we get a call. We have to be in Jakarta to take visa photos tomorrow at 10am. With the uncertainty of traffic, we'll leave at 5am. Ah ... that's why I had to do a few days' work today.

First, before nightfall, we meet up with dear Jakarta friends who lived at our place in Seattle for a few years, between them. They're staying overnight at a hotel on the next hill over.

Their daughters are adorable - and brave, jumping into the adult pool without hesitation and experimenting with the spray of the fountains in the center of the kiddy pool. We eat an indifferent supper poolside and chat. They're doing well. We are delighted.

When we get home, we toss a few things into our carry-ons and are ready for sleep before 8pm. The alarm is set for 4am tomorrow.

Tuesday
Sleep is restless. I listen to whole books of scripture during the night hours. W reads as well. And finally the alarm ring. We get moving, on our way into the "big city" shortly after 5am.

Traffic is great - until it isn't. The traffic jams up with construction and vehicles weaving in and out as they plunge or waddle into our lane. I have a headache most of the day, whether from fumes or from stress, I can't tell.

We're near the imigrasi office around 9, so we walk down the street to find breakfast. I need the restroom when we reach the restaurant. I go into the room with the "TOILET" sign on the door. The staff eyes each other - and grimace. Why? Oh oh, what's that?

About 20 frozen ducks are partly submerged in a huge bucket of water (which I doubt is drinking water, since the hose from city water - with a reservoir for toilet flushing - is nearby.) I step around the blood and melting ice dripping toward the trough where the toilet overflow drains.

I wash my hands in the sink near the entry, and sit down at the table to eat. "You have to see what I just saw," I tell W - who goes to see what's what.

Maybe the chicken for my chicken soup was thawing in the bathroom yesterday. I'm glad I didn't order duck this morning. The food is tasty.

We've been here 5 years - we have no change in appetite, although we are amused. Life here is full of surprises - one of them is that we don't even have a tremor in our tummies after eating the hot sambal (salsa) and breakfast.

Imigrasi is quick and efficient. Photos done, we walk past huge leaves that edge the sidewalk and hop back in the car. We're headed for the center of town. Our sister organization has their Tuesday staff meeting just like we do - but ours is happening without us in Bandung. We catch up with old friends and new around the lunch table.

I need a few items from IKEA so the driver takes us almost an hour across town. After battling the traffic coming in, we decide to stay in the city overnight. I have to work anyway - it doesn't make sense to get home late tonight, work at home tomorrow, only to return to the Jakarta airport Thursday. That means potentially 10 extra hours in the car, back and forth. No thanks.

We pass a couple taking home a picture frame or mirror. Good thing they're not speeding - she's holding the frame in her hands behind the driver, feet relaxed and dangling. She'd get blown right off the back of the bike with a gust of wind.

We give our driver the option of a sleepover in Jakarta or heading home to Bandung. He has to pick us and our guests up at the airport Thursday. He chooses to drive home alone. (He'll park the car in our driveway, if all goes well, about 10pm.)

W asks if I want to walk to the nearby malls. Nope. He heads out to browse for snacks while I write and get some work done before an early night's sleep.

Read more:
*Thus says the Lord, “Seek me and live.” Amos 5:4 

*While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light. John 12:36

Moravian Prayer: Dear Lord, give us opportunities to seek you. Put us in situations where we must lean on you, for this is when we can and will be filled with your light. Let us shine your light brightly for others to see. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.