March is on the move!

When a lot of things are on the move at the same time, I feel a major change coming. A bunch of transitions precede something fresh and interesting: I pay attention when my surroundings morph, relationships emerge, or we add to our household some way.

This week, a door is replacing a window in the BIC office. I'm recruiting future team members. We're on the way to adopting a small poodle. There's more, but those are enough to suggest that something new and wonderful is on the way.

I walk by this beautiful orchid on my way to work one day. The 7" flower pokes through a rusty grid beside the sideway. I have to stop for a picture.

Friday, February 26, 2021

Usually I get a long massage to reset after flying, but with the 5-day quarantine in Jakarta and Covid raging through Bandung, we skipped that. My friend Judy recommends I try Kanaya, a family-owned reflexology place that has recently reopened just outside our neighborhood.

I spend five hours in the office after our morning walk. Since I brought breakfast to the office, I'm full. Instead of lunch, I drop in at Kanaya for a treatment.

Two hours (and $11 later), my body feels decompressed. Wow - that helped a lot.

Our friend Liana is starting her own business so she comes over in the afternoon to give me a pedicure (@$6.50.) Hands too? No thank you. My nails are already short and clean. I hate how polish starts to chip after a few days and I have no patience for weekly touch-ups.

I don't actually like having my toes filed or polished, but Liana does a great job and leaves me with happy feet. Thanks, Liana! The wedge I've noticed on many tropical feet is starting to form between my big toe and 2nd toe. It's from wearing flip-flops all the time ... 

Saturday

Tonight we have a pizza & friends supper. Before that, we take a long walk with the dogs, spend the morning at work, and sneak a post-lunch nap. Well, I get caught up in a novel - but it is restful.

Our friend Ben brings his parents and little sister over for homemade pizza. His dad climbs the guava tree beside the terrace, exclaiming over the fruit, "It's so sweet!" We're not big fans. Usually our helper and the others grab the fruit. We hate to have it spoil just because we don't like it much. The tree is huge and fruits a few times a year.

Meanwhile, Ben and I make our own fun by fishing in the porch aquarium with a plastic cup. When I catch the beta fish, it jumps out of the cup, flops over the rim of the fishbowl, and falls behind the side table. We quickly pull the table forward so I can scoop him up in my hands and pop him back into the water. No harm done. He swims the same lazy circles, but further from the water surface.

Sunday

It's a half-day of rest. In the morning we walk and then go online. On YouTube the service is subtitled in over 20 languages, including Indonesian, Sundanese, Javanese, and many others. Those represent our international community.

I like cooking when I'm hungry for a certain taste. Being Sunday, W offers to take us out for lunch. Nah, it's too busy on the weekends - the streets are lined with cars. This older man carries heavy tins of coals, soup, and other foods on two bamboo poles. The nannies and drivers stop him along the street; their employers are eating at the restaurants and give them $1-2 to buy their own meals elsewhere.

I'm hungry for beef and remember that we bought pre-cut meat at the wholesaler a few weeks ago. I thaw it, make buttery, garlicky kale, fry potatoes and white yams, and dress a green salad (with German herbs, olive oil, and lime juice from our garden limes.)

We haul out two little Korean barbecues and the Sterno fuel cans to heat them ... and have ourselves a feast. Of course, the best finish is a mini-Magnum ice-cream bar.

I record a video and send it off for posting tomorrow. Wait, I'm in PJs. Should I get dressed again? Nope - good enough that I painted on eyebrows. I sling a length of batik over my PJs. It's the day of rest, remember? Whew, that fabric is warm around my neck.

Monday

A 2-mile walk, a 2-hr call, and the week has begun. I've been peeking at the balcony outside the office for months. You can't see much of it through the 5' tall milky glass though. We obtain permission to put a door in so we can use it. It starts out like this in the morning.

In no time, the window is removed.

Soon there's a door-sized hole in the wall, cut with a tile saw, hammer, and hand chisel. Voila - we can already see the long porch that was previously inaccessible.

I'm pleasantly surprised. There's room for 2 small tables. That will be a blessing during this season when meeting indoors is iffy.

The pieces of brick from the cutout are gathered into a pail and carried down the stairs to a rubble heap.

I also talk with Elizabeth. 2 years ago, she sent her wonderful standard poodle Cocoa our way. She has another retiree, a spry 8-yr old. Hopefully he'll arrive here next week. This little guy is white, so he'll be my indoor companion at home and work. (The big dogs hang out on the porch with us and guard the yard at night. WOOF WOOF)

I love to talk with my mom almost every day, in her evenings and my mornings. She remembers a lot from her childhood.

When I tell Mom about the new doggie, she quotes a German proverb that makes me laugh aloud. Roughly translated: "If the donkey is doing well, he goes onto the ice and breaks his leg." (Wenn es dem Esel gut geht, geht er aufs Eis und bricht sich das Bein.) She's not a dog person. Obviously.

Most cars are black or white in Bandung. When we walk by the #Padmahotel, those are the only colors in the parking lots. Kinda boring, but I can't complain: our car is grey.

Read more:

*But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26 NIV

Prayer:

God, we can hardly understand what you have done for us. But we say, "we trust you" and we accept your provision for our sins. Forgive us, set us free to live a new life, and help us to get to know you better each day. With our gratitude and a sense of wonder, we thank you. Amen.