New normal-shmormal. Always curious and always an adventure.

Monday, August 22, 2021

After a morning of meetings, it's suddenly lunchtime. How does that happen?

I have to play catch-up this week on two projects. The first is a weekly New Normal post to a list of about 600 people. We send a picture and paragraph of something normal in Indonesia that catches this Canadian by surprise.

"You won't notice such things after a year," expats warned us when I first started snapping pictures. "Get everything you can now. Everything will seem normal to you soon." Yet even after 7 years, I'm astonished at how different cultures live, work, and interact.

Here's an example: every Indonesian recognizes the handmade wayang puppets. Indonesians traditionally have learned their fairytales and legends via puppet shows that can last from sundown through sunup. These are performed by highly skilled troubadours who sing, tap, tell jokes, play traditional instruments, and manage conversations between handfuls of puppets. It's amazing to watch.

Last night, I realized that we haven't posted a New Normal since mid-July. I put it on my checklist before falling asleep.

This afternoon, I upload 30 pictures and am determined to finish writing and scheduling them all. By supper, NN posts are done through February 2022. I admit that it is a bit weird to be looking for new normal Christmas photos in August.

A few older fish died last week. Instead of going to the pet store to replace them, I take a net and wander over to the neighbor's pond. "Sure take what you want," he says. Their 4 outdoor ponds are filled with a variety of freshwater tropical fish. The fish eat mosquito larvae and keep other pests at bay.

His wife sings, "Here fishy, here fishy" and snags a dozen in one scoop. I put them in the large glass vases on the porch tables. There are no heaters, no lights, and no filters. We feed the fish most days and exchange the water with filtered drinking water every week or two. That's aquarium maintenance out here.

Meanwhile inside the house, the helper bangs ice off the freezer shelves. The ancient appliance has no frost-free features so the shelves produce snow at an alarming rate. You can't even see what's in the freezer behind the sold white mass.

We have to defrost the old freezer completely every once in a while. "Before you put things back on a shelf, please group the items for each shelf on the floor and take a picture. That way we know what we have and where to find things," I instruct her.

"Yes, Mrs," she says. And sends me 2 photos. Top of the freezer (below) and the bottom shelves, nicely organized. I still have no idea what's behind the front items. At least I didn't have to do the cleaning.

Our kind neighbor sends over two complicated-to-make Indonesian meals. Unexpectedly, IbuS also baked German-style pretzel rolls. We each add one to our dinner plate.

Dr W's first treat is lontong, which is rice, diced vegetables, and chicken in a banana leaf. The roll is steamed, infusing the insides with the flavor of the leaf.

Once you strip off the wrapper, the long glistening rice layer becomes visible.

Inside - simply delicious. Well done, and thank you, Dr.W.

Tuesday

The second catch-up is shooting a video for this week plus a few more. I usually record several videos at a time and W posts one each Monday morning. I misunderstood his "there's one more" the last time I asked. Nope, there's nothing ready this Monday.

As I sit down, the beautiful glass window beside me captures my attention. I'm drawn to patterns and color. This is mind-stopping for me. Imagine ... had God made all humans blind, we would have never known what we were missing. It's worth pausing to say "thanks be to God" for his gift of vision.

The rest of the view from my seat is not too bad, either. To stay alert, I move to different locations to film and walk around the grounds between shots.

Somewhere in the middle, I complete an August journal spread. It has been a month of wild things.

In late afternoon, I join an hour of guided prayer with leaders in Norway, USA, Mali, and Vietnam. I come away energized and surprised at the creative ways God chooses to communicate with his creatures.

Supper is a feast of vegetables and tofu. I can't even describe the enak (tasty) blend of flavors inside DrW's steamed leaves, enhanced by hot sauce or sambal.

Today is also my older brother's birthday. We wait until evening (mid-day in Switzerland) to call and share blessings for his special day. In Germany and Switzerland, it's akin to cursing to anticipate a birthday wish before the actual date.

I can't get over how much he looks like Dad. Oh well, nevermind. I catch myself whispering, "Grandma?! Is that you?" sometimes when I look in the mirror. hehe

W and I facilitate a young adults meeting before we head for bed. How great to see their faces, even on an iPad. Our first question for them is, "What do you think of when you hear that we're going to talk about prayer?"

"Boring!" someone pipes up. Others comment about how tiring it is to hear the same thing over and over without experiencing much connection to God. "How do you even pray?" they ask.

W and I can guarantee that conversations with God are anything but tame.  We watch a video and use a prayer tool from the earlier session on prayer to help them listen for God's voice.

We have a good time together. Boring? No, they're a lively group.

Wednesday

We walk the neighborhood loop before W heads home for work. I unlock the BIC office, starting with a 7:00 meeting. (How have we become accustomed to the wonder of sitting across the world at our computer screens?) It's good have heart companions and trusted mentors. We laugh, exchange ideas, catch up, and pray for each other.

After 9:00, I head down the street to Nara Park for breakfast with Waldemar. We're both hungry; when you get up before 5:00, 9:30 and 10:00 feel like late morning. The Pino Terrace sandwich reminds W of a great breakfast bun. He also orders a bowl of noodles, while I choose dim sum (siu mai, steamed bok choi dumplings, and shrimp fritters).

On the way back up to the office, I spot a neighbor's helper sweeping leaves into his homemade shovel. He's attached an empty plastic oil bottle - with the base and a side cut out - to a stick. It's working well.

Green must be August's theme. I flip open a different journal and find a checkered page of watercolor squares. During the 4 morning meetings, I write an alphabet list of qualities I value. This "online focus" journal is almost full - though I haven't played in it for months.

Full from brunch, I don't bother going back home for lunch.

Thursday

We get to walk in the Chikole Forest - tall pine trees planted by the Dutch and tapped for their resin by locals.

They chip a strip of bark away and put a bowl underneath to catch the sap.

There are a lot of people on the trail today: a few walkers but mostly people working. This 4' stack of cut grass will be carried down the trail on a man's shoulders. It's for feeding livestock further down in the valley.

The dogs don't mind the view. Neither do we. They run ahead and wait for us to catch up. That helps clear snakes off the trail.

We take the long way on a new trail up to the old Dutch forts. It's up up up for over 3 km (2 miles) and back. Down is harder on the knees. But it's beautiful all the way.

The dogs hop back into the car when we're done.

After lunch at IP farms, there's a lot of fruit at little stands along the road. We bought watermelon from a little pickup truck on the way up the hills.

The local brick-maker has a tall stack waiting beside the street. Here, most homes and buildings are built of local brick and overlaid with a concrete plaster facade.

One of the reasons to hire a local driver is because cars and trucks have to pass on roads that are 1.5 lanes wide. We pull in our mirrors and try our best to squeeze past.

Sometimes there's just one lane for traffic, even on main thoroughfares. Neighborhood "guys" stop traffic at one end or the other.

There's a lot of old jeeps in a yard along our trip home.

Washing is often hung alongside traffic, too.

There's so much beauty. So much to pray for. So many people live here. We are so blessed to be part of this community.

Read more:

*O save your people, and bless your heritage; be their shepherd, and carry them forever. Psalm 28:9

*You are God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Moravian Prayer: Lord, train us to use your strength to lift up the world to your calling. Help us to discern the light that you see in all people, that we may see your mercy throughout the world. Amen.

Broken eyebrows, the theology of masks, and slivers of chocolate

Friday, August 20, 2021

On the clock, we're a day offset to where our family lives = for special events, we celebrate them for 2 days, ours and theirs. We miss family and friends most, living here.

Happy Birthday (again), Kirsten! We call her over breakfast while night is falling in TX. We've popped into Pino Terrace #NaraPark for breakfast after a long walk. Their shrimp fritters are so good.

The huge Nara tortoises have already had their daily scrub-down (yes, it's a thing) and their water bowl is already clean.

On the way home, I check if the dead scorpion has been scraped off the street. It has.

But we see a few dead toads, run over by motorcycles. Last week it was a big lizard. I'm so tempted to make a collage with all the dry dead animals we see on the road. Some of them are beautiful! So far, W has managed to dissuade me. They'd probably have to be baked further and treated so they don't rot or mold - that's what's deterring me the most.

There's so much wildlife in tropical neighborhoods. Wherever you have shrubs or grass, you have a thriving ecosystem. Snakes. Ants. Roaches. Big flying and crawling insects. Birds. Butterflies. Worms. Rats. Mice. Monkeys. Squirrels. Civets. Lizards. The occasional sloth. And more. With no cats in the yard (our dogs chase them away), many critters thrive. However, when beasties come into the house, we put our foot, thumb, or a trap down.

Privacy is a great gift in this city of millions. We have no front yard. Two walls of the house are shared with neighboring houses while two sides of the house open to the backyard and driveway. The dogs are on patrol from one end to the other.

This afternoon, the garden is quiet except for birds and a few insects. A tokay burps his chant in a tree nearby. Not a leaf is stirring on this side of the mountain. The earlier rainstorm has passed. The light is golden and dim. It feels like a pause, not like we've seen all of what's coming. The dogs sprawl near where I read and write.

I grew up in the valley between mountains so it's hard to picture that we live in the mountains. Then we look across the valleys to ridges and peaks. We walk a flat-ish mile loop once or twice every morning and some afternoons. Well, it feels flats on the gradual climb ...  until we go the other direction. Then I'm shocked by how steep the downhill is. You get used to everything.

It's been a rough week in the news, both personal and global. So much is going on. National takeovers. Flares of illness. Two more Americans acquaintances died of Covid today. Add that to the many friends who are sick in hospital. We get updates each day ... and it makes for some long nights of prayer.

We send home-baked bread and cookies to a few neighbors. Friends reciprocate with their own treats. This small sharing of life and work offers human comfort, a little piece of our souls exchanged with each other. "We remember you. We hope you know you're important to us and others, even when we can't meet."

Today is the first day in ages that I've gone into a department store. For weeks, shops have only been allowed to open their grocery departments: the lockdown must have lifted a bit so we buy spray paint (touch-ups - always going on in the tropics), flower fertilizer, and a new spatula.

By the time we get home, we have to turn on the pump for a shower. City water is turned off after a few hours in the morning. A shower has to be quick: if we run the storage tanks dry, there's no water to flush the toilet. Every day, we empty the dehumidifier into jars beside the sink for washing our hands and faces in the evening. (Since W filters our drinking water, we have access to clean water day to night.)

Saturday

Ibu A is baking today. I ask her to fold peanut butter cookie dough around a piece of Chacha's new brand of chocolate. 

A little sliver of chocolate is just what the cookies need. The peanut butter cookie is good - but the "thumbprint" dough is delicious, too. IbuA amps up half of the recipe with sprinkles. Even better. She's a baking master.

When I need a break from work, the daily "Inchies" prompt provides 5 minutes or less of pure play, especially with the limited colors in my marker box. I look forward to a word each day from The Inchie Challenge. 

Join in the fun if you want to. It's an open group.

Day 5: Wood

Day 6: Sea

I almost like the backs better - they're more like watercolor. And the duration of marker on paper is evident.

Sunday

Although we're not yet meeting in person, BICOnline fills Sunday morning with community. We host a Chat afterward to discuss the Gathering. Sometimes it's a sticky theological question. Sometimes we catch up on how God and life intersect. We even discuss wild interpretations and fake news posted on the internet.

W makes a startling discovery in Leviticus (the rule-book on living in Israelite society, written by Moses). It's not the most exciting read until you imagine yourself at that time - moving from slavery to freedom and into a healthy society. What would you have to know?

The Bible is called the Living Word, right? It does come alive differently nearly every time you read, listen, or study. That's one of the reasons we love to chunk through long passages. This week, I've been listening through the Chronicles of the Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, plus the corresponding prophets (Haggai and Zephania).

As you hear the stories and prophecies repeated many times, you start to listen in a different way. Details stand out that you've never noticed. And that's what happened to W last night.

So ... we're walking through the neighborhood this morning when he pipes up with, "I just noticed something I've never seen before. Those with infections had to mask in scripture." We talk about it and when we get home, I look it up. Hey, the next verse also mandates quarantine if you're sick. Who knew? W writes a post on Leviticus 13:46 later in the morning.

Day 7: Broken (Our son and I have broken eyebrows, just in case you didn't know that's a thing.)

Read more:

*God has power to help or to overthrow. 2 Chronicles 25:8

*[God says,] Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. Isaiah 65:24

*God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

*Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Romans 8:34

*Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Philippians 4:4-5

Moravian Prayer: Christ Jesus, the light of your life shrinks the darkness of ours. We thank you for the blessing of your time with us, and ask that your love would always guide us closer to the light of your reign. Immanuel, may we know the blessing of tears that burst forth from the well of your joy. 

Merciful Savior, we seek the justice for which you freed us. May all our voices, in unrestrained harmony, celebrate your presence. Share with us in the rhythms of your celebration. As we carry this blessing of your forgiveness, guide us also to apply loving mercy to those who face abuse, that we may share your peace. Amen.

Selamat Hari Merdeka, Happy Birthday to Kirsten, and more

 Tuesday, August 17, 2021

What a beautiful country. I pluck a stem from the frangipani tree near the porch. The fragrance fills the back hall.

Today is Indonesia's annual celebration of Independence Day. Selamat Hari Merdeka, everyone. Flags are flying and banners are waving in yards and neighborhoods. Traditional celebrations with food and games, including the famed "greased-pole climbing competition" are subdued. Most people are stying home. Watch one version of Panjat Pinang here.

It's usually a fun day out for most neighborhoods, with resorts and community centers hosting the festivities. However, PPKM (lockdown) has been extended for another week. The house is quiet because everyone has a vacation day.

Might as well enjoy red and white as I sip tea. It's nice that the Canadian flag and maple leaves share Indonesian colors.

Without any work obligations, I tackle a semi-annual chore, sorting hospitality items. Why does it feel easier and more fun to do something when you don't have to do it?

The cabinets under the stairs and in the home office brim with napkins, vases, candles, washable plastic cups and cutlery and serving trays. Over months, we've returned and stacked washed items on the shelves, What a jumble. It's like too many cooks in one kitchen: eventually you lose track of what's in there.

So I pull it all out. I run the Roomba robot vac around the shelves and drawers. It doesn't fall off the ledge so it does about 20 passes. Clean!

When all is sorted and returned, I sigh with relief. The new IKEA boxes are full. The cabinet doors shut easily. Woo hoo - we're ready for the next socially-distanced guests.

Until the happy day Covid is done, we only host small groups. Can you imagine how we look forward to cramming 70 people in again for a monthly dinner-and-a-movie gathering? We sure miss the crowds of students and young professionals; they become friends and family who mean so much to us.

I check email first thing but there is nothing urgent. At 11:00, when I'm done cleaning, I find a 8:00 link for a meeting "in a few minutes." Missed that one - it was rescheduled from last week when the other person jammed out last-minute. I need more notice for offset appointments, even those important to me. I'm not tied to my calendar in the same way during the pandemic, are you?

I'm doing "Inchies" for the next 2 weeks, 2" squares to be filled with a daily prompt. 

Day 1: Bundle

Day 2: Egg

Day 3: Mend

Day 4: Yellow

How many of these are there? 10? 14? Oh well, each is a few minutes of fun when I sit down to read after lunch. (If you want the series of prompts  from MindfulArts, I'll forward it to you.)

Wednesday

At office before 7:00, the day starts with a call with a valued co-mentor. Later, when I catch up on FB, one friend has died of Covid. Another, an American public speaker, writes that he hopes he is recovering from Covid in hospital - they almost lost him a few days ago. He's 40-something, still on high oxygen. (He tried Ivermectin and other things that are touted as miracle-workers. Didn't work.)

His post has hundred of comments, including: "I had it. Just awful." "Hang in there, buddy; it's bad but we're praying." "No one believes it's real until they get it. Been there." "Praying for you." Over and over, the same notes. I skim through the first 100 comments and click out.

Yeah, been there, too, last year. It's a thing. Even if no one else believes you when you tell them. Or believes the long-term effects. Some people told me, "You should get over it, already," and, "That's not why you feel that way. It's because ..."

It knocked the wind out of me for 5 months last year. Done with that, though my lung capacity is not back to pre-Covid. And all day long, I'm bombarded with covid updates: "My son works with 12 people. 6 are vaccinated and negative. 6 are not vaccinated and positive." On and on it goes.

While researching for the months ahead, I have to read a lot. Between books, I loosen up with doodles in my art journal. I'm not adverse to a mess; I'm about halfway done with this page. From a distance, it looks like things are growing. Green is a hopeful color, I think.

I work from home after lunch. One of the canaries has died - it lies feet up where it fell off the perch. It's young (3 or 4 yrs old) and I don't know why it died. It is light, a soft bunch of yellow feathers. I take it from the cage and leave it in the jungle next to our property. Our dogs run to see where it has landed, but there's a closed gate in their way. A cat will recycle it. There are cats everywhere here.

It rains nearly every afternoon and today's no exception. The house is empty of people by 15:30.

In late afternoon, I start to get hungry. Is it time to try that new hummus recipe on the kitchen counter? I think so. (It's easy - and yummy.)

And wasn't there some defrosted avocado in the fridge? Yes! (I froze a bunch, gifted by friend Veronica a few months ago.) Hey, why not make guacamole, too?

I drain the avocados in the freezer bag, pour in Costco no-salt seasoning, cumin, tomato sauce, lime juice, and salt/pepper. Squeeze it until mixed. It's finished with minimal mess.

W samples the guacamole on a handful of pseudo-Ritz crackers. "Good," he says. Supper plan: toast the aging home-baked bread and put the 2 spreads on top.

Thursday - Happy Birthday, Kirsten

It's our dear daughter Kirsten's birthday. She scanned hundreds of family pictures last month while visiting her grandma. (My mom was dubbed "gramma-ratzi" because she took so many pictures. Now we're glad.)

It's so much fun to see Kirsten's wild hair, creative fashions, and her growing up year by year from childhood through her teens into adulthood. What a wonderful young woman she's become. We wish you a wonderful day and a blessed year ahead.

This month, I'm reading a book on prayer. It's so rich that I have to pause to reflect multiple times in every chapter. That is rare - and the sign of a thoughtfully written work. I recommend it.

2 big jobs need attention today: thinking through the 2021 BIC Advent packages and reading through a donation proposal. I can do one but not the other. I get an eye migraine that has my vision winking and pulsing. Sleep - it's the fastest way to get rid of being sick. Gone in 2 hours. Yay.

Read more:

*Do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. Psalm 119:43

*[One of my absolute favorite memorized verses:] This is what the Lord says: “Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me.” Jeremiah 9:23-24

*What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Luke 9:25

*For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. 2 Timothy 4:3,4

Moravian Prayers: Holy God, drive us toward the peace of your reign. Prevent us from seeking comfort at the cost of any individual of your creation, that we all would learn to live in liberty together with you forever.

Lead us to your truth, gracious Teacher, that we may see beyond our singular experience. Show to us the expanse of your eternity, that we may live together with the diversity of your kingdom. Amen.