Sunday, July 30, 2023
We're at the hall early to set up Round Table Sunday. Today's discussion is Matthew 24, where Jesus warns his followers that, though the end times will be difficult, there is hope.
The 12 vases of table flowers are delicate - a stem of maidenhead fern and some red berries clipped from a weedy shrub. Yesterday's trip into the garden was one of the simplest.
A box of Korean books (from the library clear-out) goes home with its new owners. He's a prof. She's a certified Korean language teacher.
W is worn out after the morning. We eat lunch at home, a switch from our Sunday routine.
Monday
W feels well enough to walk before my first meeting at 6:30. It feels good to stretch our legs in the cold morning air (60oF/15oC) BRRR. I grab a sweater before we head out the door.
The neighborhood "influencer" has 6 spotted deer in his front yard pen today, including two fauns.
They scurry away as I point my phone camera through the fence grate.
Further along, this big tour bus is in trouble if the driver tries to navigate narrower roads. This street is considered wide and accessible (2-lanes in Indonesian standards). Note that the bus takes up 2/3 of the pavement, though it has pulled off to the shoulder.
Drainage is being installed along the tall stone fence. Plastic piping will be hidden behind blocks of grey stone on the street side.
More stuff is coming and going. PakG makes two trips for 5 solid bookshelves (@$14). A few weeks ago, God provided books. Now he sends over book storage for the village school and IESB. I'm not sure whether to watch the flow of resources streaming by with surprise or amusement. In it comes. Out it goes.
We get an update from a community English program, staffed by volunteers. It's grown over the past year from a dozen or so kids to a good group, plus about a dozen moms.
The last dozen-or-so book boxes and bookshelves are moved from the Porch to our shed area. These volunteers will retrieve them to create a village library.
The nook has gained and lost some items. You can't have houseplants in the house without being willing to deal with ant nests and creatures inside the pots. No thanks. Someone gives us green "silk" ivy, which looks just fine on the shelf.
Around the neighborhood, flags are going up for National Day in 2 weeks.
These cute kids play games in a neighborhood common space.
Movie night is a whole-week affair that goes something like this:
- Monday: invitation and guest list
- Tuesday: shopping and organization, some shifting of furniture from the living/dining room
- Wednesday: cooking (starts whenever I wake up), final room and media layout, kitchen buffet setup, and then at 6-10pm, dinner and a movie
- Thursday: cleaning. Rugs, furniture, and lamps return to the living/dining room
- Friday: finish resetting the house (pictures, decor, etc. put in place; cooking/serving pieces migrate to storage.)
Is movie night worth a week of work? Watching new friendships emerge, weaving a broad net for students to expand their resources and relationships, and feeding 50-60 students a big meal (some don't eat well) ... It's definitely worth the effort. Though I get tired thinking about it in advance.
W sends the invitation. A constant pinging of text signups interrupts the August and September video shoot. The goal is to finish 8 videos, which takes all morning. I send them to W for processing when they're done.
I make German comfort food for lunch: Kartoffel Klöße with mushroom gravy.
Over several days, W and PakG take the main room apart. First it empties of all but movie night essentials. The helpers sweep and wash the floor once the carpets are removed.
W uses previous pictures of the setup to shift the furnishings into place. The inside projector is hung from the coved ceiling.
Beanbags and pillows are spread out with small tables within reach. We make one last check to ensure that everything is ready.
Wednesday - Mom's 88th birthday
Happy birthday to the best mother ever. We call to celebrate her and hear the fun things she did. She tells us how her friends spoil her. What a great celebration.
Cooking starts after 7:00 a.m. so I can be done before noon. As usual, I write the menu on the fridge whiteboard and strike through each dish as it's completed. I wash dishes as I go since pots are used multiple times. The last go-around, I leave them for the helpers. They also cook the rice, cut salad greens and fruit, and fill the deviled eggs I cooked last night.
After lunch, I read and nap before the fun starts. About 6:15 p.m., the house begins to fill up with over 60 participants. We start with dinner.
Today we represent 14 countries.
Everyone chooses a seat to eat and watch the first half of the movie.
Lights are dimmed.
Outside watching a second screen, the porch is almost as full as the house.
The sad part is that nearly every month, we have to say farewell to longtime "kids" as they leave Bandung to work and study around the world.
Thursday
It's a short night (11-4) but nature helps us decompress. The hike an hour north of Bandung starts in the cool and breezy forest. Our tradition is to take a picture beside this banyan tree. Today someone has slapped up a vinyl sign near it.
It's hot and sunny in the tea fields.
Hardest on our feet is the stony and overgrown road. Our ankles tip and tilt, while the soles of our feet take a beating on the uneven rocks.
W takes a picture of the tea trimmers. They lift the tarp where tea is unloaded so we and the 7🐶 dogs can walk past without damaging the leaves. Those are loaded onto little trucks and taken to the nearby factory for processing into tea.
When we get home, PakG works his magic on Bailey, returning him to a fluffy teddy bear. After this shot, I trim his eyes so he can see.
We pack up serving items for Saturday, the Tanikota end-of-term picnic. Volunteers pick it up in the afternoon. "Who has 150 spoons, forks, & cups, 120 plates and liners, and a water dispenser to loan out from their house?" Yes, we can put our hands up for that. (Sunday, this will be used for Hangout. Next weekend, they're needed for the IESB Potluck!)
Friday
W and I walk to #NaraPark for breakfast. All morning, movie night is put to rest for another month. We create our own seasons in lieu of the annual seasons we grew up with. Instead of the once-a-year spring clean, the house needs seasonal deep-cleaning from dust and dirt blowing in through the open doors and unsealed windows. The nook gets its own revamp with a tablecloth from Bhutan.
Summery green boxes in the Kallex buffet are exchanged for quieter black ones. The dining table returns to the main room with blue and black tablecloths.
IbuS dresses the sofa with purple slipcovers and pillowcases. She washes and stores the bright tablecloth, beige sofa slipcover, and light-colored pillowcases until next year (after Christmas and Valentine reds are done.) The house breathes in and out, ready for the arrival of our next guests.
Read more:*The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful. Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria; the farmers will plant them and enjoy their fruit. There will be a day when watchmen cry out on the hills of Ephraim, ‘Come, let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God.’" Jeremiah 31:3-6
*For me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, to tell of all your works. Psalm 73:28
*He entered the temple with [Peter and John], walking and leaping and praising God. Acts 3:8
Moravian Prayer: God, when we talk about you and your goodness, we do feel closer to you and know you as our strength and our refuge. May we never keep to ourselves what we have experienced of your love and your care. Amen.
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