Sometimes it's night

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

W and two IES Bandung media volunteers are in Jakarta overnight for a seminar about social media. The dogs make sure no one comes into the yard. They're especially protective in the rare case that one of us is home without the other. Our neighbors are a shout away if we need something, too.

It's calm and quiet. Pieces of broken mirrors and soft lamps glow in the nook after sundown. I love the golden light of dusk and dawn.

We're arranging October speakers. A few more connection and the year will be planned through November. December means Advent ... and that's where my head stops.

IbuA goes into the garden and makes her own flower arrangement. Pretty! The helpers are more and more creative.

Thursday

I decide on a different route for my walk, which adds an extra half-mile. But I come back the same way. This streets buzz with motorcycles before 7:00 a.m. and empty once students get to school.

A blaze of pink blossoms hang over one neighbor's gate.

Another has a hedge of white flowers attended by bees.

It's semi-cloudy; everything is growing in the garden.

Grading. There are many edits on many assignments and revisions for this class (Study and Research Writing.) It's easiest to hand-write current grades into a notebook. I'll put the final grades into their folders.

It's a relief to leave the office behind and move onto other things. Like calling Mom each morning.

I scramble eggs over mashed potatoes and sprouts for breakfast. It tastes good with sambal (spicy sauce.)

Friday

I walk, have a few meetings in the morning, and set up the final version of the class PPT: it's posted after the final session. A ripe durian has fallen and is opened for lunch. When I come out of my room, the whole house smells foul. "Oh wait, it must be the durian." The powerful odor travels.

The interior is creamy and custardy. PakG says it's not a special kind. "Just the common Indonesian version," he says. The dozen or so in the tree are spoken for. W and I will pass them on.

It's the last day of teaching, after which grading, revisions, and returns happens for a month. When someone asks for an extension after a month of this, I tend to say no. Get your work done early "just in case." I've never taught a class with so many excused absences, power outages, and internet challenges for the students. I have to grade as though they were sitting in class all 3 weeks, which is what they signed up for.

The view from my office window is quiet. I have to get up twice to retrieve our labradoodle. She keeps pushing aside the neighbor's gate to go inside. The neighbor is raising goat kids for the upcoming Idul Fitr (feast after 30 days of Ramadan). The animals will be slaughtered as a reminder of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son (assumed to be Ishmael by Muslims).

My test is negative! hurrah - Covid's done with me. I call several working teams with updates on a resignation. Sometimes leaders fix things. Sometimes they let things go. Sometimes they give reports. I love our teams, who hear from God and do hard work.

Saturday

Starting with a 6:00 a.m. meeting, the day unfolds. I make peanut butter toast and have breakfast during our discussion. After 10 minutes, I eat some little ants before I notice. They are swarming the bread. Ugh. I shake off and squish the rest when I see them. (Obviously, we've lived here a while.)

I walk up to the laundry rooftop to see what improvements the handymen made last week.  The runoff has soaked the interior whenever the gutters overflow. hopefully that' fixed it. The workmen have raised the height of the gutter that drains the roof. The clay tiles stretch by the thousands to the peak of the roof.

Read more:

*All the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other. 1 Kings 8:60

*Jesus said: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20

Moravian Prayer; Sending God, when we become comfortable with watching and not doing the work of ministry, remind us we all have a role to fill, a part to play, and gifts to use, and that even small parts are essential. Amen.