Thursday, April 18, 2024
By 8:00, we've made some calls and completed a few hours of work. Then we drive into the mountains for our weekly hike. W and I missed a month due to a long respiratory flu. It's fantastic to hit the trails with 11 hikers and 5 dogs. (Missing below: Veronica, our leader and photographer.)
It takes a few minutes to gather and get organized. Today we have to pay an admission fee into the area where we walk. Most popular trails have been monetized in the last 6 years. Other areas have been fenced off, so that we can no longer trek through their meadows and forests.
The view is spectacular. In this mountainous regions of Java, we can see for miles on a clear day like today. Most of the walk is in the forest under partial shade. In the 1930s and 40s, the Dutch planted swaths of pines for coffee trees. The plantations were being developed when Indonesia gained its independence. The pines have grown. The coffee mostly disappeared; some coffee groves are now being replanted under the pines.
On the way home, we pass a squad of young soldiers, marching along the street in full jungle gear and carrying machine guns. They look overheated in their long sleeves and trousers, and helmets, carrying weapons. They're getting a glimpse of what woman go through every day: long sleeves and clothing, headscarf (and sometimes carrying heavy loads). Full covering is the regulation wear for "good" religious women and girls.
The wind kicks up at 3:00, clanging the chimes on the Porch. High clouds skud overhead, cooling the air slightly from its top of 30oC (86oF). It's very pleasant, with a stiff breeze coming across the valley. It's back to work after a shower.
We go to bed early as usual but after an hour of sleep, I'm wide awake. At 10:00, I give up and get up. Maybe a second evening routine will put me out. There's a roach on its back in the shower. Ugh. W is the master of disposing roaches but that's a job for when he wakes up.
There are also a dozen little ants roaming my nightstand, though there's no food on it. I squish them and head into the kitchen to grab the poison chalk. I draw a thick line around my nightstand, the adjoining wall, and the phone charging cord. Hopefully that will kill the ants or at least keep them away.
My bedside cup of peppermint tea always has a tight lid on it but today the ants swarm up around it. If there's tea left for a cooled morning drink, I have to check carefully - sometimes it's riddled with ants that find their way through the smallest crack. Disgusting, if I forget to look.
Friday
We run errands and grab lunch with dear friends and former coworkers.
Saturday
We cross half the island of Java on the train.
There are older cars and engines to admire, too.
Rivers and rice paddies crisscross fields and mountains on either side
We order our usual rendang (beef stewed in coconut milk and spices). Pretty good.
We're in Jogja mid-afternoon, with W negotiating fares from the train station to the hotel ($3.50). All across Indonesia, vehicles are modified to suit the terrain. Someone's put the front of a motorcycle on this passenger taxi.
An interesting mural and oversize peacock duo greet us as we step off the elevator to our room.
Jonville takes us to an Italian restaurant for supper where we feast and chat.
Sunday
After a hearty breakfast, W and I speak together. Lunch with Jamie, Tasha, their kids, and Megan is wonderful. And after an afternoon rest, we head out with the AG team for Mediterranean Kitchen and more good food. There is much more Western food here than in Bandung.
Monday
We're off to the English Center so W can teach. He's going through a series he has taught around the world, on God and our place in the world. I review Indonesian and do some writing. I'm recording these few sessions I hear. If he never writes down what God has taught him, it may fall to me someday.
I'm editing my upcoming book Letters from Cambridge. It's my first-ever public journal. We lived in a flat above the library where W studied for his doctorate in 2004. I sent it to 120 people every week. I've decided to post outtakes from that on FB.
My first 3 books (on early C20th women in global work) got no promo and have languished. They're available free on KindleUnlimited and on a free Audible trial.
*You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. Isaiah 26:3-4
*I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 16:62
*[Jesus told his disciples:] "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." John 14:1-7
*So it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who shows mercy. Romans 9:16
Moravian Prayer: Lord, we know you are the light of the world. Because of your covenant with us, we know of your great love for us. You have made it easier for us to see this love because of the guidance and strength you have provided to our ancestors. If we look closely, we can see your unconditional love and mercy everywhere and in everyone. Amen.
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