Overhangs and earthquakes

Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Wednesday means we walk the dogs and go on a date breakfast. Smoke rises from hundreds of garbage and compost fires every day. The smoke creates a constant pollution that is hard on the lungs and creates a hazy view across the valleys. Roadside fires are a way of coping with garbage in a crowded city.

Indonesians know how to build these smoldering heaps so that they don't set trees or the pine needles around them on fire. They build similar heaps in the forest, fields, and along city streets. The winds that whip through the hillsides bring occasional relief.

Indonesians love to dress alike. If you  didn't like your school uniform, don't worry. Your work uniform may be better. These university students have a meeting at #NaraPark where we eat breakfast.

Busy bees? Literally true in the trees overhead.

An earthquake rattles the city in the morning. We hardly feel it but it affects homes and families further south.

Lisa comes for one last lunch and tea before leaving for home in New Zealand. We plan to meet in December when she's back. The yardman picks a tall jar of cloves from the tree. Those will start drying on the rooftop tomorrow. We can't even give away cloves this year. No one wants to pick them: "There's no money in it," they say. Thousands of cloves drop to the ground and decompose.

Thursday

Lisa brought 2 jars of my favorite Kiwi nut butters, so breakfast is an indigence: home-baked bread spread with "Choco Berry Nuts & Seeds." So good.

Yay for hikes to clear the mind. We're in Cikole Forest, where we choose the steep, more-direct way up over a longer but easier climb. Puff puff. Everyone makes it up.

Our goal is the Dutch forts up on the mountain. In WWII, Japanese suicide bombers wiped out the Dutch soldiers. "The Japanese couldn't bury the bodies, so they were left - and we don't know, many are still on this hill."

In winning emancipation from Dutch colonial rule for Indonesia, the Japanese are remembered here as heroes of the war. Senta shoots a photo from inside one of the four concrete forts. They've been graffiti-ed and erosion is taking its toll.

We sit on the steps that Dutch lookouts would have used to peer over the concrete barrier to the outside world. Could the young men fighting for their countries and their lives ever imagine this place of horror as a tourist destination? 

Since we've cut off some time, we keep going to the war memorial for those lost lives, erected on the nearby summit.

Here's something you wouldn't find in Western countries. Someone has erected a protective fence at the drop-off of the mountain slope ... and then put steps in place so short people can look into the vast valley below.

Imagine kids and teens playing on the steps? There is a rough tumble ahead if you tip over the top. Our Singapore hikers ascend to look at the scenery.

We learn a new path back, which is shorthand for "Oh oh, we're kinda lost. However, we can use our GPS to find a way through the mountain forests to the starting point and our cars." haha

Senta has made lunch reservations at another steep drop-off. The hotel Gaia (Lembang) is artistically decked with mitered frames.

We fool around as we spot different ways the mitered boxes are used by the designers.

Someone has painstakingly gathered over 200 lamps and hung them upside down in the lobby.

We've done enough stairs (19 flights) on the hike to skip the "endless staircase" of 200+ steps descending to the valley below. We go round and round inside the hotel to find our way to the overlooking balcony.

See the platform on the upper right? That's where we eat. Considering the instability of the ground due to volcanos and earthquakes ...

"We're taking our life into our hands by eating here," remarks one of our group. Indeed, there's a 2" (5cm) gap between the edge of the platform and the glass wall beside my chair. Put a pen or menu or a kid's toy too far to the side and it will fall into the valley below. Mind you, if a diner mindlessly scoots over and puts a chair leg into the gap, there's a good chance that the pressure could make the glass wall give way. I eat carefully, sitting 4"/9 cm from the gap.

The food is good, not excellent.

Even the bathrooms boast stellar views. This is the ladies' room, with scenery reflecting in the mirror above the sink (left) and on display through the glass wall (right).

My afternoon meeting is postponed until Monday. It's into the office for an afternoon's work. Pauline sends over two guys to pick some cloves for her. We provide bags, a ladder, and a bamboo stick so they can hit the cloves off the branches if they don't want to climb.

Friday - Happy Birthday, Chachanels

We walk under branches that were bare 2-3 weeks ago. Now they are bursting with new color. There's no pause in growth, just a pushing out of the old mature leaves at the end of dry season as the new growth emerges.

I meet Dr Atif at Noah's Barn for a few pleasant morning hours. Over brunch, we discuss academics, family life, and engaging students through community service. Our opportunities are pivotal in creating open doors for kids in poverty and low education. I hand over recruitment fliers and we pray together for God's favor and blessings on these projects.

There's no helper on weekends, but IbuS is getting a molar pulled today (OUCH). I clean up and wash dishes before stuff piles up for the weekend. What else is going on?

• Our friends are trying our helpers' recipes (choc banana bread anyone?) "What about ...?" (The banana bread turns out ok. The oatmeal cookies are not so great so I revise the recipe.)
• Others need information about visas or are wrapping up their stay in Indonesian. 
• Our students have submitted assignments.
• We schedule next weeks' meetings.
• I'm writing book reviews and answering emails. 

There's enough to do, I think. Angie comes by for a few hours in the afternoon for tea, cookies, and dropping off a banner. She's a whizz at graphic design.

Saturday

People are sure friendly today as we walk. Even W notices. We're later than usual - it's 7:30 by the time we do our loop.

It's my turn to do the hall flowers. We always make oversize arrangements, at least 3'/1 meter in one direction. We pick up little white flowers on our walk to complement the tiny red mums salvaged from Titik's bouquet last week. I clip the top of a shrub with multi-color leaves (glorious yellow, green, and red on one stem), trim a few branches from a tree, and cut staghorn fern fronds off the wall.

PakG and W take the bouquet to the hall so we won't have to think about it tomorrow. There are enough flowers left over to make 2 smaller bouquets, too.

W is backing up my computer today, a relief as its battery ages. Meanwhile, I'm getting the house ready for a friend's event tomorrow on the Porch. She's expecting about 20 adults and kids so it's not a big group.

The list of "do-you-have"s includes plates, cups, cutlery, a water jug and a rice cooker. I put those out, write a note about recycling, and make a list of treats: cookies and chocolate banana bread. Finally, I make lunch, wash up, and tuck away breakables that might get in children's way.

W finishes grading assignments from his Singapore class. I'm just starting on the work submitted by my Phillipines class, thankfully shared with co-lecturer Dr Gail. If I get to our other appointments and write two October newsletters, it will have been a winning day.

Read more:

*Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24

*Do not enter into judgment with [me as] your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. Psalm 143:2

*Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:48,50

Moravian Prayer: Gracious God, today we live among people of diverse backgrounds and social statuses. Yet in our world, so many do not live by your example. We pray for change, peace, and forgiveness. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.