Sleepless in Bandung

Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Ugh. Since COVID I seem to get respiratory stuff. From "never sick" to stuck with the flu two times a year? I'm not a fan, but I try to lay low and heal quickly.

3 hours of calls start at 5:30 AM. Then we take Anton the new dog around on his own. Instead of 3000 steps, I'm at 5500 before we get home. Steps add up with "let's backtrack-and-resume" leash-work each time he lunges ahead. He's responding better each day but today is a tough one for him. This is Day 5 so he's right on track. Good boy.

Puppies need 16+ hours of sleep (and a 14 month old Standard is mostly puppy). He snoozes in his favorites spot at our feet while we work on the Porch.

It's lunch before we know it. In late afternoon Alice, Angie, and I brainstorm, planning an upcoming seminar. The helpers spend a busy day baking.

Wednesday

More calls. I have to walk Anton, no matter how rotten I feel. He goes crazy, trying to beat me out of the gate. He has variations of yanking, jumping, and lunging. Both he and I have a good workout before I get out the gate first, for our 6 AM walk. The second walk in the afternoon is calmer. He sits on command (pointed finger) more often than not. We play fetch and he follows anyone he sees around the Porch and yard. His curiosity and intelligence are high.

DrT calls from a Himalayan country. I can barely croak a response. He's asking me to teach a masters cohort in mid-June. I can get the class material together, teach, and grade. He promises to take care of the visa but I need in-house permissions as well. W makes all our travel arrangements so I send him DrT's contact info.

Thursday

It's May Day across Europe and another Red Letter Day in Indonesia: "Labor Day." There have been 15? public holidays already this year. Today all the help takes the day off. The house is quiet as we wake to the smell of oatmeal bread in the breadmaker. It smells good but is too dense for our liking. 

My watch says I've slept for 2:08 overnight and that's pretty accurate. The breakfast bread, baking on an overnight schedule, has rested longer than that. My lungs ache and my head pounds but a baby aspirin takes the edge off the pain. We do a COVID test because I've been sick since the weekend. (It's negative, yay.)

The May e-newsletter drops and garners comments that hearten us. I send some emails requesting extensions for projects that need clear focus. Everyone's gracious and I write the new deadlines on the calendar. My head is so fuzzy that I don't try much academic work. We make a few calls, and that's about it. 

Anton and I do an early morning walk to work off some of his energy. He's well-behaved on the 2 mile (3 km) circuit. W takes the other dogs out after we return so A isn't distracted during training.

Anton has been shredding things as soon as W lets him out in the morning. A solution may be to put Tabasco on those delicious pink flip-flops that he's almost ripped to pieces. Will that deter him? Luckily he leaves things in his crate alone.

I try to snooze on the Porch while W buys the Tabasco but have no luck. Neighbors are going in and out of the gate so the dogs are barking and running to see what's going on. W comes back home with lunch at 10 AM so we eat it while it's hot.

Someone brings over a pail of used tennis balls. We can't have tea together but I give her $6 and a bag of cookies. Anton and Bailey (almost 13) run around and play fetch for an hour. The other dogs just nap. By 1 PM I'm toast. Ready for a long nap. 

Friday - Happy Birthday, dear Melissa!

Our daughter-in-love was born May 1. With a 14-hour time difference, we call her this morning instead of staying up late to wish her a happy birthday. Our boys hit the jackpot in marriage. We sure love the young women who chose them - and our sons get along in the families they married into.

It's dog grooming day. Both Juno and Anton's feet are sliding around the Porch so they need a foot shave; too dangerous to run hikes on wet stones and slippery bamboo bridges with hair between their toes.

Anton gets a poodle face clip, too. We're not big fans of wet chins or slobber (a furry labradoodle trim) when dogs run over to be petted. After grooming they get favorite treats: raw chicken bones. Even Bailey, who's starting to lose teeth at age 13, chomps his bone with vigor. Then it's nap time for them.

I may catch up on some work today. My headache is receding, and brain fog is lifting. Yay. The sun's out, banana bread is baking (thanks for bananas, Veronica!), and I don't have to cook lunch.

One final walk, supper, and editing. The book I'm working on is written by an Asian academic, examining Asian religions, cultures, and Christianity. My education was in intercultural studies so the local perspective of a scholar reflecting on religion and culture is fascinating.

Read more:

*Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26

*It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy. Proverbs 14:21

*The Lord said, “When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’” Luke 17:10

Moravian Prayer: Lamb of God, our all in all, be among us today. Give us tender hearts and inspire us to go the extra mile for all the weak and weary in spirit. Be the rock we build upon. Mold us as examples of service and unconditional love. Amen.