Dots and dabs: 9.5 weeks later, the fridge is working again

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

IbuS finds some daylilies in the garden. Every day a new flower opens.

The Vs bring their kids to team meeting on the porch. Mini-poodle Bailey's in his glories, having found a boy to pet and brush him. He likes to sit on the bench where we slip shoes on and off. An old rug lets him jump up without tearing the leather as he looks out the gate to see who's coming.

The aquarium on my desk is thriving.

Someone sells us a clean rug for $7.

It replaces the little IKEA shag squares that have been there for years. We don't discard the squares; they move to another area. People love digging their toes into the green pile.

1' leaves keep opening in the planter beside the door. I love their stripes.

A few swipes of a ruler over paint ...

It starts to take shape.

A few dots of paint and anything can happen. I learn something new from each painting.

Colors have to be lighter than the eye sees: otherwise colors and textures disappear in indoor lighting.

Wednesday

I try a balance exercise W finds online. It settles my vertigo somewhat, but I'm going to the neurologist for his peace of mind. Our morning walks make me slightly tippy. Both W and I had angry stomaches yesterday and today so we're not walking as quickly as usual. I skip breakfast in case the doc asks for blood tests.

We spend midday between the hospital and a great hole-in-the-wall restaurant. You wouldn't know Toko You was there unless you know where to look: the short, narrow driveway gives no indication of the historic wooden structure inside.

The rawon (noodles and candlenut beef broth) is as delicious as the first time we were here. I can only eat part of it so take the rest home for when my stomach is feeling better.

By the time we get home, it's almost 3:30. The bill for top doc's visit at Bandung's best hospital, medicine (against vertigo symptoms), and an ultrasound to check a bump behind my ear? Under $60. (If they took insurance, it would have been cheaper.)

John comes by to check on the progress of his dissertation, as he does monthly. He's making progress and has lots of work coming up. W calls me when it's time to leave for his birthday supper.

DrH is treating him and Dr Ingrid to a meal at Queen, the premier Chinese restaurant in Bandung. "For special birthdays only," she says. It's expensive and delicious, also a traditional place to eat. The food is uniformly good - and the company is wonderful.

Thursday

The doc advises against walking the narrow rocky paths planned for today as I'm still too tippy. So W walks around the block with me before leaving with the others for the mountains and sawah (rice fields). We discover this chicks sheltering under the hen's feathers (Psalm 91:4). Reminds me of our safety when God protects us. Plus it's cute.

Friday

A quiet day of writing, meetings, and language school. W's hard at work. He pulls some peeling paint off an ugly wall at the end of the terrance and puts up the powder-coated screen found in the back of a wood shop years ago. It's been in the house but I bought it for outside. The day has come

W hangs it. I scrounge the garden for a palm recently potted, a wooden statue getting lost in the greenery, and a packing crate that arrived yesterday. Most people won't notice the subtle focal point at the side of the house. Which is what makes it a pleasure of discovery for those who do.

Maybe we should throw a party. We have evening plans but the fridge guy comes 9 1/2 weeks after our LG refrigerator stopped working. Jorge and Caron loaned us a fridge last week ... it was hard to have a little fan running across ice in jerry cans for minimal cooling since April 19.

Apparently the missing repair part has been on backorder from China. It would be easier to endure if the shop explained the delay rather than cancelling appointment after appointment. Thanks to our friend with connections who makes this repair happen! 

We pay $80 for the repair: the fix is not a warranty item. I'm just happy to have a fridge in the kitchen rather than a back bedroom. We'll sent the clean well-working fridge back to J's house next week. We're praying over that place, where tiles inexplicably popped out of the floor and other strange things have happened. It's planned as a women's shelter.

Saturday

I overcook rice (8 cups of chicken broth and water with 1 c rice) for a few hours to make bubur ayam. Sometimes we eat this rice pudding when our stomaches are unsettled. Other times, it just tastes soothing on its own. I enjoy it for breakfast and lunch.

I have headspace for decluttering while W meets several people downtown and Kristi teaches kids English on the next hill. (Yup - she's pretty amazing, a force of nature.)

I empty shelves under the stairs and send paper plates for movie night up to storage. Over the years, the helpers have stashed glass, plastic, and paper containers in the "dirty kitchen" bin that used to hold the old water pump. This past week, I asked the women to empty it onto a tarp on a spare bed.

W and I look over the ancient Tupperware that are used for movie night desserts and cookies. There are sealers (the Canadian name for canning jars) and other containers, too. Kristi grabs some plastic boxes for kids' supplies. What we won't use goes to helpers and the recycling man who comes around the neighborhood with his cart.

I pause to snap a picture of the back of the flower beds along the porch. Oh this country! It bursts with beauty everywhere we pause to see it.

Read more:

*Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 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 3:21-26

*O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as with a garment. Psalm 104:1-2

*You may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Moravian Prayer: God, through your precious Son, you have called us out of darkness into your marvelous light. Inspire us to shine our light in the darkest places, so that others may find their way to you. May you be glorified in and through us. Amen.

Latitudes and curiosities as W turns 65

Friday, June 10, 2022

I read that most Americans have no idea of latitudes: apparently Rome and NY are similar lattitudes. I have to check that out since I know little American geography myself. 

Yes indeed! It's true. I did not know that. Did you?

For my morning class, I study in the LR nook. The printed linen tablecloth is a relic from my mom's house. I like its cheery pattern.

I push the nook sliders all the way open to enjoy the fresh mountain air flowing through the house.

In late afternoon, W and I walk to a student foodcourt for rice and chicken. It's delicious. Can you imagine finding such "politically incorrect" marketing anywhere other than near a university?

Our assistant cracks open her knee on the uneven pavement of a nearby street. One of the ongoing adjustments to Bandung is that you have to look where you're stepping at all times. Height, pitch, potholes, missing chunks ... the variety on sidewalks or roads is a normal part of putting one feet before the other.

Hati-hati! (watch out). I've fallen before, scrapingwrist and knees on potholes, missing curbs, etc. The last time, it took months to heal completely.

My hair feels like it's sagging. Chop chop, I make 6 or 7 cuts, holding the hair away from my head during a shower. Later when I dry off, I check the mirror. Yeah, it's pretty straight at the bottom and angled up at the back. = A quick fix back to length.

Saturday

Doesn't feel like a weekend except that there are no helpers at the house. I raid the garden greens for BIC flowers tomorrow. Papaya, bamboo, plus other leaves ... what abundance. I'll pull the flowers in place tomorrow in the hall.

It's a tall wild arrangement, which suits a commercial space. The vase is 30." How will we get it there?

A few discarded bamboo shoots renew the 2-week-old rose bouquet in the entry. When I moved the Nepalese cloth under last week's flowers, hundreds of tiny ants poured out from under it. I dunked the cloth and beasties in the sink but it has taken all week to dry. Apparently the lace edging was glued around a scrap of woven fabric. Maybe the ants were feasting on the glue? I pat the lace back down and it reseals in place as it dries.

W puts our bed up on risers. Getting up in the morning is easy, that's for sure. Put your feet on the floor and you're standing. Seasonal storage bags go underneath. The grey bench goes from almost-level with the bed to short. The ancient white quilt won't be dragging on the floor anymore so the Roomba can run around the bedroom unhindered.

We move the laser-cut metal screen from the DR to outside. I have other plans for it. It's nice to prop art on the ledge again.

On the porch table, the water and garden clippings in the pot are changed every few days. There's so much foliage to choose from.

After some morning meetings downtown, W waits at the airport for Kristi to fly back to Bandung. He buys me beautiful woven cloth from Papua. Kristi gets a few pieces of her own.

We get word that the  22-yr-old son of the West Java governor has been found near a dam in Switzerland. He was swept away while swimming in a river 2 weeks ago. His dad flies back to Europe to retrieve the body. Eril will be buried in Bandung on Monday, though Islamic death rituals have already been completed.

Pray for the family. What a loss. Below: Pak R. Kamil posed with our friends and us a few years ago. We've prayed for him ever since.

Sunday

It's an early morning. Alice has arranged for 2 helpers to set up since she's off her feet. Ouch.

The garden "wild things" look ok as BIC flowers.

After a few handfuls of raw treats, it's time for the Gathering. How we love these people! and this Family.

I chat quickly with my mom, who is enjoying supper with my brother Norm in Canada.

Texts and WA have been flying back and forth all week: Shibli and his friends plan to celebrate W's 65th birthday today. They've involved kids, youth, and more. W has no idea. I tell the planners:. "I'm going to enjoy it. If something might be iffy, you can always run it past me."

So they do it all and it's a delight - a good memory of becoming a senior for W.

We cheer for the skit about his "brother from a different mother" (someone dressed with a white wig and beard.) We flinch at the bangs from a shower of poppers.

Pak Tota and the community prays over him.

And afterward, we eat the 2 birthday cakes while the kids play on the playground.

Happy 65th birthday, Waldemar!

We eat with Agung, Hanny, and Kai to celebrate their 12th anniversary. The food is good.

The company is wonderful.

We unpack things at home and relax.

Read more:

*A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1

*Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27

Moravian Prayer: Lord, let our words be seasoned with grace, so that whenever and whatever words we speak will heal and not hurt. Amen.

Pokes, prods, and walks

Friday, June 3, 2022

I'm still wonky, with the room spinning when I lay down or get up. On our walk, the landscape tilts badly enough that I have to pause a few times. 

I loved my spiritual direction meeting last night, with friend Alaine. We meditate together on this icon of the Trinity, the loving God who invites us into his circle of hospitality.

Closer to home this morning, friend Martin has arranged a booster appointment for the driver and me. I've told our helpers that once they have their vaccines and a booster, they no longer a need to mask inside the house. Outside, we are already mask-free. In the car, masks are still government-mandated.

We try to find parking downtown but after a few rounds, give up on the two huge parking lots. They're already double-parked. W and I hop out near the clinic while PakG parks along the street a few blocks away. This enormous banyan tree catches my eye - it goes in 3 directions from one root system.

Martin's not only found the clinic, but given up a morning to walk us through the paperwork (4 pages plus our initial documents). He directs me from one line to the other. He did this for W weeks ago, too.

We wait an hour outside. Then we're called inside a crowded waiting room. We wait. More paperwork. Wait. Paperwork confirmed at a desk. Wait. Called into a doc's office for blood pressure and sugar levels. Back to wait in the hall (below, after most have finished.)

We pay for mandatory government top-tier health insurance @$11/mo, so our appointment is free. A really funny cultural moment: they measure everyone's height, weight, and waist size, plus blood pressure and blood sugar as part of the free booster appointment. I'm healthy. Yay.

As they take measurements, the recorder calls them out to a woman with a clipboard who sits among everyone in the hallway. If anyone cares, they now have my stats and I have theirs. If you value HIPAA or your privacy, please stay home.

PakG's former employer Terry gave him a hat from Chilliwack, our mutual hometown. Pak G pairs it with a red Indonesia shirt. The blend of national colors and cultures are right here. The bookend of hat and shirt remind me of the many places we've lived and worked.

"A full dose, mister," says the nurse, jabbing the needle into my upper arm.

In 3 weeks, it will be 8 years since we arrived in Indonesia. We spend 4-6 weeks back in Canada and the USA each year. We missed our trip during the first pandemic year. It adds up to less than a year away so far. We've never had to close our house and put our things in storage, release and rehire helpers, or do other hard things for a year's sabbatical (typically taken every four years).

When we arrive back home to Bandung after trips abroad, we howdy with our house-minders and helpers. Then we pull the dust-sheet off our bed, unplug the dehumidifier, and unpack our suitcases. We fill up the laundry basket and fall into bed to sleep. In the morning, we can be back at work again - as far as jet lag permits.

We love this annual rotation of seeing family and partners without interrupting our workflow. It's ideal for people without school-aged children, cramming a year's worth of visits and fundraising into a month. We moved our rotation from northern hemisphere spring to autumn when we became pastors of BIC = so we wouldn't miss Easter planning.

Life as a global nomad is a privilege but it can also be a challenge. Every four years or so, our partner families take a year in the West to raise funds and reset their compass. Their children must quickly adapt to Western schools and adjust to Western culture. They treasure time to connect with extended family as a reminder of who they are, too. But when they return, it can take a few months to restart school, life, and households. We get to skip that hassle.

We've had our final language lessons from Ibu Fizah this week. We are given 2 new tutors, Ibu Maria and Ibu Rani for Unit 2.

Saturday

I have a quiet day with a mild ache in my arm. It's my first vacc symptom besides a day or two of low energy. Our baseline health is good so we shrug off what comes, whether spicy food, colds, or a shot. Our driver is sick with fever for a few days.

W takes Kristi and another walker on the afternoon Hash, a run on slippery pavement and knee-high mud. I'm glad to stay home.

Bailey gets groomed and preens near me. He's a good boy!

Pentecost Sunday

We celebrate God's gift of the Holy Spirit with the community of faith at BIC. I pick plain flowers from the garden and pop them into a crate of 9 bottles, representing ordinary people beautifully empowered by God's Spirit. BIC serves English-speakers from everywhere, local and global. Everyone is welcome and most feel at home right away due to the warm reception by regular attendees.

It's the first Sunday of the month, a day off for most volunteers. Families stay together so the Gathering is noisy and wonderful.

The kids and teens sprawl on beanbags on the old stage until Kristi calls them forward for an object lesson. She pulls out long balloons for each child and tells them to find her after so she can make shapes for them. She's got their attention right away!

She starts her illustration with a deflated round balloon. She blows it up between explanations. "The Spirit is the Breath of God that empowers each follower of Jesus. You can't live as a believer unless you have the Spirit of God breathing life into you." Children and adults lean in to listen and I think about that all week.

After the Community Table, we celebrate the anniversary of Martin and Sayaka at Nara Park. We spot Kevin nearby so he drops in to say hi.

Monday to Wednesday

We have class online between appointments at the house while I'm trying to move around as little as possible. The porch is open most days with guests coming and going. Our "grandson" Eki visits on Wednesday. He's playing traditional music as part of a mixed-media tour at various universities.

For supper, we get to hang out with baby Lukas and his wonderful family to celebrate his birth and his parents' anniversary.

On our walks, we admire the monstrous Norfolk Island Pines that tower above the houses in their ideal climate. I remember trying to keep those alive as they dropped needles and barely hung on in our Seattle conservatory.

All of nature seems worth a closer look, even when it's an old tree trunk like this one. The play of light and texture of the bark is ... more than one can capture in a photo.

Thursday

We stick close to home instead of driving into the hills for our hike. The group walks North Bandung, making a loop from the central mountain where we live across the river to the next ridge. (3 mountains shape North Bandung.)

 It's almost 9 km (5.5 miles) of hills and valleys, according to our tech-trackers; close to 13,000 steps to the starting place before we walk home.

Motorcycles squeeze past the city-water plumbing and us. Essentially, the means of moving water through neighborhoods is PVC hoses that are somewhat thicker than garden hoses.

These snacks, tied to a motorcycle, will be sold in neighborhoods and between cars on main streets. The deep-fried flour shapes are popular here.

We pass innovative recycling like these tires mounted on a wall along a jalan tikus (narrow lane, literally "mouse street").

We stop at a bakery to check out their goodies and buy a few samples to share. Look at the 3' (1 meter)-wide bromeliad in bloom. Takes my breath away.

The intricate flowers lean away from the trunk on long stems.

A bougainvillea is in full color along the street.

So is this 1' (30cm) flowered shrub.

This bamboo wall and gate are just being built. Whew - functional artwork: woven, stacked, and tied.

There are stairways to nowhere. This one has a board ceiling parallel to the top step.

We spot an antique rice trough.

Exquisite jumbles of flowers line the tall walls on either side.

Riverfront property is the least desirable. Fast-moving streams carry garbage and silt as people drop in waste and rain pushes everything loose downstream. People bathe in them if they have access. These homes are perched on concrete pillars and retaining walls. (Shudder. We live in an earthquake zone.)

The Sundanese value their culture and build structures to remind them of their heritage.

A few hours in, we are ready for lunch at Miss Bee.

I order mushroom parmesan linguini. Yum.

I take a pic once I finish the Mexican corn, so that I remember the ingredients. 1/2 cob, sliced into 6 wedges, sprinkled and roasted with oil, chili pepper flakes, and grated cheese.

Friday

After a walk and studying vocabulary on the hanging chairs in the back, I heat up the pizza buns we bought from Manna Bakery yesterday for an early lunch. I only manage a few cups of tea by the end of language class. It's conversation day with Kristi elsewhere. 

The teacher asks, what about family? What about parents? What about education and raising kids? We're all over the place in this review, a good reminder of how much IEP has taught me in just a few months. Though I can't remember all the words, enough of them have stuck to explain and understand the new info. 

We didn't intend to add new words but there are 13 to master this weekend. My best one today is penasaran (curious) - the story of my life.

Read more:

*If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it. Genesis 4:7 [Click the link for the story of the first murder.]

*He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

*For freedom Christ has set us free. Galatians 5:1

*The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Moravian Prayer: Reconciling God, through your death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, you have liberated humanity from sin’s destruction. May we forever walk in the liberty of Christ, recognizing that who the Son sets free is free indeed. Amen.