Wednesday, January 5, 2022
It's date day on Wednesday, when we try to leave work behind. (Except, we talk about work while we're in the car.) After breakfast and some meetings, we tour a Dutch colonial house. Beautiful - and in need of roof repair and restoration. It will more likely go the way of old houses here, replaced by a modern complex.
W asks what I would like to do. Neither of us is hungry at noon. But with the big stone bathtubs cleared out and the plants put back in, shall we see what's for sale on Fish Street? A bag with six 4-5" (9-11cm) goldfish costs about $.75 USA. We get 2 bags, one for each tub/pond.
On "Fish Street," sellers have specialties. Several sell unique beta fish. One man pulls the black cardboard from between the little bowls and the fish head straight toward each other.
This bag of newly arrived koi needs to be dumped into a big blue plastic tub with strong pumps and filters. Koi are messy eaters and need high water flow to thrive.
W asks a man, "Is this the way to the bird market?" and the guy agrees that it is about 100 meters (105 yards) thataway. I watch the man's body language; it's not agreeing with his nod - but it's impolite in this culture to disagree or be negative. Off we go.
Sure enough, a kilometer or two later, we're still not there. It's noon and hot with the sun overhead. We watch our feet on the broken paving or walk on the street when food sellers or chit-chatting people block the sidewalk.
In an antique shop, I also leave behind 6 silver cake spoons and forks from the Dutch era: they're asking $1200USD for them. Whaaaaat? I'm only window shopping there.
Thursday
A friend sends 3 pots of Italian basil over and we send back dill.
My lunch is often similar: a heap of lettuce with a few scoops of fried rice (sausage in it today), topped with cooked vegetables-of-the-day. I poke a spoon through it and love the crispy mix of flavor. Some days I put sambal on the side, the spicy pepper sauce beloved by Indonesians.
Saturday
For now, the berries sit in a clay pot made for bonsai.
Notice anything strange about this picture? These motorcycles are going the wrong way on the street. The traffic on this side are driving toward the left. When motorcyclists see a break between cars and tour buses, they dart across into the correct flow of traffic. Everyone's looking out for each other. So they're in little danger, driving "the wrong way" on a very busy street.
We give up. PakG picks us up. We're a mere block away from the bird market. We were almost there. We hop out again. First off, we see exotic parrots and parrotlets.
There are ducks with pom poms on their heads.
There are chickens with nasty growths on their faces and huge feathers on their feet.
And there are hundreds of cages and perches and other gear. It's a whole block of shopper's paradise for a bird-lover.
Between are caged lizards, rabbits, monkeys, snakes, mice (to feed the snakes?), and other creatures. There are feathers and bird dust everywhere. You wouldn't want to come if you're sensitive to down and bird poop! A rat walks slowly, sunning itself among the cages. No one blinks (not even I.) W doesn't even notice.
On the way home, we pass the central mosque, a tourist attraction near unsafe parts of town. PakG warns us away from sketchy areas (like those found in every big city.)
Driving up the hill toward town, every Bandung local and tourist will recognize this section of town, the hub of food, art, and cultural relics for sale on Dago Street.
We walk past a photographer snapping pictures of a little model decked out in local finery.
Traditional puppets are displayed along the sidewalk, some 2' tall. Two sticks are attached to their arms. Skilled puppeteers express many emotions with these two sticks and a twistable carved wooden body - sometimes keeping half a dozen puppets going at once.
Sandy, the wife of BIC's former BIC pastor, introduced me to this reject shop (china seconds). I try to pop in once in a while. It's the best place to buy gift plates for cookie giveaways.
I leave behind pretty sets of cups and saucers (6@$18). We replace a bowl broken by a guest.
The walk at the volcano looks like a moonscape. The dogs get into a fight partway but no one seems seriously injured. I'm not along: I get pictures of the landscape.
What an interesting part of the world. Working on the teras, we go from hot sunshine to clouds and thunder in a few minutes. The wind kicks the chimes into their songs.
Friday
W and I walk and then Angela and I do another round. The sun is hot and I'm glad to be wearing a hat.
The guys put back the keyboard in the living room (post-Christmas). h wait, there still a bell garland on the porch. I can just reach the hooks that hold it up. Off it goes with the last of the Christmas stuff.
Before heading out, W and PakG carry the old swing chair to the garden, and that's where I spend the morning. If you're working online, it might as well be with a good view.
The goldfish have settled in and there's not a mosquito larva left in the bathtub ponds.
I'm trying to find out what this symmetrical tree is. It towers over the wall from the neighbor's yard at about 30'.
We're wrapping up a week and coming up to the first "2nd Sunday" - when BIC is not meeting as a large group. Around the city, the BIC community will gather in homes with tablets and screens for BIC Online. We will eat together at restaurants or family tables afterwards.
My breakfast is almost Indonesian: fried rice and greens, heated up from yesterday. It fills my stomach until afternoon. While W goes out for lunch, I relax at home. As pastors we do lots of writing besides personal correspondence. Our talks, plans, and outlines take time.
The Italian basil (hard to find here) needs planting.
Gradually we also sort through the enormous box of books Anu has sent over. They get divided between our helpers, a children's school, roomies, and friends.
The old man who collects cardboard and plastic comes by, his low voice droning on the streets. He asks if we have books to recycle. I give him the cardboard box the books came in, and tell him I'll clear out oldies from the Little Free Library next door. There are books and magazines no one has borrowed for over 2 years. When that's done, we fill the empty shelf with newer kids' books from Anu's children's collection.
PakG drives to pick up a few items from The Yard Sale, a WA group who moves things around - we shed some, take on some. Few expats still live in Bandung. Most have left the country and visas are hard to come by, with ongoing and changeable quarantines and lockdowns. Most expats with families have relocated to be nearer international schools east of the city.
Happily for those entering Indonesia, the 14-day quarantine has been reduced to 10 days in government approved (and self-paid) hotels. We spent 5 days quarantining in Jakarta in November; it felt like the room got smaller and smaller.
Most Indonesians (85% of those tested, according to the last report I read) have COVID-19 antigens and the majority of Indonesians living in cities have been fully vaccinated. Booster shots are going around now. People are happy for protection. We read of fewer deaths though mental health issues have driven up suicides and depression.
My version of self-care is reading scripture, meditation, and making things. The 1" palm berries have been drying on the porch table for 2 months. They're shaped like acorns; today they get sprayed silver and gold.
What fun you can have with a can of auto spray paint. At $1.50 a can, ordinary things transform into something else. Such tiny projects are my favorite way to clear my head when I have a few minutes to spare and big projects looming, especially if there are a lot of details floating around.
Bandung is a city of creativity. Bali, the island east of Java is better-known to tourists. Bali religion is based on Hinduism, so it is known for carvings and statues of nature and gods.
However, we live in the capital city of the Sundanese, who combine their traditions with Islam. They showcase their culture through food, music, puppet shows, and dance. (Click on any link to find out more about this amazing place and its people.)
Bandung is also the center of Indonesia's textile industry. It has many important universities and colleges.
If you ever wanted to intern (or retire) here - if you'd like to learn more about Indonesia while doing useful work that helps others - let us know. Foreigners most often arrive with student or tourist visas. Some fall in love with the country and its wonderful people and come back long-term on work or retirement visas.
Which one are you?
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*So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Deuteronomy 4:39
*Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! Romans 5:1-9
*God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Colossians 1:19-20 NIV
Moravian Prayer: Christ in God, you are the creator of heaven and earth. You created us in your image, and you came to redeem us. Equip us to respond to your goodness in actions of faith, love, and hope. Amen.
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