Lost in Australia (translation)

G’day mate!
(Hello There)
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Haw ya going?
(How are you?)
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Mi bloke Stuive Whyda wuanted mui t’ tel ya ‘bout speekin ‘Strahlian.
(My friend Steve Weeda wanted me to demonstrate the Australian dialect)
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I Reckun ya ‘ll herd that Stuive an ‘is relie’s visited ‘Strahlia fo’ th’ sommer auli’days
(I’m sure you all know that Steve’s family visited Australia for the Christmas holidays)
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For Christmas, Stuive and ‘is relie’s staid in J’loung where they opened prezies and had tea out doors with sum bit’s o’ meet on the ba’ arbi.
(For Christmas day, Steve and his family stayed in Geelong where they opened presents and enjoyed dinner outside with grilled meat.)
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An’ naw they aar’ ‘njoying visiten’ the wander fuul syites round ‘Stralhlia.
(And now they are enjoying visiting great places around the Australian State of Victoria)
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So, No warries if ya doun’t hear much fr’ om Stuive an’ ‘is reli’s. He ‘ill post to blog Stryat awa’ay in the next bit of tyime.
(So, don’t worry if you don’t hear much from the Weeda family in the next few weeks. Steve will post to his blog soon after he returns.)

Christmas at the mall

Eric in front of a Santa banner at a mall in Indonesia

Yesterday, we gave our helper her Christmas gift along with a stocking full of other items and a card. This got me thinking...

Other than Retailers, it's hard to find anyone who disputes the negative effects of the commercialization of Christmas. Even theological liberals and conservatives, who disagree about just about everything, usually join forces in verbally lashing what Christmas has become in society today.

In a place like Indonesia however, the commercialization of Christmas probably brings more benefits than drawbacks. In addition to causing the humorous situation where nice muslim girls don Santa hats while they work, the commercialization of Christmas also results in people seeing and hearing about peace, goodwill, and God made flesh (something scandelous to all Muslims). Christmas trees, Santas and decorations have sprung up everywhere. Even the soundtracks in malls have Christmas music playing continually (and unlike stores in the West, the music here contains lyrics in English that shout out that Jesus is here to bring redemption!). At some point this should cause most people to ask "what is this all about?"

This is basically what our helper asked us last night after she read our card and opened her gift.

Janet found her a church to go to this morning.

Once in royal Davids city,

Stood a lowly cattle shed,

Where a mother laid her Baby,

In a manger for His bed:

Mary was that mother mild,

Jesus Christ, her little Child.

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He came down to earth from heaven,

Who is God and Lord of all,

And His shelter was a stable,

And His cradle was a stall:

With the poor, and mean, and lowly,

Lived on earth our Saviour holy.

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For He is our childhood's pattern;

Day by day, like us, He grew;

He was little, weak, and helpless,

Tears and smiles, like us He knew;

And He cares when we are sad,

And he shares when we are glad.

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And our eyes at last shall see Him,

Through His own redeeming love;

For that Child so dear and gentle,

Is our Lord in heaven above:

And He leads His children on,

To the place where He is gone.

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

Take a step back

A funny sequence of events from our beach outing:

Step 1: Hope attracts a crowd. I pull out a camera, which further attracts people.

Step 2: Indonesians girls love to pose for pictures by playing coy with the camera. Hope watches.

Step 3: Hope mimics their pose-- quite unsuccessfully.

Thanks to Kim Whites Facebook album for this picture.

And when you take a step back... this is what it looks like!

MUN musings

Model UN team around the UN Flag

(we actually met at the UN Offices in Asia)

About 20 Years ago (in January of 1990) I visited Bangkok Thailand on my way to Vietnam for a Calvin College interim study tour. Almost all of the members of my group were immersed into a developing country for the first time. Scooters and Tuk-tuks (dilapidated three wheel motorized vehicles) crowded the streets and pollution hung in the air. Ramshackle houses crowded along dirty rivers. We were quite amazed at the poverty of the place, until we landed in Vietnam a few days later, where dirt roads and an even greater absolute poverty were the norms.

SPH student presents Speech in Committee

About 10 years ago (1998), Bangkok and Thailand imploded during the Asian financial crises, which started here. What started as a real estate and currency bubble popping (sound familiar) led to chaos all over Asia including riots in Indonesia.

I just returned to Thailand this week and the change is quite amazing. Pollution seems much better, economic growth evident and prosperity obvious. While I am sure there is a side I am not seeing (including the inequality found between those in wealthy cities and the poor in the country side), nonetheless, the people of Thailand have more options for a strong education, good employment, quality housing and decent healthcare than ever before. Although environmental sustainability is still a huge question all of these formerly mentioned items indicate strong development.

Entire Delegation

The reason I am in Bangkok was to spend 4 days with 10 of my students at a Model United Nations (MUN) conference with kids from all over Asia (Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Thailand) where we simulated the real United Nations and their mandate to stop war and foster cooperation and development between nations. In this way, Thailand was a fitting place for this conference, not to mention we held the event in a real United Nations building (The UN building in Southeast Asia).

Model U.N. ends with the writing of superlatives, which are fun descriptors of the events and delegates. Here are MY superlatives from the trip:

• Proudest moment: Despite being ESL and having no prior experience, watching my students engage in debate with refined, experienced and older International students (many of whom are the children of diplomats).


• Most embarrassing moment: realizing my attempt to taxi to dinner with 5 of my students has left us in a seedy neighborhood… in Bangkok (known as the sex capital of the world)!


• Most bothersome moments: watching wealthy but frugal (nice way of saying it) students haggle with poor street vendors over a few pennies.


• Most unnerving moment: watching wealthy but CHEAP students ARGUE with ME over how much they should pay following a meal!
  
• Longest moments: Sitting in an airport and an air plane, typing this blog and wishing to be home with Janet and the kids after 4 very long days!

A world in itself

My homeroom in costume

For the second straight year, I enjoyed Bulan Bahasa at SPH. Bulan Bahasa literally translated means "language month" and could be thought of as heritage month (or cultural awareness month) where the language (Bahasa), cultures, and histories of Indonesian peoples are celebrated in dance, song, poetry, drama and dress.

Tari Saman Dancers

To see this facinating dance, go to the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJqO8N3oX4c

It culminated on Friday, November 13 with everyone coming in the native dress of an area of Indonesia (My homeroom was Aceh). This was followed at the end of the day of with a two hour program.

Another performer in the Dance program

It's quite cliche to say something is "a world in itself", however the 16 months of living and traveling in Indonesia has proved to me that Indonesia truly is "a world in itself" with amazing differences in cultures, music, and traditions. This doesn't even begin to cover all the geographic diversity found here (coastal regions, mountains, rainforest, reefs).

Balinese Dancer

It's amazing what you can learn at school. Even as a teacher!

Jammed Jakarta

My fellow Economics teacher at SPH put together an assignment for his students about traffic in Jakarta for the students to consider government policies to alleviate traffic congestion. The assignment had some amazing statistics (gathered from the Jakarta Globe). Among them:

• 650 new cars and 3,400 new motorbikes are registered each day in Jakarta.
• There are 1.5 million vehicles (including scooters) on the road in Jakarta every day.
• Each year there is 9% more vehicles on the roads, but only 0.9% new roads.
• A vehicle traveling in Jakarta will spend 60% of its time stopped in traffic.
• The average speed of vehicles in the city is 13 MPH (20 KPH).
• If solutions are not found Jakarta will come to total gridlock by 2014.
  

Taking a break

Last Saturday, I went on my first long distance mountain bike ride on the outskirts of Jakarta (I was invited by a parent of one of Hope's classmates). We wandered through small villages, rice paddies to a small lake. As you can see below (from the GPS display), our average moving speed was similar to most motorized vehicles in Jakarta (without all the frustrations).


It was a great ride!

Ever wonder what people think?

I do, especially in situations that where people don’t realize what they are seeing or in situations where what is observed bends the rules of what is expected.

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Take for example…

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One of my students recently returned from a trip to the Holy Land with her church. It seems that tours of the Holy Land are increasingly popular by Christians throughout Asia. What do Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims think when these tour groups come through?

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When 50% of the world’s Mattel Barbie dolls in the world are made by Indonesia workers, what do the workers that make them think?

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Ibu Warhsi (our maid) hosted a woman from her village today, as the woman was moving to Jakarta for work. After we met her we commented how old she looked (55+ in our opinion). Turns out she is 40, has been widowed twice, has three children and has lived in absolute poverty her whole life. What was she thinking as she met us and saw our house? Better yet, what should we have thought (and done) about her situation?

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This week we attended a church started by new missionaries from Michigan. For many of us, this would conjure up pictures of a Dutch CRC family from Hudsonville, Michigan arriving in Indonesia for a stint working overseas. However in this case, the pastor, his family and the 8 others who came along are Asian Americans who recently graduated from the University of Michigan. You can check out the web page of their church and mission at http://jakarta.hmcc.net/ . The church started 13 years ago and has 4 daughter churches already. What do you think of that?

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Sumatran Trip

Here is a brief summary of our trip to North Sumatra:

Trekking through Sumatra

Wild Orangutan

Rainforest wet

After arriving in Medan (the third most populated city in Indonesia at over 2 million) and realizing there wasn’t much to do there, we headed out to Bukit Lawang (Boo keet La Wong) which borders an Unesco World Heritage site that protects wild Orangutans and tries to reintroduce other ones back into the wild. When we arrived, we hired a guide to take us across a river and into the rainforest to possibly see wild Orangutans. Despite a soaking rain, we had great luck as we saw two Orangutans in the trees above us within 1.5 hours of walking into the canopy.

Driving through Sumatra

Quiet Country road

Driving in Java is intense for the following reasons:

1. Roads are bad and have no shoulders or guard rails.

2. Center lines are merely a suggestion as many vehicles cascade over the center line at every possible moment to pass or turn.

3. There are no rules of the road or traffic lights. I honestly think that Gallup, New Mexico (with around 30,000 people) has more traffic lights than Jakarta (with more than 10 million people). No one is ever pulled over for speeding or driving recklessly.

4. Cars, scooters, and pedestrians are everywhere and often within inches of many other fast moving vehicles.

5. It is routine to see a whole family of 4 or 5 on a scooter with daily life continuing while they drive (talking on cel phone, breast feeding a baby for example).

As bad as this seems, we found out this past week that riding in a car in Sumatra is actually worse for one reason. The island of Java is so over populated that speeds usually hover between 5 -30 MPH. Because Sumatra is more spread out and less populated, speeds routinely double (therefore, more than doubling our anxiety)!

Sumatran trip (cont.)

Relaxing in Sumatra (at Danau Toba)

Batak Church

Sunday we drove from Medan to Danau Toba (Lake Toba). As mentioned in a previous post, Lake Toba is the Largest Caldera Lake in the world and the largest lake in Southeast Asia. It is also the home of the Batak, tribal hill people of Sumatra (6 million of them) who gave up their cannibalistic animist ways about 150 years ago for Christianity (after eating their first missionary). Very traditional churches now dot the landscape surrounding the lake, which seem odd in Muslim Indonesia.

Batak houses

Kids on the lake (notice the Batak house in the background)

Apparently, in the early 1970’s, Lake Toba became a popular hangout for Australian hippies who communed and caroused with the Bataks (who love music and wine). These days seem long gone as the hippies have gravitated to Hindu Bali or Buddhist Thailand (Hindu and Buddhist worldviews match a little closer to hippies than Batak) and all there is left are local Sumatrans on holiday, young German and Dutch backpackers, and oddball Australians and Americans (not us, of course)..

Who are these weird people?

The lake is at 900 meters elevation (3000 feet), so no air conditioning is needed (highs in the mid eighties, lows in the 60’s) and the lake is deep and crystal clear. We had a great time swimming, renting bikes and a scooter, shopping for Batak arts and crafts, relaxing at our hotel, and providing hours of entertainment for locals who rarely see a whole family of white people.

Holiday Adventure

It's Lebaran break!!!!



Friday morning, September 18, we fly out to the sumatran city of Medan. We are flying on an Indonesian carrier-- see logo below.

Indonesian Airline logo and motto.

We are just thankful it isn't "Life is Cheap"

Actually, this is the logo for the sister airline

of the one we are flying.

After landing in Medan, we will spend one day in Medan, one day in Bukit Lawang (an Orangutan forest) and then head on a 5 hour trip to Lake Toba. Lake Toba is a 62 mile long lake formed some 70,000 years ago by a huge exploding volcano, and is today the largest caldera lake in the world.

Satellite image of Lake Toba

We will stay on the Island(actually it isn't an island as there is a very small isthmus running between the mainland and the penisula) in the middle at a resort called the "Carolina Hotel"

Carolina Hotel

We have heard this lake is very remote but beautiful and that:

• the nearby town consists of a dirt road an a couple of buildings.
• Dining out involves arriving at a restaurant and having a couple kids run off to find the owner who then comes and cooks you dinner.

We will keep you posted.

Moment of Weakness

Mint Dream Mirage

I love the following junk food: Nacho’s and fry bread from New Mexico concession stands, Cool Ranch Doritos, Hershey Kisses, Reeses Peanut Butter cups, Starbursts, Skittles and Chewy Spree (all quite rare to non existant in Indonesia).

But the gold standard in junk food is a Russell Stover’s Mint Dream (if you ever see one, buy it... then eat it... then write the company and tell them to make more!) A close second to Mint Dreams are Blue Diamond Smoked Almonds (although in many ways they are not junk food).

Tonight, I finished my last Mint Dream brought back from the U.S. this summer. It's going to be a long few months before I get more!

Earthquake: Yesterday (September 2) at around 3 pm our time a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Southwest Java (120 miles from here). We all felt it in Jakarta but it wasn't strong enough to do any damage, however residents in areas closer to the quake weren't so fortunate and we are saddened in hearing that 25 people were killed in those areas.

Names

I’m used to simple straight forward names. I’m sure this comfort was instilled in me by my parents, who after long deliberation, named my siblings Tom, Dick and Mary (in that order). Naming their 4^th Steve, seems like a wild stretch for them in comparison.

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When it came to our own kids, we kept it basic as well: Eric, Neil and Hope. While there are stories and meanings to their names (as there are with my siblings as well), short familiar names seemed best.

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Since coming to Indonesia, all the rules of naming seem different and complex:

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1. Up until recently, most Indonesians had no last name. This still holds true in some families and I have students with one name such as Devina or Evan. In fact, last year, our principal stated that often he has to verify to U.S. and Canadian universities that some kids have no last name. Some kids respond to this by choosing random last names or a middle name as a last name (Christopher Dave or Stephanie Elizabeth). While OK, I can’t figure out siblings or parents very well because everyone in the family has a different last name.

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2. Some Indonesians then go to opposite extremes and tack on 3 or 4 names for good measure resulting in names like Andreas Putra Willianto Susanto.

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3. Most Chinese Indonesians were required under the dictator Suharto to give up Chinese names, which they did outwardly (they all have Chinese family names which were and are mostly unused outside family circles). A few recently reverted back to their Chinese sur name (Wong, Ho or Tong for example)

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4. If all these layers of possibilities aren’t enough, then there are first names. Some first names are Indonesian (Tika, Etty, Enny or Henny), Italian (Giovanni), German (Hanzel) or an odd assortment (Hans Ignatius). Others have wonderfully old fashioned English names (William, Priscilla, Alice, Betty or Agnes). or English Biblical names (Grace, Lydia, Rachel, Samuel, Paul, Peter).

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All of this doesn’t apply to the Korean kids at SPH, who keep these things simple and stick with basic Korean names like Eun Jae Lee.

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Now…that’s more like it!

Off to the races

Hope and knick knacks

When most guys my age have a mid life crises, they buy a red sports car, a new bike, or get a new wardrobe (complete with trendy new beard :). A year ago, instead of all that, I dragged my family to Indonesia (and shaved off my beard). I haven’t had the guts to ask Janet whether she would have rather had me get a red Jeep Wrangler or Corvette. .

Although, I’m getting closer to asking her.

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As for me…I’d have to say I’m happy we are here.

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Year 2 here so far has been quite different. Last year, everything seemed to happen in slow motion, despite the fact that the year seemed a blur.

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While busy last year… I had lots of time to plan (I only taught Economics to Grades 11 and 12).

This year I have meetings and classes galore (I am humanities lead teacher and teaching 3 new classes). In addition, as students get to know me, they stop in my room more often to talk.

Last year, reflection was essential almost every day as we had to process all the new information about our lives (hence the blog entries).

This year we jumped right in without adjusting to new surroundings.

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Last year, Janet had a few weeks before starting work.

This year, like me, she has many more classes to teach (and in services to endure).

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Last year, kids were adjusting to new schools and new routines.

This year they seem comfortable with what is happening.

Last year, after work, we came home to an empty but clean house.

This year our house has continued to fill up with furniture, wall hangings, knick knacks and pets (hamsters, fish and a turtle currently).

This weekend (August 15,16,17) is a holiday weekend and I have a little time to process again. Feels good!

Round Two

For just over a week we have been settling in back in Indonesia. Challenges for us:

- surviving jet lag
- teaching new classes (Both Janet and I).
- finding a routine again.
- practicing good time management. At times, we feel overly busy. During some weekends and holidays, we are bored.
- dealing with mosquitos.

Ode to Alger Heights

Alger Heights was built primarily in the 1940’s with solid modest wooden frame and brick houses. It has remained on the edge of the “bad neighborhood” since the 1960’s (even though it’s not that bad). People at the time probably thought the neighborhood would slowly go down hill.—It didn’t. It didn’t even go down hill in the 1980’s and 90’s as Grand Rapids prospered beyond belief and huge new tempting houses sprouted in sterile developments on the outskirts of the city. In spite of this (or because of it), Alger Heights has avoided slipping into the conservative paranoia or snooty liberal gentrified attitudes common with many neighborhoods in America. In fact, it continues to testify to the durable middle class in the U.S. (something lacking in Indonesia), where teachers, engineers, and nurses live along side small business owners, electricians and construction workers. These folks come from many different backgrounds (though the neighborhood remains disproportionately Dutch American :).

Park across the street

New Library

2346 Blaine S.E. (notice the New Mexico state flag on the side)

Hardware store

In the middle of Alger Heights, across from a park and a school, down the street from the hardware store, CRC church, library and bus stop, sits a house that has been a small part of every different age of my life. I visited my Grand parents there from my birth until I was 14. Within a year of my Grandma Weeda’s death my sister moved in, and I baby sat my niece there while I went to Calvin in the late eighties. After my sister moved to Lansing in early 1988, I passed by it often when I drove a donation truck for the Mission Thrift Store in 1989-90 when my parents rented it to a GR policeman. Starting in the early 90’s my parents moved back into it and started fixing it up by finishing the basement, back porch, kitchen and yard. After my wedding in 1993, the wedding party crashed the back yard while we waited to go to the reception. Since then, almost every summer including this one, my family resides in the basement and attic of this special house and enjoys life this neighborhood very dear to me… 2346 Blaine SE in Alger Heights, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Tonight, after the kids decorate their bikes for the 4^th of July parade tomorrow, we will all walk down to “Sundae’s in the Heights” for ice cream.

Micro disasters

Here is a log of events of our trip to Michigan between June 13 and 16:

Janet wakes up Saturday, June 13 (our day to return to U.S.) not feeling well. Obviously, we are not going to postpone because of this. Janet takes Motrin and considers Imodium purchase.

In the Jakarta airport, Cathay Pacific will not recognize our reservation (which they have in their system!), until they get verbal confirmation from Northwest Airlines (our booking airline). We are finally processed with less than 30 minutes before boarding ends and have to hustle through Fiskal (travel tax), Immigration and other screening points to make our plane.

When we arrive in Hong Kong, a screening for Swine Flu flags Hope and Janet, both of whom have to clear an interview with a doctor. The boys and I nervously wait with no way to contact them. While loading up the taxi, our laptop falls on the ground, cracking the case.

Public transportation in Hong Kong is great and we enjoy taking taxis, ferries, trams and subways, however, each of these attempts brings a heightened level of stress around one of these events: getting to the correct location, figuring out schedules or maps, purchasing tickets, and finally ….knowing when to get off!

We stay in an incredibly nice hotel in Hong Kong. The second night there and within an hour of each other, Neil projectile vomits and Hope wets the bed. She never does this!

Just about every meal time, some one is upset because they are not getting something that they want… and this is over food like McDonalds, Subway, Pizza and Outback Steakhouse. As you can see, we are adventuresome travelers…not adventuresome eaters.

June 16 travel begins at 5AM Hong Kong time as we load up a taxi and head to the airport and it ends 38 hours later (still Tuesday) as we disembark in Grand Rapids. In the mean time we survive 4 airports (Hong Kong, Tokyo, Detroit and Grand Rapids), 3 airplanes (Airbus 330, Boeing 747, DC 9), 2 airlines (Delta and Northwest just merged), and 1 missed connection (Detroit to Grand Rapids).

In spite of all these micro disasters, we had a great time and are thankful to be in Michigan safely. Here are a few pictures from Hong Kong.

Hope on Victoria Peak overlooking Hong Kong

In the Hong Kong Subway

Neil in front of the Big Buddha

Harbor Lights of Hong Kong

Thank You

Thanks for sharing part of our year with us.

This blog was key in helping me process this huge year in our lives. I would have liked more time to piece together more complete, consistant and logical thoughts on an incredible year but unfortunately didn't have that luxury.

Blessings,

Steve on behalf of the whole Weeda family.

Graduation

Farewell Ceremony stage

Newspaper headline in North America:

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“86 graduates don cap and gown at School of Light and Hope”

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Same headline here:

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“86 students don kebaya and batik at Sekolah Pelita Harapan Farewell Ceremony”

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What’s different:

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- Achievement oriented Asians don’t call it a graduation ceremony because not everyone graduated. Certainly don’t want to give credit where credit is not due. It is called a “Farewell Ceremony”.

- As you can see from the pictures, the men all wear batik and the women wear kebayas. Read more about the beautiful kebayas at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kebaya

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What’s the same:

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I heard a sermon once where the minister compared graduation receptions to heaven. While they seem hellish to many, including me (most of the time), as he explained, he made a good point. At big receptions there are all these circles of people around laughing and sharing stories. As you move around the room you enter and exit these groups of friends and family, conversing and laughing with them, maybe about old memories, maybe new ones. When you are done, you move on to new groups that welcome you in. Again there are good stories and lots of laughing. In this movement there exists great communion, something we will enjoy with the saints in heaven.

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As a new member in God’s kingdom at SPH, it was fun to move in and out of circles of friends at graduation.

Stuck in Surabaya (one of the few cities in the world of over 3 million people that you have never heard of)

Eric and Neil Acsend to the crater at Mt. Bromo

About 2 weeks ago, the travel muse hit me. With a four day holiday approaching, a colleague, Lance Wheatley, sent an email around asking if anyone wanted to climb Mt. Bromo (an active volcano). After clearing it with Janet and securing an extension of the invitation to include Eric and Neil, the idea was consummated with a keystroke at AirAsia.com.

Nothing like a steaming bag of hot instant coffee in the morning

(complete with straw to drink it with)

Our trip was to include a trip to Surabaya, driver, guide, and two nights in a homestay and lots of great memories and photos. While certainly living up to its billing, our hasty planning failed to take into consideration a couple key concepts:

Bathroom at our homestay

No time to follow recommendations on places to stay. Our homestay was a disaster. Grinding into the mountain village of Probolinggo after dark, we were presented with two dirty rooms, which included bathrooms with no running water or sinks and an abundance of dirt, smells and bugs. In conclusion, it’s not that I can’t stay in such places, it’s just that I refuse to pay $35 a night to do it! The highlight of this part of the trip was seeing a HUGE (4 inch diameter) live elephant beetle.

Eric, Neil and I with craters in the background

It's a wee bit chilly at 7,000 feet (even if you at the equator)

What is there to do in Surabaya? Thursday evening- driving up the mountain. Friday morning- sunrise over the volcano followed by a hike up to the lip of the crater (starting at 3:30 AM till around 8:30 AM). However, this ended our planned activities with 30 hours before we were to return home. After a refund from our guide for the lousy accommodations, we decided to drive back down to Surabaya to enjoy the big city. No problem in a city of 3 million, right?

Neil and Lance (with two craters in the background)

The TV in our hotel only spoke Bahasa Indonesia and there was no pool, so we headed off to the local mall where we took in a movie, shot pool (while watching people smoke hookah) and enjoyed some pizza. This worked for the rest of Friday. Saturday morning, we still had a 7 waking hours before our plane left. Our guide first took us to the Surabaya Zoo where Neil and his curly hair was the main attraction.

As a last activity our guide said she was to take us to a “secret” factory. This sounded funny to us and we even joked with her about it (“Is that where all secrets are made”). In the mean time, we waited to see what she meant by “secret.”

After getting there, we found out that what we were hearing as“secrets” was really “cigarettes”. I’m not sure how she got the idea that 2 adults who don’t smoke and 2 boys would enjoy a cigarette museum and factory. Oh well it was something to do. The company we toured ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampoerna ) is one of the largest Indonesian cigarette companies and was bought out by Phillip Morris in 2005. They were very good at putting a shiny face on their product.

During our trip we also made a quick stop at a mud flow. Check out the following link to read about this human made disaster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidoarjo_mud_flow

Hope's ballet recital

Here are a few pictures from Hope's ballet recital:

Beating around the Bush

The ring returneth (cue dramatic music)

My ring was found!

For those of you who didn't hear (and will read below), I lost my wedding ring playing frisbee in the rain about 2 weeks ago.

After 10 days without it showing up, I mentioned to the PE office that I would like to offer a reward. The next day and before I could announce an amount, I received word that the ring had been found. Then, around an hour later, the following email appeared on my school account:

“Dear Mr. Stephen,

It wasn’t easy to find the ring on the yard. Pak M. ( our outsourcing gardening Spv ) felt responsible and has instructed all his staffs to be honest and full responsible.

He has used a special tool to find the ring and they have tried so hard to find it .

Finally, they found the ring . We will give the ring back to you. When you are available to meet us ? Can you come over to GA room ? The person who found the ring will also meet you.

Please let us know as soon as possible. Thanks”

Obviously, the meeting mentioned was regarding the reward I indicated. However, having never been prompted with a fair amount to offer, I didn't want to go to this meeting without money and a good idea of what to expect or offer.

I sought out two sources for advice:

The first stop was to speak with the western expats in the staff lounge. Their response was quick and to the point:

Bruce: “sounds like extortion to me”

Kara: “ I wouldn’t pay more than Rp.100,000 ($10)”

Judy: “ How can you put a price on love?”

The next stop was to speak with an Indonesian man in the PE office named Pak Gideon. After explaining my confusion of what to pay and asking his advice, he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders and said “don’t underestimate the time and care needed to find the ring”.

“What kind of answer is that?” I thought and after an awkward moment and a conviction that 100,000 rupiah was way too low said, while wincing “300,000 Rupiah? “($30).

He smiled for a long while and with a nod of the head said “200,000”. We then arranged for the meeting to take place.

After rustling up a bit of cash (which involved a quick trip to the ATM because the bank was unexpectedly closed), the reward was paid (in a beat around the bush Indonesian way) and the ring is back on my finger.

markets, parties and lost rings

Confession: The life of an expat in Indonesia can be sheltered. We exist in this English speaking bubble of work, home and a few “safe” other places (big western style malls, movie theaters showing Hollywood’s latest and familiar restaurants). We move between these places in air conditioned cars playing our favorite music on the CD player. The biking and walking we do is usually confined to the development we work in which is patroled by security gaurds, called satpams.

This Saturday morning, we asked Ibu Warshi (our maid) to take us to the small traditional market near our house. She has taken us to other larger traditional markets in Jakarta, but always by car. This market is close enough to walk (a mile one way), but feels a long way away from the familiarity of Lippo Village.

Here is a few photos and descriptions of the trip:

Walking to the market along a drainage ditch

(be thankful you can't see or smell the sweat dripping off me)

Eric in front of the market

Hope and vendor following a 30 cent sticker purchase

Ibu Warshi barters for fresh fruit

(she is wishing she left us at home about now)

Eric crosses narrow bridge on the way home

Neil and Ibu Warshi as we get closer to home

(Yes, Neil is taller than her)

End of the year party. As I am writing this, my year 12 students are one week into IB exams. On our last regular day of classes, we celebrated with food and games. I thought I'd share some of the fun:

Is it too cliche to play Monopoly at an Economics class party?

Consider this flavor for your next Super Bowl party!

I lost my wedding ring last Sunday in a story I'll let our friend, Kim White, tell in her blog. Just click on the link below:

http://trisandkim.blogspot.com/2009/05/ultimately-wet-sunday.html

Have a great week!