Mea Culpa

Following up on the blog entry regarding sports…

I never knew the phrase “Go San Jose!” could draw intense reactions. (see comments for Sports entry)

It wrote it because my fantasy hockey team of 10 players contained 4 players from the San Jose Sharks. By the way, those players were chosen for me by a Canadian and justice was served. San Jose was upset in the first round. However, I still have 5 players in my pool, including Eric Staal, a dutch kid from Thunder Bay, Ontario (not Ontario, California).

Yogjakarta

For our Easter break 2 weeks ago we visited Yogjakarta. Yogja is in south central java and is about 300 miles from Jakarta. It is an artsy, university town and is the center of Javanese culture. I haven't posted anything about the trip till now, but below are a few pictures from our trip.

Yogja has two 1000+ year old temples: Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world (at times, it has been listed as one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world). It was built in the 7th century AD and people from around the world journey here to see it. In the picture above, we are at one of the hundreds of buddhas found around the temple. Notice the slight outline of the volcano in the background. Java is full of volcanos, many of them active.

The other famous temple is Prambanan, a Hindu temple from the 8th century. While not nearly as massive or impressive, it is still an important stop in Yogja. At this temple we also saw a ballet of the Ramayana (ancient Hindu story).

Our guide at Prambanan.

Yogja still allows becak's (pronounced Bey-chucks), or pedicabs (many cities don't allow them any longer because they cause more congestion). We had fun being cycled around the city. Some places we saw:

• Sultan's palace (Yogja is actually a sultanate, or ruled by a Sultan)
• bird market- Many birds and exotic animals for sale (most illegally unfortunately)
• Taman Sari- ancient palace
• Malioboro- Shopping avenue full of local handicrafts

We also went to a hand made batik workshop. While we spent the hour there talking, laughing and listening to descriptions of how it is made, the woman in the foreground quietly worked and hardly noticed us. Batik is traditionally done by women before they marry and is supposed to teach patience, which will assist in marriage.

I think she is ready.

Election good and bad news:

• good news- Elections went smoothly and the ruling party won decidedly.

• bad news- There were many voting irregularities which have led to simmering problems such as negative press articles and threats of boycott's in the July 8 Presidential elections.
  
  

Sports

Guys in general are more verbally challenged than women. It’s harder for many of us to strike up a conversation about much of anything. On top of that, I struggle more so in the conversation department. Fortunately, Janet covers for me much of the time (nice way of putting it ;-). For guys like me, the saving grace of conversation is….sports. If there is an uncomfortable silence… mention sports.

Here’s the rub. The sports I like and follow a bit (American college football and basketball, NBA and maybe Major League baseball), no one pays attention to here. In other words, when I say… how bout them Lobos (referring to the University of New Mexico’s mens basketball team), all I get are blank stares!

While we get ESPN here, the coverage is completely different and includes some of the following:

Aerial sports: racing planes and skydiving competitions.
Soccer: mainly South East Asian Teams (from Thailand, Australia ect…), also Premier League from Europe.
Rugby: mostly from Australia and New Zealand
Motor sports: Formula 1 GP (Grand Prix) and A1.
Cricket: From South Asia (India, South Africa and Australia)
Winter sports: Snow Skiing from Europe
Xtreme sports: from North America
Badminton: not on ESPN, but often on other channels. It is the Indonesian National Sport.

There is a Major League Baseball, NBA basketball and college basketball on periodically. However, I had to watch the NCAA tournament online.

Therefore I have embarked on an odyssey of new sports discoveries. The following occurred this week alone:

I am in a hockey pool at SPH for the NHL playoffs. While hockey itself is not popular at all in Indonesia, there are enough Canadians on staff here, that hockey is now spoken here. Go San Jose!

It’s 2AM Wednesday, April 14 and what am I doing? Watching Liverpool take on Chelsea in quarterfinal action of the Champions tournament in the Premier League. I still managed to miss every one of the 8 goals scored in the game! I watched from the 28th minute through halftime and then went to bed!

Other key insights learned this year:

* Formula 1 GP is different than Formula A1.

* There is a difference between Rugby Union and Rugby League.

* If you are talking to an Australian, “football” is soccer, “footie” is Australian Rules Football and “american football” is football.

* Cricket is incredibly boring to watch.

Have a great week!

Collision

What happens when the Christian virtue of Hope (see I Corinthians 13) collides with the fruit of the Spirit ( Joy from Galatians 5)? (click the button to play the video)

A Great message for Easter!

Ultimate

About 4 years ago, I stopped buying cheap shoes. After lingering knee pain and a trip to the doctor, we came to the conclusion that expensive shoes are worth it. Since then I am quite careful about the quality of shoes that I buy.

After 6 years of playing basketball with my current basketball shoes (which were purchased at a Reebok outlet in Holland, Michigan for $39), the time had come to replace them for my weekly basketball game at SPH. With the “no cheap shoes” philosophy in mind and no outlet store with good basketball shoes in sight, I sprang the most money I have ever paid for basketball shoes ($119 for Yao Ming Reeboks—I must live in Asia ;-) ). I justified it with the assurance that the exercise I would get in the next 6-8 years will more than make up for the money spent.

Wouldn’t you know it… after using the shoes twice, basketball for staff at SPH seems to have ended. Therefore my basketball shoe purchase and exercise plan seems shot. Now you understand that I was ecstatic when some staff played ultimate Frisbee last Thursday (see pictures below). Exercise at last (without the expensive shoes).

Hope and friend at Ultimate Frisbee

Don't we all look healthy?

Building houses and nations

Every morning we see workers stream by our house on their way to the many houses being constructed in our neighborhood. Rather than showing up driving work trucks and dressed in hearty flannel, complete with tool belts, work boots and construction hats, these workers walk to work in old pants, ratty t-shirts (often with punk or heavy metal bands advertised on the front) and flip flops (no tool belts or hats). They then work for 8 hours in very labor intensive jobs (everything done by hand), climbing bamboo scaffolding similar to what you see in the picture below. The minimum wage in Indonesia is just under $100 a month. While frustrating on a certain level, still there is hope that they are building sustainable homes (for others) and lives (for themselves) with the work. $100 a month actually goes quite a ways in a place where a kilo of rice or a hearty meal from a street vendor is often less than one dollar.

Bamboo scaffolding

Elections for the national legislature takes place this Thursday. Built on tenuous foundations, elections in developing countries are always at risk for spawning protests and violence (see Thailand last fall). Compared to established democracies in Europe, North America and Japan, where rule of law, due process, individual rights and democratic traditions are engrained (although likely taken for granted), democracy here seems riddled with incompetence and security issues (Indonesia has one of the most corrupt governments in the world—although it has been improving). Some of the shenanigans related to the elections are even funny (http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/22144-erotic-dancers-and-freebies-draw-polls-crowds-in-indonesia ). While frustrating on a certain level, there is hope that through the imperfect process, Indonesians are building a solid democratic future complete with a sustainable economy.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla (on right)

End note: Most people feel good about the elections this year and project that they should be peaceful as the country continues to do relatively well given the crises the rest of the world faces. It is still an item for prayer.

Other Pictures:
When we were all gone last week, Neil collected all the snails in our front yard and arranged them in our back yard. Below are some cool pictures of these big snails (Since this time he has also seen giant iguanas and beetles in our yard as well):