Visit

Woman harvesting tea at plantation

I don't know what it is like for you to have someone visit where you live. For me it means that, starting a few days or weeks before they arrive through the time they are here, I see things through their eyes. So, starting a few weeks ago and continuing now, I have been looking at Jakarta new again through the eyes of my parents, who arrived here a couple of weeks ago and leave this Tuesday (January 21). In spite of the busyness of a new semester and showing them around, their visit has forced me to see Indonesia the way I first saw it 6 months ago, before I became slightly immune to the poverty and struggles of this place. With them, we have experienced the economic extremes (driving through slums and staying at beautiful country villa), geographic extremes (urban congestion and rural isolation), weather extremes (puring rain and relative dryness) and cultural and religious extremes (Thai puppets and muslim calls to prayer). Over all its been a good time to reflect and visit.

Here are some highlights in pictures of my parents (Tom and Carolyn's) visit to Indonesia.

Neil with Sumatran Orangutan at Taman Safari (which by the way means "forest person" in Bahasa)

Mom and Hope with students at Taman Fatillahah (The students interviewed mom for an English class assignment)

Grand kids and mom and dad at Taman Mini


Eric, Neil and Matthew White with elephant at Taman Safari

Mom and Dad at tea plantation in the mountains

Great pictures

The 7 of us ( including my parents, Tom and Carolyn) made a trip to the mountains (Puncak) January 5 and 6. We joined our friends the White family, who also had parents visiting and Steven Pointdexter ( another first year SPH teacher we had met in Singapore in July). We all had a great time. Kim White took lots of pictures of the event, which included a night in a mountain villa and a trip to Taman Safari (Indonesian version of Busch Gardens). Check out the pictures at:

http://trisandkim.blogspot.com/2009/01/back-from-hills.html

Kim is not only a great photographer, but an accomplished and prolific blogger. Have fun reading and seeing. We will be posting more pictures and comments later.

Answers to poll question

Here is the answer to the poll question "Which of the following items purchased by the Weedas in Bali was the most expensive (at around $10.45)?"

1. Most people (56%) correctly guessed the sunscreen. After finding out that some generic sun screen that we had bought in Jakarta was not working, we felt compelled to buy name brand "Hawaiian Tropic" for its protective powers, even though it was over $10 for a small bottle (105,000 Rupiah) . It was worth it.

2. Janet's hour long full body massage was 60,000 Rupiah or about $6.

3. Janet's batik sorong was 37,000 Rupiah or about $3.70. Later we had to buy four more to visit the Hindu temple. They were 50,000 each. If you ever need to borrow one, we will now gladly lend you one of the 5 we now own.

4. McDonald's Mc Flurrys in Indonesia all run about 5,000 Rupiah or about $.50 each. In Bali, the were 5,500 Rupiah, or $.55. For 5 they were about $2.70. (They are a bit smaller in size than they are in the U.S.)

My parents, Tom and Carolyn, arrived last Saturday night and we have been busy vistiting places. Stay tuned for more posting regarding the things we see!

Resolutions

I don't even remember what I resolved last new year's eve (December 31, 2007). However, if it was the following, it came true:

1. To lose 25 pounds
2. To develop a nice tan
3. To be a millionaire

None of these are quite as glamorous as they seem. The weight loss is the product of a month of intestinal problems, the tan the result of a bad sunburn in Bali and being a millionaire in Indonesia means you have a million rupiah (about a hundred dollars). In other words, beautiful women (other than Janet) are not starting to swarm around me :).

More pictures of the family from our trip to Bali:

Janet, Neil and I (after new years resolution!) :-)

Neil and I with Surfing Santa

Hope with Hindu priestess at Besakiah

The family at Besakiah temple

The New Year 2009 came a few days after the Muslim New Year, which this year occurred on December 28 (it floats because it is on a lunar calender). In Islam, the year is 1430 not 2009. On January 26, we will celebrate another ne year (Chinese). Lots of celebrating!

New Year

Background: when you go to Bali, the following alters are found outside of every business and home:

In addition, little woven trays can be found next to cash registers countertops and even dashboards of cars (as in this case).

In both these cases, these sacrifices are presented to good spirits so that positive things will happen through out the days or hours ahead. They had a variety of contents including flowers, cigarettes, money, candy, crackers and incense.

It didn’t end there, because on the ground in front of businesses and houses could be found the same little trays. In this case, they were offered to keep evil spirits (under foot) at bay.

On Christmas Day, Neil and I walked from our hotel to a mini mart to buy some drinking water. The streets were quiet as it was early on a holiday. However along the way, sitting in front of a closed shop sat a Balinese man and an Australian. I eavesdropped for 5 seconds as we walked by and heard an interesting reply to an unknown question/discussion. The Australian man said the following to the Balinese man (presumably the owner of the shop they were in front of):

“You should focus on creating a good product and selling it a fair price. That would help your business more than whether you are offering the right sacrifices throughout the day”.

In this answer, one sees a clash of worldviews between traditional (based on fate) and technological (based on rationalism) societies. We could spend hours looking at these two worlds (if you attended a Christian school or university, you have taken many classes already doing this, ad nauseum). One summary of these worldviews is this. Rationalism offers us answers (laws of science) but no meaning (there is nothing greater than ourselves, other than indifferent laws of nature) and Fate offers us meaning (spirits everywhere) but no answers (they act on seemingly arbitrary whims).

Through the groaning of a fallen world, may we cling to a Providential God of both meaning and answers in this New Year.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:15-16

Bali

Christmas on Bali was spent at Waterbom, a water theme park that would rival the best water parks anywhere in the world. What we saw there was what is typical in Bali: an assortment of people from everywhere in the world including Australia, Japan, Germany, UK, Russia, North America, Indonesia and India (just to name a few) all speaking the common language of English when necessary (except for the Australians, who were speaking a language undecipherable to all (especially the ones with beers in their hands:)).

Eric and Neil on the Boomerang

Here is a sampling of our week in Bali (besides two days at Waterbom):

Eric at Dreamland beach

Two attempted days on the beach. The first one failed miserably as it was raining on and off and we discovered just how dirty the beach was (plastic trash and dead fish). This is an unfortunately reality for many beaches located near big cities in developing countries because of poor sanitation. The other day at the beach was picture perfect (appropriately the beach was called Dreamland).

Temple guide and me. Nice Sarong!

Visiting a Hindu temple called Besakiah which is the “mother of all temples” in Bali. We all had to wear sarongs over our legs as a sign of respect within the temple.

Hope feeds the monkeys

Feeding primates at the Monkey Forest.

Kintamani

Driving to huge caldera and volcano called Kintamani.


A half day of snorkeling (for which we have no pictures)

Visiting a craft stores and a market in Ubud (no pictures here either).

Spending lots of time around the swimming pool at our hotel and eating as much bacon as possible (Pork products abound in non-muslim Bali).

Just for fun, please vote in the poll on the right. Also, if you wish to put the items in order from most expensive to least expensive, do so by clicking in the comments box and typing them there. I will reveal the prices for all four items in two weeks (January 9).

Happy New Year! sweeda

Salamat hari natal

With a flurry of gifts and a half day of Christmas parties, the 1st semester came to a close here on Wednesday.

For most Asian families, in the celestial pantheon, teachers exist somewhere slightly lower than the Holy Trinity and slightly higher than pop stars. This was good news for me. In spite of a semester of slogging my way through IB Economics, gifts still rolled in most of the day. The school has actually set a price limit on gifts for teachers (for that reason I had to return a nice Italian leather belt), however, I still did fairly well with chocolate (mostly) and a few other gifts.

Now, our attention is turned toward Bali, where we will spend a few days enjoying a different island with a very different mindset. Bali is a smaller island than Java that remained Hindu/animist when the Muslims took over a few hundred years ago. This gives Bali a different cultural color and texture than the rest of Indonesia (not to mention that people are free from dietary and clothing restrictions allowing them to cavort more easily than anywhere else in Indonesia). I’ll do my best to keep Janet out of the bars :). For us, we will enjoy the resort amenities while visiting some Hindu temples and Balinese dances, snorkeling, body surfing and touring in the sun.

Talk more when we get back.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,

and ransom captive Israel,

that mourns in lonely exile here

until the Son of God appear.

Refrain:Rejoice! Rejoice!

Emmanuel shall come to thee,

O Israel.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high,

who orderest all things mightily;

us the path of knowledge show,

and teach us in her ways to go.
Refrain

O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer

our spirits by thine advent here;

disperse the gloomy clouds of night,

and death's dark shadows put to flight.
Refrain

O come, Desire of nations,

bindin one the hearts of all mankind;

bid thou our sad divisions cease,

and be thyself our King of Peace.
Refrain