Decisions

So far in 2012, I’ve decided/noticed….

• all ants must die.
• I love people in places all over the world, and more than ever I realize that Heaven is home.
• I pray more now than I ever have in my life.
• to get a motorbike! Well, it’s really a scooter, but most people just call it a motorbike here. It’s exhilarating! Just today I rode the furthest I ever have ridden: from the western side of Surabaya to the east.   In a land where there are not very many traffic laws I’m learning how to be aggressive and defensive at the same time.
• to get reunited with chili peppers. Though chili and I took a break for a while, we got back together. I put chili, sambal, on almost everything now. I even made macaroni and cheese last week, and realized halfway through my meal that I couldn’t eat another bite without sambal. Maybe I’m more Indonesian than I realize?
• that my housemates, Stan and Helen have been the best surrogate parents for me here that I could ask for. Everything from a homemade meal, to cheesy jokes, to life advice/counsel/opinions, this couple has made my stay in Surabaya so wonderful. I’m blessed to know them and so thankful to their family in Canada for letting me borrow them for this year.
• common sense is not common.
• rice and noodles are staples in my diet.
• to come back to Idaho to teach for this upcoming school year. The emotions that come with typing that out and posting this on my blog are indescribable. I have become comfortable with my life, my job, my friendships, my church, the food, (etc. . .) in Surabaya, and I will miss it so very deeply.  I also deeply feel as if my time overseas is not complete, but for many reasons, I feel at peace about coming back to Idaho and returning to my job as a second grade teacher.  Right now, my plan is to fly to Idaho in June for a dear friend’s wedding, and then return to Indonesia to finish out my contract through the end of July.  I’m already trying to figure out how to incorporate my love for Indonesia into my classroom. I think it can be done.
• that whoever thinks long distance relationships are easy is out of their mind. I miss Tony.

To Manado!

View of the beautiful village of Tomohon.

I went to the island of Sulawesi over Lebaran holiday. What’s Lebaran holiday? Oh, yeah, we don’t celebrate that in the U.S. We should. At least the week off of work part of it. Short explanation: It’s the last week of the Muslim fasting month. Those who fasted for the month celebrate their perseverance and their devotion. Muslims ask for forgiveness and make peace with those they’ve offended over the past year, and give gifts to friends and neighbors. It’s a week when almost all Indonesians go on religious pilgrimages, return to their families, or go on vacation.  A group from church decided to go on a mission trip.

The house at the back of the picture is where we stayed. It was an amazing house!

 We went to the village of Tomohon and stayed in the house of man who knows Pastor Jeff. The house was at the base of a volcano that had erupted earlier in the summer. It was a beautiful place to stay!! It made me long for the mountains of Idaho so badly! Each morning I would have my coffee and devotions out on the balcony that looked out at the mountains. It was the picture of serenity. 

Every balcony should have this view.

Creepy bug that flew into the house at night. It's about the length of my index finger.

Down the road, there was a pig farm. I’ve never been on a pig farm before. Reading Charlotte’s Web is about as close as I’ve gotten to one. So, one of the guys with our group went with Carrie and I down to the pig farm to check out these massive pigs.

I repeat: MASSIVE PIGS.

A lot of them were easily 600 pounds. It was just ridiculous how big they were.  big. and miserable.  We were convinced that all the pigs were named “Wilbur,” every rat we saw was named “Templeton,” the geese could talk, and the spiders were writing secret messages in their webs.

Our group of 28 people mostly consisted of young adults, and each night the common area turned into the game zone. Indonesians are experts at having a good time. Each night was a mess of sharing chairs around the tiniest game table and basically throwing cards all over the place. I’m glad the game of Nerts exists in Indonesia.

There was a little restaurant called Parakletos up the road that had a lot of traditional Indonesian foods. Their specialty, Ice Parakletos, tasted like a snickers poured over shaved ice. I also tried an iced drink that sounded so disgusting I had to have it. It was shaved ice with beans, avocado slices, chocolate, and sweet and condensed milk. I ordered it twice. :)  Fried bananas were delish. I also loved their specialty porridge, bubur Manado.

 

Ladies from the church served us meals every day. The food was very traditional with lot of fish, rice and spice.  I’ve had to get used to looking my open-mouthed fish in the eyes before digging into its scaly belly. 

Wait, nope. I’m still not used to it.  

I was actually a little disappointed that I didn’t get to try a lot of the specialty meats from the island. Supposedly, people from Sulawesi know how to cook all sorts of meats. All sorts. I was warned that I would be eating really strange meats, but we really weren’t served anything out of the ordinary. One day, at the construction site for the men, they were served up an entire lunch of strange meats. Bat. Dog. Cat. Rat. Boar. The men came back all proud of themselves that they had eaten crazy foods.  I did have a chance to try one bite of RW, though. Won’t have that again.