Bebek, Bebek, Angsa....

So yesterday I took the liberty of scrubbing my sidewalk. Not because it isn't pretty, or because I needed something to do, but because after years of wet season, then dry season, then wet season again it has become a traitorous 4x4 piece of concrete to walk across covered with layers upon layers of moss.  NOBODY does this in Indonesia, the law of the jungle is to let the jungle take back whatever it wants. 

Numerous people walked or rode by and snapped their necks around to see the crazy foreigner with his children's bath tub out on the front driveway on his hands and knees scrubbing....of all things the ground.  Indonesians have a word for crazy, "gila" and I may have earned it on Saturday.  But as I sat there scrubbing, exchanging pleasantries and explaining to the occasional passer-by what and why I was doing what I was doing, I was interrupted by two children who stood and waited for me to look up at them.  I took a deep breath composing myself to explain, now to children, that I wasn't crazy and I just didn't want anyone to slip and fall on the moss.  As I looked up at them they said something to me that I completely missed.  As I asked them to repeat what they said, one of the children blurted out:  "DUKUH, in Yard".  I then quickly realized that they were asking permission to go collect the little sweet fruits that had fallen from the tree into our back yard and eat it.  "Sure!"  I replied, and was astonished as eight other children laying in wait came running out from behind a banana tree. 

Eating after the harvest

I quickly put away my baby bath and scrub brush to go manage the situation taking place in my back yard.  By the time I emptied the bath, rinsed my hands off and went to the back I counted no less than 23 kids scavenging the dukuh that had missed the basket in the course of being harvested by our back neighbors climbing in the oak-sized dukuh tree and fallen on the green ground of our back yard.  After they picked all the fruit off the ground they quickly realized that the "Foreigners" had grass to play in.   I never realized that beyond the perimeter of our back yard lies ground, not for playing but for working, harvesting, and surviving.  Riddled with the castoffs of bamboo used for building and trees used for nourishment the backyards of most Indonesians isn't suited for children.  Here no one has space for silly things like grass for playing....well-except for the foreigners who don't know what good ground is for.   And so as the silly foreigners we are, we opened up our back yard to children who rarely get to play on such amenities as grass for an afternoon of tag, wrestling, "goat" back riding and my personal favorite.... Bebek, Bebek, Angsa (Duck, Duck, Goose). 

What a blessing to be able to provide -even just for an afternoon- a playground, in the most literal sense of the word, for our neighborhood kids!

Bebek, Bebek, Angsa

Playing "Goat Rides"

Enjoying Dukuh!

The Wrestling Ring

Juxtaposition

Today is the perfect picture of this strange juxtaposition, this in-between place where I am mentally these days…

Sitting in class this morning, repeating questions in Indonesian that last week I wouldn’t have understood, I felt twinges of homesickness creeping in.  Feeling teary, I kept going- trying to cover it up (I am, after all, the only girl in my class).  Thinking about my mom, my best friend, the fact that Ethan can’t be there to celebrate his best friend’s birthday this week, the emotion threatened to push through the wall I was trying to keep in place.  For the moment I shook myself out of it, telling myself I could “go there” later but right now I needed to concentrate on learning Indonesian.

Immediately after school today, we had plans to go over to another MAF family’s house for lunch, right across from the playgroup Ethan goes to all week while we’re in school.  We enjoyed our time together, eating a new Indonesian dish we hadn’t tried before.  Then it was time to head home to beat the afternoon rain we could see coming.  I sat on the scooter as far back on the seat as I could, with Ellie in her Baby Bjorn, Jon drove, Ethan stood in the footwell and off we went.  As we drove, the wind on my face was refreshing, I watched the banana trees and bamboo whip by and I could feel myself relaxing (yes, even with all of us on a scooter!) thinking, “I can’t believe it’s only been a month! It’s starting to feel a little like home!”  And the remarkable thing is-it is!

 Of course, I still miss home, but things that a month ago felt foreign, unfamiliar and occasionally a little frightening now seem normal, even comfortable.  Yes, I miss home- a lot- but I am seeing God’s goodness and provision, His fingerprints and good gifts to our family as we learn to serve Him here.  Everything from the very basic- cooler weather the last few days with a nice breeze- to the kind that makes this mama’s heart so grateful- the precious gift of friends here for Ethan, to the hard to believe- the ability to hear and begin to understand the language we’d never heard before we came.  We’ve come a long way in 5 weeks.  I know this time frame, 6 weeks in or so, is when the homesickness really starts to kick in and I’m sure I will have days I’m so ready to hop on a plane, but not today. Today I am thankful the Lord is helping us settle in, build relationships with friends and neighbors, enabling us to learn and stumble through a conversation in Indonesian and for now, making Indonesia home.

The Learning Curve

One month into being in Indonesia and I am amazed at what we've picked up since we've been here, and I'm not just talking language!  Thankfully, we have really enjoyed being here, with a few bumps in the road as to be expected, and there are quite a few things here that have been a pleasant surprise.  For instance...

Our second day here as I was walking through our neighborhood with Ellie I noticed our neighbor/landlord had banana trees growing in his front yard.  How did I notice, you ask?  Well, check this out-

Yeah, I never knew that bananas grew in a long spiral with a flower at the bottom of the banana "stem"- this stem was probably 6 or 7 feet long!  Pretty amazing, I guess I always pictured them more like coconuts- in bunches at the top of the tree.

Since our mode of transportation has been primarily our own two feet (THAT's an adjustment!) some friends showed us how to ride the angkot (pronounced "ong-coat") into town to do basic errands like grocery shopping.  Now- the angkot is probably the most common form of public transportation here- kind of a cross between a cab and a bus.  Basically, it is an old school minivan that the back seats have been out of and replaced with benches along the walls, allowing the driver to fit as many people as are willing/able to ride- even to the point of someone standing in the doorway and holding on to a handle as you drive down the road. I'll try to get a picture sometime this week.  They do have a preplanned route and assigned numbers, but I believe they are all individual business owners.  I really enjoy riding the angkot- it gives me the freedom to do what I need to do and is always a fun experience trying to have a conversation with my fellow passengers, especially when I have Elliana along!

Along the same lines as the angkot is shopping.  Now, dear ones, let me just tell you- I yearn for the day I could just hop in the car (cargo space! no real walking required! *sigh*) and zip off to Wal-Mart or Target or any local grocery store for everything on my list...  Not so here-you go to the pasar (market) to buy fruits, vegetables, meat or rice (or flour, but it tends to have bugs if you buy it there); you choose from one of the little tiny stores along the road or brave the slightly claustrophobic indoor pasar to buy shoes of questionable quality (Ethan's lasted a walloping 3 days!); you go to a kind of catch all store to buy your snack foods (in the States, basically anything not around the edges of your grocery store- flour, crackers, cereal, peanut butter, etc.); another variety of tiny stores (aka- "toko") for tupperware/storage containers because I have yet to see ziploc bags.... You get the picture.  I am not a huge shopper, I would much rather "hunt" for what is on my list- in, out and done- here that's not really an option.  So far, I'm enjoying the experience, just exploring and seeing what is available, learning how to ask for help or what the price is, although I'm sure in a few months I will have insane cravings for the sheer simplicity of a trip to Wal-Mart or Target- need it, get it, home within an hour or less.

Ok, I could go on, but I need to go get some groceries for this weekend- and I need our helper to show me how to choose chicken at the pasar...  Not gonna lie- kind of dreading this one, but it needs to be done!  Here we go.... Happy Friday, friends!  And just for fun- here are the kiddos enjoying each other last Saturday morning...

Update- Pasar was a success! We went early in the morning when everything was still fresh, a nice breeze was blowing and 2 kilos of chicken (filleted while I waited) are now tucked in our freezer!