Holiday

Today is holiday, a religious festive day, that celebrates the journey and ascension of the prophet Muhammad.

"Laylat ul Isra and Mi'raj is Arabic for the “Night of the Journey and Ascension”. It is on 27th of Rajab. It is the night when Muhammad was, according to Hadiths, taken to “the furthest mosque” (generally understood to be Jerusalem) on a Buraq (a beast resembling horse with wings; some people consider it a cherub) and ascended to the highest level of the heavens. It is said that he negotiated with God about the number of prayers, which started at fifty a day, but on his way down he met Moses, who asked him to ask for a reduction in the number because the requirement was difficult for Muhammad's people. Muhammad returned to God and several times asked for, and was granted a reduction of five prayers, until the number was reduced to five in total, with the blessing that if they were properly performed, the performers would be credited with fifty prayers instead of five. The event of this Night has also been described in Quran in Part 15 the beginning of Surah Isra."

Source: Wikipedia

At the moment we live next door to a mosque and we can clearly hear the call to prayer on the loudspeaker. Adhan is the call to prayer . In fact, mosques are ubiquitous allowing people to go there without having to go too far. We don't understand the words but depending on the muezzin, the person who is reciting, it's rather nice to listen to. Once we heard the son of pak Budhi calling and it felt very serene and peaceful, we liked it very much. Besides the credits earned by going to the five prayers a day, these spiritual pauses give people the opportunity to unwind from the daily busyness and focus. It sounds a very healthy practice and I see it as an antidote to the stress that people suffer from nowadays.

This is what every mosque has on the top of the roof.

As-Salamu Alaykum [Peace be upon you]

Photo of the day

Li improvising... or simply having fun!

Pak Edu days

Check out here pak Edu's geo news.

National Geographic Daily News

Part of the daily work of pak Edu:

A Rain Forest Advocate Taps the Energy of the Sugar Palm

A fish called Wandays

The other day our friendly 'guide' Ibu Ati, the same kind lady that invited us to go with her to take her daughter to school, invited us again. Also to take her daughter to school, but this time to the Islamic school. In the morning regular school, in the afternoon Islamic school. The little girl (sorry I can't spell her name. I'll take care of it!) is 1,5 years older than Li and they get along very well. She is a very sweet girl and Li loves her. So they went off in the front together.

On the way, already by the school, Ibu Ati bought some bubur ayam [chicken porridge] to a street vendor, for the little one while they wait for the lesson to finish.

After leaving her daughter at school, Ibu Ati asked if we wanted to see a fish culture nearby and there we went. She is always ready to show us things here in the neighbourhood that otherwise we wouldn't find out about. Even thought those are not touristic places we love to see what she is willing to show us.

Below on the right, the kids are exploring a place that is very common here in open areas. It's like a cool place to have a quiet rest by the shadow. We've seen them already in big private gardens, by cultivated fields, by constructions sites, here by the fish husbandry. Here we had the opportunity to check it out more closely. It is a cool and nice place to pause, indeed!

Above you can see a nice house and by the door our fan crowd. We've been fished! Sometimes when we go to new places people come after us to talk and take photos of us or simply observe us. The lady in yellow (bellow) was specially excited by our presence and fascinated with Lu. She took a lot of pictures and talked a lot. In fact, it's quite common here for foreigners to be asked to take a photo by the locals. Since we arrived we were already photographed quite a lot by people we don't know.

The visit to the fishes was short enough to still catch our little friend, on our way back, before her lesson started. A tight hug and see you later Dwi (the name of our little friend). Da da [bye bye].

Sampai nanti everyone!

Daily photos

The last photo, where Li is extra happy, was taken in the house to where we're going to move in by the end of next month. Li likes it, we all like it!!

Days before "Days in Indonesia"

Many days

We're back again! Back to posting! We surely missed it and you? Another week passed by and a month already passed since we arrived here. The big news is that Lu started walking yesterday!!! Today he's been a bit more adventurous, every time more and more steps with no help. The big baby is growing, no baby anymore. Li is also growing into a very communicative little girl. Language has never been a problem for her to socialize. Despite the different language she has already great little friends, luckily all living across the street, which makes it easy to reach them and play almost all day long. We're really happy that the kids also got the possibility to integrate and find a place of their own. This week we're a bit busy taking care of some stuff. One of them was visiting a school, Sekolah Alam [Natural School]. We liked the mission and vision of the school, specially the environment. Unfortunately, there's no more place available unless someone gives up. We'll continue looking for other possibilities.

Besides 'work' we also had some fun. The other day we were by our gate when we're invited by the grandmother of 2 little girls that live in the end of our street who dance traditional Balinese dance. They offered us and the other girls from the street to watch them dance and also dance. So we, women and girls, went to their place to assist the show. Quite impressive for such a little girl. We made a little movie that we hope we can make it to upload it. Meanwhile we post a photo of one of the dancers.

Swimming day

We never get bored in a street full of friendly neighbours! This week, we passed by a neighbour who has a little girl with whom Elly plays almost everyday. They were busy blowing a inflatable pool!!! Elly and me ran home to fetch her swimming suit and by the time we got back they were already filling it. What an excitement! There was no other to do than watch and enjoy the joyful play of this 3 little girls and the big baby. They jumped and splashed until it came a time they all took their swimming suits out and bathed themselves with soap. All clean and fresh for a mid morning nap.