Hello everybody!! Here we are. It has been difficult to keep up with the blog lately and to worsen matters my laptop crashed! I hope we can still recover my files filled with my stuff, specially my pictures. I hope I can update you soon with more on what we've been experiencing, I'll wait for Pak Edu to have less busy evenings on his laptop. Tomorrow we'll leave to Singapore for a week which at this point of our stay it is viewed as a refreshment. The house we're moving into his taking longer than expected and we're really feeling the need to have a place of our own now. Talk to you soon. Sampai nanti!
Saturday 23 July 2011
Saturday 16 July 2011
Today and the day before
This post refers to Friday and Thursday. Because yesterday evening the internet connection was off, which can happen quite often, I didn't managed to post it. So enjoy!
Selamat malam. Another week went by... like flying! Today we ended the day with a pouring rain and Li didn't miss the opportunity to put on her swimming suit. Li would run, jump, scream in euphoria while Lu was feeling the rain drops on his standing body and also very careful not to fall for this wet and slippery floor was new to his 'walking feet'. There I was trying to capture the moment, taking pictures but soon I got rid of the camera and decided to just enjoy that moment of joy and discovery of the children. Feeling the heavy rain falling, the thunders and the unusual warmth while raining, at least for us, made me rather contemplative.
Anyway, today we met again Ibu Sophie which is a very dynamic 78 year-old lady. She used to be a English teacher and she also speaks Dutch because she is still from the time when Indonesia was a Dutch colony. Now although retired, she is still very active organizing religious activities and participating in the social traditional activities of the community. She lives here in the neighbourhood and Pak Budhi arranged for us to meet her and have some 'lessons' of Indonesian language and culture. Tomorrow we'll have our first lesson! I believe we'll learn a lot from her. Such a life experience can only have a lot of knowledge and wisdom to share!
Yesterday morning we heard a call on the loudspeaker but at an unusual time to prayer... instead it was a call for weighting and measuring children under 5 years old. It sounded like an opportunity to dive in the community routine so we decided to mingle in. Pak Budhi went with us also. When we arrived there we found all mothers and children weighting on the different scales and measuring their height and behind a big table with little piles of booklets, a lady filling in the values that mothers would report. We decided to register Li and Lu also, so I sat down and filled in a couple of forms with basic info over them. Next time, they'll bring a booklet with the growth curve where we can check if they're growing accordingly. It seemed a very informal and relaxed health 'check-up'. In the end we're quite surprised by the snacks they offered the children, cookies and a lolly, which didn't seem to fit in in a health consult.
In the afternoon, we went for a walk around the neighbourhood to get some fresh air. We wandered aimlessly until we passed by the Umi's house, which is in the same compound where the daughter of Ibu Ati goes to school in the morning. She saw us and started calling us and inviting us in. In no time all the family living in and the neighbours around gathered, messing with and touching the children and pulling us in. She was so happy to see us and we felt so welcomed, it really felt good! She was really glad to have us there at her place. She would grab my arms in a very gentle and soft way (in a granny's way) and pulling me in with her big smile. Talking and talking, half of what I couldn't understand but I could surely feel welcomed and this sincere feeling of willingness to share... and that seemed to be enough for us to understand each other. It did me good. Specially that day, that I had been suffering from a tummy disarrangement. She took us to the living room and offered us a cup of sweet tea.Little by little the rest of the family joined sitting on the floor (which is the way here) like in a ritual of respect and then they opened a door that gave to a ground level balcony where the neighbours and their children gathered. There we were surrounded by smiling and friendly people, calling and teasing the children, asking us questions and sharing things over them. It was a short and unexpected but very pleasant visit.
That's all folks. Got to go and get some rest. Have a wonderful weekend and see you soon!
Monday 11 July 2011
Photos of other days
Little by little Lu is dumping his diapers.
This is a drink that we can buy to a street vendor only in the evening. It's made of ginger, peanuts, bits of 'nata de coco' (fermented coconut water), bits of bread and this pink stuff that is from a flower. Sometimes it is really strong, but it is really tasty. Whenever we ear the sound of this particular street vendor, here we go!!
Li is getting very interested in taking pictures. This time she picked my camera and asked me to pose in different ways.
Here Li is posing to me with her scarf. We decided to call her Little Red Riding Hood. When she got it she was really happy with it, she immediately ran to one of her little friends house to show her. Meanwhile she gave up to wear it, it was a bit sweaty under it. Sometimes she still wears a scarf but from her friend and the other day they even went to the Islamic school together. It was for one hour and she said they sang all the time and it was really nice. Li is completely into the culture.
Lu loves cats! Luckily, in the front door house lives a cat that has three little kittens that we sometimes go and watch them play, sleep or feed. Lu calls them 'ga' which is from gato (cat in portuguese).
These are cookies that we can buy in the afternoon. They're made the moment we buy them. They're steamed rice flour cookies with gula aren (palm sugar - brown stuff) and shredded coconut on top. Delicious!
Little Red Riding Hood
Li had her sandals fixed again.
Saturday
On Saturday we went to a bambu furniture shop. In a couple of weeks we'll hopefully be moving to our new home and we need to plan what'll buy for our daily needs. We went to the outskirts of Bogor city to get local price and we end up finding the shop/makers that supply other bambu shops of the city center. The cool thing about this is that we can also design and have customized pieces of furniture. We're also quite impressed with the proposed budget, we would say it is very goedkoop. It seems after spending some years in The Netherlands you pick up the merchant vein, he he. On our way back home, Pak Budhi took us to a fish restaurant, the Fish Palace. There we sat in a little house over the water where we ate grilled fish. It is a big place where you can also fish and if you wish you can even have the fished fish cooked. It is a very popular place where a lot of Jakarta citizens come to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. The kids were specially amused not only for the environment in itself but also because we ate at a traditional table, which is very low and we sit on the floor. Finally, we eat at a children table! We now plan on having one for our place too.
Sunday 10 July 2011
Over days
Yesterday we went with Pak Edu to a presentation of his work within the CICO resort . There we met Jean Kern and the Global Exploration group of young people from The Netherlands. These students are here to get to know local peers and together do some voluntary work in several areas emphasizing the Millenium Development Goals-UN. Here you can see a bit what they've been doing. The focus yesterday was on deforestation and how it affects the local human population and fauna, specially here in Indonesia, the case of Borneo and the orangutans. Lu and Li also helped papa with his presentation, showing that this is the business of everyone, old and young, to do something about protecting planet Earth. In the end, the students presented in groups several short dances and songs they had prepared mixing Dutch and Indonesian cultures. All so very gezellig!
More/Mais:
Tuesday 5 July 2011
Rhyme day
The flu
got pak Edu too
we're all busy
with full recovery
more stories
on our memories
we collected already some
await it will come
note: bigger pictures means more time and better connection to upload them; most of the time it is not feasible though we'll do our best to satisfy our fans
Sunday 3 July 2011
Today we reached a dozen...
Today we want to thank our followers for keeping us company. Terima kasih! 12 pictures for 12 followers and cats to wish you good luck!
Saturday 2 July 2011
Friday 1 July 2011
Missing days
Yesterday I wished I was home. I woke up from a restless flu night. My body aching, dizzy head and a runny nose... I just wanna be home!!!! There are times when temporary living places can be missing the homy atmosphere. The kids are also a bit sick but already recovering. Most of the kids of the street had a flu. The day went by and in the pauses of the day I found some pictures of my family, a full folder of them. Passing them one by one, revisiting familiar faces and places did me good. I went back a year or so... my favorite and only brother, my mommy and daddy, my baby boy still newborn, my little girl one year younger, my little nephew, my sweet sister-in-law, my folks home and all the family and dear friends that pass by it. The cats and the dogs. The dog that isn't more. The colours, the sun, the family warmth. Hmm, I feel better already. I bet if my nose was 100% I could have smelled home, sweet home.
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