Another Butterfly in our Yard...

Easter at IMLAC

This past Friday we celebrated Easter, 'Paskah', with the teachers and students at IMLAC. (The school right close to our house where we do Indonesian language study.)

We sang....












The teachers, 'pelatih's', put on a play for us.... (it was about choosing to accept Christ as opposed to doing things our own way.)




























Afterwards we ate the potluck food and went home. :)

Some More Videoing???

:) My honey... his wife has the camera, AGAIN! :) We have been busy working on some videoing for a church back home in Ontario. We need to get it done this week (you can pray for that!) and get it sent snail-mail...

Batik

I have a post -two previous to this one... - where we went to Yogya for a break. We got to visit a batik factory again so saved them for a separate post.

I love batik. It appeals to the artistic, intricate, interesting side of me. It is a LONG process and there are different kinds. Some are ALL hand done - drawing, coloring, more wax added, dying, wax adding, dying, wax removal, etc..... Some are kind of done that way but the design is put on by a copper 'stamp.' Others are done like regular printed fabric. The real wax/dying process is easily uncovered when you turn the cloth over. If the back looks basically like the front, then it was done the original way, not in a factory. :)

Hand application of the wax....





























Copper 'stamp' application of the original design.













Adding the appropriate color to the design.













Covering over the dye with wax...

















Coloring over the second color that was added...













In the end the wax is all taken off in vats of boiling water. The wax is skimmed off and re-used and the cloth is....

















.... hung up to dry, ready to be ironed and sold. The batch hanging is a black and white . It was really pretty! They were also working on special orders from Japan for silk batik to be used for a few kimonos.

Another Javanese Wedding

Last weekend we went to another Javanese wedding. :) Here are a few pics that are different from the previous wedding.

This bride had two adorable girls fanning her the WHOLE time!













The bride and groom are Javanese!! :)













Changing over of the ceremonial 'kris.' (zig-zag daggar that is believed to have supernatural powers.)

















Sipping tea....













A common picture of Indonesian men.













Wedding decorations.



























































They WERE wearing black and gold, they changed and came back for the rest of the ceremony. :) (Not sure what that all signifies... will have to ask.) :)














The groom is the first son of our neighbor directly behind our house. The dad of Angga has worked as a security guard, 'satpam' since I'm not sure when. :) He was here when we worked at the school. It has been nice already knowing ONE neighbor! :)

Yogyakarta, Central Java

Yogya is my FAVORITE town... I think I already blogged that.. :) but it IS!! :) On our break between our current NCLA units, Shane and I got to go with Tim, Kathy (kids) and their visiting friends from Canada, Dave, Lori & girls. We had a really fun time. :)













When we drive, (shane and I rode the motorbike for the 2 hr. drive one way)













I love to keep my camera handy. MOST times my pictures are not all that great, but a few come out nice. I love seeing all of the interesting ways Indonesians do things! It is just so different than the way it is back home, it is fun. These pictures I have nicknamed, 'A Load."




























































Gotta love these socks!!! Reminds me of YOU, Hanneke! :)











We enjoyed a trip to the palace, "Kraton," and a few other places.





















































The royal seal.













Brandt outside a dinning area.

















New & Old (Probably getting each other's cell phone number!) :)


















Document signing room...kind of..




























Royal servants...



























Outside the current residence.













A royal building that fell during the earthquake that hit the area 2 years ago.













Non-royal vendors! :) You get some 'good' stories on the goods that are being sold! :)













We enjoyed a meal through the DRIVE IN (!!!) of McDonalds. They don't have drive-in's here, so this was fun. Check out the fun 'delivery' bikes! :) Isn't that funny! :)





































We enjoyed an evening meal at a fun restaurant called 'Gajah Wong.' No real pics here, except for the live 'gamelon' entertainment. :)









































We visited Prambanan Temple on the way home. Even at the Kraton there was a lot of damage done from the earthquake that hit that area 2 years ago; the same time Mt. Merapi was going to possibly have a major eruption. You can't go up to the ruins any more. It may take years to repair it. On the one hand it is sad for a major work of art to be destroyed a bit, but on the other hand, it is a temple of worship to other 'gods.'







































































At tourist attractions as big as this, there are always vendors!! That is a whole nother story in it's self! :)
























Being a foreigner, you will often be asked to join in a picture! Today was no exception! :) There wear about 4 big busses of highschoolers there to tour and one of the classes atleast was an english class. They had to practice their english, get a picture and the foreigner person had to sign a piece of paper! :) We were in a bit of a rush, so had to do a lot of 'Minta-Ma'afing!' :)













Grounds keepers...

























Heading home we went a little bit farther and visited the town of 'Solo' or Surakarta on the map... They have a great little restaurant with brick-oven baked pizzas and AWESOME pesto sauce! I just love 'O-Solo-Mio.'





















































Traffic pics...