Sunday's Drive

Today we headed for church up onto the side of Mt. Merabu, our majestic mountain which I just love! While we waited for Alan & Rachel, I got a picture of this guy fixing his motorbike.













We stopped for gas for Alan's bike, then we continued on our way.







































We passed this guy.... (just having 'dropped off' his milk at the local c0-op) :)













..these two...












...and these two. :)













Kopeng is an area where lots of veggies are grown. One of them being pumpkins of sorts. :) This picture is a bit blurred, but it gave such a good look at the front yard of the wooden house. :)













We passed through a market area where the people from the small hillside villages come to sell their veggies to the waiting trucks to then sell them on to grocery stores, etc.





































What the homes look like...






































After church we headed to a local place for goat shiskabobs (sate' kambing).


























Often the soda for sale is lined up on a rack on a wall, or in this place, it was on the window sill.






























Views from out the window...

Women selling their veggies to passer-byers...













A woman waiting for the local transportation. ('Mie Ayam' is fried noodles with chicken, 'Bakso' - a meatball kind of soup. Would remind you of wonton, but they are round and not in a wrapper.) :)













A travel I guess, decorating his Vespa. :)













Guys sitting in the middle of the road, waving flags, holding out boxes to collect money for whatever project they are collecting for. Maybe road work.













I totally missed this guy carrying this! The snack inside is a type of 'krupuk' or puffed cracker. He's filling the stores metal box that they would have sitting on their counter, or if it was a restaurant, one would go on each table.













Our way home.....













A stark reminder of the danger on roads; the passing on corners that goes on and such... we passed a black pickup truck with one of the casualties laying in the back. As we went past the people, we recognized one of the international school's security guards there right by the road. We stopped to talk to him as we were already going slow. The druck driver was his cousin; both legs were broken. I'm not sure how the motorcycle guy fared either. Pak Atan just said that they had taken him to the hospital already too. The motorbike didn't look all that great. They were putting it on the police truck as we passed by. The pick-up had hit a tree dead center. Had he not hit the tree, he would have gone down over the mountain.

Birds, Butterflies & Spider

Visiting the Neighbors

One of our IMLAC class requirements are for us to find Indonesians every day and ask these questions whos answers are required for the next day. The only neighbors behind us have been my recent stopping grounds. They have a family member visiting from Bandung, and I have so enjoyed getting to know her!

The other day I even got to try their b-fast food items as my friend had eaten b-fast a bit late and the food was just then getting put away. :) I had rice, fish, beef, coconut milk sauce with tofu and fermented soybean cake in it, some veggies, and some hot paste of course. :) I'm enjoying the experiences I'm getting! :)

That morning I stopped in briefly on my way home from walking and was offered these morning snacks. Well.... the snake fruit in the back is not a b-fast food, but the fried snacks were. :) (fried casava, banana, and casava leaves. :)

NCLA

Here's Shane in his classroom. Funny being back in the old elementary building where Shane taught for 4 years! :)













Shane and I tested into Unit 4, but I decided I needed Unit 3. Our classes run from 1-3, with mine going one more hour. Mornings are used for studying and finishing up last minute things for class, and the evenings are spent looking up all the new word that will be used in the next days lesson.

Bump In the Road

Where does sand for cement go if you don't have a yard? :) Hope you saw it in the day time. :) The branches stickiing out of it are a warning that it is there. :) Funny, eh?? :)

Sleeping Beauties

I've started a new theme that I hope I can accumulate more pictures for. :) People sleeping!

In Close Proximity

Not from our 'yard', but this is typical. :)

A Humorous 'Cerita' (Story)

Have you ever stopped to wonder why a dog lifts it's leg to urinate?? I never have, but today after his day of cutting our grass, our helper, Pak Lazarus, sat and chatted with us. He was telling us a few ceritas his grandfather had told him, one of them being why a dog lifts it's leg. We had such a good laugh, and I thought you would get a good laugh out of it too. :)

So... one day the dogs of the world decided to have a meetings. They gathered in Arabia. After almost all of the delegates from the different countries arrived, one last important deligate finally made his appearance. Soon afterwards, he asked if he had time to go use the bathroom. They gave him permission and he headed back into the woods. Well, time passed and the important deligate did not return.. They sent a dog to look for him, hunting to no avail. They then sent out two dogs to look for him, and still they did not find him. All the dogs then went to look for him. After some time, they found a fallen tree with the dead dog beneath it. They gathered around the tree and made a decision that from now on, their one leg would be lifted and rested against the tree so that if it fell, they would be able to know and run away.

.... so, there you have it! :) Hope you enjoyed the cerita for today. :)

Circulating Fuzz Balls

Well, they WERE circulating....













Thanks to our handy, dandy broom, and dinning room chair these fuzz balls are no longer! Our bathroom fan is much cleaner and sucking the air out MUCH better, I'm sure!! :)

New Years Day

Celebrating your New Year's Eve - 12:00 midnight EST, noon here.....












We ate our lunch, and then played Charades... (is that how you spell that???)













Celebrating again an hour later for 12:00 midnight CST....












Dessert time... Lisa cutting her Aunt's recipe for a strawberry jello dish. Very yummy!













Shane went back to the puzzle...













Mega & I with our mustaches three hours later celebrating midnight PST - 3 P.M. our time...












From us to you.... Happy New Year!!