Semi-Recent Happenings

Here are some photos from some things I've been up to recently.  There are many cool activities I'm not including.  I will very soon upload those photos though! I feel like my English is getting bad again.  All the sentences I'm writing right now sound really weird to me.

Anyways, everything has been going pretty well here.  Everything seems to be progressing slowly but surely: language, friendships, cultural understanding/acceptance, etc.  I had a really good day today.  After I volunteered at the orphanage, I went to the young ppl's worship at my church and I had a really good time there.  Mainly, God helped me understand a lot of the frustrations that I have been going through here lately and he gave me encouragement and love for his people.  So, not very coincidentally, after the worship I had some of the best talks I've had since I got here with the other students that were at the worship meeting.  It was really nice because it has been really hard for me to feel at ease at church.. or anywhere in this city because of how different I am here, but after worship God seemed to take that burden from me.  I felt fully relaxed for the first time since I've been here and felt as though I was talking to peers - my friends, brothers and sisters in Christ - rather than an American talking to Indonesians (or trying to). 

The following 2 photos are from a spelling bee that Valorie and I judged last Saturday. 

This was the final round for the Elementary schoolers.  Whoever buzzed first had to spell the word outloud.

First round, they had to write the words down.

This is Tika, my best Indonesian friend, and I at Conversation Corner, the English learning school that the American family here is running for University students and teachers in BL to improve the education system here, which is quite bad.

This is a typical outdoor "warung".  I eat most lunches after classes at different warungs along the road.  That is Andry and Tayuko sitting at our table.

Andry and Tayuko eating.  We also got Es Buah (Fruit Soup) from the warung next to this warung, so it was a yummy meal.

The front of the orphanage I teach at.  Those are some of the silly boys.

I went with the orphanage on their fieldtrip to a park in Bandar Lampung and did this while I was there.

The pool in the park.  I was basically dragged down (and up) slides and through the water for about 2 hours. :)

Monday night worship/Bible study.  My favorite time of the week.  On the far left is Valorie, then Tika, then Risty, then some girl I just met and forgot her name.

All of us Darmasiswa students decided to go do karaokee on Thursday night.

We went and did woodcarving on Friday in Metro, which is about an hour away from BL.  There is Tayuko and I working on some elephant carvings.  Sitting next to us is the university's traditional dance professor, who took us to the carving place.

At first I was just doing it because everyone kept nagging me to "just tryy it", and then, as I feared, I got really into it and couldn't stop until I had fixed the gouges in the elephant's leg.  It was pretty fun I guess.

okay, that's all folks! 
haha, okay that made me miss looney tunes on saturday mornings.  weird.
ignore that comment. 

Going to Malaysia!

So, I'm going to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in like.. Ahhh-- 6 hours!!!!  I have to sleep.  Well, I'll write about this real quick because it's an AWESOME story!

So I asked the director of the Darmasiswa program multiple times about my visa and he told me I could leave the country one time (So I went to Singapore/the Phillipines).  However, when I tried to get back into Indonesia from Singapore they wouldn't let me and I had to buy a new visa that is only good for one month.   Then the director of my program here tells me (about 2 weeks ago) that he actually can't get me a new visa and that I have to leave the country before October 19th to apply for a new visa.  Considering this was really last minute and completely the program's fault, I told them many times that I did not have the money to pay for this trip and that they were responsible for the cost.  I had one phone call with a woman in Jakarta who was very unsympathetic and told me they don't do that, I will have to pay.  I started praying about it and after 3 days I decided it would be better to not wait for them to come through (in case they never did), because by then the ticket price would be even higher.  So I went online to book a ticket from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hoping I could get it below $150, but God had a little surprise for me: The ticket cost $1 each way, for a grand total of $2.  I kidd you not, you can check my bank statement!  It gets better:  This was apparently an airline deal, but the ONLY day for booking was that exact day, and to get that price you had to leave after OCT 18 (the day before my visa expires).  ALSO... I went and told the Polish couple who live here in case they wanted to travel to Kuala Lumpur for cheap (oh... that was also the ONLY city that had the deal.. which is the city I had to go to for the visa).  When the Polish couple checked many different combinations of flights they were all pricing at the cheapest around $150.. apparently the deal was sold out.. and this was about 5 minutes after I went on.  So, Amazing God answered my 3 days of prayers.  I still can't believe it - $2!

Okay, and to top it all off (yes, there's more!), the day after that Darmasiswa told me they would pay for my trip.  So they will give me a set amount which is to cover the flight, other transportation, food, and lodging.  Anyways, my prayers were answered double!

So, I'll be gone from tomorrow morning until Friday evening!  Toodles!

Beautiful Canti and Shadow Puppets!

 Trip to Kalianda and Canti

Tayu with Krakatau behind her -the furthest peak on the left. You can barely see it.

Last weekend Tayu (Japan), Mariola & Yan (Polish couple) and I went to a small town called Kalianda a few hours South of Bandar Lampung, but still in the Lampung province.  Apparently the nicest beaches are there.  Also, the famous  Krakatau volcano is off the coast from there.  We looked into taking a boat to the island/volcano of Krakatau, but everyone was trying to rip us off and it was really expensive.  We could see it though!  When we got to the Kalianda beach the first day after a 5 hour bus ride due to traffic jams due to meteor-shaped potholes, we were pretty disappointed because the entire beach was filled with trash and the muddy water carried garbage with it as it lapped back and forth.  This would be fine near BL, but since we came all the way to Kalianda for some ocean-swimming, it was far from ideal.  There were a few groups of Indonesian friends there but that's about it.  We stayed until dinner and then checked into the hotel.  It was $3.50 per person for the night, which is pretty expensive for Indonesian standards.  This means $7.00 per room, or 70,000 Rupiah which is quite a lot.  The room Tayu and I shared was kind of gross, although Tayu reassured me that this was one of the better Indonesian hotels she had been to.  I still haven't traveled around Indonesia- this was my first hostel/hotel experience- so I'll take her word for it, however surprising it might be.  The room had huge cobwebs everywhere, the mattresses were thin pieces of foam, the walls were dirty, there was dirt/dust/etc everywhere, under the beds was a lot of dirty stuff, there was still trash in the garbage can, the exposed light bulb hanging from the ceiling was extremely dim (this made it hard to do an animal/spider check at night), and I won't even start on the bathroom.  The room itself would have been fine had the hotel staff taken the time to CLEAN it.  That is the part that I cannot understand.  I saw people at the desk (multiple people) every time I came in and out, so there is definitely not a shortage of time.  I guess it just blows my mind, coming from America, that the hotel staff would just not clean a room (for who knows how many months), when it is their job to do so.  Yan and Mariola said it was one of the best hotels they had stayed at in Indonesia too.  Yikes!  Maybe it's okay I won't get to do too much more traveling here.  haha, jk. 

On the way to Canti.

Tayu searching for the hot springs. Behind her is Krakatau (on left w/smoke coming out of it)

Our second day (Saturday), we went to the hamburger place again for breakfast (we went there Friday night too).  They also had fried bananas with chocolate and cheese which is what we tried for breakfast.  There is not typical "breakfast food" here.  You basically have the same options for breakfast as you have for lunch and dinner.  Rice, or rice, or something else if you can find it.  These were the first hamburgers I had had for the past 2 months - although a little different, still yummy!!  Tayu and I decided to go to the village nearby called Canti because, according to my guide book there was a natural hot springs in Canti.  Eventually Mariola and Yan decided they wanted to come too.  We took a series of angkots (the public transportation in Indonesia - similar to gouged-out mini-vans from the 60s that have 2 benches inside) and ojeks (a guy that gives you a ride on the back of his small scooter) to get there.  The last angkot dropped us off at Pantai (Beach) Wartawan and there was a little old lady who lived there and made us pay her before she would show us where the hot springs were.  I thought it was a little weird, but then I found out that that is actually protocol - if you want to go to Pantai Wartawan or the hot springs, you have to pay her.  So she led us about 15 steps to our right, to some rocks on the side of the ocean and said there was a hot springs under the water there.  It took us a while to find, but eventually we (or Tayu), found this huge hole under the water with extremely hot water coming up (actually, she found it right when I took the picture above this, so that's where the hot spring was).  We all walked over and joined her and sat around it with our feet dangling into its dark depths.  The scenery was spectacular from there and the water was clear and clean.  It was probably the best few hours I've had since I got here.  It just felt so nice to be in clean water and breathing clean air and see beautiful nature again.  It also felt strangely untouched.  I still wonder if that's really what my guide book was talking about.  It seems so hidden and small and almost a coincidence we ended up there, that I feel like it couldn't be in a guide book already.  That'd be crazy!  It's just like the corner shore of this woman's yard basically! haha

Yan and Mariola sitting in the warm water.

On our way back to Kalianda.  We found a pretty rice field.

 Shadow Puppet Show

Us at the show with the bride and groom.  From L to R: Mariola (Poland), Chandra (Cambodia), me, the groom, the bride, Moonly (Cambodia - she already went home), Andry (Madagascar), Digdem (Turkey), Safa (Cambodia), and Yan (Poland).

A few Saturday's ago the Rektorat (like the Dean but more important politically) of the University invited us (the Darmasiswa students) to see a traditional Indonesian shadow puppet show (wayang kulit).  Other than Tayu, we all were able to go.  The show was about an hour from BL in a small village.  There was a tent set up for a couple's wedding.. I think they had this show going as a sort of reception for their wedding or something, but it was also open to the public.. I'm not sure how wedding traditions work here yet.  I sort of expected to not like the show because I just feel like I wouldn't like puppets, but it was actually quite cool.  The music was my favorite part.  It was seriously awesome - gamelan music - I may start learning how to play it next week!  But beside the music, the puppets were exquisitely made out of off-white paper and painted with beautiful, traditional paints.  A lot of golds and reds.  They were incredibly detailed.  They cast shadows on the sheet behind them, so if you walked behind the stage you see cool shadows (I don't know if I was supposed to do this - it was pretty much on someone's front step and a bunch of teenagers were having a party there (completely taboo in Lampung culture - they told me they were drinking milk) and watching the wayang kulit).   It was really cool-looking anyhow - the whole performance.  I also learned a lot about its form, classic plot line and characters, and what music goes with what, which was very interesting.  It definitely is its own classical art form.  Soooo..., we left BL at 7pm and the show started at 9pm.  Around 12am I finally asked when the show was supposed to end and was told "4am".  Considering I had to wake up around 7am, this was not the best, plus we were not forewarned at all.  We ended up staying until a little past 1am and then were able to get a ride home with someone.  It was a long night, but overall pretty enjoyable.

The Lampungese People

I recently learned that Lampungese people are one of the most unreached people groups in the world.  (I am living in Lampung if you didn't know.. similar to a county or State in the U.S.).  Close to 100% of Lampungese people have not heard the Gospel.  Here is the data about it if you are interested in taking a look and/or joining me in prayer:

This is the exact area within the region I'm in, and the specific type of Lampungese people:  http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=12976&rog3=ID

More general.  This is the region I am in (notice the percentage for being unreached for ALL of the people groups is 100%):   http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-clusters.php?peo2=209


BL Airport

The one (and only) room in the Bandar Lampung airport.  It's extremely unpleasant, to say the least.  It is also quite comical.  When I took this picture I was standing at the end of the security belt, grabbing my backpack.  The security line blends in with the room and it is so crowded that people are waiting and eating next to you while you are going through security.  Maybe they should change the name of it, I'm not sure "security" is accurate.

I am going to try and post more often, maybe shorter, but more frequently.  I think that will be easier for me, because by the time I write I've forgotten so much of what I wanted to share!

Hope you ppl are still reading this!!