It's a small, small world... and some birthday fun

I have had many moments since I've been here of realizing it's a small, small world. I had one a couple months ago when I met an old friend here in Bandung.

Andrea and I went to Sunday school together at Lake Ave Church until about 5th grade. I remember being in the same small group with her in 5th grade at church. I don't think I had seen her since then. Last spring I saw someone at the international church here that looked really familiar. I couldn't really place why she looked familiar or where I might know her from, so I just brushed it off. It wasn't until about November of this year that it all clicked. My long lost friend, Andrea, from sunday school so long ago is here living in Bandung. What are the chances! Both of us, for different reasons, under difference circumstances, find ourselves living in the same city on the other side of the globe from where we first met. Crazy... let me say it again- it's a small, small world.

Andrea and I chat at my birthday dinner

Over a month ago now, we went out to dinner to celebrate my 24th birthday. I had heard about a new restaurant that served Mediterranean food so we decided to check it out. We sat on the floor around a low table in a brightly painted room. We enjoyed trying Indonesians version of some Mediterranean favorites like hummus, tabbouleh, baba ganosh, and pita bread.

It was fun to be surrounded by friends and laughter for my birthday celebration. I feel excited about the year to come and all that it holds. Here are a few photos of our dinner:

Us gathered around the table

Me excited to try the food

A new tradition has become giving the birthday girl some random surprises...

like this candy called Nano-Nano (a special flavor of sweet, sour, and spicy)...
I think they were making fun of my new Nano ipod

Group shot

Then on to a different spot for dessert.
We went to a restaurant up the mountain a ways where you could see the view of the city lights.

Taman Safari Trip

My days have been filled lately with the routine and busyness of school. Teaching takes up a lot of my time and energy. But when we get a day off and have a long weekend it is so fun to step out of the routine and get out of town for a few days. A couple weekends ago that's what we did.

We had Monday off for Chinese New Year so my roommates and I and a new family that has just joined our staff went to a friends cabin a couple hours away. We enjoyed some cooler weather, relaxing mornings, and time at a local animal park called Taman Safari. Taman Safari is like a drive through zoo where a lot of the animals come right up to your car if you feed them. We bought some carrots on our way in and were amazing at how brave the animals were to come right up and stick their heads in the car. I took tons of pictures which can be viewed on my latest Picasa Web Album. Click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/clauson.emily/TamanSafari








It feels like all I've been posting on here lately is pictures of the last trip we took. I need to sit down and write something... but just haven't had time. Hopefully soon! I promise!

Pangandaran Beach Trip

(This one's for Anna, who lovingly reminded me it's been a whole month since I last posted ;) )

I rang in the New Year with some friends who stuck around Bandung for the holidays. We didn't do anything really fancy. Just went out to sushi and then watched a movie and toasted together as the clock struck midnight. Lots of people were out and about the city with noise makers and shooting off fireworks. I decided that 2009 is going to be a good year. Not sure all that it's going to hold but I just have an anticipation that it's going to be good. For one thing I know that I will be back here in Bandung, Indonesia next fall. Don't think I've made this public on my blog yet so in case you are wondering and haven't heard I decided to sign on for another year teaching at BAIS.

Two days after 2009 started, a group of us headed for the beach to rest and relax before heading into second semester. We had a lot of fun. It was my first time going to the beach here on Java. We enjoyed sleeping in and staying up late. We ate lots of fresh, delicious sea food. We swam in the ocean and hung out by the pool. We played games and read and and watched the sunset and did all the things one should on vacation. At the end of it all I was only a little sunburned and was ready to head back to Bandung, welcome back my roommates who had gone to America for Christmas break, and return to my normal school routine.

For the full trip details and pictures, click on my Picasa web album link: http://picasaweb.google.com/clauson.emily/PangandaranBeachTrip

Otherwise, for those of you who don't have time for all the pictures (but still find time to visit my blog once in a while) you'll find a few of my favorites below.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Hi there everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to celebrating the New Year. I just wanted to give a little update on things here. This year for Christmas I stayed in Indonesia. It was my first Christmas "away from home," far from family and our usual Clauson traditions. It was hard to be so far away but was also full of blessings. Molly, one of my roommates, also stayed here for Christmas and we enjoyed time with some of the families in the community. Here are some highlights:

Christmas Eve morning we were invited over for traditional Finnish porridge with the Anturri family. Paivi Anturri is our school's music teacher. Her and her husband and three kids moved here to Indonesia from Finland 3 years ago. It was fun to try something new and spend time with this family.

Christmas Eve night Molly and I went out to dinner and ran into "Indonesian Santa."
There was a moment when I thought he might give us candy canes, but instead he pulled some fruity candy out of his bag. After dinner we went to the international church's Christmas Eve service.

Christmas day started with breakfast at Matt and Rachel Theissen's house. Matt teaches the upper level math classes and spanish and Rachel teaches english and drama at our school. I was especially excited because I bought real bacon at the store for us to enjoy at our special Christmas breakfast. Yum! I love bacon. :)

Next Molly and I went to the Crowther's house for a British Christmas. One of Molly's student's family is originally from Great Britain and has three kids at our school. We enjoyed spending Christmas with this fun family, especially because the kids were so excited about christmas and presents and all those wonderful things.

In this picture David (in 4th grade) uses one of his gifts to build the biggest tower possible.

Siena (in preschool) shows off her favorite Christmas gift- snorkeling gear.

Callum (in 3rd grade) shares his gift with me- 3D glasses that came with a movie he got.

Sitting down for Christmas dinner- very delicious. We had pumpkin soup, roast beef, potatoes, mashed yams and carrots, and gravy. After dinner we enjoyed some yummy "puddings" as they call dessert in England. Suzanne (the mom) made a treacle tart, chocolate mouse, and fruit salad.

A little after dinner reading- Siena shares with us her love of horses.

We spent almost 7 hours at the Crowther's house and I enjoyed every minute. I love British people, especially their accents. After we got back home we ended our very long Christmas day by having a couple of friends over to watch "A Christmas Story." I was exhausted at the end of it all, but felt blessed to be surrounded by friends while I was far away from family.

Photo Shoot

Our PE teacher's wife is a very gifted photographer. A couple weekends ago Janet agreed to take some pictures for my roommates and I. Jennie needed some photos for a new prayer card and we all joined her so we could get roommate pictures taken that day too. We went around Kota Baru and found some cool photo spots. She got lots of great shots... what a fun day! Thanks Janet for giving us your morning!

We are all proud motorbike owners! :)

That day our kitchen happened to be a disaster. Janet insisted on taking some pics of us being silly and wound up capturing our messy kitchen in the process. Although Jennie and I are posed in this pic, this same scene has probably taken place in real life as we open some drawer to find cockroaches inside. Perhaps in real life, though, I would be the one on the stool and she would be the brave one peaking inside. :)

Finally...

I finally finished the web album I promised of pictures from our trip to Mulih k' Desa. Click on the following link to go there: http://picasaweb.google.com/clauson.emily/GarutTrip

Mulih k' Desa

Melih k' Desa loosely translated means "return to the village" or "return home." Desa is my new favorite word meaning village or countryside. I'm not from the desa (or country) but I definitely want to return to it. A couple weekends ago we went on vacation to a city called Garut and stayed at a resort place named "Mulih k' Desa." It hosts people who are wanting to experience Sundanese culture, on a little bit of a nicer scale. We went with a couple whose kids go to our school and who are involved in a lot of work with the Sundanese people. At this place we stayed in traditional looking bungalows but with nice beds and hot showers inside. It was so nice to get away, relax a bit and have fun together. We signed up for the hotel's leadership program or team building activities where we did some silly games together. One of them was playing tug of war in the mud. Another one involved us balancing across a bamboo pole over a large pit of mud. More than half of us didn't make it across and ended up falling in and coming out pretty dirty. We got to learn how to plant rice and later went out to another field where we saw the end product and watched as it was being harvested. I was told by the man who was leading our group that I was the best rice planter... perhaps this might be a calling of mine. :) We sat outside on the porch of our bungalow looking at the rice patties, watching to see if our rice might grow, and enjoying quality conversation. We went to the pasar (traditional market), where the women found some cool tin dishes and the men bought machetes. We sat on the floor in open air huts and ate traditional meals. One night we went to a nearby hot springs, where there were two pools. One was hot and the other one was HOT. The smaller pool had the hottest water I have ever felt in my life. You could barely put your legs in, let alone get all the way in to sit in it. At the hot springs a few in our group decided to draw some attention and sing karaoke for all the people that were there. One played the piano while the other two sang. Another night we had a bonfire and layed around staring at the stars. We saw a lot of shooting stars and tried to spot the constellations because we had a star expert in our group or at least someone who had brought along a map of the constellations. On Sunday we gathered for some fellowship. Then before leaving the couple who had planned the trip had also prepared a scavenger hunt of sorts for us to do. We split into two groups to go out into the surrounding neighborhoods. We were given a wide variety of tasks to complete, worth different amounts of points, that had to be documented with photographs. The tasks ranged from things like plucking a feather from a chicken, catching a tadpole, and holding a baby under 5 months old to things like playing a traditional instrument, hearing a story from someone who has seen a ghost, and getting a signature from a midwife. We had a lot of fun trying to see how many we could accomplish and hang out with some local Sundanese people. They truly are generous people with such beautiful hearts.

Here are just a few snapshots of all that our weekend held. More pictures to come once I get the Picasa WebAlbum finished.

Thanksgiving Day

Our Thanksgiving Progressive Dinner 35 people from 6 different countries 4 houses 5 hours a delicious and fun meal