starting over

Biru {blue}

The other day my 7th grade class decided that it was blue day. They talked amongst themselves and contacted each other the night before. They all wore these bright blue shirts that they had gotten at a retreat. I looked up as they were taking their math test and realized they were all matching. Cracks me up.

Macet {traffic}

This is my life...

Reflections

I have been pondering life lately...
in the few moments of thinking time that I can fit in these days.

I know it has been awhile since I updated this blog. Some of that comes from a severe lack of time. But another part of that has been a intentional choice to refrain.

It seems sometimes that technology and electronic communication overtake us and suck us into a false reality. It takes away from the genuineness of our actual relationships. We spend more time connecting with people in virtual reality than in real life, face-to-face interactions. I am not sure what to do with this but it has spurred me to want to live in the present, in community with the people around me, instead of searching for meaning and recognition from an artificial world or electronic friends.

In the meantime life continues rolling by, filled with simple moments of kampung life and daily living.

Like the other day when I was on my way to school and a little boy was standing on the side of the road. He could not have been older than 4. When he saw me passing by he stopped, kind of got down in a squatted position with his butt sticking out. He stuck his finger out at me, pointing and staring me down until I was out of sight.

Another morning down the road a little further an older man was standing in the middle of our dirt road in nothing but his boxers. He looked a little lost. Perhaps he had just woken up and stumbled outside. Standing there in a daze, he seemed to be trying to remember what it was he came outside for.

Yesterday on my way out in the afternoon, I looked over down the small path that is across from my house. Outside one of the houses was a girl in maybe 4th grade wrapped in a towel. She looked like she had just finished with her afternoon mandi (bucket bath). I have no idea why she was standing outside but she was.

Today I came home from school to find they had harvested what I affectionately call "our rice field." There is a small field that sits right in front of our house. I claim ownership over it even though I take no part in the labor involved in making the rice grow. Over the past few months we have watched it go from small little sprouts to tall stalks of bright green. But now it has all been chopped down and the field lays barren and brown.

Just some random reflections of life here in the kampung.

Bekk and Adam are getting married!

Some good friends here recently got engaged.
Adam is from Alaska and Bekk is from Australia.
They met here in Bandung and have been dating for the past year.
We are so excited for them!
Their plan is to get married here over spring break and
their families will come to Indonesia for the wedding.

To celebrate their engagement we gathered for a picnic in Bekk's backyard.
We drank homemade chi tea
Ate yummy treats.
Chatted, laughed, and soaked up the sun.
It is so fun to celebrate life moments like these with good friends.
And it is a reminder to me of the importance of living life in community.

Here are a few pics of the fun:

Picnicing is the perfect way to celebrate
and the perfect way to spend a saturday afternoon.

Bekk has a strange teletubbie statue in her backyard.
Charity and I look on puzzled and a little frightened.

Lots and lots of laughs

Bekk and her sister team up to try moving it out of the way
so we can party without the creepy statue looming.

Bekk tells the story of how she proposed to Adam, in a way that only she could.

Botram {potluck}

Thought I would share a little bit more about our staff picnic we had a couple weeks ago. We had about 90 of our staff show up- both Indonesian and bule (american). We went to this really cool place that had big grass fields, a large pond filled with fish, a zip line, and a covered picnic area perfect as shelter from the rain. We picniced Indonesian style. They call it botram. Everybody brings their own food and a little to share. We sat around on woven mats in little family groups. Then you go around tasting what everyone else brought. Kind of like potluck but everyone keeps their own food and waits for others to come to them to try what they have. At the beginning they guys got a game of soccer going and some volleyball while the kids played in the fish pond (they were trying to pull the fish out of the water), and the woman sat around chatting. Then after we ate and it started raining we played some intense games of crab soccer under the roof. It was a very fun day to hang out as a staff outside of school and just be together.

finding time to breath

It has been so busy around here lately.
I have found myself running here, there, and everywhere.
The calendar is packed full and there does not seem to be any reprieve any time soon.
It has been hard to find time to breath in the midst of it all.

This morning I read, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Oh, how true that is.

This evening heavy rains have come again and it is pouring outside.

A couple of weeks ago our staff gathered for a picnic.
Here's some proof that we have been getting lots of rain lately:

Selesai {finished}

Ramadan is finally over. For some reason it was a tough season for me this year. You really have to reorient your whole life so that you do not eat or drink in front of anyone all day. Especially in our little house in the kampung. It felt like we were hiding behind our door and curtains- perhaps because we were.

The last night of Ramadan was a crazy one. The neighborhood stayed up all night and partied. The prayers were going off on the loud speaker, chanting and singing and sometimes just someone speaking. Occasionally they would have a drum session and music would fill the air. Throughout the night fireworks were continuously being set off.

But personally I think if you successfully fast- from food and water- from sun up (6am) to sun down (6pm) every day for a month you have every right to party it up.

All that to say, I am glad Ramadan is finished. I feel a new sense of freedom as I am sure my neighbors do as well.

In other news we are getting lots of rain these days. It seems there won't be a dry season for us this year. It is suppose to quit raining in April or May until about October or November so we can dry out before raining season starts up again for the rest of the year. Looks like that won't be the case this year. It just keeps raining. Guess that means we will have lots of green hills.

Sawah {rice field}

I am obsessed with rice. Both eating it and watching it grow.
My neighborhood is surrounded by rice fields. In every nook and cranny it seems
that someone has planted some rice- across the street, in between houses,
along the road, in every patch of empty space.

I find it absolutely breathtaking.
I am amazed at how green the fields are, from the time they are planted
with little tiny bundles until it grows up tall and bushy. Only in the very final stage
does it begin to turn golden brown and then you know it is time for harvest.

This morning on my way to school the air was crisp
and the sun was shinning
and the rice fields were glowing.
Little water droplets clung to the tips of each individual blade.

And somehow it seemed that all was right with the world.

Village Life

Just another day in the kampung

A friend asked me the other day, "How's life in the village?" I just had to sigh. Some days it is more fun than others. Sometimes you realize the benefits of not having everyone know all the details of your life and keeping track of your coming and going. The benefits of going wherever and doing whatever. The benefit of not getting stopped every time you enter or exit your house by the landlord who lives across the street and wants to talk or the neighbor who lives next door and wants to know where you are going and where the rest of your roommates are.

This afternoon my roommate and I took a short walk through the neighborhood and stumbled upon a large group of women and children hanging out. We struck up simple conversation with them. They asked us where we were going, where we lived, our names, etc. The crowd slowly grew larger as more kids gathered and more women came out of their homes. It is amazing to me how many people can be living in seemingly such a small area. Suddenly we had a whole group of people standing around us just starring, like we were a spectacle and unlike anything they had seen before. They did not know what to say and honestly neither did we. We spent a few minutes trying to play with the kids and teach them a hand game- one of those where you stand in a circle, sing a song, and people get out if they are the last one to get the slap. Quickly though the sun began to set and it was time for everyone to go home. There was talk of "let's do this again," "see you later," "come to my house to visit tomorrow" and then the crowd dispersed.

Oh village life, some days you overwhelm me.