Every day has moments that are memorable. We meet so many interesting people, find out different things we hadn't heard of before and just plain old have funny things happen. I have been keeping track of things and will throw a 'Top Ten' list together for this post.
Here they are in no particular order:
1. The motorcycles are everywhere, sliding in and around, going the wrong way on roads. Almost gnat-like in their buzzing around. Now add this to the picture....there may be several people on a motorcycle...several children even. The most we have seen is 5...typically without a helmet. Motorcycles are also used to transport items....big items too. We saw on motorcycle rider, on the windy road to Sigli carrying 3 long tables! Holding one with each arm and balancing one on his head. Sorry we weren't fast enough to get a picture of that one. The amazing thing is that on the first mission we were aghast at the children on the bikes and the no helmets....now we just count them to see if we will see more than 5 on a bike.
2. We hear so many good phrases and word spins. One of my favourites was 'You know what the flow.' This was said to us when someone was sharing a challenging story from his work place...along the lines of "You know how it goes".
3. The air conditioners in the Sigli house have remote controls. Each room has a wall mounted holder for the AC remote next to the light switch.
4. The animals we see while we travel...monkeys, water buffalo, many many cattle, the occasional elephant, large lizards and small geckoes. Then we are also surprised by the animals we don't see....there are very few birds and no horses.
5. I have been keeping a list of words that are the same in English and Bahasa Indonesian....so far I have: element, proposal, effective, brochure, concept, conflict and success.
6. Fuzzy furry purple flip flops.....I want them so BAD!
7. Katherine reads the newspapers here any chance she gets. Yesterday she saw an article about a woman's mud soccer tournament. The winning team won 5 ducks. We are not making this stuff up. If we chose to we could watch all the Al-Gezeera network we want...if that wasn't of interest we could watch TV from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Oman, Saudi, Quatar and Libya. And in a pinch every day there is channel G with a daily dose of fashion yacht TV (a reality game show with skinny models cavorting around a yacht). And this is with cable!
8. The road to Sigli. We thought it was rough during the first mission....this time a large portion of it is under construction. Part of it is at the stage where all of the black top is being removed. This makes for more curves and bumps and jostles. We have somewhat acclimatized to the drive and have been listening to music from home through the I-Pod (thanks Alex!) which makes it fun. Katherine and I sing away to old Bowie songs and the drive passes quite nicely. The part I may not have emphasized is how truly beautiful the ride is...the mountains curve around the background, the sky is usually a brilliant blue and rice fields give balance.
9. Padang food - which requires higher math skills. Many many little bowls of food are brought to your table, most containing 4 items. You get a plate with a mound of rice and help yourself to what you want. You can take a little or a lot. When you are done the server assesses how much you ate from each bowl and charges you accordingly. We are in awe of this process because sometimes we will take just a spoonful from the bowl and there are upward of 20 bowls. We have been told that the local curry goat stew is spiced with ganja. (Yep - ganja is ganja here too.) So the joke was that if I ate the stew they would have to wake me up at work because I would be too sleepy. Today's padang lunch included lung. I found this too much to look at....it looked similar to what you can see on cigarette packages at home. Katherine and Sosi humoured me and moved the bowl of lung to the far end of the table.
10. How lucky we are. Everyday we are seeing new things, learning and finding out more. It is an adventure that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Here they are in no particular order:
1. The motorcycles are everywhere, sliding in and around, going the wrong way on roads. Almost gnat-like in their buzzing around. Now add this to the picture....there may be several people on a motorcycle...several children even. The most we have seen is 5...typically without a helmet. Motorcycles are also used to transport items....big items too. We saw on motorcycle rider, on the windy road to Sigli carrying 3 long tables! Holding one with each arm and balancing one on his head. Sorry we weren't fast enough to get a picture of that one. The amazing thing is that on the first mission we were aghast at the children on the bikes and the no helmets....now we just count them to see if we will see more than 5 on a bike.
2. We hear so many good phrases and word spins. One of my favourites was 'You know what the flow.' This was said to us when someone was sharing a challenging story from his work place...along the lines of "You know how it goes".
3. The air conditioners in the Sigli house have remote controls. Each room has a wall mounted holder for the AC remote next to the light switch.
4. The animals we see while we travel...monkeys, water buffalo, many many cattle, the occasional elephant, large lizards and small geckoes. Then we are also surprised by the animals we don't see....there are very few birds and no horses.
5. I have been keeping a list of words that are the same in English and Bahasa Indonesian....so far I have: element, proposal, effective, brochure, concept, conflict and success.
6. Fuzzy furry purple flip flops.....I want them so BAD!
7. Katherine reads the newspapers here any chance she gets. Yesterday she saw an article about a woman's mud soccer tournament. The winning team won 5 ducks. We are not making this stuff up. If we chose to we could watch all the Al-Gezeera network we want...if that wasn't of interest we could watch TV from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Oman, Saudi, Quatar and Libya. And in a pinch every day there is channel G with a daily dose of fashion yacht TV (a reality game show with skinny models cavorting around a yacht). And this is with cable!
8. The road to Sigli. We thought it was rough during the first mission....this time a large portion of it is under construction. Part of it is at the stage where all of the black top is being removed. This makes for more curves and bumps and jostles. We have somewhat acclimatized to the drive and have been listening to music from home through the I-Pod (thanks Alex!) which makes it fun. Katherine and I sing away to old Bowie songs and the drive passes quite nicely. The part I may not have emphasized is how truly beautiful the ride is...the mountains curve around the background, the sky is usually a brilliant blue and rice fields give balance.
9. Padang food - which requires higher math skills. Many many little bowls of food are brought to your table, most containing 4 items. You get a plate with a mound of rice and help yourself to what you want. You can take a little or a lot. When you are done the server assesses how much you ate from each bowl and charges you accordingly. We are in awe of this process because sometimes we will take just a spoonful from the bowl and there are upward of 20 bowls. We have been told that the local curry goat stew is spiced with ganja. (Yep - ganja is ganja here too.) So the joke was that if I ate the stew they would have to wake me up at work because I would be too sleepy. Today's padang lunch included lung. I found this too much to look at....it looked similar to what you can see on cigarette packages at home. Katherine and Sosi humoured me and moved the bowl of lung to the far end of the table.
10. How lucky we are. Everyday we are seeing new things, learning and finding out more. It is an adventure that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
6 comments:
Hey, Dawna. I want those flipflops, too!
Your trip and mission sound fascinating. Please fill me in, or refer me to the right place on your blog, for info. on how you came to be doing this.
Hey you two,
The blog postings are getting more and more interesting, the kids, the food, the motorcycles, the kids marching, and, oh yeah, the library stuff.
Great to see the pictures, too.
Stay safe.
xo
Sheila,
I may just have to get those flip flops now!
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)posted for this project through various municipal channels across Canada. Katherine and I saw the posting at TPL and both applied for it...they were looking for 2 librarians. We never expected that we would both be selected. FCM has a website where they highlight different projects they are delivering (supported by CIDA). There is another library project happening right now in Sri Lanka. Other FCM projects in Indonesia are focused on local government development and waste management.
Number 11. Now you have a great blog!
Terrific blog! Your pics and your experiences (yes, even the library ones) are really fascinating. Hey, Dawna, bring me back a gecko!
Wishing you both a continued great trip,
David K @TPL
David,
There is a gecko in my room right now. I would happily give it to you RIGHT now if I could! I am trying not to think about it because it will make falling asleep even more difficult!
Thanks for the great feedback about the blog.
Dawna.
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