to the country (only for a little while)

Two weeks ago we had a long holiday, so Erin, Mei, and I went to nearby countryside to hang out. It was foggy, but beautiful. We found our way near some farms, and then we got out and started to walk around, toward one of the local mountains.

Here is just one glance at the immaculately-combed farmlands. The farms were the only things we could see for miles. Gorgeous.

Here is a renown Hindu temple in the middle of the farms.
Here we are in the middle of nowhere. We used one of the farmer's motorbikes to prop our camera. The strange thing is the grade going uphill is pretty steep, yet they somehow drive their motorbikes up there. Even Mei, the national, was amazed, and he's pretty daring. So then, after walking around for a while we went back to the car only to found that it was parked in some wet grass so it didn't want to budge. Mei and I tried to push it while Erin worked the gas, and it worked only in unsticking the back passenger wheel and moving the car closer to the ravine. We were covered in mud splatter, but unfortunately it didn't show up in this picture. Sad times. Eventually, one farmer joined us to help but the car got too close to the ravine, so we had to get more farmers to push it out manually without having someone operate the gas.

to the country

Yuli, Olvi (who helps Witner), Ika, Erin, me, Witner (Mei's brother), and Jules (who helps Witner).

Last weekend my friends and I went four hours to J-town to visit a village. This is the same village that Erin and I slipped in the mud a month and a half ago, so of course. Our friend Mei's brother lives there, and he had invited us to come stay for a couple of days. So, we packed up Erin's car (oh yeah--my roommate has a car, which comes in handy here) with five people and headed for J-town. Because I had already had to travel to J-town four days before due to immigration, I laid in the far back seat and took a four hour rest. When we got there, we immediately realized the village was not as scary to walk around when it is dry.

The trip was good, and the visit was even better. The land was beautiful and the people were so kind. Some of them would ask, "Hey, do you remember when you fell that one time?" The only problem was the mosquitoes there were very strong (and plentiful), so I came home with thirty or so new bites. J-town is much hotter than here, but for the record, you know you are in this country when taking a cold bath/shower at 5:30 in the morning feels really good.



Here we are in a river taking a rest. The water was perfect, especially since it was pretty hot that day.
Here we are walking through the rice fields.

Erin and Mei acting like farmers.

Here's Erin pretending she cooked all the food Olvi prepared for us. This included: rice, friend banana, fried noodles, fried chicken, fried fish, and vegetables.

Here we are eating the way some people do around here.

Fresh coconut milk, then fresh coconut meat. (Note: it tastes nothing like the coconut we get in the States.)
Here's one of the coconut trees. Don't stand under one too long, as it could be hazardous to your health.

Dental Projects

One day a co-worker of mine was driving around when he realized that the people around the villages don't have teeth, partially because they have never brushed their teeth. So, he decided that it would be good to show young children how to brush their teeth, then equip them with toothpaste and toothbrushes so they could have clean, healthy teeth. The project is through the English center here, and the nationals who take courses at the center are the ones who lead the projects, the foreigners are only there to assist them. The projects are good because not only does it provide something good to the children, but it helps establish a relationship between the village schools and my co-workers. Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures from the two dental projects I have attended.


This is how we teach the children how to brush their teeth. Unfortunately, our puppet's teeth has seen better days. Maybe we use this as a scare tactic? Nova (the girl) leads most of our community development projects. This day, Mei (the guy) helped Nova with our puppet.


This is Wicak, one of the teachers at Access.


This little boy was adorable. He had no front teeth, but he kept brushing away.

These kids were waiting while the older kids were brushing their teeth outside. They were listening and learning words to the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."


My friend Ibra was teaching these students how to brush their teeth and apparently he made a funny because they cracked up.


This school was called "Jungle School." We were wondering if our vehicles could make it out there, but we did! On the way we validated the name "Jungle School."

critter update

Here is a list of all the critters we have found in and around our house in prior weeks.

Cockroaches come out at night. Sometimes I take the effort to kill them. A lot of other times I don't. These are called friends.

Ants of many different forms can be found on and in our food. We don't worry about killing them because it would be futile. Did I mention they were everywhere? But anyway, not a big deal. These are called vitamins.

There are centipedes that we find every now and then. Those creep me out, but usually I just put them on a piece of paper and throw them outside.

There are sacks that hang from the ceiling, and we're not sure what critters are in them, but we've labeled them little nasties.

Then the things we thought were slugs--turns out they are leeches. They are still around, but they are only bad on some days. We kill them like no other.

One time we saw a miniature snake with legs. It was only about six inches long and we were able to kill it with a flip flop, but it was disgusting. One of my national friends saw it, and I asked him what it is called in the national language. He said he only knows it as "snake with legs." Helpful, huh? Anyway, we call it Satan, because surely that's what Satan looked like in the Garden.

There are many lizards who live here, but we like them because they eat the mosquitos. The lizards here are almost translucent--a wild looking animal, and they are pretty skittish.

The worst part is the cats. We have several that think this is their house despite our efforts to prove them wrong. When we aren't here or are inside, they are in our front yard. One time when we were watching a movie, one snuck in Erin's room (through the window which doesn't have a screen, only the bars) and puked on her bed. Another time I was asleep when I woke up to what sounded like two very frustrated cats. Then I realized the frustrated sound was actually them making babies. It was pretty loud, and I knew they were inside the house, so I got up to find them outside our kitchen going at it. They can get in because the back of the house is open to the sky. The next time I see them I will kill them without a second thought. I tried to hit them with a broom, but they ran away too quickly. The bad thing is that these ugly cats get together and the only thing they propagate is more ugly cats, so really if I kill the ugly ones, then I would be doing this country a favor. We just call these things, "Die, you stupid cats!" (Only we say it in the national language so they'll understand. ;) )