to the country (yet again, last Friday)

This is Ibu Mila, her daughter Olivia, her daughter's friend, and her son Agung. Ibu Mila works part-time for us as a cook/maid, and we are so thankful for her. Last Friday I went home with her to her village and was able to see her family's farm and meet some of her family members. Her husband often works in the capital, so he is away, but she also lives with her mother, two brothers, their wives, and a little nephew (who is 2, but is about the size of a 1 year old).




This is one of Ibu Mila's friends, along with some kids from the village. I only stayed there for one night, but had a great time (despite the roosters that began crowing at 3:00 in the morning and did not stop until after 6. I had some grilled corn fresh from the small brick oven, and was able to meet quite a few people, at which time I realized that I really don't know this language at all.

an asian zoofari

Close to my city is a zoo-like place that is part zoo and part zoofari (where you drive through the animal habitats. I've been there twice (the first time because I had never been, and the second time because Erin and I wanted to take our helper and one of her children).
This is the group that went on the first trip. In the backseat with me is our friend Ardi who we go to for all things regarding movies. He's our local American gentleman, always allowing ladies to go first, opening doors, etc. Very kind and good friend.

And this is who joined us on our second trip: Ibu Mila and her son, Agung. This was right before she freaked out and dropped the carrot. The nationals here tend to be scared. A lot.
This is one of my favorite pictures. Too bad I had to shrink all these pictures, because if you could see it, the orangutan would be gazing off lackadaisically.
This is another one of my favorite pictures, mainly because we were only ten feet away from this tiger.
Another of my favorite experiences at the zoofari are the camels that aren't afraid to stick their entire heads in our windows (as long as food is involved, anyway).
This one was hanging in a tree in the zoo part of the park, more free than the other animals.
I know by now you're probably getting bored of looking at animals you could see in any zoo, but look at this itty bitty baby and his really long tail.
This hippo was pretty close to us, too. He was about ten feet away. During this part, we were driving through the water. He almost looks fake, don't you think?

There is a funny story behind this one. So here are the people involved: 1 very large and in charge rhino, and one very small Asian man. The rhino had *somehow* gotten out of his little fence (they really have a false sense of security with fences here, but that's another story), and this man was just escorting it along the way, occasionally slapping its behind.
Here are the Nasty McNastiest--the komodos. Gross. Look at that tongue. Nasty.
This guy reminded me of the Jungle Book, one of my favorite Disney movies. You know the part where Mowgli and Bagheera are preparing to sleep, and the panther falls asleep. Shortly thereafter, Kaa (voiced by the same man who voiced Winnie the Pooh in the old cartoons) comes along to eat Mowgli.
There is another funny story here. Remember when I told you nationals are afriad of a lot of things? Well, Ardi here was afraid of this 4 ft tall deer. Too afraid to feed it. You see him laughing because he is nervous (note: his hand is on the window, rolling it up). By the end of the day, he was reaching out the window. As Chucky Finster in Rugrats would say, he was, "A big brave dog."
One of the lions. Both times we drove through they were being super lazy, all asleep within close proximity of one another.
A bear eating a melon. When we went the second time they were bathing. That was really cute, but I wasn't able to get a picture.

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."