Nativity

I miss my collection of Nativity sets.  We actually have a Christian book store here and they sell Nativity sets.  But they look very "American" and cost $36.  I might pay that much for a set that looked Indonesian but I won't pay that much for a set that looks like I bought it at Walmart.  So I decided to make my own.  Those of you that know me, understand how that could be quite a joke.  But..... I found instructions for a paper set in my favorite magazine Life:Beautiful.  I will put in a plug for the magazine right here.  It is a beautiful Christian magazine.  I found it a couple of years ago at Walmart, of all places.  I love it. 

 



















The instructions for the Nativity were pretty easy if I can do them.  I just had to photocopy the patterns, trace them onto cardstock and cut them out.  I haven't made the "stable" yet.  It's a little more complicated.  I'll have to work up some umph before I tackle it. 

I was relieved not to have shepherds, wise men and angels to make also.  That might have been too daunting a task for me. But I managed the main characters. 

 

Well, that's all from me for this time. Hope you are enjoying decorating for the holidays.  Enjoy the cold weather for me, ok?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Street vendors

Two Sundays without a post.  Did you notice?  :o) Excuse #1:  Last week the power was out when I got home from church and stayed off til five.  Excuse #2: The week before that.... hmm, don't remember.  Laziness perhaps.

Last Saturday, I spent some time at the Underhill's home.  I hadn't been there long when I heard some kind of whistling noise outside.  I asked about it and was informed it was the man who sold some rice concoction.  I don't remember the name for it right now. 

Since the Underhills were going to buy some of these rice things, I got a chance to have a cultural experience. 

Let me try to briefly explain what happens.  A gentleman brings his "store" with him on the back of his motorcycle to a neighborhood.  The whistling sound, which attracts customers, was the steam coming from his "stove."  (A lot of  " " in this post.)  The procedure:  he scoops a bit of green rice from his drawer and stuffs into hollow bamboo tubes.  A layer of "brown sugar" goes in next topped with another layer of green rice.  He sets these bamboo containers onto  a little hole on his "stove" so they will steam.  Once he thinks they are done, he takes them off and pushes the rice cylinders out with his handy stick.  He tops it off with a generous sprinkling of coconut and voila - green rice things.  I made myself eat one - I reasoned that the steaming surely would kill any germs, right?? It actually wasn't bad and I didn't end up with dysentery .

 

 That's all for this Sunday.  Grading and lesson plans are calling my name. 

My pembantu

I have a helper.  Don't judge me.  :o)  I had helpers in the States too.  I just didn't realize it.  I had a dishwasher, a clothes dryer, one stop shopping at Walmart; I didn't have to soak every single fruit and vegetable in bleach water, I didn't constantly fight ants, or mildew.  I'm not complaining; just stating facts that lead to the conclusion that I am okay with having a helper.  She comes twice a week for two hours.  So I still have to wash my dishes, make my bed, pick up after myself and cook if I want to eat.  :o) 

My pembantu's name is Elin.  (pembantu=helper)  I've accepted two invitations to her house on the occasions of Eid el Fitr and Eid al Adha.  I met Elin's mother at Eid el Fitr.  Her mother is a dukun.  A dukun has powers for healing given to them by a spirit.  (Read between the lines.)  Her mother has also been on the Hajj; the pilgrimage to Mecca which is one of the five pillars of Islam. 

Elin always brings one of her twin sisters to help.  She told me that she gives them part of her salary to help them pay for school. 

Elin is married and has two young children.  She doesn't see her husband very much.  He is off for months at a time working.  This seems to be a very prevalent way of life here in Tarakan.  Husbands go off to earn a living and only come home every three months or so for a few days and then they are off again.  A hard life - if you like your husband. 



Elin is on the far right.  The little girl is her oldest; the young boy is her brother.  The twins are her sisters.  The lady in the background is her mother. 

Pray for me:  that in all my dealings with Elin and her family that I will live a life that gives an accurate picture of what God is like.  

 

This 'N That II

I spent some of yesterday making granola and yogurt.  The stores here do carry cereal - Cornflakes and some chocolate flake cereal.  Since I am picky, I don't like either of those, therefore, I must make something I will eat in the morning.  I did see a box of Special K with almonds when I was in Balikpapan.  It cost over $6.00!!  I didn't need it badly enough to pay that price. 

Yogurt we can't get here.  So I make my own like most of the other ladies here.  It is actually pretty easy and tastes so much better than yogurt from the grocery store in the U.S. 

I mix the milk and yogurt starter in the insulated container and after it has set, I transfer it to the jars.  Two and a half jars will last me a while.  Yogurt takes the place of sour cream (which we can't get) and also tastes yummy with jam and granola.  I usually make granola every two weeks. 

Oh, yesterday morning I also washed the fruit I bought.  I wash everything in bleach water. 

See the papaya?  I will squeeze some lime juice and honey over it and it will be delish.  ;o)

It's not just fruit I wash.  I wash my Coke cans and milk boxes. Everything in the stores comes on ships from some other island - probably Java.  And who knows what critters are crawling all over the stuff before it gets unloaded at Tarakan's dock.  I'm just taking cautious preventive measures. 

Now, take all of the above tasks and multiply them four or six times and you get a glimpse of what the moms here do to feed and to care for their families.   

Joy Forney (look her up on the MAF website) told me about my new favorite drink.  It is TEBS - Tea with Soda.  For those of you who have lived in Brazil, it tastes quite a bit like guarana.  It's not the same but it is close enough for now. 





































This little packet contains ayam penyet.  I know that ayam means chicken but I haven't found out what penyet means.  When I put it into Google Translate, nothing came up.  Oh well.  It tastes good and everyone here eats it without anything going awry. 

Here is the package opened.  Chicken, rice, tempeh and tofu, cucumber, cabbage and some kind of greens all on a banana leaf.  Looks yummy, huh?  :o)  Actually, it isn't bad at all. 

 Well, that's all for this week.  Tune in next Sunday for more stories. 
Thanks for reading my blog.
(P.S. I don't know enough about computers to get rid of those two big chunks of white space. Grrr.  Oh, to be young again. :o) )



Balikpapan and Eid Al Adha

I didn't post last Sunday because I didn't get back from Balikpapan until late afternoon.  I was exhausted and also had to take care of some school work before Monday came around.  Balikpapan is a city about an hours flight away from Tarakan.  It's an oil town so it has a lot of Westerners which means a lot of stores cater to Western tastes. 

I went with Holly Underhill and Angela Moore.  The weekend ended up being a marathon shopping trip.  Holly is a shopping queen.  She knows all the places to go for good deals and great buys.  And we hit them all.  On the way to Balikpapan we each had our carry-ons tucked into our regular suitcases.  On the way home, we had carry-ons and checked bags stuffed to the gills.  What did we buy?  Holly and Angela were buying Christmas presents and all of us were on the lookout for American foods we miss.  For example:  Parmesan and Cheddar cheese, cranberries and cranberry sauce, Snickers, almonds, black olives, salsa, lunch meat, bacon, and we even hauled a 13 lb turkey home.  We'll eat him at our MAF Thanksgiving meal. 

 There is a McDonald's in Balikpapan.  I usually don't eat at McD's in the States but I did there.  The hamburger tasted so good, we ended up eating at McDonald's twice.  :o)  Here is a picture of us ready to return home with loaded baggage. 

Angela, me, Holly

 

 

Friday was a Muslim holiday here.  It is one of the Eid festivals.  The "greater" Eid is Eid al Fitri which comes at the end of the month of Ramadan.  The festival this past Friday is the "lesser" Eid - the Eid Al Adha.  Not sure what the Arabic means, but according to Islam, it is the celebration of the time Abraham almost sacrificed his son Ishmael.  No typo there.  That is what they believe happened.  You can google it.  Hundreds of cows or goats are slaughtered during this festival in commemoration of the event.  And the mosques sound the prayers from seven to ten on the eve of the festival and then from four-thirty to seven-thirty on the morning of the festival.  I'm attaching a video of a mosque call to prayer.  There isn't anything to see because I took it at night.  Envision this "call" going on for three hours.  

 

 

 

We MAF'ers live in a predominantly Muslim culture.  Friendly, kind, generous Muslims.  We try to live exemplary lives among them.   You can pray that we succeed.  

Play, pouring rain and power.

You will remember from last week's post that we had standing water in the school due to an overflowing tank in the attic.  One casualty of the flood was the large bean bag that sits in the library - it got soaked.  Holly (one of the moms) suggested we dump its innards out onto a tarp so the sun could dry the styrofoam pellets and hopefully remove the moldy stench.  But the tarp was dirty.  So we had a slip 'n slide day during P.E. last week to "clean" the tarp.  The tarp didn't really get very clean (Chad and I had to wipe it down after the fun) but the kids had a good time and thought they were being helpful at the same time.  

Aunt Mary, at the top of the hill with the hose; Uncle Chad at the bottom of the slip 'n slide taking pictures.  


Every Thursday night the MAF team gets together.  Some nights we pray, some we just sing, others we study a portion of the Bible or we have a team meeting.  Last Thursday, I was riding my scooter home from one of these get-togethers when it started to rain.  Not just rain but rain in torrents!  By the time I got home, I was soaked.  And I am not just using that word for effect.  I was dripping water.  I was able to wring water out of my clothes.  I would have taken a picture of my drowned-rat self, but the electricity was off and without lights it would have been too dark a picture for you to really get a good laugh.  I actually was laughing by the time I got home.  It was just so, so,....  I don't know - ludicrous?  It was either laugh or cry.  I decided to laugh! :o)

The electricity being off brings me to another aspect of my life here.  We have been having regular power outages.  Not an uncommon thing here in Tarakan.  For a variety of reasons, there isn't enough power to supply the entire town with electricity all of the time.  So neighborhoods take turns having their electricity shut off.  Like today - the electricity was off from around noon til about 3:00, which is actually a very short outage.   BUT - just last week, a generator was installed at my house because my house is also the school.  It is very hard to concentrate on your school work when your are dripping sweat.  So our wonderful base manager (Brian Underhill) brought the old generator from the hangar and got it up and running for the school.  How lucky for me that I live at school! 

 

A yellow generator is a thing of beauty forever.  I had lessons on how to get it up and running.  Not as hard as you might think.  In fact, not hard at all.  Kind of like starting a car. 

 

Well, that's all for this week.  Tune in next week.  I'm going to Balikpapan (an hour flight from here) for a little  R and R.  Maybe I'll have some interesting stories from that trip.  Talk to you later.

It Could Have Been Worse

This past week I was wondering what I would blog about this Sunday.  But Friday came and gave me something to write about. 

Friday evening I was invited to dinner at another MAF family's house. ( BTW, the food was delicious!  The ladies here are such good cooks.)  Anyway - when I left the house, the electricity was off.  (Just so you know, we are currently on a one-day-on, one-day-off power outage scheule.  The power outages last about 5 - 6 hours.)  Back to the story.  When the electricity is off, usually there is no water in the house because the pump is electric.  But whoever lived here last year rigged some kind of gravity tank so that there would always be water.  This tank is in the attic right outside my bedroom door.  Too many details; you're already bored.  I'll just cut to the chase.  While I was gone, this tank started filling up but never stopped filling and yes, you guessed it - started overflowing.  I'm not sure how long it ran but when I got home water was pouring out of the ceiling and down into the basement.  It was pouring through the basement ceiling into Chad's classroom and the library.  There were about two inches of standing water on the floor of the classroom, the library and the hallway. 

I frantically called our program manager and he came to my rescue.  While I waited on him to arrive, I was dashing about like a chicken with its head cut off.  I didn't know what to do first.  I didn't have a clue how to stop the flow of water; there were so many places it was pouring out of that getting a bucket didn't even cross my mind.  I just kind of dashed hither and yon fruitlessly. 

Long story short - we got the water turned off, several people came over to help sop up the mess and by 11:30 we had most of it cleaned up. 

Now the real work begins.  Finding out why the tank ran over and what to do about it.  Thankfully, not my job. 

I didn't get any pictures because unfortunately my camera got a little bit wet.  It's fine now.  So I took a picture of the big hole that is now in my celing.  You can just see the infamous orange tank in this picture.  It is sitting on a platform which I hope is a sturdily built platform.  If that tank should ever come crashing down out of the attic - Good-bye cruel world. 

 

This is the spot where water was pouring out onto the bookshelves. 

 

 

 Water-logged books drying out in front of the fan.  

 

 

I'm just thankful it wasn't worse and that I didn't have to clean up the mess by myself. 

 

Until next Sunday!





Class addition and my house

Yes, yes, I know.  I've already posted several school pictures.  But this one is different you see.  It has all of my students in it.  See? Different.  :o) Britton Forney is the latest addition.  He brings my class to a total of five students which is all I will have this year - barring some unforseen change in plans. 

From left to right:  Taylor and Caleb Moore, Issac Underhill, Britton Forney, Hattie Underhill. 

 

 

I thought you might like to see some pictures of my house 





 

When I step out my bedroom door and turn right, I see the door of my classroom about three steps away.  Now that is a short commute.  :o) 

 

 

This is my living room and dining "porch."  The floors look a lot nicer in this picture than they are in reality.  They are pretty indestructible.  My helper mops them with soapy water every week. 

 

 

The kitchen; the yellow propane bottle peeking out beside the stove is its source of gas.

 

 

The outside of my house. 

 

School playground. 

The kids play a game called "grounders" here.  Have you ever heard of it?  Me either.  I think they created it themselves.  Grounders is the current recess game. 

 

 

 

Pictures may be worth a thousand words but they don't do justice to the real thing.  You could visit me and see it first hand.  :o) 

 

 

Til next week.  Blessings!





Sunday Post

Well, it's time for my Sunday post and I'm not sure what to say.  I have some stories but no pictures.  And a picture is worth a thousand words.  I'd have to write over three thousand words if I were to tell you about the three things that pop into my head.  Too many words. 

My three stories would be about the monitor lizard that lives under my house, my adventure last night on my scooter and the downpour of rain that kept me from riding my scooter to church today. 

I need to remember to always keep my camera with me like an extra appendage.  I can't tell you the number of times I have wanted to kick myself because I didn't have my camera with me and thus missed an opportunity to capture something in this culture that amazes me. 

One of those moments would have been last night while I was riding my scooter.  I was stopped at a red light behind some vehicles (cars and motorcycles), and soon I was hemmed in all around by other vehicles.  I could have easily, without having to stretch at all, reached over and touched the guy on the motorcycle beside me.  There is a "lane" but it really is meaningless.  If I can find a tiny space beside you in this lane that will help me get a little closer to the front of the line, I will squeeze into that space.  When the light turned green, we all moved, like water flowing out of a pipe.  It made me nervous but no one else seemed to mind.  Guess it might not have been the best time to take a picture.  :o)

I have a monitor lizard living under my house.  I've never actually seen him but the other teachers and the kids have.  One day this lizard was in the ceiling of one of the classrooms (thank goodness not mine) and was thrashing around so badly that the lights went out for about five minutes.  We think he may have gotten tangled up in the wires.  Monitor lizards are another of those critters that are supposed to be good.  They eat rodents and snakes.  So I say live and let live, right?  Just as long as he doesn't bother me. 

Here is a picture of a monitor lizard.  Not our lizard; just an Internet picture.

I don't think ours is quite this big.  We think ours is probably about 3-4 feet long.  Big enough, I say!

I am a fair-weather Christian.  This morning when it was time to go to church, it was raining cats and dogs.  So I didn't go.  I guess I could have gone and arrived drenched. But I chose not to.  I have not yet mastered driving my scooter while holding an umbrella over my head.  Doubt that I ever will. 

I'll try to keep my camera with me all the time this next week so I can have something interesting to share with you.

Til next Sunday!

This 'N That

Cheechucks (actually a phonetic spelling of the Indonesian word) are very skittish.  Capturing them on film (ok, the digital equivalent), can be tricky.  But I was able to get a picture of one in my kitchen.  I will include the progression of photos so you can see that he (why do cheechucks always conjure up the male gender?) was actually quite small.  (Wow, four parenthetical phrases in this paragraph. English teachers - too many?)



Close up

 

 

A little farther out

 

All the way out.  As you can see, he is very tiny. 

 

As I was waiting for these photos to download, one of this critter's relatives sauntered across my dining room floor and stopped in the doorway.  Before I could get my camera out and creep over toward him, he had scuttled off.  They are fast and that is what spooks me about them.  I really don't mind them - even in the house because everyone tells me that they keep the population of unwanted insects down.  And that must be true because I rarely see a cockroach.  Better a cheechuck than a cockroach.  I just wish they wouldn't move so quickly - it freaks me out.

 

Off of lizards and onto something else.  A couple of Sundays ago, the church I attend asked everyone to wear their traditional clothing.  You need to know that in Kalimantan (Borneo) there are many different people groups.  The largest group and the most Christianized are the Dayaks.  Many of the members of this church are Dayaks.  Here is a picture of a group in traditional  Dayak dress. 

 







Notice the gentleman in the center with the large headdress - he is a very talented musician; plays the keyboard for worship. 
 

Although I cannot understand what is going on in church, I enjoy going.  I continually remind myself that one day in heaven, I will meet these lovely saints and then I will be able to talk to them and join them in a universal language praising God.  I actually get tears in my eyes when I think about it. 

 

One last thing that might interest you.  On my walk down the hill to the grocery store, I spotted these tall gray buildings.   Their only purpose is to attract the birds whose nests are used in bird's nest soup, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.  These kind of buildings are all over Tarakan - just tall empty concrete buildings for attracting birds.  I've heard tell that one bird's nest is very expensive.  A kilo of nest can go for around $2,000.  No wonder there are so many of these buildings around town. 

 

 

 

 These are all shots of the same building - just different angles. 

 

That will do it for today.  I'm trying to post every Sunday.  So check back next week.  

Peningki Hill School - Middle/High School

The number each student is holding corresponds to his/her grade level.

 

This is my current class.  From left to right: Hattie Underhill, Taylor Moore, Caleb Moore, and Isaac Underhill.  At the end of September I will have one more boy - Britton Forney. 

What a great bunch of kids.  Although teaching is always a lot of work, these kids make it enjoyable.  They are all polite and eager to do well. 

Hattie and Isaac's father is a pilot/mechanic.  Caleb and Taylor's dad is one of the teachers this year. Their moms are busy taking care of family business.



You know you are going to have a good year when you tell your class, "Let's take a crazy picture now," and this is what you get. :o)

Now please indulge my musings. If any of you have spent much time talking to me, you know that I don't feel like a true missionary here. I can't speak the language (although I'm trying to learn) and therefore don't have opportunities to engage the people here. But on the other hand, I came to help the missionaries that are here doing just that.

I repeatedly hear from missionaries and organizations that support missionaries that one of the major causes of attrition is concern for their children's education.  Missionaries leave the mission field because they don't have quality schooling options for their children.  And that is where I step in.  I hope that my coming here to teach MK's will alleviate some of the stress parents feel about their child's education.

So I will look for opportunities to interact with nationals but I will be content knowing that I am doing what God has called and equipped me to do - teach MK's. 

My Scooter

Last time I was here I had a red one.  This time I opted for a blue one.  I'm talking about my new  Suzuki Nex.  :o) 

It is nice to have a bit of independence while here.  Without the scooter I am dependent on the MAF ladies for rides to the stores.   Not that any of them resent helping me out.  On the contrary, they always are very gracious and willing to give me a lift.  But it is nice not to have to always be asking for help.  I hope that isn't pride but thoughtfulness.  :o)

My scooter arrived Friday.  On Saturday morning, one of the other teachers, who is a pro on her scooter, offered to ride along on hers while I followed closely behind.  I did fine - came home all in one piece without a scratch.  And I don't mean on me; I mean on my scooter. 

 Driving a scooter is a bit stressful for me. (Understatement)  One of the hardest parts is getting out my driveway, around the bend and up the incline to the gate.  When I was here before, I got to the point where this wasn't difficult for me.  But yesterday, it left me shaking at the top of the hill.  I'm sure I will get back to the same comfort level as before.  I just need some time.  :o) 


The driveway
 

The curve and incline



A look back down the driveway.  This is my house (above) and school (below).

Check back next Sunday for more news.  Have a great week.

 

 



School Starts Tomorrow

Since you can read (thanks to a teacher), you can see that tomorrow is our first day of school at Peningki Hill School.  Peningki is the name of the neighborhood so there really isn't a translation for that word.   I think I'm ready for school to start.  No teacher is ever completely ready.  There is always one more idea that would be good to use.   But in less than 24 hours, students will be arriving expecting me to know what is going on.  And by 8:30 tomorrow morning, I will. 
 

Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth grades; taught by Aunt Lynne

Third, fourth and fifth grade classroom; taught by Uncle Chad

First and Second grade classroom; taught by Aunt Mary


 

This is the view from my classroom window out onto the local cemetery. 

You will notice that the teachers go by Aunt and Uncle.  This is a tradition amongst missionaries from time immemorial.  As a child in Brazil, I called the adult missionaries Aunt and Uncle.  I have no idea where the tradition got started but it seems to span all continents.  I like the tradition.  Because essentially, the families that are serving here with you become your family.  So for this year, I will be Aunt Lynne and I will relish the title.  :o)

My classroom

Here are a couple of pictures of my classroom.  Disclaimer:  it is still a work in progress. 

 I live in what is called the "schoolhouse."  The walk-out basement is the actual school and the upstairs is the house where I live.  The school has three rooms:  two classrooms and a library.  This year we are very fortunate to have three teachers.  Therefore another classroom was needed.  Since I only need one bedroom, the third classroom (mine) will be in one of the spare bedrooms of the house. 

Now for something totally unrelated; a picture of what we use here to remove fingernail polish; varnish remover. :o)  The yellow sticker is the price:  5,500 Rupiah which roughly equals 55cents. 



Next week I'll post before and after pictures of making my house into a home. 



At Home in Tarakan

I've been in Tarakan for eleven days now.  The trip from my door in Oklahoma to my door in Tarakan took 52 hours.  That's counting airline check-ins, airport layovers etc.  I was allowed to bring three suitcases with me as far as Jakarta.  After that, I could only check one; the other two had to be shipped separately.  They arrived in a timely fashion so I quickly had access to all my stuff.  I thought it was interesting how the two suitcases came wrapped.  Kind of kept them protected from harsh treatment, I guess. 

A few days after arriving one of the ladies gave me this delicious pineapple.  Although green, the bananas were ripe and very sweet. 

A cheechuck (gecko) story before I close.  As you may remember from my posts two years ago, I have a lot of geckos in my house.  I allow them because I am told they eat bugs.  I would rather have geckos than cockroaches.  But I don't want them in my bedroom.  Any room except that one.  I've heard stories from the other missionaries of cheechucks dropping on them while they slept.  Shiver!!
Anyway, I took my laundry off the drying rack (see the picture below this story of my clothes drying room), and into my bedroom.  I picked up a hand towel to fold and a cheechuck was clinging to it.  Believe me that towel flew out of my hand.  But I didn't want the gecko in my bedroom so I kicked the towel out the door into the hallway.  Thankfully, the cheechuck ran away, but left a bit of his tail behind which was still wiggling.  I should have taken a picture of the wiggling tail but I was a little disconcerted and not thinking rationally.  Picking up the still-wiggling tail with a wad of Kleenex, I disposed of it in the trash can.  Adventures.  They make good stories.  "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger."