You're Missing Out!

      It's mornings like yesterday that make me realixe how much the rest of the world is missing out! The Creator didn't miss this island when he made his work of art we live on. 
     Yesterday morning after going to bed early the night before I woke at six and was ready to go for the day--no alarm. So since the sun consistently rises each day from 6-6:15 here I went out and took a look. I thought this might be interesting.

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This mountain named The Great Mountain is central to life here and the biggest of the single mountain range on the island

Papaya seeds and Charcoal

Sounds like a yummy mix right?

Well for me these have been my recent staples :) Well, sort of. I have them both in my diet right now because apparently they are natural ways to deal with whatever decided to invade my stomach. Thankfully I’ve just finished day 4 of 5 on the yucky ground up papaya seeds and there isn’t too much charcoal left either.

Last week I had a really special privilege of doing a home stay with a local family along with another young lady from the US, two young worker’s daughters and 3 Indonesians that are a part of the mobility team here. I was excited to see the mobility team in action and be a part of giving strollers to 2 young kids that couldn’t walk and also doing a fun lesson for some kids in a village with one the ladies on the team. I also got to see the most recently completed water project that has brought clean water to a village that a few months ago had no running water at all!!!

These are some pics of some of the people the mobility team helped and the kids we taught (sorry, no pics of the water project).

Now let me tell you a little bit about my home stay. The people we stayed with are a couple that is a part of the mobility team who live close to where many of the patients live, about 2.5 hours from where I have been staying. They were gracious hosts excited to have all of us come stay with them, even thought there were SEVEN of us :) For their area they are pretty well off actually and their house had many modern conveniences. Now I’m sorry I didn’t take many pictures of the house and the area they lived in, I’m sure it would’ve been very interesting coming from an American perspective, but I’ll just use old fashioned words and trust your vivid imaginations.

-To get to the house we had to park on the side of the road and walk on a path to their house. The walk to the house was downhill and back to the car was uphill so it took us 15 minutes to walk with our stuff down to the house and 25 min to walk back (this is where packing lightly is KEY). The path was actually VERY nice, though I might not have said so at first. It was cement the whole way BUT the cement path was only 2 feet wide. Now for walking there wasn’t a problem and many people rode their motorbikes on it, which was why it was cement, but I just thought it was so different that people would put in all that effort to cement it, but only make it wide enough for a motorbike! And it won’t ever become a road!!! I guess I’m still very Western in my thinking. (Now maybe you’re thinking “Oh, that’s nice, a beautiful path in the woods where you can walk and see down into some beautiful valleys and get glimpses of the sea and the sunset over the sea” which is all SO true but imaging walking 40 minutes at least just to get a little thing from the store! Or just to get to your car to drive another 30 minutes to get to the big market!...)

-When we arrived at the house I was so pumped about all their modern convinces. They had doors, rather than blankets in the doorways! And walls around the rooms and living space!

They had drinkable water!

They had beds for us to sleep on!

They had a kitchen and bathroom with water!

They had a Western toilet (if there’s any confusion here, there are other options than the model you currently have at your house, namely the “squatty” and you can use your imagination here).

So we were living an elite kind of life here.

Through my American eyes though, I saw something that looked a lot different. I saw that all the walls were unpainted cinder block, the kitchen was unattached downhill from the rest of the house, the water that is in the bathroom and kitchen just is a faucet that is connected to big storage tanks and there are no sinks to be found anywhere (they are replaced by handheld little buckets). Also I noticed that there is no way to warm up or cool of this house and there is no water that runs to the toilet (yet again this is where the small buckets come in handy). It’s funny how the two perspectives are so different. I could go on, but I don’t want you to get a negative idea of my stay or think that I am just being sarcastic. After being in those villages every day we came home with the “little” we had, I felt so overly blessed and like we were living in abundance! Life here is just so different.

On our last day at our friend’s beautiful house we had a fun day. The mobility team knows our hosts very well and have stayed there many times, so it was a lot like they had come home. Everyone pitched in on the chores and loved just hanging out and being together—whether it was watching TV, or talking over coffee, or playing UNO. The jobs that they helped out with were things like cooking the meals, watching the dishes, feeding the animals or even cleaning the animals poo :). On our last day there we were involved with getting coffee ready to sell. Our hosts basically have a small plantation where they have goats and chickens and grow coffee and cloves. We had a chance to help pick a little coffee earlier in the week but on our last day we took coffee that had been drying for 10 days and got the outer husks off by grinding it with a big stick, sifted the beans to separate out the beans from the husks and bagged the green coffee beans. It was fun for us, but certainly alone it would have been exhausting work. Here are some pics of that. (Fun fact: There is a need for fair trade coffee because women like those we worked with in these pictures work hard and get paid $2 at the most for 1 kilogram (2.2lbs) of coffee!)

Just enjoying my time here and getting to see another temple on the edge of a lake.

UNO!

Grinding the husks off the coffee. (btw, I am very tall in this culture, however she is also very short :)

Next comes sifting. We tried it, but it was better left to those with experience.

Then you pull out any coffee beans still in their husks to be ground again.

And you sift again.

Finally it's ready to go home and eventually sold. (Everyone got a kick out of us carrying the big things of coffee on our heads. Very typical for them, a neck ache for us!)

So to get back to the papaya seeds and charcoal… Although I enjoyed my exciting and exhausting cultural experience on the first night, my stomach decided it was not going to be a part of the fun and starting then, until today even, it’s been a little bit off. I’m not sure what it was that I ate or drank, and it could’ve even been something before I got to my home stay but we’re thinking it’s some kind of parasite or the like that has decided to take up residence inside my stomach. So when I got back and continued to feel yucky my host went right out and bought a papaya just for the purpose of grinding up the seeds for me to drink. Apparently the seeds paralyze the parasite and then it’s my body’s job to get it out. The charcoal is something else we added to that. Charcoal comes in swallow-able tablets and it absorbs the parasites or whatever is in my stomach so that they don’t stay in my stomach but they move along with the rest of my food. Exciting right! (See there are just some things you don’t need pictures for). So that’s where these two things come into play and now you know the go to natural drugs for parasites :)

 

My host with the papaya.

Somebody didn't want to miss out on the photo op

Seeds and honey coming up!

             

Ok well enough about my new cultural experience for now! Hopefully my next update will inform you that my regimen worked its magic!

so much to say...

There are so many things that I'd love to let you know about how my summer is going and I'll make an attempt but for now I'll catch you up using some pics.

From the week I did English club, I was pretty excited for the day I was finally able to steam milk and make it foam!

I'm always amazed at all the very detailed and intricate statues and temples. You also might notice that this one is overflowing with offerings.

My friends C and I had a fun week together filled with all kinds of playing pretend, playing Wii, and even a movie night. These 3 pics are from when we went out to lunch one day after getting my rabies shot. We shared a "funny face cookie" and each ate an eye.

Breakfast on the beach with C and his mom and sister :)

Game time! Last week I helped do some childcare for a conference. This was during one of our morning sessions.

I helped some of the girls color a huge picture drawn by one of the moms that was taped to the floor.

Four of the six dogs that sat watching me as I worked out one afternoon :)

This one is for Dad. It was pouring outside, but we had a campfire anyways and I braved the rain to roast a marshmallow. This one turned out perfect--just the right amount of brown and it grew big and fluffy. What can I say, I learned from the best!

Starbucks in the airport with H :)

These are the two big mountains we could see from the conference last week!

Back home and going for a run with K. This is what we walked outside to!

English Club

This week at another friend's house here I had the privilege to help with an English club. It was VERY fun and the kids were extremely attentive. That was so encouraging. They also loved
playing the games as well as listening to the stories we told.

Each day when the kids came we would begin by review and playing games. Once the review was done we'd get everyone together and sing songs. Even though we sang in English, they joined in as much as they could and by the end of the week they were getting the hang of them. It was especially fun when we knew the song in their language too so they could sing it and understand.

After song time another lady and I shared a story in English. We would each share a story and teach key words in the story and then we'd listen to them in their language. It was fun to creatively teach them new words as we told the stories. Sometimes they would help tell the story by saying the word when I did a motion, or held up a picture or sometimes I would have a coloring icture that went along with the story so they would label the new words as I taught them.

After the story the kids colored and practiced their new words to receive a prize. 

At the end of the week my friend was very pleased. She felt like they learned the new words and had a good time. The stories were ones that were knew to them too and she was glad they had the opportunity to be exposed to the stories that have changed our lives!



I am going to go to another island for this week, but after I return, there's a big possibility that I'll be going to teach another English Club at another friend's house.

Please continue to think of the kids that heard these stories this week and their families and for the opportunity for me to teach again.

Coloring

A young girl reading the story picture book in her language.

At the end of the last day the hose came out and fun ensued!

The Nutcracker

     One time in high-school/middle-school I had the "privilege" of going to see The Nutcracker. It's probably considered a very great thing for a girl at that age to experience, possibly to be cultured or something. I don't know that I left any different though. I am glad I went so I could learn about what a ballet is and it was a fun thing to do as a family, but I think probably a big thing I got out of it was I am not a person who enjoys ballets.
     I don't say that it's not my favorite for no reason. Actually I have a few reasons. For one thing, there is a story that the people are acting out, but it is not clear. In order to understand what is happening, you have to read the paper that you get at the entrance or have someone tell you. I mean what's the point of dancing all around the stage if you are the only one who knows what you're doing, Clara? Also rather than just coming out and doing or saying something, they draw it out and just dance around while you are waiting to see them get to the point. I mean what is "The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies" all about? Why don't all the sweets just say they are excited?
     My point here isn't to tell you about the Nutcracker, or even my opinion of it. Really the other day I went to a cultural event here and it reminded me of The Nutcracker. I went to a local cultural dance that the town I am staying in puts on. It was actually VERY interesting to watch, but like The Nutcracker, the story line was hidden in the brochure I got upon entering. It went something like a girl was stolen by a scary man when she got left in the woods by herself and another man saved her. Now I'm sure the performers would say there is a lot more to it, but that's the core plot. I have to say though that the constant chanting and costumes and fire kept me very intrigued the whole time! I guess it's another part of experiencing culture. I've included some pics I took so you could get a little glimpse into the traditional costumes and dance here.
     On a final note, the very interesting part about it is that it is much more than just a cultural event, but a religious one. This is how they call out to beings beyond themselves, whether that's spirits or other things. Also in the end of the dance a man actually runs through a fire and SITS in it  because the priest blesses him and a spirit empowers him to do it--so they say.

When the girl was taken.

The man that took her.

stone carvings

Today I took a walk around the area that I’m living in to talk to the Father about the people living here. It was perfect weather for a walk and I am glad for the opportunity to do a job so important, but so easily overlooked. The time really made me reflect a little bit on how much more I need to talk to the Father in my life.

While I walked I was reminded again of how many people there are here. Everywhere I turned there were people working in their stores, doing construction, harvesting rice, playing outside and driving by. It was interesting to watch all that is going on.

One thing I passed toward the end of my walk was people carving idols/temple things out of stone. As I watched for a few minutes I remembered a story that our friend Luke wrote about. He mentioned that Paul was in a city and he caused a big stir because people were buying less idols and things related to the temple of Diana. I began to think, since I am asking the Father to change over this whole village, these men will surely lose work!

After I got home I spent some time reading the story and it was so interesting to have just seen a situation with so many parallels. Someday soon, I hope that there is such little interest in these idols that these men are making like what happened in the story Luke told!

It is always such an encouragement to see how the world is so accurately reflected in a book written over 1,000 years ago! The Creator surely knows us and His Word speaks into the situations we are in!

culture shock

The typical McDonalds meal of course is Fried Chicken and Rice right? I mean there are a few other options, but isn’t that what almost everyone orders?

Or maybe that’s just on this island! Haha.

Last night we went to McD’s and I think I only saw one person other than us with a burger—and the place was crowded!!!

I guess that’s living in a different culture!

Since I’ve been here I have been surprised many times at just how different Asian culture is from the other places I’ve been. The way they eat is different—no knives. If there is silverware, it’s a spoon and fork. The fork is used to push everything onto the spoon. Rice is a must at every meal. If you don’t have rice, it’s probably just a snack! And SPICY food is the specialty :) Also mornings start very early. Everyone is up and out around 5:30. They go to the market, sweep the road outside their house and begin cooking for the day! People and relationships are very important, and life is at a much slower pace. Things also take a long time to do here. Most of the food is made from scratch, the roads almost always have tons of traffic and it’s very hot.

I guess it’s a little bit funny to realize, but I didn’t really think I’d have culture shock. I thought, “Oh that’s what those Americans who came to Czech went through. I’m not like that though. I’m experienced.” Haha. I should’ve thought that through a little better. Each day it seems that I’m learning about how differently people live than we do in the US. Yesterday we went out to a village to the home of some friends and that was even more different. Image not having four walls but more like a half wall or two and the rest curtains—in your whole house! or replacing your toilet with a hole in the ground for starters. The roads to get there were ROUGH too, and apparently for this part of the world, they’re pretty good—we didn’t even need four-wheel drive!

I’ll continue to write about cultural differences, but I thought you’d like to get a little bit of an idea!