Tour of Calang

Jason got up early one morning and shot some pictures around the city of Calang. He started at the coast, climbed a little hill in the middle of town, and ended at the main intersection in town. Notice the NGO compounds, huge, empty WFP (World Food Program) tents, and new construction…actually almost everything is new construction because Calang was leveled by the tsunami. We’ve been told not a building was left standing and about 80% of the residents were taken by the waves.

Babi Hutan (Jungle Pigs)!

Okay, so the warthogs are out of control in Calang. Jason shot this picture from the kitchen of the FHI (Food for the Hungry International) guesthouse. The next day a herd of them crossed the street in front of us in broad daylight – seriously it was around noon – and another gang was digging around in the empty lot beside us. Did we mention before that our MAF plane almost pancaked a mom and her three babies when we flew into Aceh in May? I think it is time to “bring home the bacon!”...except that's really not a good thing here...

Octopus

J went out one morning to take pix around Calang. He came across some fishermen who’d just snagged an octopus…it’s all sandy in this picture from wrigglin’ around.

Squatty Potty

Ok, so we understand this pix is totally gross (taken at airport in Aceh)…however…it does show the typical bathroom setup here in Indo (although it’s usually much cleaner, seriously) The squatty potty to the left is simply as it’s name suggests & the cement container on the right is called a “bak.” This is filled up with water via a tap and then the dipper in the pix is used to scoop the water out & pour it on your body for bathing. The dipper is also used to flush the squatty potty. We just enjoyed our 1st hot shower in 2 weeks the other day…wow, that was nice!

When we move into our place in Jan, we’ll still have to install a few Western amenities like running water, a toilet & hot shower …you know, the basics :)

S…n…a…i…l Video

If you’re having trouble with patience…watch this video…it reminds Elissa of a song she learned as a child from the “Music Machine” album…in it a snail sings slowly “Have patience, have patience, don’t be in such a hurry…” anyone else remember this?

Since we’re on the snail theme, thought we’d share our favorite snail joke…one day this guy hears a knock at his door. He answers the door and looks around, but doesn’t see anybody. As he’s heading back into the house, he looks down & sees a snail at his feet which he picks up & throws as hard as he can into the woods. 5 years later there is a knock at the door. Again when he goes out, he doesn’t see anybody. As he is turning to go back into the house, though, there again is a ticked-off snail who says, “what was that for?!”…please don’t leave mean comments.

Top 7

We love hearing back from everyone, either via blog comments or emails. Here are our top 7 comments on our recent house pix post…enjoy!

#1 “I hope you don't have too many kids TOO soon ;-)”

#2 “This is silly, but I can't help looking at the picture of your house and thinking of that Corona tv commercial where they put Christmas lights on the palm tree. Too bad you're not moving in until January.”

#3 ”…Maybe it's bigger than it looks….”

#4 “Wow! Congratulations...a home by the sea! It looks cozy!”

#5 “From the looks of it, clean—but obviously without the Western size! :)”

#6 “Hi, Your house is adorable and I'm so glad for you!”

#7 “Hey, cute place. … So does this mean that you really DON'T want to come back to Mongolia?! I can find you a nice little cabin with a view of an ice-covered muddy stream...”

So anyway, apparently our home is “cozier, more adorable, cuter” & just plain smaller (however you say it!) than the norm in the US. :)

In our new community, these are the standard homes everyone received after the tsunami (with most folks having bigger families than us!) so you just might get lost looking for our place when you come to visit!

The Road to Our New Home Town

Here are some shots that I took last week of the road from Meulaboh (where our teammates are) to the city of Calang where we will be living. Most of it is quite nice now thanks to a new road put in by the Japanese, but there are still a few parts that are pretty rough.

Jason will be driving this same stretch of road tomorrow when we head back to Meulaboh.

Our New Place

Well, we'll move into this little home in the center of a small community come Jan. 1st - 2 bedrooms so visitors are always welcome...



...can't beat the oceanfront view :)

New Life

Today (Wed) we found the perfect place for us (our 1st home ever actually), made a contract & put a year's rent down. We happened to come across a mamma goat that had just given birth (literally still cleaning her 2 kids)...we thought it was a great reminder of the new life coming here to Calang & how we're blessed to be here!

Fri Nite Picnic

Our 1st night in Calang we had a picnic by the sea on our poncho. We’re in the process of tracking down housing – will keep you posted once we know!

Arrived Safely

Well, for getting into Aceh from Bandung we fly a normal flight for most of the way but the last leg is in a little MAF plane that holds about 9 people. Here’s Elissa showing you what you too can ride if you come to see us :)

Heading to Sumatra

We’ve had fun connecting w/ our homestay family & neighbors here recently surrounding the celebration of the end of fasting month. We’re now in Jakarta heading into Aceh to check out housing options for when we move at the end of the year. Here's final pix before we fly out of Jakarta - a "baji" ride - Indonesian's call it their national car :) More pix soon!

Malu Mascot

Fantasy World’s mascot was too malu (embarrassed) to come towards this foreigner…since J’s so intimidating ‘n all.

Sticky Monkey

We thought this big stuffed monkey looked funny hanging out on the ground. Elissa was going to pick him up but he was quite sticky . . . maybe from kids coming from the candy shop across the hall? Gross!

House of Mirrors

So this past Monday we had the chance to join Arief’s family & restaurant employees to a Jakarta amusement park called “Dunia Fantasy” which means Fantasy World. We had fun in the “house of mirrors” where J could look even taller than he already looks here in Indo ;)

Combo?

So, this sign says “Taman Es Krim & Steak” which means Land of Steak & Ice Cream – now there’s a combo for ya!

This Ain't No KK!

Here in Bandung there’s a doughnut place called J Co. It’s pretty close to Krispy Kreme but not as sweet . . . Jason likes it better but Elissa’s a faithful KK girl :)

Awesome Indian Food

We just finished helping Mom & Dad Drummond book tix to come see us the beginning of December. They’ve just left FL to move back to Cambodia so they’ll be living much closer soon :) We were so excited we decided to go out for lunch & start thinking thru fun stuff we wanna do together – looking forward to it!

BK

So after a year of being in Indo, it was finally “our way right away” on a trip to the nicest Burger King we’ve ever been too – 1st Whopper in what seemed like forever!

Jakarta Fish Market

We visited the Jakarta fish market at night. It was like a seafood flea market. Here is a video of some of the catch lining the sides of the street as we walked out...

Here is a close up of a bin of fresh lobster.

We had dinner with Arief's family at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant right there at the pier. The food was awesome! Here is a shot of our meal on the grill.

Marin's Funny Lips

Here’s a pix from our fish dinner w/ Arief & Poppy’s fam. Their 1 & ½ yr old son, Marin, has a new habit of making funny faces to see people laugh – totally adorable.

Here is a video of Marin making his funny lips in the car...

Waterbom Water Park

Arief invited us to come along on a little family vacation to a water park in Jakarta. It was great to spend some more time hanging out with the family in a relaxed setting. Here is a shot of Jason, Della, and Raula in the swimming pool.



And here are a couple of shots of Della, Raula, and Elissa on the waterslides!

Peddle-Power

Now, this pix was taken awhile ago but gives an idea of what you might see at a traditional market on a busy day. This dude is running a portable, peddle-powered mini-ferris wheel – how’s that for compact! If you look carefully you can see he’s smoking while biking…it’s the manly thing to do here…kind detracts from the “magic” of the moment though.

Pak Bandi's Hometown

Pak Bandi took us to the big attraction around the corner from his family’s home – the local traditional market. He, Jason, Fia & Sarah are on the right w/ Elissa & our neighbors on the left.

Visiting Tjut Nja' Dien

On our trip to Sumedang to visit Pak Bandi’s family on the 2nd day of Lebaran, we stopped by an Acehnese heroine’s grave. She’s quite famous in Aceh & so we’re hoping this pix will win us some brownie points in Calang. We decided to take the picture Indonesian style - very serious, no smiles!

Visiting Ibu Noneng

After our visit to Pak Bandi’s home, we went to visit our friend Ibu Noneng & her family. She has been an amazing help in our home & friend – we are truly blessed with her!

Visiting Bandi Family

Following the community forgiveness ceremony, we headed over to Pak Bandi’s. This is Pak Bandi’s livingroom full of guests and food!



Pak Bandi & Ibu Bandi (Mr & Mrs Bandi) are holding a Lebaran must - hand woven coconut leaves full of sticky rice.

This is Fia & Sarah looking so sweet :) in their Lebaran outfits

Forgiveness Ceremony

We had the chance to participate in a very moving ceremony in our kampung (neighborhood). On the first day of Lebaran (week long celebration at the end of the month of fasting) hundreds of our neighbors came together to greet one another and, more importantly, ask for forgiveness of each other for know and unknown wrongs. By the time we got to the end of the line, Elissa was overwhelmed and cried her way through the last twenty people or so – it was so clear how much our friends long for forgiveness and release from guilt.

Departure to Aceh Delayed

Our departure to Aceh has been delayed until the end of the year due to visa issues. It has taken us a little while to get our heads around what this will mean, but we are glad for the extra time to finish well in Bandung.

Rush to Break the Fast

Things can get pretty crazy at one of the main intersections near our house during fasting month (Ramadan). This stretch of street is famous for good food cooked at stalls set up every night on the side of the street. During the month of Ramadan, everybody swarms the stalls about 5:15 to buy food and drinks to buka puasa (break the fast). Here are a couple of videos Elissa shot from the back of our motorbike.

You can see the food stalls and flowers (only sold here at Ramadan) in this first video



This second video shows how crazy the traffic can get!