Guys Nite Out

MU vs. Chelsea was on – here’s John & Phil sportin’ their best….what?

Westernization

While in Penang we didn’t pass up a chance to make a McD’s run or take some of the youth of workers here in Indo for a Chili’s night – yummy!

Ziemer Dorm

On the evening of Easter, we were asked to come speak at one of the dorms at Dalat Int’l School there in Penang. This dorm's name is “Ziemer,” named after J’s grandparents, Bob & Marie Ziemer. They had shirts made that say “I love Ziemer” so it was a blast sharing family history w/ them.

Food, Folks & Fun

We were super excited that our visa run to Penang fell around the time that our good friends the Steiners were coming from more up north in Asia & the Littletons were coming from Morocco for a break. Also pictured here is the Holden family representin’ – they live in Penang so is always fun to see them too. This was our 1st break w/ friends w/ kids so we gotta taste of what’s to come in our near future!

Onto Penang

For our visa run, we head across the Straits of Malacca to Malaysia, city of Penang to be exact. Here’s a pix of our 1st morning where J decided that M&M’s on toast would be a good start of the day (can’t get M&M’s in Aceh) :)

Our visa letter wasn’t ready from Indo by the time we got to Malaysia so we took a breather & went to the local “Spice Gardens” – very fun!

Cheers!

Because of our current visa situation, every ½ yea we have to leave the country. Getting out to bigger cities is quite a treat & so on our way out of the country in Medan we enjoyed...


Indian cuisine – Elissa was majorly craving this one



As well as “the best steak experience” Elissa has ever had – right here in Indonesia! (altho the steak was Australian)

Playing Catchup

OK, we’re finally getting around to posting what we’ve been up to in the last couple months…travels up to the mountains to survey for new CAMA work, our visa run & more trips to the mts…


Here’s part of the coastal road where Jason & Jos encountered a downed power line. They were following another NGO worker to the mts & the line went down in between the other guy & them – close call!

These kids were psyched to get their pix taken – esp the guy in the front w/ his “tough guy” stance – too funny :)


Here’s Jos right before he & Jason ride their bikes onto the 1st ferry on their journey…


Kinda like “Motorcycle Diaries”…but less political


Ferry from a distance – doesn’t look like it can hold much...


But it held all 4 of these guys & their trail bikes – pretty amazing


2nd ferry ride was a little more rugged – water only to their ankles though…


Conquering minor puddles along the way...


Here’s Jason on a bridge into the village


Jos & a Acehnese villager who was nice enough to show us how to get to the next village.

Sifter needed, please apply within…

Here’s a tightly fitting tupperware container full of flour…& weevils! Problem wasn’t the seal, but that the bugs were initially in the flour from the market. If you look closely, you can see how they’ve made “ants trails” throughout the flour…@ one point we thought of sifting (thx for sending the sifter Mom J!) but decided to pitch it instead. Anybody have any good weevil prevention tricks?

Another backyard pix

So yea, Calang's in the middle of nowhere & internet is extremely slow, but what a view!

It's been forever...

OK, we know we haven't posted in quite awhile... part of it is the recent, slow internet connection in Calang (4 hrs to book a flight - ugh!, and part of it is we've been busy! Anyways, we had to make a visa run to Malaysia & on the way took the chance to visit Mom & Dad D in Cambodia. We have tons of pix to come, but will put a few up in the mean time while we get ourselves organized :) Pix above is 1 of 2 little crabs we found in our kitchen the other week...J chased 'em around for awhile, those little buggers are fast!

Where There is No Doctor...

Well, we’ve been referring to the book "Where there is No Doctor quite frequently in the last month or so, especially w/ E being pregnant. It was written for an Africa context, but works well in Aceh too! It has inspired us to take a few more pictures...



Like “Where there is No Ladder” – well, truth is we do have a ladder but it only has 2 legs & so doesn’t work for jobs in the middle of the room. J’s using a tank of natural gas instead…you can see a little glimpse of our main room (still in process!)



Or “Where there Is No Gas Grill” – here J’s using cement blocks and a fire to grill some fresh fish…kinda like camping but tasted MUCH better :)



Or “Where there Is No Hammer” – ok, actually we also have a hammer but someone borrowed it & hadn’t returned it yet. J’s using a rock to make a canopy of sorts to keep rain out of our bedroom…how cavemanish!

Monkey Road

On our way back to catch the ferry to Banda Aceh, we drove on “Monkey Road.” This monkey was brave enough to sit & wait for an orange Elissa was holding…& he was justly rewarded!

Bungalow

Here was our $10/nite stay – pretty basic, but we couldn’t beat the price! It was right on the ocean so we got a nice breeze which was great since the power was out a good chunk of the time :)

Ahhhh.....

So nice to have a breather…

Valentine's

We took a real deal ferry to a little island off Banda Aceh called Sabang to celebrate. We met one of the ship’s crewmen who took us up to the captain’s quarters.

Trip to Banda Aceh

We made our 1st trip to the capital of Aceh for our first prenatal appt & to celebrate Valentine’s. This was a ferry setup on the way to accommodate for a bridge still out from the tsunami…check out the ramps (planks)…no room for error here - a little scary to be honest!

Shell Hunting

We were walking along the beach here in Calang & happened to glance down & see this shell pictured on the left….looks vaguely familiar to this drawing of a 1 mo old fetus! Or maybe we’ve just got babies on the brain :)

In More Detail

We’ve recently created another blog called “In More Detail” (see link above). This gives a more in depth pix of our life here - if you’re interested, send us an email & we’ll gladly give you access!

& the Answer is....

For all those tired of waiting...here's the answer to our "gross snack" poll!

FHI Picnic

A tarp picnic by the sea…

Beach Day Trip

So we had a chance to hang out for a fun Saturday with our new team member Jos (far right) & the crew from FHI (Food for the Hungry In’tl) – another likeminded group here in Calang.

Back of Our Home

This pix was taken after we put our contract down in Nov. The back cement slab had 2 cement table-like things which have since become our sink & stove area. The little room off the left is well, our little room.

Crepes

So Feb 5th was “Int’l Pancake Day” – we cheated a little & made our 1st crepes since moving in a month ago. Brenda K – thx for teaching us how to make ‘em what seems like so long ago! This pix’s taken in our recently enclosed kitchen area. See pix above for look at the original…

Frequent Visitors

No, we don’t have cats…but these 2 have just seemed to make theirselves at home (only @ meal times – weird!)

1st Package

Wow, thanks to our brother Michael, we got our 1st package since moving here – Microsoft Office for Mac – helps that he works for Microsoft :)

Night Life

This pix’s taken from our back porch – the boat out on the bay uses bright lights via generator to attract fish to them…

Straight Up Sugar

E saw our neighbors chewing on what looked like a white root. When she asked what it was they replied “tebu” – what in the world is that?! Well, they went & cut down a stalk & brought it over in pieces…sugarcane! E’s 1st taste of unrefined sugar – awesome!

Goat Adventures

This goat's eating from J’s hand – quite friendly! Afterwards, he tried to follow J into the house for more food, so we had to shut the door. He stood out on the porch “baaing” or whatever goats do, it was pretty funny. I told J there was someone @ the door for him….

Our 2nd goat adventure won’t have a pix (we don’t think you’ll mind)…Elissa was preparing dinner last Saturday night and we had our front door open for a breeze. Jason was in the backyard working. All of a sudden he heard Elissa scream. Jason ran into the house expecting to find a snake or large bug, instead he found two goats mating in our living room!(not our goat friend from pix above) It was quite the experience… they were quickly escorted to a better place…outside!:)

Blessing Ceremony

We had the chance to go to our 1st Acehnese ceremony since we moved here 3 weeks ago. This was a blessing ceremony for these 2 new parents. Moms & babies here usually don’t go out of the house ‘til about the 40 day point after their birth. This was a New Year’s baby, so they waited ‘til the 30 day point to celebrate her ceremony. After this ceremony, the mother & baby freely go about town.

Below E’s holding the newborn coated in baby powder…we’re not sure if she coated ‘cuz it’s hot so to soak up sweat or to make her skin look whiter – both are pretty normal reasons here!