The last few weeks have been jam packed with normal and
abnormal days. A typical day for me begins somewhere around 6 am. I usually get
up, get dressed, and eat breakfast. If I have time, I usually will call either
my mom or my sister and keep them up to date with what is going on. I also
check Facebook and respond to the messages that come in while I’m sleeping and
all of my friends and family back home are awake. After that we begin school. I
work with one of the two kids, depending on who needs my help. I help them to
study for tests and quizzes, read through lessons, make notes, work on
projects, and answer any questions that might come up. We eat lunch around
11:30 and the kids take a recess break, and then we get back to work. Some days
their course work only takes a few hours (especially in Sarah’s case) and we
can do some hands-on, more exciting activities. Other days (especially in Sam’s
case) we are still working at 5 pm.
After school is done, I do a variety of things. I might nap,
read, Facebook, crochet, play games with the kids, bake, take a walk, or
something else. Some days we go out for supper or maybe head to a movie or
watch one at home. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays we have language lessons and on
Thursdays we go to the nearby missionary campus and play group games with the kids
of the kids of the missionaries that live on campus. Some weekends are lazy
weekends spent relaxing at the house. Others are super busy with all day excursions
or trips into town (a 30-45 minute drive depending on traffic).
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| The view out my window one morning |
The past week found me dealing with my first major sickness while
in Indonesia. I didn’t go see a doctor, so I can only give my educated
guess/diagnosis, a really bad sinus infection. I had been feeling worn down the
previous week, and woke up Monday morning with a ton of drainage, swollen
tonsils, and a ton of pressure in the sinuses. As the week went on I opted to
take some antibiotics and eventually saw some progress towards feeling better. One
of my biggest complaints was just feeling worn completely out. By Friday I was
feeling much better but still not back to normal, especially where my energy is
concerned. Even today, I still have a touch of sinus congestion, some pressure
in my ears, and a cough, but I’m hoping that the next few days will show even
more improvements.
Last week also found me applying for my visa renewal. The
process was easy enough on my end (filling out some paperwork, showing up at
Immigration, answering a few questions, and having my picture taken) but
involved at least an hour of waiting at customs (including waiting on a cashier
to come back so that we could pay for the visa). I also completed the process
of applying for my student visa. Under my current visa, I would need to renew
it every month, which is doable, but would be a big hassle. Instead we opted
for having me attend an Indonesian language school, which would then allow me
to have a student visa which would be valid for a year. I’m excited about this
option just because it will drastically improve my Indonesian.
This weekend was also an exciting time, packed full of
adventures and new sights. The family has had some guests in town from
Australia and wanted to show them some of the sights before they left today,
and it was Sam’s and Sarah’s birthday weekend. So we had amble reasons to get
out and do something new. On Friday, we went to Tomohon, a smaller city further
inland and further up in the mountains.
While there we stopped at a traditional market to see what
the locals had to offer and to do some shopping. Unfortunately, there was some
construction going on in the market and there were less vendors than normal.
But we did see several food vendors, people selling clothing and house hold
objects, and meat vendors. The meat vendors were the most… interesting… of the
bunch. This area of Sulawesi (called Minahasa) is known for the odd meats that
they eat. The people here consider things like rat, bat, dog, and snake to be
delicacies. I saw vendors selling all of those except snake. Other vendors were
selling fish, seafood, chickens, bananas and other fruits, beans, peppers, and
many other foods.
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| Manado in the distance |
After the market, we piled back into the car and headed to
Mount Mahawu, a volcano. Seemingly there are volcanoes everywhere here, which
is to be expected since Indonesia is in the Ring of Fire. As soon as we got out
of the car, I could feel a difference in the air. The increase in elevation
just to that point made a huge difference in the temperatures. It went from
feeling like summer when we left Manado, to feeling like a brisk fall day. At
first it was a little chilly. Then we began the climb. The path from the
parking spot to the rim of the volcano was paved but it was so steep. I had to
stop to rest several times, but I finally made it to the top. The view was
amazing. From the top you can see Tomohon and Manado, you can even see all the
way to Manado Tua, the volcano in Manado Bay. We could also see the crater of
the volcano and I got to log my first Indonesian geocache. Which means that I
have now found geocaches in 4 different countries (US, Argentina, Uruguay, and
Indonesia).
The next day, we went to Starbucks (newly opened in Manado)
and Pizza Hut to celebrate the kids birthdays and the end of school for their
Australian friends. It was a nice time of good food and even better company.
On Sunday we went snorkeling again. We went the previous
week also, but snorkeling is cheap entertainment and something that you can’t
do just anywhere. The highlight of the previous week’s snorkeling trip was
seeing a clown fish in an anemone. The child in me went right back to watching
Finding Nemo. On this trip we did lots of jumping off the top of the boat (Sam’s
favorite part of snorkeling) and lots of swimming. The first spot that we stopped
at had tons of fish. I can’t help but marvel at that diversity of God’s
creation when I go snorkeling. The fish were super friendly and wiling to come up
close to us. We fed the fish some cookie crumbs and they swarmed around us. I
even go to touch a few. Right before we got ready to leave that spot, a current
picked up around the boats and the few members of our party that were still out
in the water had some trouble getting back to the boat.
We then moved to a small bay and walked to the restaurant
and had lunch (fish, rice, greens, pineapple, sweet and sour fried chicken).
When we got back to the boat, the tide had gone out, leaving the boat engines
unable to move the boat. So as a group, we pushed the boat and eventually got
it far enough out that the crew could easily push it out to the deeper waters
where the engines could do their thing.
After that, we stopped at snorkeling spot where sea turtles
are commonly spotted. I didn’t see any sea turtles, but some of the other
members of the group did. This location had a lot of different types of fish,
including a few more clown fish. I swam away from the boat for a little while
and then decided to head back and swim the other way for a while. After a
little swimming I realized that I was making slow progress. I was swimming
against a strong current. As I got closer to the boat, the current got
stronger.
Three other people from our party were still in the water. We
ended up swimming close to each other, and realized that we would need to swim
further inland (out of the current), then past the boat, before swimming out
and letting the current pull as to the boat. Despite the fact that I aimed for
a spot 10 feet up current from the boat, I almost missed it. In the last 10
feet of swimming, I kicked it into high gear, and with the help of my
snorkeling fins, just managed to grab onto the ledge around the boat. Sherry
was close behind me, but I could tell that she was just going to miss it, so I
threw out my hand and grabbed her. Even with my tenuous handhold on the boat,
we were almost pulled away. One of the people on the boat threw out the life
ring and used that to pull us to the boat’s ladder. Once there, the current was
so strong that I felt like the boat was moving and pulling me along. I could barely
get my feet on the ladder, but I did eventually make it into the boat.
The other two people that had been swimming with us hadn’t
made it to the boat, but had instead let the current pull them back to the
coral. The crew started the boat’s motors so that we could pick them up. Even
the boat’s motors were having trouble pulling against the current. After we
picked up the other two people we headed back to Manado.
