November and December: Part 1

FYI: The names in my blog are pseudonyms. Most of the people that I write about wouldn’t mind having their real names in my blog, but I don’t feel like asking everyone, and since this blog is available to anyone, I prefer to play it safe and not actually identify anyone. Plus, it gives the people that I write about the chance to feel like they are spies with code names…

The Cliffnotes Version

Much has happened since my last blog post. Here is the short bullet version in case you don’t want to read the details, wait for the next post, or get bored further down the page.

·         Packed up the house in Manado (which included packing almost everything into a shipping container)

·         Flew to Salatiga (a city on the island of Java)

·         Started getting settled in the new house and the new-to-me city

·         Spent Thanksgiving day with friends

·         Flew to Singapore and back for my visa

·         Finished up the first semester of school with the kids

·         Sherry started a new job at the international school near by

·         Flew back to Singapore with Sherry for my visa

·         Spent Christmas day with friends

·         Enjoyed a few days off

·         Explored some ancient temples

The Move

Over the summer, Fred took a different position within Wycliffe Associates. Because of the change in position, the family was able to move if they wanted and they decided to move back to Salatiga, the city where they had done their language study when they first arrived in Indonesia. Salatiga is a smaller town, and has a large expat community due to the language schools here and the really good international primary and secondary school. 

So as October came to a close, the family started packing up the house. They planned to move the weekend before Thanksgiving, so many of our days in November were spent packing boxes. Slowly, bit by bit, the house was packed away.

The day that we left, several people came by, Fanny, the Priors, the family from Korea that had moved in next door a month ago. It was sad to say goodbye to the friends that I had made in Manado. I had met so many kind and interesting people. I was sad that I had only had a couple months to get to know them and to spend time with them. To loosely quote Bilbo Baggins, I knew them half as well as I should have liked to have known them.

Salatiga

We arrived in Salatiga after dark, so it took a while for me to get a decent sense of the city. Many people ask me which place I liked better or how they were similar or different. The two have distinctly different atmospheres in my opinion. Manado was a larger city, more modern, wealthier, and less conservative (due to the large number of Christians in the area). Though, at the same time, we didn’t live in the city itself, so the area we live in had a rural feel. Salatiga feels smaller and older, but much more compact than the area we lived in in Manado. In Salatiga we are within walking distance of several restaurants, shops, and the International school. The weather is also different. Manado had a truly tropical feel, whereas the higher elevation in Salatiga cools the weather slightly.

My grandfather and I, a long long time ago. :)

Upon arrival to Salatiga I met the legendary TJ, Sherry’s best friend here, as well as TJ’s family (husband, three sons, and two daughters, one of which is adopted). With that many people and a dog, multiple pet birds, a lizard, and a rotating string of guests and the kids’ friends, there is never a dull moment at their house. TJ’s big heart, delicious food, and big family means that holidays at her house are large and full of fun. She graciously invited the family and me to both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. It was wonderful to be able to spend the holiday with such a lively and kind bunch.

Being there at Christmas was especially nice. The weeks leading up to Christmas were tough ones for me. My homesickness seemed to kick into high gear after the move and left me feeling down. Then my grandfather passed away a week and a half before Christmas. He had been sick for a long time with Parkinson’s. When I decided to come to Indonesia, I knew that there was a good chance that he would pass while I was here, but it was still tough to deal with his death and knowing that I couldn’t be there for my family. Coupled with my homesickness, it made for a rough couple weeks. But with God’s help, I am making through.

Beep, beep, vroom, vroom

I did have a few other adventures. A big one for me was buying my own scooter.

In Manado, the family had a car, and we used that for most of the trips into the city or to other locations, but Salatiga isn’t designed with cars in mind. Many of the side streets are very narrow (just wide enough for one car). When we arrived here, Fred and Sherry bought two scooters, but with five people, two scooters weren’t really cutting it. So we checked around and had a couple leads on a used scooter for me.

One Saturday, I saw a post on the Facebook page where people can sell things in Salatiga. Someone was a selling a light pink and white Honda Scoopy. It was perfect! Honestly, if I had had to pick out my ideal scooter to go motoring around Salatiga on, it would have been this one. Ok, if I’m being completely and perfectly honest, I might have picked a blue, but still, it was adorable and so cute. I was just planning on buying whatever came up for sale first that was a good deal, I never imagined that I would get such a cute little scooter.

Once I saw the post, I did a little checking to make sure that it was a good deal and then got in contact with the woman selling it. It worked out perfectly because she was going to the same Christmas cookie exchange as me that day, so I could check it out there. Fred took it for a drive, to make sure that everything worked well, and told me that it was a great deal and that I should definitely buy it. So less than 12 hours after seeing the scooter, I became its proud owner.

Which then brought on the next adventure…. Learning to drive it. It’s not hard to drive, but it has taken me a little while to get used to my hand controlling the throttle and brakes instead of my foot, and coordinating all of the motions at once. Making a turn from a complete stop still gives me a little trouble, but I am getting much more comfortable with the whole process.