how the other half lived

so, as our faithful blog readers know, b was in taiwan this past week. he had a great trip. he got to see and do lots of neat things; he tried new foods; he gave some presentations (that went well); he got to go to the beach, etc. i'm happy he got to go, but we are all excited that he is now on his way home (his flight from taipei just left an hour ago).

although our (myself, w, and s) adventures over the past week were not quite as glamorous, we did do some interesting things.

1. we went to see the new cinderella movie, which s especially loved, but we all enjoyed.

2. i successfully got us around (beberapa kali--many times) via taksi. we had one not-so-successful taksi trip, but the rest were good. i know how to get us around pretty well, and i know how to direct someone to get to our house (knowing how to say turn (belok), here (disini), left (kiri), right (kanan), and straight (lurus) are such useful words). and i even had a few good conversations with some taksi drivers, which felt good.

3. during church, i gave a prayer in indonesian. ironically, i tripped up on the word karena (because), which was frustrating since it's one i've known for a long time. but as i got to the point where i needed to say, my mind was completely blank. my mental cue to remember that word is to think of the macarena, but i couldn't think of that either. so, being well versed in not knowing how to say what i want to say, i just shifted what i was saying to something else. and that worked just fine.

4. we went to a pre-wedding breakfast. i got to practice my indonesian there, and we got to try chocolate-covered pieces of durian, which was delicious. the wedding that this pre-wedding breakfast was for will be next weekend. and because i'm such a wheeler and dealer (and because our gracious friends offered it), the four of us will get to wear traditional javanese clothing to this wedding. i believe that we, or maybe just me, will get to have traditional javanese makeup and hair too. we will definitely share some pictures of that.

5. i discovered on tuesday that w and s didn't have school this wednesday, thursday, and friday. so it was a long week of being home together a lot. but we all survived (albeit with the help of some youtube videos), and i was able to do my work. w and s did have little presentations that they gave to me and their teachers on thursday. so we all went to the school on thursday so i could hear their presentations and see how they're doing. thankfully, they're both doing just fine at school here.

6. on tuesday, we had a simple dinner of nasi goreng and telur goreng (fried rice with a fried egg on top). but it was so good. our neighbor made it, and the kids (and i) loved it. w said that it was like heaven eating it! i am going to talk with our neighbor (ibu danik) so she can teach me how to make it.

7. on wednesday, one of our friends from church (sonia) came over to make indonesian puding and jely with s. it was a fun activity for s, and we all got to enjoy the fruits of their labors. my favorite was the lychee-flavored jely they made. that night also, we had sonia and another friend from church (widap) over for dinner. we had gulai with bika ambon, puding, and jely for dessert. it was good food (gulai is so good), and it was fun to have friends (other adults!) over to talk with. we have made some good friends here.

8. today, another friend of mine from church (budi) came over to teach me how to make mie goreng (fried noodles). it's really very easy, and it will be something that we can do back home from time-to-time. i need to think of what else budi could teach me how to make. next week, though, i've already lined up to get together with imma again (of the rainbow cake fame) to teach me how to make indonesian brownies. i'm excited about that.

9. we had terang bulan and our homemade mie goreng for dinner tonight. not the healthiest meal, but for lunch i had a bua naga (dragon fruit) and some guavas--so i think that balances it out.

10. for me, the best thing about this past week was having to survive and thrive without brian. i always prefer having brian with me, but it was good to have to do things on my own. to speak to people on my own has been very helpful this week. brian's indonesian is leaps and bounds better than mine, but i am very happy with how well i did this week. and i'm pleased with how my indonesian is improving. when communication is in indonesian, i still miss a lot, but i can catch a fair bit. in sunday school at church last sunday, for example, i was so pleased that i could actually follow the lesson quite well. the lesson was on roti hidup (living bread). i was so excited when i knew what the teacher had written on the board (i knew both roti and hidup). and by paying very, very close attention, i could follow things ok. learning a language is challenging and frustrating, but it's also exciting and rewarding!