Pictures and comments from Indonesia!

I need to figure out how to set up an album everyone can see, but for now I wanted to get some picts up for everyone.  We will be adding to the page often, so come by to check it out!  Thanks and enjoy! Shoot an email if you have a question or comment- you may be able to leave comments on the page too- I am not sure how all that works.  God bless!  -mekj

 Here we are waiting at DFW. Checking the bags took about an hour.  Then we waited around for our 10:40pm fllight.  The boys did very well throughout the flights!

The boys loved to look at the planes and see the trucks/equipment go by.....

We walked down about 20 gates to get to the DFW playground! 

So we left DFW at 10:40pm.  The plane had small LCD screens above the seats; the movie played was Avengers.  We didn't want the kids to watch the movie but sleep- so we did not get the earphones out.  But they watched some of the movie before dozing off to dream.  Actually on all the flights the kids slept- especially the last leg from Taipei to Jakarta. It was about 5 hours, and we were thankful they slept.  We had long drive from the airport to Bandung. It was about 5 hours from the airport to our homes.  We stopped at kilometer marker 19- for Burger King!  It's a fuel/rest stop- with Dunkin Donuts and other "American" food.

Here the boys are waiting at the gate for our flight to Jakarta.  We figured we could get some food while at the airport- we imagined it would be like DFW- with lots of choices for food.  We arrived around 5am local time and had a 4 hour layover.  By this point in the trip, we weren't sure what day it was!  Erin found a place to eat, and we ordered our first "foreign" meal!  It was good!

We had rice, some soup, spicy meat, and some chunks of chicken in a broth.  We were tired and hungry at this point- it was nice to have a Sprite too!

What the airport lacked in food, it made up for in electronics- there were all sorts of tech stores!

This was our breakfast, in Taipei-

Jace really liked the soup- not so much the other stuff!

 This is right outside our front door.  The boys love going on rides around the neighborhood.  Hopefully we can get a motorbike soon, and have even more fun!










MORE COMING SOON!


Monday, August 13th-

Here's some more pictures-

This was on the way to the electronics store- this was one half of the street!  Kota Baru is not full of traffic like Bandung, thank God! 

While Erin was paying for the oven, TV, fans, and other kitchen stuff, I went with Amu and Paul to find a light so I could study at night.  It's interesting- whole streets are dedicated to items.  So there's a street for plumbing stuff, lights, auto repair parts, electronics, etc.  This store was probably about 20x20 feet with a stock area behind the counter.  There were lights EVERYWHERE!  I just had to take a picture!

Here's a typical shop on the "Bike" street.  Since I used to ride cycles for triathlons, I was interested to see what they had to offer.  I did not see any carbon fiber bikes, but they had lots of bikes similar to what you would get at a typical Walmart.  A few stores had some higher-end stuff, and most bikes over 100 dollars had Shimano components, which was good!  This street went on for several hundred yards- full of shops selling all types of bikes!

On Saturday, we went to the local market.  It was quite the experience.  We walked through narrow rows with all types of fruits, vegetables, and meat on either side.  The kids didn't like it too much, so we took a ride home with our Indonesian instructor.  We piled into a cart pulled by a donkey.  Then we merged into traffic like everyone else!  Many folks on motorbikes enjoyed seeing the kids in front of them as we all waited for traffic to move along!  Jace talked to a few of the people.  In this picture though, you can see he's a little weary of the experience!


That's it for now!  I gotta get back to school work!  Mari!  (goodbye in Indonesian!)

August 16th- Here's a few more shots
After the ride in the cart, we were dropped off at the entrance to Kota Baru.  We decided to walk a while before calling to get picked up by our friend Amu....

Here's the gas station right as you enter Kota Baru.  Gas is subsidized here, so it's about $2 a gallon right now.  But the price is supposed to go up in another month or so. (the subsidized pricing will decrease some....)

Here's the view of the sidewalk a little bit past the gas station.  There's lots of palm trees along the road, and it's really quite pretty.  It's a stark contrast to the crowded streets and markets outside the gates of Kota Baru.

I took this shot while we crossed a bridge.  There's a factory in the distance and you can see the high voltage power line tower in the distance. Below the bridge was a creek that fed into the river/reservoir that is all around Kota Baru.....

Once home, we let the kids open a gift we had prepared for them back in the states.  It's a blanket with pictures of all our family members!  They love it!  It sits on our couch and Erin folds it differently every few days, so a new picture of a family member is easy to see.

We caught this little guy on our walk home from school the other day!  He was going kinda slow, and then he rolled over on his back, so I picked him up.  When Kadin went in for a closer look, the lizard opened his mouth and acted like he wanted to bite!  So we tried to be a little more careful!  We had to take a picture though, so here it is!  Pretty big lizard we think!  (by the way, the houses in the distance are our neighborhood- Jingga)

That's it for now!  I need to take some more pictures so I can add more to this page! God bless, and feel free to comment!  -mekj

August 17, 2:02 pm- 
We took some quick shots of our house and surrounding area-

Here's looking out our house.  To the right is the park.  It's a long park that runs the length of the housing complex.  It's loosely based on the seven wonders of the world, with lots of fun places to climb, slide, and hide in.

This is the right hand side of the house.  Those French Doors are off the living room.  The pointy-looking thing in the foreground is Borobudor, the most famous tourist site in Indonesia.  It's an ancient Buddhist monument, I believe.  We will probably visit it sometime this next year!

This shot is taken looking down the street, from in front of our house.  I want to figure out how to add photos to Google Street View at some point- that would be cool!

Two of the men I played soccer with live on our street-

This photo is from the park near the slide (it's to my immediate left- you can see the sand the kids land in at the bottom of the slide...)  The park ends in about two blocks from this point.  Then across the street are two empty lots that everyone uses as a soccer field.  It would be a great place for movie night!  (just thinking of stuff to do in the future!)

From here, the park stretches waaay off into the distance.  I am standing on the "Great Wall of China".  It's a fun place to try to ride bikes up, hang out, and then ride back down.....












Recognize the fruit?  A bigger one is growing down low, and another one has sprouted above!  This is in our neighbor's side yard!  Erin's thinking about planting a few fruit trees, if possible.  It would be cool to have some home-grown fruit!






That's it for now!  We will take more pictures later.  We figured we should show everyone where the house is, and what it looks like!  Have a great weekend!  My back feels a lot better today, but I still need to take it easy!  God bless! -matt

AUGUST 18th-

More pictures- We've started this thing where we go to grab a bite to eat (since our helper is on vacation, and the food is cheap...) and then we explore the areas around our house.  We check out the various parks that each development has, along with the views.  We saw some pretty cool things today- even a cat that wasn't a stray and we could actually pet it!

This shot was a real hit on Erin's Facebook page.  The leaves were HUGE!!  The boys were amazed and thought this park was pretty cool!

Here they are at the slide...

While we waited for the food, both boys goofed off- Here's a shot with Jace and a bee-utiful flower....

I had to mess around with the panoramic mode on the camera.  This is the view across from the restaurant.  If you look closely, you can see the bamboo scaffolding, and the completed shops further to the right.....

This is a home in the neighborhood around the corner from our place. So far this neighborhood has been the nicest and largest of the homes we have seen.

Scenery-- rice fields
with construction in the distance.

Here is a kitty that was actually not so wild. Most of the cats in the area are wild and they are everywhere! They all have very interesting tails. We are not sure why their tails are long, short, or no tail at all. We think maybe the water got to them:)

That's it for now!  Have a great day! (Or night, if you're in our neck of the woods! -mekj

August 22-

This will probably be our new church home!  It's BIC- Bandung International Church.  They meet where BAIS used to be before the school  moved to Kota Baru.  At the beginning of BAIS, before it joined the NICS network, the church and school were one entity, I believe...

 Here's the boys with Ibu Beti.  This past weekend was the breaking of the fast for our Muslim friends, and we were invited to join them on Sunday.  It was great getting to see their homes, families, and how they lived.!

Here's a shot of some of the typical food we were served.  Ibu Beti made most of it herself!  She's an amazing cook, and we are so blessed that she cooks for our family too!

Here's a panoramic from another house we visited....

Where we visited, the homes were built into the hills.  Many of the homes were built on top of each other.  I wondered where the rain went when the downpours happened....

It felt like we were in another world.  It also kinda felt like the scene in the Bourne movie where Jason Bourne is jumping through homes and over narrow streets...  it was an amazing place to be.  Everyone was so welcoming and kind!  It was a wonderful experience!

Here's another shot of the stairs we had to go up and down!  Pretty cool place, and wonderful people!

Here's a few more pictures from the neighborhood.  Kadin and Jace played with the kids- it was a lot of fun.  Notice the motorbike in the second shot.  I am not sure how they ride them up and down these narrow "streets" or walkways, but we saw a lot of motorbikes parked outside the homes!















That's it for now!  I am supposed to be working on my Asian History class, but I haven't had a chance to put up some pictures in a while.  We have a few more to do yet, but they will have to wait.  Also, I am sorry that you have to scroll down to the end to see what has been posted!  I have tried to find a way to "reverse" the posts, but this is a page on the blog, and not technically a post, so I don't think it can be done.... if anyone knows how to make the most recent show up at the top, drop me an email please!  God bless! -mekj

August 24th-

Earlier this week, we had someone come to our street and do some fireworks.  Security told them to knock it off, so they didn't do any more loud ones- (it did wake the kids up....)

They graciously shared sparklers with the kids though, and that was fun!

Here's a pict of the food we typically eat.  We have been eating out a lot since it is so inexpensive, and then we can find places we can eat at again!

Each neighborhood has a park; this one the kids really enjoyed.  I haven't been there yet- they all went while I was at work!

More park pictures- can you find the kids?

Today was the boys' first day of school!  They look pretty excited!  They both did well, and I was able to see them since they were in the same building!  (elementary downstairs, and mid-high school upstairs...)

At 7:35 the doors opened and the kids came through the front hallway as the teachers applauded and welcomed them.  It was fun!  The boys were at the back of the pack.....

 Here are some shots of what we ate today.  We are trying to remember to take a picture of what we eat BEFORE we dig in.  Ooops.  This is at the local "Italian" restaurant.  They have great food and a good variety- from Italian dishes to typical Indonesian food..... yum!

Nasi Goreng- or fried rice....One of my favorites!

Onion rings!  Yum! The dipping sauce was spicy, so I used it on my rice!

That's it for now!  Have a great night! -mekj

August, 28th-

After the dinner, we rode home.  Kadin is getting pretty good at riding on the streets, but it's still a little scary as cars or motorbikes pass by very close at times....

This past Sunday, our friends Amu and his wife Hani took us to church.  The kids have become great friends, and here they are as we head to church!

After church, our friends took us to a local restaurant.  It has two menus- the Indonesian and Western menus!  The food was great, and we stayed and ate out back.....

The pool next to our table provide a great distraction for the kids!  It looked like a shallow swimming pool. No one fell in, but they all got a little wet!

For those of you interested in what we are eating, here's a few pictures of what we ordered.  The 8 of us ate for around 35 dollars.  We had onion rings, french fries, iced tea, and our main dishes.

This was Kadin's Nasi Goreng.  It was not very spicy, but my version was!  (sorry, no picture...)

This is Erin's Chicken Parmesan...





Well, school's started now, and I realized we have not kept up with the picture taking like we should have.  We will try to get out and take some more shots in the near future!  God bless!  -mekj

Sept. 29-

This was shot at the park near our house.  The sun often looks like this in the mornings and evenings.....  The sun is out, and it's about 5:30pm- the lights have switched on- we left shortly to go home and put the kiddos to bed....

The boys like my helmet....  it's a full face helmet.  Most folks wear no helmet at all, or simply the type that covers your head but not your chin.....

After getting Erin's bike, we went on a ride with friends through the country....

Erin's bike is the white one in the foreground....

Here's part of the scenery.... the trees are banana trees....

We ended up at a marina.  We think those floating areas are fish hatcheries.  There were boats along the shore.  It was a beautiful place.

More shots of the lake and boats.....

Last weekend we had a staff retreat at Lembok.  It's north of Bandung, and it was much cooler there!  There were lots of flowers, so Erin took some photos.....

 Above, the flowers look like trumpets!





This one on the left was pretty cool too!

With the tropical conditions, everything can grow BIG!  We saw our fist big spider too- (no picture)  It was bigger than my whole hand, from tip to tip!

Here's a couple of shots of the surrounding hillsides.  The road was quite winding and steep at times...

Here's a few more flowers- we don't know what they are called, but God sure makes beautiful flowers!

That's it for now!  We will try to take more pictures and share them with you all!  God bless! -mekj











Oct. 23- It's been a while- sorry for the delay!  Let's start with the cool snail we caught after the rain. Erin posted it on Facebook, but it deserves a spot on this page as well!

Yes it really is that big.  The shell's about 5 inches in length, and the whole critter was larger than our hand!  God makes some cool stuff!  Erin wanted to keep it as a pet, but I advised her against it! :)

A few weeks ago we went shopping with some friends.  We had to go in to get an A/C unit, but before the big shopping day, we ate at a place called Morning Glory.  They had all sorts of food and coffees.  (I had chocolate pancakes!)
Here's Erin's omelet.  Everything was yummy!

Kadin has started soccer practice, and Jace loves to cheer him on!  The boys have also started swimming lessons- pictures will follow the butterfly I saw as I went to my room the other morning...

Yes, the trees around the pool have coconuts, and they occasionally fall on the umbrellas and tables!  Mason Pine Hotel has an awesome Olympic-sized pool!  

 This past weekend our friends took us to town.  Hendri knows the area and history behind the various places, so it was a great trip!
Everyone loves to get coffee from this place.   Apparently, they age their beans for about 8 years before roasting.  It smelled great!  Sometimes I wish I was a coffee drinker! :)  We were given a tour of the facility, and it was cool!

 To get to the next site, we crossed through a local neighborhood.  They are called Kampoons (sp?)  here in Indonesia....  

On the bus ride home, these guys came and played while we waited for others to board.  This is a pretty common practice.  They wait for tips to be given before they get off the bus.

We went on a motor bike ride on the 26th of October.  But first, here's Jace with a bug...

Here's the view from the road as we explored the area north of the school!  

Pit stop!  Some of the kids came out and we took pictures with them!

After the pit stop, we stumbled upon a spot off the road that had caves, bats, and monkeys!

The tree was growing right into the rock... pretty cool to see!

We had to crawl through that hole to get to the next level.  The bat guano smell was pretty awful.  You could hear the bats, and often we would see them in the bigger caves, flying around.

The view from the top of one of the caves.  The trees near the rock were over 50 feet below us....

Monkeys!  

Photos added Nov.

A few weeks back, we ate at a familiar place with our friends!  There was no playground, but it was two stories, included a computer area, smoking area, and the outdoor seating area as well!

The boys love to hang out outside- often on the bikes!

Here's a view from the front door on a rainy day.  We are getting into rainy season, with  rain daily now!

The boys watched the storm from inside for a while.....

This is one of the trees near the church we attend!  Pretty huge!

After church, Erin decided she wanted to go to Pizza Hut.  The nearest one is about a 20-40 minute motorbike ride, depending on traffic.  We made it there and back safely and it was a blast!  (Erin didn't like the traffic and the weaving we did, but it was kinda fun, I thought!)

That's it for now- we will add some more in a bit!  Have a great Thanksgiving!  -mekj

It's Dec. 6th- here's a video Erin took the other day when they went to get groceries and then eat at an area that has several restaurants that come out to serve you.....

This video is from in front of the school.  Yesterday the skies were blue and you could actually see the mountains!  Erin decided to capture it on video.  We miss the crystal blue skies we would always see in New Mexico; most days here, the humidity clouds the surrounding mountains, and the sky is overcast or not very clear.  That's it for now!  Hopefully the videos work!  God bless, and we will post more later! -mekj