Life in Indonesia: Out Bound with Madurese kids

Over the weekend, my friend Curtis and I spent some time with with 100 junior high kids from the island of Madura. They came to experience what they call an "out-bound" which consists of team related activities in a remote setting. A local university was hosting it, and invited us to do a little English lesson.

The out bound was held at a camp about 30 minutes up the mountain from our town. The road narrows the higher up you go, and turns into more of a village setting.

Eventually, we had to park the car and walk a couple kilometers down a cobble stone path.

 . . . that turned into a mud path . . . 

Until the path opened up to reveal a valley filled with orange groves, pine trees, and a cool mountain stream running through it. All the kids were gathered along the side involved in various activities.

We recruited a couple of the staff who could speak in English to help us tell the English story. We were doing a drama of the Fall of Man, so we ran through it a couple of times.

Then they gathered all the students around . . .

We introduced ourselves using the megaphones (it was amazing how loud the little stream was).

Taught them "Lean On Me."

The kids love getting their picture taken with  "Native Speaker." They crowd around practically on top of each other, all getting their cell phones out to get a picture with the guest speakers.

This guy put his camera up to take a picture of me, so I playfully put mine up to take a picture of him. Embarrassed, he started to run away. They have brilliant smiles and are so much fun to be with. 

Life in Indonesia: Tempo Dulu

Every year, in the month of May, our town puts on a festival remembering the old days ("tempo" means time, and "dulu" means past). It's one of my favorite times of the year in Indonesia. I love history, and this gives me a chance to see the history of Indonesia and our town come alive. We also get to experience community with the people of our town. Nothing draws people together like a festival (kind of like the State Fair in Minnesota - the Great Minnesota Get Together). The food is awesome. Though much of it we can get year round, this is an excuse to eat foods we don't normally get a chance to eat regularly. And, it usually marks the beginning of the cooler season, as the rainy season winds down and we head into the dry season.

We made it to the festival on Saturday afternoon, just before the LARGE crowds began to descend on the main street. By the time we left, we were reduced to just shuffling - and I mean literally shuffling - along.

We spent some time at Pak Bambang's stall (Bambang is a very popular name in Java. I have at least three other friends with the same name). He makes instruments, props, and attire for the "Reog Ponorogo" dance, a dance that has a crazy lion as the lead actor. (Incidentally, Ponorogo is a town in East Java that is also famous for its chicken satay. If you ever come visit us, we'll treat you to our favorite hole in the wall satay place, which is from Ponorogo).

Pak Bambang's wife treated us to sugar cane on a stick (maybe the Minnesota State Fair could try fried sugar cane on a stick!?).

But our favorite food of the day was "Martabak." It's a crepe like skin that is fried in about two inches of oil, then folded around an egg and vegetable mixture, fried some more, and cut into squares. (You can also get a sweet one with chocolate in it).

And our favorite activity by far was a ride around the festival on the old fashioned horse and carriage.

A bigger than life "topeng" - mask - that is traditionally worn by dancers who perform the mask dance . . .

 . . . like this.

Aidan's 8th Birthday

On May 17th, Aidan turned 8! Ever since we spent a few months in Australia, courtesy of Ethan, we've declared the 8th birthday to be the Australian birthday. That's because it goes so nicely with the Australian national greeting . . . "G'day mate, Aidan's 8!" (To be spoken with a thick Aussie accent).

Aidan requested an R2-D2 cake. Let me tell you, Kim has a way with cakes. 

I always marvel at her creativity . . . and they're extremely good to eat too!

And Aidan had a couple friends over to enjoy R2-D2.

Then we were off to the gigantic indoor playground where the noise level is about at the deafening level, but the kids don't care (and mom and dad didn't either because at least this year, we didn't have to come up with games).

Where's Ethan?

The other day, Kim noticed that Ethan wasn't around. A quick search around the house revealed that he wasn't inside.

Then we checked the front yard.

Ah yes. Puddles galore!