The rainy season has arrived

художници на икониПодарък иконаThe dry season has come to an end.  It’s been raining more and more frequently lately, and this week it’s been clear that the rainy season has arrived.  Last Sunday it rained a fair amount of the afternoon/evening.  I came down with a cold, which people here often blame on the change in weather.  I stayed home sick on Tuesday, and slept most of the day.  The cold is still lingering a bit, but I’m feeling mostly better.  The temperature has dropped with the rainy season, and the nights feel pretty chilly.  It makes me think of early autumn in Seattle, where the air is a little crisp.   I’m glad we have such a nice fluffy comforter on nights like these.

I hate the rain when I have to drive in it.  Riding a motorcycle in the rain can be quite challenging.  Instead of just focusing on traffic and randomly darting pedestrians, you also have to try to avoid puddles (or lakes as they sometimes seem), and also make sure that you’re not getting splashed by other cars and motorcycles on the road.  Even wearing a poncho, you often end up wet and uncomfortable.

Yesterday was Saturday, and I didn’t have to go anywhere.  I sat on the balcony with a cup of coffee on the gray day, and read a book, listening to the children in front of our house playing, and their mothers cackling and shouting to the kids.  We’re often bombarded with noise here in Indonesia, whether it’s someone revving their motorcycle, or children screaming, or a vendor shouting out his wares as he walks by the house.  I’m learning to block out a lot of the noises, but sometimes all the sounds just make me a bit irritable.

After reclining on the balcony for about an hour, the sky got grayer, and the first few raindrops began to fall.  The children all ran home, and the motorcycle traffic ceased.  All you could here was the soft ticking of the rain on the leaves of the banana trees and guava trees that are around our house.  This was punctuated with the occasional crackle of thunder, croak of frogs in the rice paddies, or chirp of a resident gecko hiding behind my potted plants.  It made me appreciate the peace that can come with a soft rain.  I love having a balcony that is covered, so I can sit outside and enjoy the rain without getting wet.  I was lying on cushions on the floor of our balcony, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, enjoying the cool breeze, fresh air, and quiet.

I think it’s important to for me to make time to reflect on what I love about Indonesia.  I often get caught up in the work day here, and don’t pause to appreciate the beauty and amazing culture that surrounds us here.  I love my job and co-workers/friends, but it’s really grounding to just sit alone and take in the sights and subtle sounds that I often miss.

спални комплекти

The view from our balcony

We’ve survived our 2nd earthquake in Indonesia

This afternoon, while Billy and I were at work, a decent-sized earthquake hit Java.  I was in the teacher’s room, and I thought someone was kicking my chair.  I suspected it was my friend and co-worker Dave, and he thought the same thing about me.  We turned around in our chairs and looked at each other, then it registered that we were too far apart to kick each others’ chairs.  “Earthquake.”  Everyone evacuated the teachers’ room and classrooms, and stood in the parking lot until the rolling subsided.  It felt like we were on a ship, moving along on gently rolling waves.  There wasn’t any damage at school, and we went back to work.

Billy and I both worked until 9 tonight, and met at home right after work to check the house for damage.  Our house already had a few small cracks in the walls, and some of them are now a little wider, but still nothing serious.  I’m thankful our house is okay, and all our friends are fine…  though some of their houses did get damaged. 

We’re planning to go to our favorite beach, Batu Karas, in a couple weeks, and the cities we go through on the way there were hit harder than Bandung.  Luckily the tsunami warnings have been canceled, and it seems the beach is okay.

4th of July costumed pub crawl

So, a bunch of us decided it would be fun to dress up in costumes and go out for a night on the town.  Originally we were going to try to be Wizard of Oz characters, with your’s truly as Dorothy, but we decided it might be difficult to get costumes together.  Billy found a costume shop in Bandung that rented costumes, and we all went a bit crazy with getting dressed up.  It was a great time, and just happened to fall on the 4th of July.  What better way to celebrate American Independence than by dressing up in strange costumes and going around to the local bars?

There were 7 of us.  I was a fairy, Billy was some kind of Athletic Freak with a huge green afro, sweat bands and gigantic sunglasses, Russell was a Roman, Melanie was some kind of Willy Wonka-type character with a huge candy cane, Pat was a witch, Liz was a can-can girl, and David was Austin Powers.  I think we went to a total of 7 pubs that night, and had an awesome time.  Here are a couple photos.  The first one is in an Angkot, the public transportation in Bandung, with a random guy that just happened to get on the bus after us. The second one is in front of the bar 7 Sins, our 5th stop of the night.

The costumed crew on our way to the 4th pub

Group shot in front of 7 Sins

Don’t worry, we’re fine.

Billy read about the Jakarta bombings this morning, and told me about them. It’s unfortunate that the actions of a few crazy people can bring such a negative perception to such a lovely country.

We set the bird free… YAY!!!

The bird that I’d written about before is now living in the pine forest up in the hills of Bandung. We tried to release him after a couple of days, but he was weak and dazed and just refused to take off. We found a friend in Bandung who had a huge cage in his yard, and he agreed to let the bird stay there for a while to build up his strength. After a few days there, he was hopping all over the place, and eating well. When we tried to get him out of the cage he even bit my friend Jim a few times. We transported him up to the forest in a cardboard box carried on Jim’s motorcycle, by his lovely wife Vini. The three of us went out tromping around in the forest on a Thursday morning, and found a peaceful place off the beaten path to release him. Jim opened the box and gave him a nudge. He hopped and jumped quickly into some underbrush and no matter how hard we looked for him we couldn’t find him again. It was a rewarding experience, but I just wish I could of heard his little voice just once before he took off.

Here are someof the bird and the forest where he’s living now.

Jim holding the bird

Our little friend on the forest floor the first time we tried to release him

Back in Bandung

We got back to Bandung at about 5pm Wednesday. It took about 34 hours from the time we left my Dad and Judy’s house until we arrive at our home in Bandung. We did a little unpacking then went out for a bite to eat and to grab some quick groceries to get us by. We were so exhausted that we went to sleep at 7:30, and slept until 7 the next morning. Man, I needed that.
Yesterday I was on my balcony looking at my plants and planning to do some gardening when I saw a black blur out of the corner of my eye, and heard something crash into the bushes across the road from our house. I looked down to see a beautiful bird sitting on the ground at the side of the road. It was stunned, and didn’t react to passing motorcycles or people. Me, being the bird nerd that I am, went inside to grab my Indonesia Birds book to identify it. It was a Banded Pitta, a native to Javan forests, but shy and rarely seen in the wild. I called my friend Jim, who’s an avid bird watcher, and asked what he thought I should do. I got a box and poked some holes in it and carefully went over to pick up the bird and put it in the box. At first it didn’t do anything, then after a few seconds it tried to flap its wings a bit but gave up. I put it in the box with a little dish of water and took it inside. The poor thing was so weak it couldn’t even stand up. I put it in a dark room and checked on it a few hours later. He was standing up sleeping, with his head tucked back like a duck. He seems to be getting better, and Jim said it’s possible that he was a pet bird that escaped and flew until he was too exhausted to fly anymore. Jim has friends in a bird conservation group here, and he’s trying to see if we can give the bird to them to have him released back into the wild. For now he’s still in the box, and I’ve been trying to feed him slugs and ants. Apparently their favorite food is snails and worms, but unfortunately I don’t have any of those around the house…
Hopefully the little bird will continue to get stronger, and he can have a long life running and flying around the forests of Indonesia, not living in a box or cage in the city.

Here’s a photo of a Banded Pitta, if you’re curious what he looks like.

Heading home…

We’re waiting in the Jakarta airport right now. We’ve got a 5 hour flight to Taipei, and a 3 hour layover there. Then we fly to San Fransisco for 11 hours and have another 3 hour layover before finally flying back to Seattle for another 2 hours. Ugh. It’ll be a long time traveling, but it’ll be good to be back in the Northwest. I’m looking forward tocarrier to noise ratio being able to catch up with as many folks as I can while we’re back.

We repainted our bathroom

Billy and I went to Ace Hardware yesterday and bought some anti-mildew primer for our bathroom. The moisture had made the paint pretty gross, and I don’t think that the bathroom walls had ever been primed, so the paint flaked off pretty easily and the gray of the cement walls showed through. Not pretty. Well, after scraping the walls a bit, and applying 3 coats of bright white primer, our bathroom looks better than ever. Also, the “curtain” we’d had in there was one I’d made from a white pillowcase. That had seen better days, and with the moisture had taken on an ugly tan hue. I replaced that today with a new curtain made from some colorful batik fabric. It’s amazing what some paint and a new curtain can do to make a room look nice. Now I’m feeling tired, but satisfied.

Another 3-day weekend!

My birthday’s on a Saturday this year, and the Monday after is a national holiday.  That means I get another 3-day weekend for my birthday.  Woohoo!  Billy and I are heading to Batu Karas along with 6 of our fellow teachers to enjoy the long weekend.  You might remember that Batu Karas is the same beach that I broke my collarbone at a year ago…  Aside from the crazy Banana Boat rides, it’s a magical place.  I’m really looking forward to going back there again, and celebrating my 32nd birthday in a tropical paradise. 

Rain…

Rain

Rain

Go away…