Random bits…
It’s feeling more like home here everyday. Last weekend Billy and I went to one of the Ace Hardware stores in Bandung, and I bought some gardening supplies. I got a few pots, flower seeds, and potting soil. I planted the seeds on Sunday, and there are a bunch of sprouts coming up. Yay!
Unfortunately I put one of the pots in the corner of the balcony, and I think it blocked the drains for our balcony. There was a torrential downpour on Wednesday morning, and I walked upstairs from taking a shower to find that our upstairs was getting flooded.  Billy had already left for work, so it was just me at home, and water was pouring in from the door to our balcony. I looked out a window and saw a couple inches of water out there. I had to climb through a window onto our balcony to unclog the drain, then spent the next couple hours mopping up 12 buckets of water from our living room floor. Luckily I didn’t have any classes until 4:00 that day, but what a hectic way to start the day.  Fortunately nothing was damaged, and I was home at the time, or I’m sure it could’ve been worse.
Starting on Tuesday, Billy and I will be teaching for our schools’ children’s summer fun week. We’ll be starting at 10:00 each morning and having a 30 minute lesson, then we’ll go out for a few hours for field trips. The second day we’re going to a craft store so the kids can decorate t-shirts (and I might be able to buy some jewelry supplies). The last day of the summer fun is an all-day trip on Saturday. It ends with a hike to a waterfall. It should be fun. Also, since Billy and I are doing the summer fun, we’ll only have 1-2 classes at school in the evenings, so it’ll be a lighter workload.
Oh, did I mention there will be 75 children between the ages of 6 and 11? There will be 5 of us teachers in the mornings, but only 1 other teacher is going out on the field trips with Billy and I. Eek! We’ve been assured that there will be other staff from our schools there, but we’ll be the only teachers in the field. I’m hoping it’ll be fun, and I’ll be sure to let everyone know how it goes.
Filed under Living in Bandung | Comments (3)Anklung and Spider
An Anklung is an instrument from Indonesia. It’s made of several pieces of bamboo, and fitted together in such a way that there are two pieces of bamboo suspended in a frame. You rattle the anklung back and forth to produce a note. A couple Saturdays ago we went to a school that makes Anklungs, and teaches people how to use them, and also teaches the traditional dance that goes along with the Anklung music. One of the teachers from Billy’s school had a former student invite her to go, and she invited some of us other teachers to join them. It was a lot of fun, though I hadn’t realized it would be such a long performance. It started at 3:30, and it went until after 5:00. It was somewhat dark in the performance area, so my pictures didn’t turn out. I did take some video, but I’m not sure how to post that to my blog… I’ll have to have Billy help me with that. 
) When we were at the Anklung school we also saw the BIGGEST spider we’ve seen since we’ve been here. I think its body was about 1″ x 3″, and its leg span was around 6 inches! Thankfully it moved really slowly, so it wasn’t very threatening… though the Indonesian fellow that was with us wouldn’t go near it. The pics of the spider didn’t turn out so great, as I didn’t want to get really close to it… But here’s what I got:
Bird Nerd in Paradise…
Okay… so the Jurong Bird Park in Singapore was beyond my expectations. I did the falconry program that they offer, and I was the only person for the day, so it was incredible. The park’s falconer met me at the entrance to the park with a vest, and a falconry glove, and handed me a lugger falcon. Amazing. The first bird I handled was hooded, as falcons apparently freak out pretty easily. The hood blindfolds the birds and keeps them calm. Here we are…
Next I met a HUGE Griffin Vulture. The guide told me that the vultures have incredibly strong beaks that can easily rip through flesh… then he had me feed it… of course I fed it with the hand that had the glove on it. I didn’t handle that bird, and I was totally fine with that. It was massive and quite intimidating!
After that we met an African Secretary Bird. She was incredible! Very friendly and would follow you around like a dog. She looked unlike any other bird of prey… extremely long legs and a crown of feathers. Here are some pics of her:
Next I met a Malay Fish Owl…
Then I met a beautiful Harris’s Hawk. It made me think of the hawks back in Seattle. It was amazing to be so close to such an awesome creature. I got to fly this bird between myself and an assistant. It’s awesome to have a huge bird fly right up to you and perch on your arm!
They released some Brahmany Kites next. These birds look like miniature bald eagles. They’re known for their precision in being able to snatch prey. I was given a metal plate to hold that had a small piece of meat on it. A bird would fly right at you, and just grab the meat off the place. You could hear the talons hit the metal plate with a bang. There were 4 of these kites out at one time, and they’d grab food, then perch in a tree, or a roof nearby. You’d put more meat out, and they’d just come out of nowhere! Apparently they’ve even been known to grab food off of chopsticks when people are dining outside. They made Billy and I think about a Bud Light commercial that came out during the Super Bowl a few years back with a hawk that stole beers from the outdoor cafes.
I also threw meat into the air, and got to see the kites do some amazing acrobatics to catch it. That was really cool! Unfortunately we didn’t get pictures of any of the Brahmany Kites.
Finally, I met an African Vulture. I don’t remember what kind she was, but she was very relaxed and fun to handle… though there were a few points when she was on my arm looking at me that I thought to myself, “Wow, it would really suck if she decided to peck me in the eye.”
Luckily she never did anything like that, and was content to just sit on my arm, and eat meat out of my hand.
Singapore pics
Here are a few pics from Singapore…
Everything’s illegal in Singapore. Here’s a sign from the MRT (subway):
A picture of Durians (note that they aren’t allowed on the MRT)… They smell really bad… like something dead and rotting. I did try some though when one of the local teachers at my school brought some in. It tastes pretty good, but the texture is very odd. Under it’s spiky skin it’s almost like a very ripe banana with a goopy custard center. Worth trying once…
I guess this is like a public service announcement? Singapore is pretty big on trying to keep the general public scared into doing what’s right…
