It's a Gecko!

During the evening, the geckos come out and take their post on our walls near the ceiling or on the ceiling.  They are our friends!  They eat mosquitoes (so I'm told), and I don't know what else.  They are welcome to stay.  An added benefit of the geckos is that Miss V2 loves to announce any she sees.  She even makes this funny noise at them...I guess she is trying to scare them away.  The video above is one I made on May 9th (2 days after moving in)... so it is a little old, but the drama stays the same!  Now we all join in the fun just to see her reaction!

Our Walk to Church

On our walk to meet our ride to church, the sheep joined us!

Mr. D8 caught in the act of being naughty.   Shocking.
It looks like he is about to step on the sheep's rope.

Eventually we passed them... now they are following us.

A view of the rice patties and mountains beside this road
which is in our kampung (village).  This is not our street.

It is always kind of hazy... so the pictures don't turn out
as beautiful as it really is.  

If you want to see a picture better, just click on it... it will enlarge.  In case you are wondering, you can't see our house in this picture.  We plan to purchase a car from another American family that is leaving the country... but we won't be able to get it until June 23rd... my birthday!  It might possibly be the best birthday gift I have ever gotten!  (Of course, I won't be able to drive it!  It is a stick!)  Walking with the sheep was fun... but riding in a car of our own is a luxury I'm ready for again!  =0)

Across the Street

So... what do you see from  your front porch?  Let me know!  This is what we saw this morning!  We were fascinated with the work going on in the rice patty... but then entertained by the neighborhood boys playing in the mud!  Oh my... I bet their mothers were thrilled with those dirty clothes!  ha!  NOT! I know one of them wasn't because she is my neighbor!  =0)  But we all had a good laugh watching them.  

This is literally across the dirt road from our front "yard."  Most of front yard, actually, is our front porch.  Then there is a little yard, then a wall/fence, then the little dirt road you can see in some of the videos, then the rice patty!  

It is interesting to watch the work going on in the rice patties.  I guess since growing season is year 'round, they cycle each little patty on a different schedule so that they aren't all ready to harvest at the same time.  As Dano pans around, you can see different patties in different stages.  It is really pretty neat to "study" them and see the engineering in them.  If you look closely (if you can see it in the tiny version of the video), you see water draining from one patty to the other.  

They also have this flock of ducks that moves around in the patties.  I don't know if they used to be white, but they look like they are stained from the mud.  Maybe one day we'll post a picture of them.  

The voice you hear talking to Dano in the video is one of our neighbor boys.  He is 7.  He knows a little English as you can tell.  It is great!  He is teaching our kids Indonesian, and they are teaching him some more English!  You also hear the mom hollering at the son in the mud!  

Oh, well... that is a little picture from our life.

Hope you have a great day or night!  

If you sign in as anonymous when leaving a comment... sign your name so we know who you are... if you want!  =0)  

To Squat or Not

picture on a stall door

picture on a stall door

Finally… the follow up to the picture.  I’m sure you are on the edge of your “seat” wondering what was in that picture… but then again… maybe not!  There weren’t many guesses! 

I’ll repost the picture just so you can get another look at it.  These are receipts we got when we paid for going to the bathroom at the mall!!  How DIFFERENT is that?? 

No, we don’t have to pay for all public restrooms… but a lot do have a little box outside the bathroom.  From what I understand (which could be wrong), you pay as you exit the bathroom.  Some of these boxes are “manned” to make sure you pay, I guess.  The receipts above are the ONLY receipts we’ve ever received at a bathroom!  I thought it was great… thus, the picture! 

How much does it cost??  Rp 500 – Rp 2000 per person depending on the location.  (Rp stands for Rupiah just like $ stands for Dollars)  I know that sounds like a LOT of money, but it is only about a nickel to 20 cents! 

Now… I want to tell you about the bathrooms!  If you “follow me” on facebook… then you may have seen our little discussion about squatty potties.  You can google “squatty potty” to see images, but we happen to have one in our temporary house that I took a picture of for you!  (It looks pretty dirty… but it is just worn out, I guess.) 

You may wonder how this works.  Well, the name gives a big clue… you squat on it & potty.  I still had a hard time envisioning this.   But this is the advice we were given which works!  First, stand on the groovy looking part of the potty with your back toward the wall.  Then roll up your pants up to your knees if you can… next when you pull your pants down try to keep everything bunched at the knees.  Now squat & do your business… amazingly, it works!  It is basically like going in the woods… but it had been a few decades since I went in the woods!  So the last thing is the flush.  There are no handles or buttons.  Instead there is a bucket or basin with water in it (unlike the picture above) with a dipper nearby.  You scoop water out of the bucket and pour it down the potty… repeat until you are satisfied all is flushed.  Now, I’m pretty sure if you are a local, you pour water everywhere because from what I’ve gathered, they believe “Wetter is Better” which takes me to the next topic.    

But first I must tell you, there are also “normal” potties here… or throne potties, as I now like to call them!  Shew!  Thankfully, in this house we have 3 “normal” potties in addition to the 1 squatty potty.  When we move this weekend… we’ll have 1 normal potty, total. 

My first experience with the WET bathroom was in the airport when we landed here.  Thankfully, there was a “throne” in the stall, but it was very wet… and the floor was wet… and there was NO toilet paper!  Thankfully when I asked for toilet paper, I was given some.  You see, the “normal” thing is to NOT use toilet paper.  It was in this stall that I remembered some advice from a friend that lives here… “always have toilet paper when going to a public bathroom.”  I haven’t been without it since that day!  Now back to NOT using toilet paper.  Inside each throne stall, there is a spray gun… think kitchen sink spray gun.  Somehow they use this spray gun instead of toilet paper AND spray down the whole stall, throne and all, when they are done.  The AMAZING thing to me is that they come out DRY and perfectly dressed & put together.  I can’t even walk in and come out NOT using the spray gun and stay dry!  Go figure!  

I’ve shared how to flush a squatty potty, and some public throne potties have the same type handle as in the USA that you flush with your foot, but if it is a potty with a tank behind it like you find in homes in the USA, the “flusher” is completely different.  Below is what you will find on the tank lid.  You have two types of flushes to choose from… the button on the left is for a small flush, and the button on the right is for a big flush!  Pretty smart!  

Now, we have been doing a LOT of shopping getting items to set up our household here, and when you have 5 kids and everyone is drinking lots of water… you visit LOTS of potties!  Just like in the USA, there are lots of variations from amenities to cleanliness!  In big malls you might find toilet paper in every stall!  Yea!  Some places have a big roll mounted outside the stalls… so you take what you think you’ll need before entering the stall.  Most bathrooms are pretty clean (if you can get over the wetness of it all).  Sometimes you get a dry stall which is such a relief!  Now sometimes you get a bathroom (a squatty) that makes you feel like you’ve entered a time machine and traveled back 100 years!  But some squatties are in modern bathrooms.  Going to the bathroom in a new location, is ALWAYS an adventure! 

I’ll end this post with one last picture that should make you smile!  =0) 

Apparently some just love to squat even if the throne is
the only option.  The funny thing is, I've actually seen
shoe prints on the toilet seat when entering a public bathroom!

One Week Down

Well, this past Thursday marked one week "in country" and all is well!  Actually, everything is better than well.  I have so much to tell you, but I hardly know where to begin!  So much has happened over the past 11 days since we boarded the plane in Tennessee.  I don't know if I'll ever catch up!

I will tell you that physically everyone is well!  That is really a surprise to all the others here that we have stayed well this long and haven't gotten "Bandung Belly" as they call it.  We do have some snotty noses so I think some of the kids are fighting off something, but it isn't slowing them down.

Thankfully, we all seem to be adjusted to our new time zone now for a few days which is such a wonderful gift!  No one is falling asleep in the middle of the day (well except for Virginia taking naps which is a good thing); no one is waking up at 4 a.m. to announce they hear the prayers; everyone is sleeping through the night!  Yipee!

I am so thankful that the people here, the nationals, are so gracious with our inability to speak the language.  We do know some words and phrases, but we can't really carry on a conversation.  They are eager to please and find others who can speak English or use their limited English to help us.  This is so humbling, and it makes me think of how many in America treat others who don't know English... are we gracious with them... or irritated... or just flat out ignore them?  Everyone is made in His image regardless of the language they speak.  I'm so thankful that the people here are kind and helpful to us.  Of course having 5 kids tagging along certainly opens lots of doors for us!  They LOVE kids!

We have purchased the major items we need to move into our permanent home.  Well, we still need to get a table and chairs.  There are lots of little things that we still need to get.  We will probably start moving in next weekend.

Well, I guess that is all for now.  Nothing too exciting... my next post will hopefully be something fun & educational!

In the meantime, I want to leave this picture with you... and have you guess what it might be... please post your comment.  It is a clue to my next post!

Blessings,
Melinda  =0)

Do you know what these are?