Back to the Grind

Last week, well most of last week and, well most of us enjoyed a break from school.  Julie continued studying while the kids had spring break and I had 4 days off from class.  Julie was able to move her schedule around so that we could do some family outings in the mornings before the afternoon rains came.  A couple mornings our family headed to our favorite swimming spot.  Then on Wednesday morning we piled on Buzz and JR for a ride to the waterfalls Franklin and I had visited about a month ago.  The falls were flowing heavier this time and we brought extra clothes so we (the kids and I) played under the falls for a bit.

This week we are back to normal with the kids back in school and I'm half way through week 1 of unit 7.  Which means I have approximately only 55 days of classroom time left here in Salatiga.  However we are still waiting to hear from MAF when we will be cleared to move to Sentani. We pray that we find out sooner than later as waiting can sometimes be very difficult and stressful. Maybe there is some character building that we need to experience while waiting in which case hopefully we learn it fast :).

This past week I was also able to take each of our kids out for a special meal just the two of us.  The only problem is we haven't found or made arrangements for a really long time for someone to watch the kids for us so that Julie and I could enjoy a date night.  Maybe at our next base there will be some easier options for making arrangements for date nights.  I am missing living close to grandparents for the availability and willingness to watch the kids for the evening or a night away.

Hopefully the pictures of the green grass and palm trees can bring you to a happy place for those still knee deep in snow and living in the deep freezer of Canada and northern USA.  It may not be quite the same, as our friends and family who are looking forward to not having to shovel snow and sport the winter parka, I'm looking forward to not having to carry my rain gear with me every-time we leave the house.  I've been told that in May/June we can start leaving the rain gear at home.  We've learned the hard way a couple times that it's not smart to look at the clear and sunny skies and leave your rain gear at home because 10-20 minutes later you can find yourself in a tropical down pour.  So clouds or no clouds, the rain gear is an essential item to have along even for short trips between Oct/Nov through May/June.

Isaac standing in the background Franklin under the water after jumping in.

Isaac making his splash.

Isaac heading to the bottom.

Mister Isaac fishman himself.

Julie checking out the falls at a relatively dry distance.

Jaclynn and Dad on an afternoon Lunch date.

Pak Denni and his assistant. 

This last picture has nothing to do with the above post but just a random picture of Indonesians using there above average biking skills to haul the everyday things on the back of a scooter.  For sake of clarity in front of Pak Denni (Good friend of ours) is a small banana tree that he is taking home to transplant in his yard and his assistant on the back of the bike is carrying one of our dinning room chairs to Pak Denni's which is in need of some repair.  You may noticed the comment "above average biking skills" that maybe an understatement as the traffic here is indescribably different yet there seems to be far fewer accidents here then back in North America where there is far more control and regulations to follow while driving.  Traffic laws here seem to be more of recommendations rather than hard and fast laws, but it some how works.  I will have to be careful when we return as I have adapted to Indonesian driving maybe to well.  Passing on the shoulder or in the opposite lane with on coming traffic feels normal now.  Having said this I don't think I'm quite ready to be hauling banana trees around yet :).