Banyak Sesuatu Baru Untuk Tahun Baru

Greetings,

Well a lot has happened since our last post.  The year is off to a fast start as we started the New Year in our new place of residence.  Thankfully some of us are adjusting to this move well, but unfortunately not all of us.  We have been without internet now for a week which has made communications a little slower but not impossible.  We have a nice restaurant down the road from us with a killer blueberry smoothie so I (Greg) being enjoying a few more of those while trying to keep up on emails and what not.  I’m thinking I should just cancel the internet altogether and put the money towards blueberry smoothies in a daily run for internet.  But I think I might get in trouble from higher up if they find out I canceled the internet at the house.

                Are family started out the year with a trip to Kopeng to see a tradition celebration of sorts.  If I understood our friend right it was to mark the end of a month however I forget the name of the month as it is from a different calendar than we use.  Included are some pictures from that celebrations.

Traditional music/puppet show call Wayang Kulit.  

Traditional dance done by group young boys

Traditional dance preformed by 2 adults 

I think each dance tells a story but I'm not sure.

Enjoying some warm food and fellowship around the
kitchen fire place.

             














        Then on Sunday morning we traveled again with our friends to Gedong Songo.  Gedong Songo is the site of a series of  ancient  Hindu temples stretched along the mountain side.  Then after hiking and taking in the sights at Gedong Songo we traveled to Borobudur an ancient Buda temple.  According to Wiki Gedong Songo predates Borobudur both of which were built in the 8-9 century.  Which make them the oldest buildings I ever visited.  The architectural complexity was impressive to think they were constructed by hand without power tools, heavy machines and auto-cad.  The trip was great only one complaint, I could have done without the high pressure salesman at the end of the trip at Borobudur.  It seemed like an eternity trying to get to the exit while being hounded to buy some souvenirs.  Lots of pictures taken.

Gedong Songo

Kids enjoying the concrete wildlife.

Gedong Songo overlooking the hot-springs.

The fresh smell of hot sulfur mum yummy.

The grand temple Borobudur, it was massive!

Mt Merbabu or Mt. Merapi from atop Borobudur.

Where's Waldo or I mean Isaac?

Oh there he is again trying to hide.

A good time had by all even Waldo oh I mean Isaac.

                














        The last two group of pictures is from a couple different biking adventures.  The first group were taken on a trip with a friend.  When he was younger he camped out at this camp ground which had a nice pool at one time up by Kopeng.   On this trip he also introduced me to Gule Kambing which is a Indonesian meal.  Gule Kambing is a soup with rice and some vegetables and then goat meat.  It was pretty good and  I enjoyed.  Later I was warned that it’s not a good soup for high blood pressure.  Maybe I will only enjoy it on rare occasions! I quickly googled Gule Kambing, what I ate looks a lot different than that in some of the pictures not to mention that most of the receipts seem to call for lamb instead of goat.  You might have to come visit to try some authentic Indonesian Gule Kambing. 

Swimming pool in what I would consider the middle of
no where at one time looked like pretty nice place.

                













        This last group of pictures is some more landscape from a solo biking trip.  I was trying to find my way to the top of Mt. Merbabu.  Google maps shows a road to the top but I either need to change out my tires for some off road style or better yet change out bikes for a motor cross bike.  Or what I will likely try is return in the dry season when the clay isn’t crazy slippery and try again. 

If you look hard you can see a tiny village just below the
clouds up on the mountain that is my chosen destination
 on this trip.

Vegetation abrupt change yes those are pine trees and it
smelled like I was back home.

Stone road cut through the pine tree.  I doesn't look steep
I had a challenge getting going again after stopping
for these few pictures and a leg stretch.

Here is the village up close built on the side of the mountain.
Maybe only 1/3 of the way up to the top.

Villages crop land.  There is a lot of things that grow here.

Slight up grade to the road with two tracks made from
concrete a little smoother than the stones earlier.

Steep decent on the right and then 270 corner and a steep
climb to the left on the way between villages.

This shows up as a road on Google maps.
It was a little slippery but not to steep so it wasn't to bad.

PS.  If you click on the pictures they should be bigger and a little bit easier to see the details in some of them. This was a large post hope you enjoy looking at the picture, we enjoyed taking them.  Blessings

New Year and New House

Happy New Year!!  So far this year the sun still came back at it's usual time.  Today and yesterday both started with rain which has been different.  The move across town went well yesterday. We were blessed by all the help from friends and neighbors.  A few things required some attention the stove being one of them but I was as able to get it going before breakfast today and this morning after a cold shower I was able to get the hot water maker working again.  Isaac's new bike had a flat tire which we found a tumbl ban open this morning to patch him up and he is back riding again.  Some time today I think we are heading up the mountain to visit our neighbors extend family.  A quick look at our first day of the year.

8 Minute Summary of 2013

Highlights for our family for the year 2013.  Sorry the quality of the video not great, I tried to up load a higher quality version but it failed.  I going to try and burn some copies and send them Canada/States side. If you would like a hard copy email me.

Out and About

December has been a very busy month as we find ourselves taking trips on the weekends with friends and neighbors outside of the city with our two bikes. Everyone has been fighting off different kinds of fevers which have been going around like crazy throughout the schools. Greg and I have been working at strengthening our language skills. And then we have been planing for our first Christmas in Indonesia along with moving to a new house here in Salatiga a few days after Christmas.

Besides the fevers that have been going around it has been a great time of really getting around the city on my trusty scooter. I have been able to really help Greg out with picking up the two younger children from school on the days that he works with his tutor. Then it is great to be able to whip down to the local story instead of taking the 40 min. round trip walk that it would have taken. But the funnest time came last weekend when I actually got to get out of the city and drove to some new places. Our neighbors invited to take us to a huge Catholic place that has these really cool pathways and statues to look out. Which meant that we would need to drive both of our bikes so that our whole family would be able to attend.  On Saturday Greg went out with me to practice on different main roads and then somehow we ended up on back roads between villages.  Now here they are considered roads however I would call them trails or at times you could say that I was off the beaten path a little.  It was a total blast and I think that my brother would have been proud of his older sister and her biking abilities!!! Then the next day we traveled with our friends and I had two children on the bike with me.  We traveled no more then maybe ten minutes and it started to rain a good jungle kind of rain. I am happy to say that I did drive all the way there in the rain like any true Indonesia would have laughing all the way.  I think that I was even singing Christmas songs though I did try to change some of the words to the songs as the word snow was not working for me since I was so wet from the rain!! The children thought this was great as most times back home we try to stay out of the rain not in it and not especially in the middle of December.  We had a great time walking around in the rain and re-walking the pathways after the rain had stopped. The kids where quite the hit as they were the only white people there and even got to poise with a group of college age kids who wanted to take a picture with white kids.

Then came the drive home which I am happy to report was without rain as we drove through rice fields and saw water buffaloes, ducks and other villages.  However it was a different way home that actually ended up finding this rookie driver on the main highway with lots of big trucks, buses, and more motorbikes then she cares to admit. I was so happy to arrive home safe and sound that night. It was a great time of fellowship, connecting with the Indonesia people, and mastering driving like a Indonesia. 

Below are some pictures from the place that we went to visit and some of the life size statues that they have for you to look at.  See if you can notice which Bible story they are from.  And lastly are family wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a bright New Year!!!

My first time out of the city and into the hills for a bike ride!!!

Just can't let this chance pass me by!

I think this was my favorite, the empty tomb.

Maybe we should feed our children more food

               

Landscape Photos

The first 3 photos are taken from the shelter of our home during a "light" rainstorm.  "Light" being relative of course as from what I recall from back home this would be consider a medium to hard rain.  It had been raining a bit harder just before I got the idea to try and photograph it so maybe next time it comes down supper hard I'll remember to grab a photo sooner.  I think if you click on the photo's that is bigger the rain is a little clearer.

Neighbors down roof across the street

Garage

Side of the house

The following pictures are from my solo bike trip up Mt. Telomoyo Saturday afternoon which is close to Salatiga.  I had an interesting encounter with the polisi "police" I came across a check stop and was asked for my SIM which I don't have yet at least an Indonesian SIM (Driver's Licence).  So a little nervously I handed him my Alberta Drivers and then he asked for my prof of ownership which is a fancy piece of paper that I did have.  He then asked where I was going, where I lived, where I was from, why I was in Indonesia. Then sent me on way, very pleasant and polite which isn't always going to the the case.  Hopefully today or tomorrow we will have our SIM and then the heart won't pound quite so hard when I'm asked for my SIM.