bird flu

I wonder if the BBC know about the most recent outbreak of bird flu... There have been 3 confirmed cases in the neighbourhood next to our school (very close!). Once again, I am reminded who we are dependant on here - for everything, but especially I'm thinking about our health at this time. Please pray for the people in the kampung (neighbourhood) : Indonesians, our students, staff and us too - all of us who are a little too close for comfort to this particular outbreak.

one month in

Firstly, in the last blog i told you about a member of school staff who was very sick - one week ago Mbak Ester died. It has been a tough couple of weeks for her family and those who worked closely with her. Paul took some of our girls to the funeral which was traditional Indonesian and very different to the UK.
Sumatra (to the west) was hit by a quake a couple of days ago. Although it was felt by some on Java, we did not feel it here. We do have some families on Sumatra, so please pray for them. In these things, no news is usually good news.
The girls have been away on retreat and are due back today - we have had a couple of family days which have been wonderful (although the house feels empty!). I think we are all recharged and ready for action when they get back at lunch time.
Please pray for ...
Mbak Ester's family and friends
Wisdom in managing the dorm and decision making
Paul in his teaching role
Luke and Isaac in their culture shock
Us in our culture shock
Our relationships with the girls as we all get used to each other
Planning the dorm retreat in October
Guidance in preschool planning (i am thinking of offering a morning a week to 3s and 4s, but need to really plan, and not bite off more than i can chew!)
well, that's all for now, Love emily

body scrub, mosquitos and cotton candy

SO this week has been full of interesting experiences. On Saturday, I (Emily) went to Solo, a big city, to do a spot of birthday shopping for the boys. The road there is pretty goods and there are petrol stations along the way. We needed to stop for gas so we pulled into the station behind a people carrier. Fortunately we were about a car's length behind the vehicle because it's back wheel fell off (yes, the whole wheel) and went bouncing down the road. The driver and passengers got out and were like "oh...it's the wheel...where did it go...these things happen". Of course, us newcomers were quielty freaking out that not only did the wheel come off and nearly cause an accident, but that the attitude was "oh, drat"...interesting cultural experience. So we go to the loo (Squatty potty...use your imagination...) and were on our way. We got the the mall and the parking attendant said we were only allowed to park for half an hour and seemed to speak in a mixture of Indonesian and Javanese, so that we were not all that sure why...now, being white and paranoid, we thought he was trying to make more money by making us move on so we ignored his instruction to be back in 30 mins. When we had done our shopping we tried to return to the car and found the whole street FULL of parade...horses, musicians, floats, people, motorbikes etc etc. We could see the top of the car through the crowd and hoped that it was not being ransacked or 'decorated'. We had no hope of getting to the car and we were informed in no uncertain terms that the stupid expats would have to wait to move the vehicle. Well, it could have been worse, and as it happened, we were stranded in the mall so we drank coffee and waited. After an hour and a half or so, we were able to return to the car and get on our way. It took ages and ages to get home, but we did get home at about 7pm. Paul had been stranded at the dorm all day, so another member of staff had come over to help. I, in my guilt for being out for so long, offered to make him an iced coffee with crushed ice using the blender I had bought in the city. I was really pleased with my new purchase. I had dithered for ages over which to get because I wanted an ice crusher. The man in the store assured me that it would be good for ice and eventually I bought it. So, i'm in the kitchen making iced coffee, all proud of my skill, and i put the ice and ingredients in the blender, and for a moment, I can taste frapacinno, and then...I realise that the motor is on, but the blades are not turning. In fact the whole mechanism has completely shattered. So, Paul had icy coffee with ice instead. The peverse thing is that I open a cupboard the next morning, which i was sure was empty, and I find a spanking new ice crushing blender. It works a dream. I am the frappacino queen.
So, I'm realising that i have made no reference to the title - in the midst of my culture shock at the end of last week, I recieve a gift...a pot of delicious body scrub from the mum of one of my girls. It is lovely and does the trick on all that dust on my feet from flip flops and bare feet. Thank you Tena!! And the mosquitos think i am delicious and don't care for anybody else. I am getting bitten in the night through my PJ's and my sheet! Nasty beasts. I had 4 new bites this morning and 5 yesterday. Malaria is not a problem here, but dengue fever (breakbone fever) is. Well, deet at night i guess...
And the candy floss...luke and isaac were kindly bought some candy floss the other day from a street vendor at the fair. One (floss, not street vendor!) was rather blue and turned Isaac's mouth, tongue etc electric blue for quite a while. One of the girls told me this morning to avoid cotton candy because it usually contains fabric dye instead of food dye. NICE. All great cultural lessons!...
BIG NEWS...Luke, my little baby, decided that he wants to folow Jesus and we talked about what that means and he decided that he believed it. Luke became a christian on Sunday. How exciting is that. Please pray for him.
Also, on a serious note, please also pray for our elementary secretary, Esther, who is extremely ill with aplastik anaemia. She is very very sick and is being kept alive with transfusions. Please pray for her, her family and for the medical personal who have very tough decisions ahead.
Also, dorm life ir going well, please pray for all our girls, for our relationships with them and for their families who are working all over the Islands.
...for now, Emily for the family