In October we had a week long break and took the opportunity to visit some friends from the UK and America who are living and working in a big town about 150 miles east as the crow flies. The journey on long Indonesian roads and through Indonesian traffic took an impressive 9 hours (in a car, 9 people, it was a squeeze, we travelled with a family from school). We finally arrived and were really glad to be able to meet our friends and make new ones, it was refreshing to hear Alan's northern accent (he's form Preston).
We enjoyed a week of shopping for clothes that fit us. In our town there aren't many western size shops, everything is made for Indonesians so often, depressingly, the XL sizes don't fit.
We had hoped to go swimming while there, there is a great swimming park, but Luke injured his shin (deep cut, needed super gluing / stitching maybe, but swelled up to fast to do anything with it) so we'll have to wait till next time to enjoy the big slides and rubber rings.
We did manage to go ten pin bowling, a first for the boys. It's amazing I think all bowling places look the same, it felt a bit like home, except at home you can ask for the 'bumpers' down the side of the lane so no matter how useless or young you are you hit some pins. They didn't have said bumpers, but that didn't put us off. The boys had a lot of help from Paul and hit a few pins; the scores were Luke 26 and Isaac 21. They really enjoyed themselves, we all did.
The highlight of our week was a trip to Tamen Safari where we got to see a lot of animals from around the world, we even got up close with a few. Emily and the boys had a reef of flowers placed over their heads by an elephant who marched forward with flowers in trunk. We all had a stroke and photo taken with a baby tiger (about the size of a dog, except with sharp teeth and claws) it was fun and scary at the same time. Paul tried purring at the tiger, the tiger growled back, oops.
Then Emily the bravest person that day plucked up the courage to get up close and personal with a 1 year old lion. Now this lion was more the size of a Great Dane dog, except it had more body / muscle. She stroked it a bit, was feeling ok then it growled, teeth showing, jarring it's head. The handler said it was ok, but Emily had already proved herself and made a steady but swift exit from the lion.
The week was refreshing and when we got back to the dorm we had that settled feeling, the one when you say 'it's nice to be home' because it is home; we're settling in and feeling like we are doing more that keeping our heads above water. Emily is gettng busier as her role increases - she is running a series of classes on bullying for the elementary and high school and rewriting the school's policy. She's also helping out with planning classroom management for students with SEN. It's an interesting mix - please pray for her to have wisdom as we work to serve the kids and families better.
The week was refreshing and when we got back to the dorm we had that settled feeling, the one when you say 'it's nice to be home' because it is home; we're settling in and feeling like we are doing more that keeping our heads above water. Emily is gettng busier as her role increases - she is running a series of classes on bullying for the elementary and high school and rewriting the school's policy. She's also helping out with planning classroom management for students with SEN. It's an interesting mix - please pray for her to have wisdom as we work to serve the kids and families better.
Here's some photos of the Safari, enjoy. Love Paul & Emily
1 comment:
Isaac seems a little more comfortable with the tiger than Luke! It looks like a lot of fun.
I went to a castle this weekend - it's not quite as cool at tigers and elephants though.
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