More pictures

The swimming pool at our hotel, a lovely place to sit and read, which we did with pleasure!







One of the very bold monkeys resident in the Monkey Sanctuary. There are apparently 3 tribes in the sanctuary, and they are very defensive of their respective territories.







We visited the Elephant Cave, a Balinese place of worship dating from the 11th century. There were temple ruins here as well.




These ornate pillars were on the grounds of a traditional Hindu family compound. Within the compound were multiple buildings of single function, either kitchen or bed room, etc., and a large area dedicated to shrines.







A view of the temple at Borobodur. A photo cannot do justice to the size of the temple or the intricacy of the stone carving. Unfortunately, over the years the temple has been vandalized and many of the statues are missing head or arms.

Some photos from Bali

A view of the beach in front of Hotel Sanur Beach, where we stayed.


Just one of many beautiful flowers to be found as we walked along the beachfront.








Outrigger boats that are used for fishing. I'm not sure if they were also for rental to tourists, but for sure they were not rented to us!








At the silverworks we visited, intricate filigreeing was done by hand. We could only imagine the patience it required to make some of the beautiful works we saw.

Bali

I referenced our vacation in Bali. We came to Indonesia with no plans to visit Bali, but so many people recommended that we go, that we finally gave in to peer pressure. At least some of our hesitation was a reluctance to such a stereotypically tourist activity. Now we are listing Bali as one of our favorite places in the world! We avoided the highly tourist-developed area of Kuta, and stayed at the almost-as-highly-developed Sanur Beach. It is just not the party area that Kuta is.

Some general impressions...

The staff of the hotel we stayed at were exceptionally customer oriented, very pleasant and accommodating. The pool was as nice as any we had ever seen, the ocean was a gorgeous blue (when the sun was shining), the Hindu influence in Bali makes for some wonderful art and architecture, and it was very nice to eat some western-style food again.

Highlights for Cathy included our day trip to Ubud to see different artist communities, especially the silver work and wood carving. The Monkey Sanctuary was also nice, we could have spent more time there as much for the forest setting as for the monkeys. Just sitting by the pool reading and relaxing was also a very welcomed change for Cathy.

For Ross, the highlight was undoubtedly the chance to do an introductory scuba dive. After a brief classroom session and a quick "practice" session in the hotel pool, Ross got to go out by the reef and dive in about 10 meters of water. While this area is not prime diving area, it was still amazing...Ross would be happy to talk at length about this, so be careful to avoid bringing it up!

On the way home from Bali, we spent a weekend in Jogjakarta, buying souvenirs, sight-seeing, and being accosted by very aggressive vendors and becak (bicycles with a two-seat bench on front) drivers. On Sunday we made a stop by Borobodur, a Bhuddist temple which is a UNESCO historical site. This is truly an amazing structure, and well worth the price of admission. We also stopped by a silverworks, where Cathy found some beautiful jewelry.

From Borobodur, our driver brought us home and took us past Mt. Merapi, the volcano that erupted last November. We had really hoped to see the volcano, but because of rainy season, the clouds were so low that the mountain was completely hidden. Oh well...

When we arrived at our home we had one more surprise. We looked out the back window and noted with horror that all of the beautiful foliage in flower bed along the back of our yard was gone. Karen and Major Treadway, the residents of the house, were to be returning in a week, so I wondered if perhaps they had requested that the beds be cleared so they could re-plant. We checked with our pembantu (house-help), Ibu Tatik, and she told us a story! She had been out in the back yard when she discovered a snake up among the vines on the wall. Based on her description and a search of the internet, it seems that a green tree viper had slithered into the yard. Ibu Tatik said that she used a pole to pin the snake down and then chopped it's head off. These snakes are quite dangerous, and Ibu Tatik was quite demonstrative about how this happened. She then proceeded to remove anything that might be considered habitat for green tree vipers, in case this specimen had a buddy who was thinking of joining the neighborhood. We were a) glad that we had been gone while this excitement happened, and b) sad to think of the disappointment of Major and Karen when they returned home to find their tropical retreat obliterated.

Photos will follow.

Once again it has been a long time since we posted something on our blog. Much has happened since the last post. For me (Ross), some of the highlights have been conversations with MCC partner agency staff, and connections they have facilitated. One day in Solo, I visited two different Islamic Pesantrens (schools). At the one, which I visited with two professors from Germany, we fielded questions from about 40 or 50 of the students. They were interested in how Muslims live and are treated in Germany and the US. I hope I made it clear that I was not an expert in this area, and that the experience of Muslims in the US varies widely. Most gratifying was the opportunity to talk with 2 young women after the group disbanded.
They asked questions and I could give them information that was different from some of what they had heard. I also confirmed that some in the US are full of hate toward Muslims, including some Christians. I offered my apologies for that.

On this same trip, we visited a radio/tv station that is run by a hard-line Islamic group, Hizbullah. This is a group that has in the past been quite militant. Now they work with an MCC partner agency, having been convinced that this was a good thing to do as they saw these Christians providing material aid to people after the earthquake in Jogjakarta in 2006. Hizbullah noted that aid was given with no consideration for whether the recipient was Christian or Muslim. They ended providing escorts to ensure that the aid could get through to where it was needed. Since then they have continued to work with the partner agency, including participating in peace training. The leader said that now they realize that dialogue is the best way to resolve conflict, and view violence as the last resort. It was my impression that this is a group that is moving on the spectrum away from violence toward peace-building.

Pictured here are some of the guns that were mounted on a hallway wall just around the corner from where we were waiting in the station. Perhaps my favorite souvenir thus far is a calendar I received from this group. The group leader said that many people, when they hear of Hizzbullah, react with fear. He said that this puzzles him. The calendar, which pictures 3 men holding assault rifles with their faces covered, might be a clue as to the reaction.

Just to confess, not all of our time has been hard work and being “suffering servants”. We also spent a week in Bali recently. This was a wonderful time of relaxing, reading, checking out the culture of Bali, and for me, doing an introductory scuba dive. Bali has become a favorite place, even if we may never get there again.

My time in Indonesia is almost finished. I leave in just 3 days. If I could, I would stay longer, but I also am ready to re-connect with people in Virginia. Cathy will be here for another 3 weeks.

The past few weeks....

We found this lizard friend on a poinsettia plant on our front porch. S/he had a very long tail, measuring approximately 10” in length from head to tail.

This past weekend we attended the wedding reception of the daughter of a faculty member in the Faculty of Language and Literature. The bride and groom are in the single photo. In the lower photo “Pak” is on the left with his wife; the bride and groom are on the right. As you can see, the attire was gorgeous and elaborate. The food spread was equally elaborate with more dishes than we could sample! The reception included two sittings in order to accommodate hundreds of guests.

My office mates in the Faculty of Language and Literature at the wedding reception. The woman on the right is a visiting professor from Australia.

Visiting a SALTer, Leanne (the daughter of Ross’ cousin from Ontario), in the home of her host family in Ungaran.

A dance presentation at a Valentine’s Day celebration by a group of 3^rd grade girls at a Mennonite elementary school in Ungaran.

Cathy during a workshop presentation, Beginning Teacher Development: Living the Emotions of Teaching, to approximately 170 Micro Teaching and Teaching Practicum students at the university.

A beautiful flower found along our walk to the university.