It is another rainy afternoon here in Jakarta. People said the rainy season ends by March, but April and May have been really rainy – great thunderstorms here most afternoons or evenings. Whenever it rains we love going out onto the balconies or the porch and watching it pour.
Emergency Room
Mallory made her first trip to the emergency room. On Saturday morning (yesterday) the boys were in our bedroom and started lifting some weights (just some small metal dumb bells). Someone set a 3 kg weight on the ottoman and Mallory walked over to the ottoman and tried to pick it up. It ended up just rolling off the ottoman and right onto her foot. Immediately she started screaming and I noticed that blood squirted out from her big toe, and that the toenail on her big toe was torn off (it was just hanging by a small piece of skin). We frantically got her to the bathroom, poured water on it (bottled water, not Jakarta tap water), got some ice, and decided who was going to take her to the doctor. Heidi made arrangements for Luke to be picked up by a friend to go to his soccer game, and both Heidi and I ended up taking her in. The doctor looked at her toe, did an x-ray and determined that there was a small crack at the end of the bone of her big toe. Apparently the crack isn’t anything to be worried about. They tried to clean up the wound a little bit, but it was really hard to tell how damaged it was because it wasn’t a clean cut or anything – just blood and skin. I think the only thing that seemed to help Mallory calm down while the doctor & nurses were looking at her toe was being able to rummage through Heidi’s purse (if she spots Heidi’s purse anywhere she insists on being able to take inventory of everything inside it). Mallory spent the rest of the day with a big white bandage on her toe, and willingly stuck out her toe to show anyone who would pay attention to her.
Today after church Nash and I took Mallory in to the clinic again so that the doctor could change the bandages on her toe (Heidi’s stomach was too weak to go in to see the wound today, so I took Nash with me). This time they gave her some local anesthetic before they cleaned up the wound. Her toe looked a bit better today, and it appears that the only spot she is bleeding is from is where her toenail was ripped off, and both doctors (today and yesterday) said that the toenail will grow back in a couple of months.
Walls
We had a bunch of pictures framed recently – prints we had purchased in the US before we moved here, a photo of the kids, and some art work from Kalimantan. They were delivered this week, so Saturday afternoon we hung up about 10 pictures. It is nice to get some things on our walls that have seemed to be so bare.
Nash – Pasar Mukti Field Trip
Nash had a good trip to a place called Pasir Mukti with his class. They left on Thursday morning, spent the day in mud pits learning about planting rice (Nash liked seeing the eels that live in the rice patties), then had a bonfire that night, slept in cabins, and learned about planting several other crops the next day.
Demonstrations
Last week it was interesting to see the news coverage of the Labor Day demonstrations in Jakarta (Monday morning I looked out the window of my office and saw dozens of trucks full of people coming in from the suburbs for the demonstrations). The demonstrations were mostly peaceful the first two days, then on Wednesday they turned a little violent, but nothing too major. Luckily we were not affected at all by the demonstrations – we live (and I work) far enough away from the area where the demonstrations took place.
Volcano
We are also anxiously awaiting news about the eruption of Mount Merapi – one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia -- in Central Java, about 50 km north of Jogjakarta, a city we visited last fall. Apparently the magma / lava / whatever is nearing the top of the crater, and some of it has even started to flow over the top. For some reason, we think it is kinda exciting. I don’t know how devastating it would be to the people in Central Java, because they have been telling people to evacuate for weeks.
Restaurants
Heidi and I have branched out a little bit in our cuisine recently. We went with another couple to a Korean restaurant one night last week. They had both served missions in Korea, so the food was familiar to them. We are glad we tried it, but I don’t think we will go there every weekend. That same weekend we went with two other couples to a restaurant called Oasis where they serve Indonesian food. I’ll be honest, you haven’t really heard us talk all that much about the food here because frankly, we don’t like it all that much. Some of the local food is OK, but there isn’t anything that I really crave. Part of the reason that I haven’t really tried to many Indonesian dishes is that I am afraid of getting sick from the food. So, it was good to be able to go this place to try various different Indonesian dishes and not have as many of the concerns about getting sick. Well, anyone coming to visit us in Indonesia will certainly be getting a trip to Oasis, because it is a nice restaurant with great atmosphere. They had live music going during the whole evening – a gamelan playing Indonesian music in the foyer, then they had a pianist, a saxophonist, and a singer performing during dinner. I think the highlight, though, was the Mexican music being played by 5 or 6 gauchos from Sumatra (the large island just west of us). Apparently they really like Mexican music in Sumatra.
Miscellaneous
All three of our boys had field trips to a place called Taman Mini during the last two weeks. There are some museums, model homes from each of the different styles throughout Indonesia, and an IMAX theater. Grant and Nash went on the same day two weeks ago, and Luke went last week. They all liked seeing the movie about the ocean and seeing the different styles of Indonesian homes.
Grant’s class had a walk-a-thon last week. The kids raised money for each lap they walked around the school. They donated the money to a local school, and were able also to meet the kids they were donating to.
We found a new donut shop that makes decent donuts. People are waiting in line for hours to get donuts there. Heidi ended up waiting 40 minutes one afternoon to get 2 dozen donuts.
This is Heidi…I got tired of the boys complaining about what I was cooking each night so I decided it was time they had turns making dinner. They each have to pick a day of the week and what they want to cook. We make the list on Sunday and then I go grocery shopping to get all the ingredients. On their days, they are in charge of preparing and cleaning up after dinner. Luke made BLT’s last week, Grant - Corn Chowder and Nash made Swiss Steak. He even got up and had it all ready and in the crock pot before school. I’m hoping this will lessen the complaints and also teach them all to cook a bit.
