Friday night get-away

We had successfully completed the first week of school. I had put in 12 hour days for the past six days or so. I was leaving at 5:30 Friday night and was looking forward to just relaxing and doing exciting things, like boiling water to do my laundry. Regina came out of her office and told me she needed a break (she and her husband have put in incredible hours), and told me her family was going to Linggarjati. It is a town at the foot of the 3000 meter high volcano Mount Tjeremai. Would I like to go? Naturally I said yes, and went home to pack, since we were leaving in one hour.
We stopped for dinner at a place we had been before. There are a few tables where people sit in chairs, but we always sit on the floor with the lower table. Whole fish, fried, then grilled was brought to our table. Fried tempeh (a fermented food made by cooked soybeans and a mold. It’s a staple of Indonesian food.), along with fried tofu. There was also a salad of raw vegetables with a peanut sauce. After I managed to get up from the floor we went to the hotel that we were staying overnight.
It’s a small new hotel that is owned by a friend of Regina’s husband. We got a suite and I shared a room with Tasha. Yes there was a toilet (no toilet paper) and a shower. I never got a shower, because we had plans to go swimming later on in the day.

It is much cooler up in the mountain. We did not require a/c (which was good since the hotel doesn’t have it).Around 4:30 the call to pray from the local mosque was loud and clear. But as I lay in bed, I realized I could hear birds chirping. Something I never hear in Cirebon, rather, I hear roosters.
In the morning, a breakfast of eggs and toasted sandwiches (either strawberry jam or peanut butter) was served on the patio outside our room. The children watched Sponge Bob and Tom and Jerry cartoons in Indonesian, while I sat outside and talked with Regina.

We went for a walk and visited the house where in November of 1946, the Dutch and the Indonesian delegations signed an agreement to begin the formal process of decolonization. The house was originally a hut, and then was expanded to become a hotel. For a number of years after the agreement it was a school. The government has designated it as a museum, and it has been restored to its original grandeur. It is also surrounded by lush gardens in which we walked for a while.

Next we went to the Linggarjati Tourism Park where we walked down to the waterfall. It was partially man-made, and part natural, with koi swimming in the various ponds. The bamboo trees were so tall and dense, that there was moss growing on the sides of the rocks.

At that point it was already 12:00 and Deni and Regina said it was too hot to go to swim. The children would get sunburned, so we went to eat (of course!) I was full from a mango juice that I had after the waterfall walk, so when we got to the restaurant I saw a plain cheese sandwich. I thought it would be grilled and much to my surprise it was the shredded cheese, on toasted bread with lettuce, and chilies. Good, but not quite what I had in mind! Afterwards we drove back to Cirebon, where I finally boiled that water for the laundry.