View from my bungalow Garut

Garut is an old Dutch hill station, surrounded by volcanoes, mountains and crystal blue lakes. The Dutch called this area the Swiss van Java because of its beautiful landscape, cool fresh air and hot springs.

Kampung Sumber Alam, Garut

Alam, is a traditional resort using the “village” concept. It is artistically designed speciality of “Sundanese architecture” with building on the top of “balong” covered with injuk (thatched–roof) and “teras ngapung”. Each room comes with a hot spring tub

Looks like chicken, taste like chicken....

I finally tried frog legs! Although Muslims will not eat frog, many Indonesians and other Asian countries do love their frog legs. We had this for dinner the other night, and while I tasted it, I couldn't help but think of poor Kermit!
There is a restaurant in town that serves nothing but frog.......

Meidy's Son

Cay is enjoying his first day at nursery school.

Jason's New Do

Exhibition at NAS

The focus of the artists from 22 countries refer to Earth's fragile state.

North Art Space Ancol, Jakarta

This art complex is situated in the midst of Ancol Dreamland which is Jakarta's massive resort. Although the main attractions to this resort are the amusement rides and Sea World. This part of the park was built to house artist making and selling their wares. This art space opened in 2009 and is currently exploring art from 35 artists around the world, entitled "Reconsidering Earth"

Musicians and Dancers

A beautiful day to spend outdoors in Jakarta. We enjoyed music, dances and a comedy routine (alright, I didn't get any of the jokes)

Betawi Dancers

In Jakarta, the Orang Betawi - the natives of the city - are considered to be the hosts of these cultures, having emerged from the melting pot of races, ethnic groups and cultures of Indonesia in the 19th century. Today they constitute one of the city's main ethnic groups along side the Javanese (from Central and Eastern Java), Sundanese (from West Java) and Chinese.

Betawi culture is a treasure trove of color, tradition, song, dance, clothing, cuisine, language and dialect. The culture thrives today due to government policy to enhance the cultural identity of the original inhabitants of the city, and prevent their traditions being buried beneath a tide of modernization.
We were able to watch performances by various dance troupes at the Art Center

One of Jakarta's main roads

I didn't know whether to be nervous or laugh. Here were two large military tanks stuck in the horrific Jakarta traffic. They were beeping the horn - just like all the other drivers!

Brunch at Le Granduer Hotel

We went to Jakarta to buy items for the school, but of course we needed to nourish ourselves before we went into the mall. The main dining room was packed so they seated us in the lounge. We ate to our hearts content - both Eastern and Western food and then we entered the labyrinth of the Chinese mall.

Es Soda Gembir

Literally means Happy Soda in Bahasa Indonesia, this drink is very popular on the Island of Java. Most would agree that the drink originated from Surabaya – the island's second largest city.

Basically, the drink is really sweet. Gives you a high like when you have had too much sugar and keeps you going the whole day. It's made from sweetened condensed milk, thick sweet strawberry syrup (or strawberry soda) and club soda. I could only watch as they poured soda in a glass filled with the condensed milk. Too sweet for me!

Martabak Manis

Martabak manis ("sweet martabak") is a popular snack in Indonesia.
Usually made by street vendors in the evening, martabak manis are pan-cooked in a very large amount of shortening. A thin batter is poured into a specially shaped pan. After cooking,and drizzled with sweetened condensed milk the pancake is ready to be topped: often with cheese, and/or shortening, and/or chocolate, and/or peanuts. Or as I had last night - one that had cheese, chocolate and peanuts!

First day of school - Don't we look happy?

The picture on the left is of the primary teachers. The other teachers are all from nursery

Decorations for the Classroom

Every year I come I am amazed at what the teachers can create with their imaginations and very little supplies. All of these displays were done free-hand with materials found in the school.

Displays in a second grade classroom

Medi's new home

Medi, Harris and their son live in a house they built right next to her parents' house. The ceilings are very high and the colors on the wall are beautiful.

Wonderful Eats

The great food we had. The plate on the upper right corner is crab meat mixed with spices, wrapped in banana leaves, steamed and then grilled! Yum.

The gentlemen were the grillers. They use coconut shells as their charcoal and fan the flames with a bamboo fan. Michael is our Mandarin teacher from China (in the blue shirt). Harris (Medi's husband) is sitting in the chair, and Pa Toto is in the yellow and orange. (He is the school driver)

Teachers at SPB

Medi had invited the expats to her house. Here they are with Medi's mom next to Medi and her son.

Medi and her family

I can't believe I was at the wedding of Medi and Harris three years ago. Also, that I was here when their son was born. They make a beautiful family!

My own bathroom!!!!!

Although I will have a shower, sink, and toilet, I'm trying to "convince" Ms. Regina that I really, really, need a jacuzzi and stone carvings (very popular in the upscale resorts here). So far no luck!

My room at Ms. Regina's new house

The front of the room will have a large window overlooking the garden. Sounds wonderful!

"Dirty Kitchen" in Regina's New House

In many Indonesian homes there are two kitchens, the "dirty" one and the "clean" one. The dirty one is removed from either the entire house, or put away from the living quarters. This is because of the mess cooking can make. Regina will have two kitchens in her new house.

Regina's New House

After throwing the cement against the wall this worker used a wooden beam to smooth it out.

Regina's New House

Not far from the school Regina and her husband Deni are building a new house. We took a tour of it today.

Master Chefs at Work

Here are Jason and Regina showing us how to cook!

Last night we went for Thai Suki which is

a hot pot dish and is very popular in Thailand and, increasingly, neighboring countries. Despite the name, it bears only a vague resemblance to Japanese sukiyaki.The raw ingredients are presented on small plates and are cooked at the table in a gas- or electrically-heated stainless steel pot containing broth.

Thai Suki

We have two separate broths. The reddish one is spicy and the other is chicken broth. I'd like one of these pots!

Udang Naga

This is from the poster in front of the restaurant. This is actually chicken wrapped in shrimp and tied with a piece of leaf. Very good!

Trains, Planes and Automobiles

It has been a very hectic 48 hours. We left Cirebon to take Regina's daughter to Jakarta. She was going to a camp in Bali and we also arranged for the 5 new teachers to arrive on the same day. It took seven hours to drive the crowded, pot-holed road to get to a mall! Malls are prolific in Jakarta and it seems that's what everyone does. After spending three hours in a mall we went to the airport hotel to rest for an hour. Regina and I then went to the airport to collect our first new teacher, a young gentleman from China. He speaks English beautifully, but he is our Mandarin teacher. He spoke to me non-stop for two hours while we were waiting for the Philippine teachers. It was fascinating to hear about a world that is not allowed to have access to Facebook, and Twitter. He also is an only child because of the Chinese governments regulations. He is very energetic and enthusiastic so we shall see.
At midnight the three of the four teachers arrived from the Philippines. One had trouble getting through interviews at the Philippine airport. Apparently you are interviewed to see whether you can leave the country or not. It can be a very distressing situation and the other teachers tell me that you tell "white lies" to the authorities so that they will let you leave.
We finally got back to the hotel at 1:00 a.m. only to take Tasha to the airport at 5:00 a.m. for her flight to Bali. After leaving her we had to catch a train to Cirebon. It didn't leave the station until 9:00 a.m. so I worked while I tried to stay awake. Thankfully the train only took three and a half hours. We arrived just in time to take all the new teachers out to lunch and then I crashed around 7:30 p.m. See and all of you think I just go on holiday!

Rujuk Manis- Indonesian Fruit Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Back in Cirebon after my holiday. I treated myself to Rujak Manis- cut up fruit (sweet potato, star fruit, pineapple- anything seasonal) and covered in a sweet and spicy peanut sauce. This is how they wrap it and although it may not look appealing it is delicious!

Holiday Here We Come!

After working a week it was "absolutely" necessary to take a holiday. We left Cirebon at 1:10 a.m. to avoid the traffic on our five hour ride to the Jakarta airport. We had a nine a.m. flight, but traffic and roads being what they are here, we couldn't leave much to chance. The flight itself is only 1 1/2 hours from Jakarta to the island of Lombok. Lombok is an island to the east of Bali and is often considered the "ugly sister" of Bali. I however was charmed by its lush evergreen landscape , less glitz and less crowded atmosphere.The first night we stayed at Sengiggi Beach Resort. The compound was huge, yet warm and friendly. The hawkers were allowed on the beach but the security made sure that they did not invade the hotel’s space. That didn’t stop Regina and I from bargaining however. I’m slowly learning the art of bargaining Indonesian style, but I’ve got to tell you it’s exhausting. The back and forth, the walking away the saying “Mahal” (too expensive) makes your head spin.

First day of rest and relaxation

Jason in a kayak, view from the first resort we stayed in.

Senggigi Beach Resort

Senggigi is Lombok's principal beach resort. It spans about 10km of coastal roads and it has fine sandy beaches and wonderful, near deserted coves. This was our first hotel and this the the cleaning cart for the bungalows.