Some of the wonderful staff at SPB

Some of the powerpoint slides during the celebration

The word quaran and the book were all glittery

While we are having the Open House....

Construction still needs to continue if the school will open its second building at the beginning of September.

These men are three floors up with no safety equipment whatsoever.

I can't even imagine working like this!

Some of the tasty treats at this year's Lebaran Open House

The green cake is pandan cake which is a light fluffy sponge cake. It is favored with the juice of pandanus leaves, or the extract from the leaf juice, which also gives it the green color.  

The other cake is just a delicious chocolate layer cake.

SPB's 2nd Building Underway

They are moving along with the second building and expect to be in it by September.  Notice the men up on the beams - no safety helmets, belts or anything Shoes- but not boots.  They climb up the beams like climbing a tree. 

Manado’s food

Tinuransak -this one is made with pork - hard to find in Cirebon

Manado, the capital city of North Sulawesi province, is where Regina comes from. Another friend of the family is also from Manado and has opened a catering business. The food, also known as Minahasan food is very hot and spicy.   Her food is delicious! Here are just a few of the dishes that we've eaten.

Tuna Suwir

Udon (shrimp) Waku

Deni's family get together

 Deni's Aunt loves to cook as seen by the size of the pot.  She cooked Pho, or Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of broth, linguine-shaped rice noodles called bánh phở, a few herbs, and meat, primarily beef or chicken.  I opted for the vegetarian pho which was delicious.  You squeeze lemon over it and it is really wonderful!

Birthday Party Extravaganza

Birthday Girls

Three birthday celebrants with all the cakes - which we ate before dinner!

Now I finally see Cirebon's Ocean Views!

 Eight naive years ago when I boarded the planes for my first trip to Indonesia - I envisioned my tropical paradise. Walking along the white sandy beach, with palm trees swaying, I would go from my house to the school-Not! The "harbor" at Cirebon was a dilapidated shipyard and the rocky coast was littered with plastic bags and bottles.
Not anymore- developers have come along and created a waterpark, restaurants and these rental bungalows for the swarms of Jakarta people who visit every weekend.
We went to dinner one Friday night and it was refreshing to feel and smell the ocean breeze.

It's been a tough week!

It's been a tough week - I had to work ALL five days!  But it is Friday - and I will work this weekend too.....But don't feel too bad for me because I managed to get two massages this past week one for an hour ($5.75 with tip) and one for 1 1/2 hours ($7.65 with tip)!
It's a new franchise that opened in Cirebon and is quite nice. 
Kookie Eastern Reflexology is a combination of "Chinese and Japanese reflection techniques along with tradition Indonesian techniques".  Not quite sure what that all means (it's on their website) but it felt wonderful

.

One of two rooms for reflexology- it was too dark for me to take a picture- but this is from their brochure!

From this to that

We had to check out of Sofitel at 3:00 pm and wait around until the 10:30 night bus to Phnom Penh so we could fly back to Indonesia.  The hotel offers free took-tuk service to a very high end shopping center - Tiffany's Versace, etc. , which took us only an hour to meander.  Then we sat in the lobby of the hotel for four hours listening to the traditional music performed by the gentleman in the picture.
Now the night bus was a world so vastly different than the luxury we had become accustomed to. The "beds" were nothing but thin, dirty mattresses on the floor that felt gritty along with a blanket and pillow.  To complete the nightmare ride - someone was throwing up most of the night.  After that it was two flights and a train ride before we made it back to Cirebon.

Regina in her little cubicle on the floor

upper deck was off the floor but still dirty thin mattress

Banteay Srei

The deep red sandstone. gives the temple a pink, fairy like quality , while almost every inch of these interior buildings is covered in decoration.
The well-preserved relief carvings on the central buildings depict scenes from ancient Hindu tales.

Banteay Srei

Banteay Srei — "citadel of the women" or "citadel of beauty" — is generally taken to refer to the intricacy of the carving and the tiny dimensions of the architecture. Some even believe it was women who did the carvings at this site, since the fine detail would not have been able to be done with a man size hand.

Banteay Srei is beautiful 10th-century Hindu temple complex. Completed in 967, Banteay Srei was the only major temple at Angkor not built for the king; instead it was constructed by one of king Rajendravarman's counsellors, Yajnyavahara. 

Banteay Srei

The temple was rediscovered only in 1914, and was the subject of a celebrated case of art theft when André Malraux stole four devatas in 1923 (he was soon arrested and the figures returned).

On my way to Banteay Srei

Unfortunately the tuck-tuk that I hired was an old dilapidated one and it broke down five times before I even got to Banteay Srei.  Here is a photo of the "garage" fixing the problems! And it only cost $5.00 - which I had to give the driver as part of my payment since he did not have the money.