Language learning thus far

It has been weeks since I started this blog, back before we lost our internet and now I have been too busy too finish it! I thought I would give a quick little blog on how language learning is coming along for us, since that is what we are here for! I don't know why, but I for some reason thought it would be a little easier! Haha, I don't feel like I will ever be able to speak this language! Comprehend it yea, maybe, probably, but speak it...it will be a miracle by God alone! So when it happens, IF it happens, I will give all the praise to God because I am feeling very inadequate! Which is good, I sometimes forget that too!

Here is a description I stole from my friend here who wrote about it:
We are currently in "Stage 1" of our Indonesian language and culture study. During Stage 1 (which is 10 weeks long), we are not studying in a formal classroom setting, but rather getting used to the language and culture through "purposefully experiencing" everyday life. On a typical weekday, we meet up with our fellow new-to-the-field co-workers in the morning & we all go out on an excursion together, accompanied by some of the staff guys and some wonderful Indonesian language helpers. We have visited all sorts of places - the main market, an animal market, a Javanese home, post office, sate restaurant, school, church, seamstress, motor bike and car repair shop, bus station, hospital, college campus, etc., etc. It is very interesting! At each location, we take pictures of everything we see to use later on during our individual tutor sessions. After our excursion, we prepare for our next language helper session. Our wonderful tutor, Mbak Jessica, comes to our house 4x/week to help us learn Indonesian. But she has been busy with college and sick with the chickenpox, so we have missed a few sessions and had to find some subs! We print out the pics we took at the excursion & she teaches us the Indonesian words for the objects in our photos by a process we call TPR (total physical response), and whatever else we have time to learn. Our 2-hr tutor sessions are always great fun and packed-full of language...by the time we are done with a session, our brain is literally hurting from all the new Indonesian data :) The rest of the day we spend "processing" (i.e. organizing, filing & practicing what we have learned that day), listening to our recordings of our tutor, hanging out with our neighbors, perhaps going into town or to the market for things, and just life! Like my friend said, it is never dull here!:) There is always something to do, or something that needs to be done.

We know a lot of nouns, adjectives and lots of other things, but the verbs are going to take some work and we won't get the grammar until we start MLAC (don't remember what that stands for, but it is the language learning program) at the International School. It is a little frustrating, especially since we arrived 3 weeks earlier than stage 1 started. We feel like it will be forever until we can speak in proper sentences, but we have heard that our organization does so well in classes because of this time. The program is strictly in Indonesian, so we have a big help in starting. It is all so well organized, we really appreciate it. We start classes at MLAC on October 15th and that will be 4 hours a day of class. Mixed emotions about starting, excited, but heard it is hard:)
Anyways, one of our very 1st sets of pics to learn was all the fruits and veggies you can get here. There were over 75 we learned! I decided to throw in some pics of things we have here at the market food-wise that you may not see in the U.S.

Tempe-I had mentioned this in an earlier post, it is a block of soybeans, fermented I have heard, but doesn't taste that way. Good source of protein!

different forms of tofu

there is some debate as to what this is in English, saffron, tamarind, any ideas??

I have heard this to be brown sugar, as well as palm sugar. My guess is it's palm sugar, but functions as their brown sugar.

This is a root that is actually quite tasty raw.


These are almost like little eyeballs when you peel them.





One of our 1st sessions with our language helper, Jessica!
It's like pre-school for us:)

At the market with Jessica

This is what Eden does while we are hard at work studying!:)
It must be nice that for a job, all you have to do is look cute!


I will try to put up some of the pictures from our excursions in the future!

Ok, I am going to try to leave all the silly little details out, I could write a book, but you already know this! Basically our whole 1st week here was people taking us shopping. We needed so much to set up house and let me just say, I wish there was a walmart here!!! Everything is in all different stores in all different places of town and takes so long to get a few things. So even though we went shopping everyday, we still didn't have everything we needed. I felt so bad for Eden because I felt like we were dragging her through the mud, poor thing was so tired and didn't get a real, proper nap at all that week. At "home" she would take two 2 hour naps, so this was rough for her:( We had to go when others could take us, so not much of an option, just thankful someone was helping us out!
How many people can you fir on a motor bike?!? These were our point people, the Abbott's, they were extremely helpful! Motorbikes is how everyone gets around, but we used the mission's van for a lot of shopping that week.
Just a cute picture of J and Eden with their helmets on


We also did not have to worry about meals that 1st week! We had meals at someone's house everyday and our "pembantu", aka: a house helper, made us the other meal of the day. This was a hard adjustment for me too, well, it was like bittersweet. We are required to have a house helper here, as westerners especially. It is very cultural to have a pembantu and it helps give Indonesian women a good job. I thought it sounded amazing to have someone come and clean my house, do my laundry and make a meal for me!! BUT, I felt like a slave driver…I was assured by so many that this is a good thing for so many reasons and I needed to focus on what I was here for and my family. OK! It has taken some getting used to having someone else in the house for several hours a day and not being able to communicate with her. But it has been awesome to have an Indonesian to learn from, build a relationship with and help me so that I can learn language, build relationships in the community and free up some time for me to play with Eden and not feel guilty. We have been being tutored at home until now and she is there to help keep Eden occupied so we can learn. It has been a huge blessing and I am so thankful to help provide a job for someone who otherwise would be struggling to make ends meet. I pray our relationship grows and by the end of this I have a good friend in her as well. I plan on learning many things from her, like shopping! Shopping was…a huge barrier for me. I would go to the store and wonder "what am i supposed to make with these ingredients?!?!?!" and "where is everything?!?!?"- they have lots of drinks, snacks, cookies, rice, sauces and… that's pretty much it! I plan on going with her to the more Indonesian markets and learning where she gets what and what she pays for what, etc. It was so nice to know we would have food even though I was unable to go and do this for my family. It took me several weeks to learn where to get what, what is available and what to do with it! It is encouraging to know I am not alone in this. Many of the women here say they barely cook because it is so hard to shop and cook, there are always leftovers and it is so cheap to buy a dinner off the side of the road for your whole family, so looks like I won't be cooking a whole lot, but I am excited, I have made a few things now! Reheating food took some getting used to too, no microwave, only old-fashioned skillet and oven reheating process, takes some more time and dirty's up some more dishes, but we have gotten used to that too, and I am sure it is better, as my dad says "microwaves genetically alter your food", lol! Well, we were trained for this, so now to put SOME of our simple living skills to practice.
One of the places we went to eat with some people. Eden has an obsession with stools, so it worked out well.
This is how they do take out a lot of times. They wrap the food in this brown paper that is lined with plastic 1st, and then wrap with newspapers and rubberband it together! The soup is in the bag.
This is Eden passed out from exhaustion! We called Grandma to tell her we arrived safely and she couldn't make it through the conversation! Poor baby!
This is one of our 1st meals made for us by our house helper...looks amazing! Soto Ayam, fried tempe with an amazing sweet and spicy soy sauce and watermelon (so excited they have watermelon here!). Soto ayam is like a chicken soup, very traditional Indonesian dish...and very good! Tempe is "fermented bean curd"! Haha, sounds so gross, but pretty good and very healthy, well, until they fry it! It is very popular here and is not always fried. Here is wikipedia's definition:"is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form.", they say tempe is high in protein, fiber and other vitamins, the healthiest way to eat soybeans. A dream to have this lunch prepared for us!

Our oven. We were borrowing the smaller one temporarily, but ended up buying a bigger one because nothing really fit in the little one, not even the small pans I bought, much less a 9x13! Doesn't look like much of a size difference, but it is the world of difference! You put one of these bad boys on 1 of your 2 burners to heat it up.
Here are our burners! So far, it has not been as hard as I had imagined to cook with 2 burners, and one being for the oven. So far, it works! But like I said, I am no chef here. And that tea kettle is the only source of our hot water besides in the shower so far. So we boil water to do dishes, etc.


Also, I thought I was going to lose weight here, but it's not likely! There is so much junk food here and they fry everything! It may not be good old American junk food, but it works:) We do LOVE the food so far which is a huge plus! There are missionaries who are having a harder time with this and I am thankful we are enjoying the foods here. We have been very adventurous and open-minded with the food, more so than I thought we would be, and we haven't really gotten sick yet. I am just rejoicing in how the Lord has taken care of us…Eden hasn't even been sick at all and when we were in the states the last few months, she was getting sick all the time! I expected to have been violently ill by now, but we have all just had a COUPLE little diarrhea episodes (sorry, tmi-too much information for some:)), that's it! Our stomachs seem to like Indonesian food, even Eden. She will come in the kitchen and ask for rice, haha. It is a good thing we like rice, we eat it every single day.

I feel like I am missing some information or all over the place because I am so tired, so I will add any missed information on the next one! Can't think anymore:)

What's for dinner tonight?

I thought I would do a simple, funny one today. Warning, this content is not for the weak-stomached! I suppose it is not the best idea to show you these things so early on, I could lose a lot of readers doing this! Or maybe there are those of you who are curious (like me) to see such a thing! My dad would say I am gross, hehe! Maybe you should not read this before a mealtime, the pictures will NOT make you hungry, in fact, they may have the opposite affect...good for appetite control.:)We went to the Pasar or the market...great place, you can get lots of fruit and veggies there, but there are also some disturbing images. We found the section that has chicken, not like your average American grocery store I assure you. I am absolutely positive it would violate most health code inspections, if not all. Everything is supposedly fresh in the morning, but these chickens will sit out all day (heat, flies, motorcycle traffic within feet) not sure what is done with them if they are not sold that day, that's what makes me worry! Keep in mind as you see the chicken selection...it gets worse!

This is how all the chicken is lied out, on tables
Whole chickens
Headless chickens
All kinds of appetizing parts of the chickens
Chicken feet, not to be mistaken with the game!



The beef section is what about sent me over the edge and drove me closer than I have ever been to wanting to become a vegetarian here! The pictures are gross, but they are inadequate in giving you the full picture with the other sensories, such as the SMELL on a hot day (keep in mind, we were there at lunch time, they set up very early in the morning) and the feeling of walking on a sticky, nasty floor...I won't go into any more detail! I just about had a panic attack as I watched all these women handling the raw meat so carelessly and the unsanitary conditions! My friend told me that she went one time with her newborn baby and these ladies were wanting to hold him!!! NO WAY! I am so glad we did not have Eden with us for this excursion! It was a little much for me and I could not have gone in there with Eden running around! I also found it amusing that J was excited to find some meat for steaks...what?!?!?! This place made me want to never eat beef again! He was recommended to go early in the morning as it is fresher then. Part of the reason he was so excited was because he learned that steaks will be around the same price as any other part of the cow, they are not pricier here like back home.

So here is what I saw when I 1st walked in...
Cow stomach lining and intestines, I was told "it tastes good!"-no thank you, I am not Andrew Zimmern or that adventurous!!!
MMM, so many options
The possibilities are endless, really!
No words...
As we were leaving we found some other parts...there they were! I was looking for them, thought about buying one for the dog-KIDDING!

So as you read this and eat your hamburgers and steaks in America, be thankful and enjoy them for us!

Independence Day, Indonesian style

Not to skip around too much with the blogging, but today is Indonesia's independence day and I wanted to share some history and pictures. I got this segment of history off the internet:

"The Independence Day of Indonesia was officially proclaimed on 17th August, 1945.The Indonesian Independence Day is a very big event for the people of Indonesia. Preparations for this patriotic day start weeks ahead before the 17th of August. All high-rise office buildings around town are decorated with large banners and lighted designs. Fences around the presidential palace and many government offices are draped in red and white streamers. The malls are all decorated in red and white and hold Independence Day sales for the people. Lots of money is spend by the city administration to create a unique series of red and white lighted decorations.
Europeans arrived in Indonesia(this is not the start of the history, you can read more about the hindu's, etc) from the 16th century seeking to monopolize the sources of valuable nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper in Maluku. By the early 20th century Dutch dominance extended to what was to become Indonesia's current boundaries. The Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during WWII ended Dutch rule, and encouraged the previously suppressed Indonesian independence movement. Two days after the surrender of Japan in August 1945, nationalist leader, Sukarno, declared independence and was appointed president. The Netherlands tried to reestablish their rule, but a bitter armed and diplomatic struggle ended in December 1949, when in the face of international pressure, the Dutch formally recognized Indonesian independence."

Anyways, it is true, it is a big deal and they start celebrating weeks in advance. I am no expert, but I know there were flags ,decorations, parades, neighborhood walks, and all kinds of special events. Along with everyone wearing red and white! Most neighborhoods have parties, but ours didn't:( This morning we went to the Pancasila to watch a few of the activities/ceremony. I was expecting it to be so crowded, but it was like a ghost-town comparably, usually it is much busier around that area. I found out that they perform for officials and they don't really encourage Indonesians to come watch? So we were some of the few that were there.

All the people in uniform lined up at the Pancasila. The pancasila is a big field in the middle of the city, I heard it is how the dutch formed their towns, with this field in the center. They will use this when giving directions.

"Pancasila (pronounced [pantʃaˈsila]) is the official philosophical foundation of the Indonesian state. Pancasila consists of two Sanskrit words, "panca" meaning five, and "sila" meaning principles. It comprises five principles held to be inseparable and interrelated:
1. Belief in the one and only God, (in Indonesian, Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa).
2. Just and civilized humanity, (in Indonesian, Kemanusiaan Yang Adil dan Beradab). 3. The unity of Indonesia, (in Indonesian, Persatuan Indonesia).
4. Democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations amongst representatives, and (in Indonesian, Kerakyatan Yang Dipimpin oleh Hikmat Kebijaksanaan, Dalam Permusyawaratan Perwakilan, dan)
5. Social justice for the all of the people of Indonesia (in Indonesian, Keadilan Sosial bagi seluruh Rakyat Indonesia)"

I found out is is illegal to be an aethiest in Indonesia! Indonesian government acknowledges 6 religions. The 6 religions are Islam, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Buddhist, and KongHuCu. Interesting tid-bit of information, I thought. And it is illegal to proselytize in Indonesia. But that is why we are free to work with tribal people, they do not have a recognized religion!

This was where all the officials were sitting to watch.
Some big guru giving a speech...?

Ok, this is funny. This is what happens to poor Eden a lot of times! Strangers are always wanting to pick her up and hold her, she doesn't like it, she generally panics and reaches out for me while they laugh and don't get the point. It is a bit much. They usually want a picture with her too, so this guy picked her up and asked his friend to take a picture...perfectly normal...to them, but there was so much going on, I don't think she panicked as much, she was so distracted. Although she still doesn't look too happy. I decided to take a picture also.

This is also funny because you may not get the picture from this picture, but we are like a walking freak show! There are all these kids lined up and they just laugh and stare as we walk by, but really, I hear we are like celebrities, you just don't feel that way! Usually, I feel too on the spot to take a picture of people staring at us, so this is the best I got.
"Sit here, Daddy"
Once again....
Shaking a police man's hand! This picture cracks me up:) She looks like a little politician on campaign!
Our "class" or group of "whities"
Cute
Happy Independence Day!
She came and pointed to the camera and then stood in front of me and said "cheese"...ohhh boy!
"Over dare"- her reply to many a question

And again, this girl came up and asked to have her picture with us. She was probably dared!






This is totally random, but I also pasteurized our milk for the 1st time today! We order from a dairy farm here and they deliver it to our door, but I have not had to personally pasteurize it yet, but I learned! Very easy.

forgot 1, make it 2!

Daddy and Eden filing out customs papers!
Our arrival picture