Saturday, April 25, 2009
Stinkin' Silly Putty
What are you doing right now? I wish I knew. I would like to be doing it with you. We are in the midst of our basketball tournaments (last day) and a big crazy storm. I am in with the 3 younger kids and Garth is at the games with Wyatt. I am so glad it is the last day of the games. Those Indonesians are so vigorous in their cheering and their foot stomping and it is SOOOOOOOOOooo loud. This has been going on since Tuesday…Our house is the closest to the gym so we hear it (and feel it) all.
Yesterday was a very big day as the whole Elementary had Track-N-Field day along with our other International school that is up in Wamena. It was a great time of school spirit. The High School kids were all there to help the younger kids with the events. Today we decided to do our own. We ran the 50 m dash and the 100 m dash, and did the standing long jump, the running long jump and relays and Frisbee throw and soccer kicks etc. It was lots of fun.
Friday we found out that our main cook, Ibu Poppi probably won’t be working at the hostel next school year. She said she is about to turn 60 and her family wants her to retire. At first I was frustrated by the news, but the more I think about it, I do think it is a blessing. She has been so unreliable and grumpy lately. I want her to go if she wants to go and we can try to find someone younger that wants to be here and will be happy here. It will be very difficult to find someone that knows how to cook American and Indonesian meals, but we will manage.
I need to go and look up some stuff on the Internet. Thanks to Cale I need to find out how to get black marker off of couch cushions, and silly putty off of the fabric of two chairs, and one pair of shorts. Stinker!
Love you all
Rachel
Yesterday was a very big day as the whole Elementary had Track-N-Field day along with our other International school that is up in Wamena. It was a great time of school spirit. The High School kids were all there to help the younger kids with the events. Today we decided to do our own. We ran the 50 m dash and the 100 m dash, and did the standing long jump, the running long jump and relays and Frisbee throw and soccer kicks etc. It was lots of fun.
Friday we found out that our main cook, Ibu Poppi probably won’t be working at the hostel next school year. She said she is about to turn 60 and her family wants her to retire. At first I was frustrated by the news, but the more I think about it, I do think it is a blessing. She has been so unreliable and grumpy lately. I want her to go if she wants to go and we can try to find someone younger that wants to be here and will be happy here. It will be very difficult to find someone that knows how to cook American and Indonesian meals, but we will manage.
I need to go and look up some stuff on the Internet. Thanks to Cale I need to find out how to get black marker off of couch cushions, and silly putty off of the fabric of two chairs, and one pair of shorts. Stinker!
Love you all
Rachel
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Birthday week
This was the week for birthdays. Emma had hers on Sunday with parties for her on Saturday and Sunday. She was invited to a party on Tuesday and Sophie was invited to a party today. Indonesian birthdays are very different from ours. They are very loud-big speakers, lots of music, and almost always someone in charge with a microphone. They call, or pull, you up front to sing songs into the mic, there are a lot of games and they always give out backpacks and goodie bags. After the party Emma’s whole class went to on Tuesday four of the kids threw up. Maybe there was something wrong with the food. Also Indonesian parties have certain rules about when and what the kids can eat. The food is often made just for the adults and the kids are to take their food home and eat it there. They also make an enormous cake and the birthday person cuts and serves her family and her family serves her and then it sits. No one else gets any. Such is their custom-not wrong, just different.
Right now on the hill here we are having our big basketball tournament. The gyms are full of excitement and sweat. As you can imagine. It has been fun for my kids as there are so many more people to play with than usual. Yesterday Sophie brought over a friend and they wanted to do chores so they could buy one of the snacks for sale in the gym. They watched Cale for me and organized the bookshelf and each got rp. 6,000. With much enthusiasm they ran over to the gym to see what they could buy. In the end though Sophie decided it would be better to save it and buy something in Bali. She is just like my sister. Yesterday I was going to throw out an old glue stick and she stopped me and said that she wanted to see if she could use it for something, and she did. She also worked outside with a friend making their own clay. Last night, we were reading about how a wet rag that is left alone can make mildew. She asked if we could try it so she could see. And when Emma had a broken toy, Sophie asked if she could take it apart to see how it works. Her little mind is always working. Emma has been diligently working on a project for school. She is doing hers on Labrador dogs and needed a visual to bring to class of her subject. So we worked yesterday on making a dog out of stuffed paper. It is really cute. She is also learning how to make her own sticky tack. Wyatt has had another growth spurt and is again outgrowing all of his clothes. One nice thing about being in Indonesia is that he is always wearing shorts so it is not like he has a drawer full of too short pants. That boy will be as tall as me soon.
I need to go start on dinner. But first, an update on my stomach. I have had troubles since the end of January and have tried many things. However, on Monday I had another test done and found that I have a strange amoeba that requires a different form of treatment than I have previously been taking. So I am on a new drug and we will see how it goes. Thanks for your prayers.
Love you all-
Rachel
Right now on the hill here we are having our big basketball tournament. The gyms are full of excitement and sweat. As you can imagine. It has been fun for my kids as there are so many more people to play with than usual. Yesterday Sophie brought over a friend and they wanted to do chores so they could buy one of the snacks for sale in the gym. They watched Cale for me and organized the bookshelf and each got rp. 6,000. With much enthusiasm they ran over to the gym to see what they could buy. In the end though Sophie decided it would be better to save it and buy something in Bali. She is just like my sister. Yesterday I was going to throw out an old glue stick and she stopped me and said that she wanted to see if she could use it for something, and she did. She also worked outside with a friend making their own clay. Last night, we were reading about how a wet rag that is left alone can make mildew. She asked if we could try it so she could see. And when Emma had a broken toy, Sophie asked if she could take it apart to see how it works. Her little mind is always working. Emma has been diligently working on a project for school. She is doing hers on Labrador dogs and needed a visual to bring to class of her subject. So we worked yesterday on making a dog out of stuffed paper. It is really cute. She is also learning how to make her own sticky tack. Wyatt has had another growth spurt and is again outgrowing all of his clothes. One nice thing about being in Indonesia is that he is always wearing shorts so it is not like he has a drawer full of too short pants. That boy will be as tall as me soon.
I need to go start on dinner. But first, an update on my stomach. I have had troubles since the end of January and have tried many things. However, on Monday I had another test done and found that I have a strange amoeba that requires a different form of treatment than I have previously been taking. So I am on a new drug and we will see how it goes. Thanks for your prayers.
Love you all-
Rachel
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Emma's Party
Here I am at the end of my weekend and you still have a day to go. Enjoy it. Before you know it it will be Monday. What a fun time we had these last few days! It is Emma’s birthday today so of course we had to party! On Saturday Emma invited some of her best friends over. This is what we did: Dress-up Musical Chairs, a fancy candlelight dinner with little pizzas and soft pretzels and frozen fruit slushies, we did spa treatments and manicures and facials and all watched A Cinderella Story…the fun went late into the night but was great. Emma saw a picture of a cake in Martha Stewart Living and loved it so I decided to try and copy it. The important thing is that she loved how it turned out and couldn’t believe that I made “the cake.” It was not exactly the same but it was close. (Yeah! Here, with the heat and lack of ingredients you never know.)
Today we had another party for her with the dorm-I had another cake and that cake did not want to cooperate. It kept sliding…oh, well. We had her favorite meal-Ayam kecup with rice and green beans. You would love it!
Also today the Seniors came back from Bali. They were there for 9 days for their Senior Trip. It sounds like they had a great time. How could you not, in Bali. Bali is a little bit of heaven.
I hope your day today is heavenly. I heard you have some sunshine. It is from me. I sent it your way. Enjoy!
Love you all-
Rachel
The cake!!!!
Facial masks-one girl kept eating it
A card from Grammo and Eena
Daddy's baby girl isn't such a baby anymore
The candle lit dinner
We played Dress-Up musical chairs
Emma hanging out with her favorite girls at her party
The kids all got to sample the tofu
Cutting up the tofu
This guy has a HOT job!Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tofu
Hello. Garth and I went on a field trip yesterday with the 1st and 2nd graders to the tofu factory. I must say that I learned a lot about tofu. The soybeans they use here to make the tofu are from the States, Texas I think. The soybeans here produce tofu with a bitter taste. So they buy the beans from you. This factory that we went to makes 3,000 blocks of tofu a day and they sell them in pasars and markets around Sentani. The workers start at 2 am and work until 10 am. It was very stinky, wet, dirty, hot and really gross. There were cob webs and dirty rags all over the place. I usually buy tofu at the market, but now that I have seen where it comes from…I am not sure. The kids had a good time and were able to taste some tofu cracker spread after the tour. Sophie had to spit hers in the grass because she was dry-heaving. Ha ha.
Our days lately have been very long and hot. For some reason the heat has been hanging thick in the air and coating us in constant sweat. With only 7 weeks left of school the kids are scrambling to get projects and tests done. Emma has had a hard time this year with tests and was very excited to tell us that she got a 100 % on her Science test today. Sophie continues to amaze me at her love for learning. When we go to the library she will get a stack of chapter books and then a pile of “learning” books- like The Statue of Liberty and How Plants Grow. She was all excited that she knew some of the answers on Emma’s science test. I always tape up pages from magazines in the bathroom so they have something productive to read and apparently Sophie has been reading. She corrected me the other day when I was talking about our earthquake. “Mom, it was only a tremor.” And at the beach when I dug a hole in the sand and poured water in it. She told me, “Mom, the water won’t stay in the hole unless you dig down to water.” And when I told her I was going to dig a hole to China, she informed me that it is impossible to do that. The kids have Track-N-Field Day coming up next week. This is right up Wyatt’s alley. He is very fast and loves to have the variety of so many different things to choose from. Cale is at the pool right now with Garth. It is a great activity for him especially now as he is getting so much better at swimming. He likes to swim laps from ladder to ladder.
Well, we survived the water crisis. We do have water again!!!! For the next few weeks we still need to ration it carefully as it takes the tank 3 weeks to refill. We survived not having our cook as well. She is finally back after missing a week. I am thankful for that. We are not exactly sure what is going on with her but hopefully she will be here until the semester is over.
Hope you are surviving as well.
Love you all-
Rachel
Our days lately have been very long and hot. For some reason the heat has been hanging thick in the air and coating us in constant sweat. With only 7 weeks left of school the kids are scrambling to get projects and tests done. Emma has had a hard time this year with tests and was very excited to tell us that she got a 100 % on her Science test today. Sophie continues to amaze me at her love for learning. When we go to the library she will get a stack of chapter books and then a pile of “learning” books- like The Statue of Liberty and How Plants Grow. She was all excited that she knew some of the answers on Emma’s science test. I always tape up pages from magazines in the bathroom so they have something productive to read and apparently Sophie has been reading. She corrected me the other day when I was talking about our earthquake. “Mom, it was only a tremor.” And at the beach when I dug a hole in the sand and poured water in it. She told me, “Mom, the water won’t stay in the hole unless you dig down to water.” And when I told her I was going to dig a hole to China, she informed me that it is impossible to do that. The kids have Track-N-Field Day coming up next week. This is right up Wyatt’s alley. He is very fast and loves to have the variety of so many different things to choose from. Cale is at the pool right now with Garth. It is a great activity for him especially now as he is getting so much better at swimming. He likes to swim laps from ladder to ladder.
Well, we survived the water crisis. We do have water again!!!! For the next few weeks we still need to ration it carefully as it takes the tank 3 weeks to refill. We survived not having our cook as well. She is finally back after missing a week. I am thankful for that. We are not exactly sure what is going on with her but hopefully she will be here until the semester is over.
Hope you are surviving as well.
Love you all-
Rachel
Monday, April 13, 2009
Our Easter weekend
While you were all celebrating Easter, we were out swimming in the Pacific Ocean, floating on tubes, building sand castles and splashing in the lagoon. Doesn’t that sound heavenly? This is a new beach that we had never been to before and we all really liked it. Now, for those of you that are thinking…”how can they be doing all that while we are here in the cold…” I am happy to tell you that throughout our day we did have multiple rain storms. It did get quite cloudy and cold and wet. Does that make you feel better? But it was wonderful!!!! This was the last day of our Spring Break. The dorm kids were all gone and we had a few days of family time. It refreshes my souls to have times like that. I need to just focus on us.
Our weekend was magnificent. We took some friends and went on a boat ride around part of Lake Sentani. We planned it so we could watch the sunset from the water. It was a beautiful sight. Then they took us to Papa Ron’s Pizza for dinner. What a treat! These friends set up a treasure hunt for the kids. They had hidden candy all around the school yard and the kids had to find it. That was fun to watch. We also colored Easter eggs. I have a funny story about that. Last year my family gave me an Easter egg kit. The kind that has all the colors in little tablets so all you do is drop them into the water. Well, I made sure that I knew where it was all year so that when the time came we could use them. I was all excited because last year we had to figure out how to make our own dye stuff. Well, I got the kit and put it on the counter and then went to get the containers. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sophie come in and pick up the bag of color tablets. She says to me, “What is this Mom” as she smashes them up with her fingers. I yelled “No” but it was too late. All of the tablets were in little tiny pieces. I wound up dumping them all in one container and we got black dye. Isn’t that just hilarious? All my careful planning and look where it got me. So we wound up making our own again this year. Ha ha.
Today we decided to go to the beach just as a family. It was the first time we have gone alone. We always see who wants to go and fill up the van but this time it was just us. We went to a new beach that was so wonderful. You all would have loved it. It was a very nice end to a fantastic weekend.
Happy Easter to you all!
Love
Rachel
Our weekend was magnificent. We took some friends and went on a boat ride around part of Lake Sentani. We planned it so we could watch the sunset from the water. It was a beautiful sight. Then they took us to Papa Ron’s Pizza for dinner. What a treat! These friends set up a treasure hunt for the kids. They had hidden candy all around the school yard and the kids had to find it. That was fun to watch. We also colored Easter eggs. I have a funny story about that. Last year my family gave me an Easter egg kit. The kind that has all the colors in little tablets so all you do is drop them into the water. Well, I made sure that I knew where it was all year so that when the time came we could use them. I was all excited because last year we had to figure out how to make our own dye stuff. Well, I got the kit and put it on the counter and then went to get the containers. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sophie come in and pick up the bag of color tablets. She says to me, “What is this Mom” as she smashes them up with her fingers. I yelled “No” but it was too late. All of the tablets were in little tiny pieces. I wound up dumping them all in one container and we got black dye. Isn’t that just hilarious? All my careful planning and look where it got me. So we wound up making our own again this year. Ha ha.
Today we decided to go to the beach just as a family. It was the first time we have gone alone. We always see who wants to go and fill up the van but this time it was just us. We went to a new beach that was so wonderful. You all would have loved it. It was a very nice end to a fantastic weekend.
Happy Easter to you all!
Love
Rachel
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Easter!
Selamat Hari Peskah! Happy Easter to all! Ours is almost over and yours is just beginning. We had a very nice day and I hope you do as well. This morning we had a brunch with church and that is always yummy! Then we had our church service. Last week when I was reading through the Easter story I was thinking about how the angel didn’t open the tomb so Jesus could get out. He opened it so that we could run in. Cool!
Today we had a houseful. I asked our kids to make invitations telling people that if they had nowhere to go for Easter they were welcome to come to our house for lunch. So they went to all the houses up here on the hill and delivered the message. We had 17 people here. I had a turkey that we brought back from Bali (You can hardly get turkeys here), and cooked up all the regular stuff, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn, beans, jell-o, etc. and lots of desserts. It was a lot of fun. And we had a wide assortment of people that I never would have invited all at once but it worked out just dandy. Sophie was a HUGE help in the kitchen. She peeled potatoes, and cut beans, and made signs and set the table and Wyatt delivered all the invitations and watched Cale and Emma swept and mopped the floors and they all helped with dishes, especially Garth. I am so thankful. I told the kids that this was our chance to be a blessing to others and to think about them before ourselves. Wyatt read a Psalm for everyone and Sophie wrote a prayer. It was very wonderful and sweet.
Today when I was in the kitchen working on the meal I was talking to the ladies about my Mom. “This is the way my Mom does the turkey, ahead of time and puts it in gravy, and my Mom does this jell-o, and my Mom likes to make meals for people and serve people and is so great at making people feel special, etc. etc.” And I thought about how all the people in there do not know my Mother, but they are seeing a glimpse of her through me-because I was doing and acting like her. It is the same way with Jesus. Many people will never see the human side of Him, see His love in service-unless you and I give them a glimpse of it by acting and doing what He would do. Sophie said to me after today, “Mom, I like helping other people. It makes me feel good.”
And that is true. But more importantly, it shows them a bit of what God is like!
Love you-
Hope your day is special!
Love,
Rachel
Today we had a houseful. I asked our kids to make invitations telling people that if they had nowhere to go for Easter they were welcome to come to our house for lunch. So they went to all the houses up here on the hill and delivered the message. We had 17 people here. I had a turkey that we brought back from Bali (You can hardly get turkeys here), and cooked up all the regular stuff, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn, beans, jell-o, etc. and lots of desserts. It was a lot of fun. And we had a wide assortment of people that I never would have invited all at once but it worked out just dandy. Sophie was a HUGE help in the kitchen. She peeled potatoes, and cut beans, and made signs and set the table and Wyatt delivered all the invitations and watched Cale and Emma swept and mopped the floors and they all helped with dishes, especially Garth. I am so thankful. I told the kids that this was our chance to be a blessing to others and to think about them before ourselves. Wyatt read a Psalm for everyone and Sophie wrote a prayer. It was very wonderful and sweet.
Today when I was in the kitchen working on the meal I was talking to the ladies about my Mom. “This is the way my Mom does the turkey, ahead of time and puts it in gravy, and my Mom does this jell-o, and my Mom likes to make meals for people and serve people and is so great at making people feel special, etc. etc.” And I thought about how all the people in there do not know my Mother, but they are seeing a glimpse of her through me-because I was doing and acting like her. It is the same way with Jesus. Many people will never see the human side of Him, see His love in service-unless you and I give them a glimpse of it by acting and doing what He would do. Sophie said to me after today, “Mom, I like helping other people. It makes me feel good.”
And that is true. But more importantly, it shows them a bit of what God is like!
Love you-
Hope your day is special!
Love,
Rachel
Cheetos and Hot Dogs
I think we have gone through some time speed switcharoo or something over here because our days (the awake hours) have been so crammed full and long, and the night times (sleeping) have been so short. I know you have days like that too, so you know what I am talking about.
This weekend we had an Indonesian staying with us, Herild. He was very nice to have around. His excitement to learn our culture and language was refreshing to see. He had the most amazing stories about his culture and the village he is from. I will tell you about that later.
Today Sophie stayed home from school sick. It seems she has a double ear infection and some noise in her lungs. This is our day for grocery shopping so we went out early and got all of the food we needed and then took Cale to Doyo Hospital to have some follow up x-rays on his collarbone. A teacher from here is leaving for Singapore tomorrow and she agreed to take the x-rays with her for a radiologists to look at. We want to be sure that the bone is healing correctly.
Later in the day, I was reminded that I agreed to have some visiting people over for dinner. We have 4 important people here right now that are in charge of continuing the school’s accreditation. I TOTALLY forgot about that. Do you know what I had on the menu for dinner? Hot Dogs! Oh my goodness. That would be like the mayor coming to your house and you serve him Cheetos. But at that point, I couldn’t do much else. I did make a cucumber salad, and some homemade pickles, and some corn on the cob and watermelon. So I know it was fine, but the initial thought of hot dogs was a little bit upsetting . Oh well!
We are having some problems right now with our water. By problems I mean that that we are almost out. For some reason, the tank is empty and it is going to take about 3 weeks to fill back up. Some of the houses up here on the hill have none so I am glad that we have some. Our rain bucket has water in it and we used that for washing our clothes today and hopefully it will rain overnight so that problem is taken care of.
Cale said to me today that he wanted a haircut. I asked him where and he said on his forehead. Then he asked me, “Can I just have a new forehead?” Ha.
Well, keep your foreheads and your Cheetos and have yourself a really full day.
Love you-
Rachel
This weekend we had an Indonesian staying with us, Herild. He was very nice to have around. His excitement to learn our culture and language was refreshing to see. He had the most amazing stories about his culture and the village he is from. I will tell you about that later.
Today Sophie stayed home from school sick. It seems she has a double ear infection and some noise in her lungs. This is our day for grocery shopping so we went out early and got all of the food we needed and then took Cale to Doyo Hospital to have some follow up x-rays on his collarbone. A teacher from here is leaving for Singapore tomorrow and she agreed to take the x-rays with her for a radiologists to look at. We want to be sure that the bone is healing correctly.
Later in the day, I was reminded that I agreed to have some visiting people over for dinner. We have 4 important people here right now that are in charge of continuing the school’s accreditation. I TOTALLY forgot about that. Do you know what I had on the menu for dinner? Hot Dogs! Oh my goodness. That would be like the mayor coming to your house and you serve him Cheetos. But at that point, I couldn’t do much else. I did make a cucumber salad, and some homemade pickles, and some corn on the cob and watermelon. So I know it was fine, but the initial thought of hot dogs was a little bit upsetting . Oh well!
We are having some problems right now with our water. By problems I mean that that we are almost out. For some reason, the tank is empty and it is going to take about 3 weeks to fill back up. Some of the houses up here on the hill have none so I am glad that we have some. Our rain bucket has water in it and we used that for washing our clothes today and hopefully it will rain overnight so that problem is taken care of.
Cale said to me today that he wanted a haircut. I asked him where and he said on his forehead. Then he asked me, “Can I just have a new forehead?” Ha.
Well, keep your foreheads and your Cheetos and have yourself a really full day.
Love you-
Rachel
Friday, April 3, 2009
It was a joke!
In case some of you haven’t figured it out yet, the email about me winning money by finding the gold coin, and Wyatt’s class getting locked in the closet, and having to wear masks because of the red ants IS COMPLETELY UNTRUE. It was just a silly April’s Fool’s joke! How was your April 1st? Did anyone pull a prank on you? We had a few. My Mom tried to get me to believe that they painted our house raspberry sherbet pink. UGH! I am so glad that was a joke. Danny tried to convince us they were having baby #2…Ha! What a day.
I just got done playing basketball again against the B team girls. That is so much fun! Yes, it has been quite awhile since I was on a basketball team, but I really enjoy it. Each time I get a little bit better. Garth even played against the B team boys today. His very first time EVER playing an actual basketball game. And he did very well. I was impressed.
This weekend we have an Indonesian guy staying with us. He is part of a program called Titip. Missionaries here that are working in that program are teaching the Indonesians English, and part of their practice is for the Indonesians to live with Westerners for a weekend and listen to their English and experience some of our culture. The man’s name is Herild. He is very nice and is down in the gym watching basketball with Garth.
Tomorrow Garth is taking most of the dorm kids to do the Pipe Walk. I was in the kitchen trying to get all the food ready for them to take. Let me just give you a sample of what making sandwiches for around 20 is like. First off, you make all the bread. Then you cook up maling (it is like Spam, and it is all we have for lunch meat right now), I looked all over for cheese even in Abeh which is 45 minutes away-no cheese, so skip that part. Then make your own mayonnaise, set some mayo aside to use in making ranch dressing to help the sandwiches taste a bit better, make your peanut butter, unless the stores have it, then you can buy it and save yourself some time. There are mainly two kinds of jam to choose from, strawberry and pineapple, we picked strawberry. Then, make the sandwiches. Doesn’t that sound simple? Ha ha. It is not so bad when you are used to it. Isn’t it funny how different things can be from one side of the world to the other? I wish the world was flatter or smaller so I could just walk around the corner and bump into you.
Love and miss you all-
Rachel
I just got done playing basketball again against the B team girls. That is so much fun! Yes, it has been quite awhile since I was on a basketball team, but I really enjoy it. Each time I get a little bit better. Garth even played against the B team boys today. His very first time EVER playing an actual basketball game. And he did very well. I was impressed.
This weekend we have an Indonesian guy staying with us. He is part of a program called Titip. Missionaries here that are working in that program are teaching the Indonesians English, and part of their practice is for the Indonesians to live with Westerners for a weekend and listen to their English and experience some of our culture. The man’s name is Herild. He is very nice and is down in the gym watching basketball with Garth.
Tomorrow Garth is taking most of the dorm kids to do the Pipe Walk. I was in the kitchen trying to get all the food ready for them to take. Let me just give you a sample of what making sandwiches for around 20 is like. First off, you make all the bread. Then you cook up maling (it is like Spam, and it is all we have for lunch meat right now), I looked all over for cheese even in Abeh which is 45 minutes away-no cheese, so skip that part. Then make your own mayonnaise, set some mayo aside to use in making ranch dressing to help the sandwiches taste a bit better, make your peanut butter, unless the stores have it, then you can buy it and save yourself some time. There are mainly two kinds of jam to choose from, strawberry and pineapple, we picked strawberry. Then, make the sandwiches. Doesn’t that sound simple? Ha ha. It is not so bad when you are used to it. Isn’t it funny how different things can be from one side of the world to the other? I wish the world was flatter or smaller so I could just walk around the corner and bump into you.
Love and miss you all-
Rachel
Exciting News!
It has been an exciting day in the Erickson house! I am going to tell you about the best thing first. The company that we buy our powdered milk from, Danchow, has been having a contest. It is kind of like the Indonesian version of Willy Wonka. They had one gold coin hidden in a box of milk. Today when I was opening up a box for breakfast, I FOUND THE GOLD COIN!! Now, this kind of stuff never happens to me. It always happens to my sister-she gets her name picked for all sorts of prizes. But not me!!! So today is my very lucky day! The regional manager came to congratulate me and give me the prize. It was 10 juta! That is like a $1000.000 dollars. Can you believe it? I am still in shock that it actually happened. We do buy a lot of boxes of milk, but they only hid one coin. What are the chances that it would be me? Anyways, I couldn’t wait to share my news with you.
The rest of the day was pretty normal. Except for one funny thing. Wyatt’s class was having an earthquake drill. They all went into their “safety” room and one of the kids accidentally locked the door, so they were stuck inside for about 45 minutes until one of the other teachers heard them all yelling. The room is deliberately sealed shut tight so it is pretty noise proof. The kids had lots of books in there to look at while they waited, but were very happy to be free again!
Did you hear in the news about one of the volcanoes here in Indonesia erupting? I don’t know too many of the details, but I do know that it has given us some of the most beautiful sunsets lately. The sky has been so pink and orange. Here are some pictures of Cale outside watching the pretty sky.
Most of you have seen Garth’s gross pictures of those big red ants. Well, they are everywhere. Really. They are infiltrating the campus. So, starting tomorrow the landscapers are going to come up here with some heavy duty yard spray and spray all the plants, trees, bushes, etc. This stuff is so strong that we were told we all HAD to wear masks when we are outside for at least three days until the pollutants are out of the air. I am sure Cale will love that. It will be interesting! Hope it works. Love you all. Have a great day. Look for gold coins!!!!! You never know. Love, Rachel
The rest of the day was pretty normal. Except for one funny thing. Wyatt’s class was having an earthquake drill. They all went into their “safety” room and one of the kids accidentally locked the door, so they were stuck inside for about 45 minutes until one of the other teachers heard them all yelling. The room is deliberately sealed shut tight so it is pretty noise proof. The kids had lots of books in there to look at while they waited, but were very happy to be free again!
Did you hear in the news about one of the volcanoes here in Indonesia erupting? I don’t know too many of the details, but I do know that it has given us some of the most beautiful sunsets lately. The sky has been so pink and orange. Here are some pictures of Cale outside watching the pretty sky.
Most of you have seen Garth’s gross pictures of those big red ants. Well, they are everywhere. Really. They are infiltrating the campus. So, starting tomorrow the landscapers are going to come up here with some heavy duty yard spray and spray all the plants, trees, bushes, etc. This stuff is so strong that we were told we all HAD to wear masks when we are outside for at least three days until the pollutants are out of the air. I am sure Cale will love that. It will be interesting! Hope it works. Love you all. Have a great day. Look for gold coins!!!!! You never know. Love, Rachel
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)