Collection 2

Here’s a bit more from the past few months. In no particular order.

Cool Stuff. Guys from interior meeting about continuing education for their kids that come to the city. It’s awesome how this interior church has continued to grow and his trying to prepare the next generation.

If you ever wonder about our sanity…this was one of the most relaxing, memorable 2 hours I’ve had in a long time. I don’t even feel this way when we go to the beach. I painted a room with my friend. #1 I completed something. #2 There were tangible results. #3 I didn’t have to watch Finn while doing it. #4 I got to have a conversation in my heart language that lasted longer than 5 minutes. The satisfaction was almost inexplainable.

Finn likes painting too. This was the first 30 seconds before he began destroying the paints with his fingers, trying to drink the brush water, and before I realized they weren’t very washable. Mom fail.

And here’s another random veg that people eat. The veggie guy asked me if I wanted to try it. I said sure, but then he mysteriously warned me that I needed to find a Javanese person to help me cook it. I have one, so I didn’t worry too much. Turns out, there’s a super specific way to cook it or else it’s bitter and makes you get an upset stomach. I tasted a little after specifically following the directions and decided I’d stick to the 35 other varieties of green veggies that don’t come with warning labels!

I grew up in the city. I never thought we would end up with a flock of chickens. I have wiped chicken’s bottoms, shoved pills down their throats, put salve on fight wounds, hatched an egg, figured out a bit of their squak language, and dealt with all sorts of shenanigans. The black and white one was like a pet, but then we ate him, which also felt strange. 

Payton and I love to work on tangible projects since most of our language study makes our brains mushy and it’s hard to see any progress. We tried minimalist for a while with our kitchen racks, but decided they were stressing us out as you could see every-single-thing in the kitchen at all times. So we came up with a plan to make cupboards that weren’t entirely closed–so roaches, ants and other bugs couldn’t make their nests inside. Payton is boss at stuff like this. I LOVE them. They cut down on my stress sooooo much. And when stress levels seem at 125% constantly, every percent we knock off counts!

I’m still not used to fruit soup beverages here, but when we had a party, I asked my amazing friend to help me (once again) make something new. It’s basically, cubed fruit (sometimes young coconut and chia seeds too), jello chunks, syrup, sweetened condensed milk, and water.

They sell it on the streets everywhere, all-of-the-time. Sometimes you just put a giant straw in the bag and slurp it up. The photo below is not mine since I have never and probably never will stop to buy the diabetic-coma-inducing, chunky kool-aid. But, it’s super normal here.

Finally, something that feels normal is buying fish from these lovely ladies. They walk long distances and long hours with buckets of fish door-to-door. They get a kick out of Finn making fishy faces and are always kind and cheery, which is not always the norm.

Thanks to another friend, I now know what to do with the banana blossoms! They are surprisingly tasty, but sticky and you have to work quick or they turn black.

This sweet friend is back in the village right now since her father-in-law is sick. They are the dorm parents here in town. Finn and their youngest are buddies. She’s been gone for 2 weeks now and I didn’t realize how much I miss chatting with her and just seeing her familiar face. It’s good to realize that even in all of the stress and strangeness here, God has provided a handful of sweet ladies to be my friend, even though I’m weird, needy, and constantly stumble over my words. This photo reminds me how blessed and privileged I am.