Football and Fruit Drinks

The new mission president's wife has arrived, and has taken over the health care duties.  We talked early in the week and she is up to speed and has a degree in health care; she will do great.  It was so peaceful to have a p-day this week.  No calls from missionaries and no emergencies in the branch, so we got to go to a museum, the Tong A Fie mansion.

Of course as we started to leave, we were surrounded by schoolgirls who wanted a picture with us.:) We also had lunch at the nearby Tip-Top Restaurant, so total immersion in the dutch colonial period.

We also stopped at the 96 Bakery and bought some cashew brownies. As it happens, we didn't open the box, and it was a good thing, because we ended up taking it to District Council Meeting (DCM) the next morning.  It turned out that we have an elder who is going home in 10 days, and they decided that next week we are NOT having DCM because we are all going to Jakarta for Zone Conference.  It is our Porter tradition to bring brownies for an elder who is heading home (not just a transfer but a true pulang). I had a small piece and it was So Good.  It was the first brownie I had eaten in Indonesia that tasted like chocolate rather than sugar, and had a proper crust on the top.  So we went back later in the week and bought one for ourselves.

On Wednesday when we walked into church for Engish lessons, someone was playing America The Beautiful on the piano.  It was the only recognition of US Independence Day.

This picture was taken as we were leaving a kampung after teaching English.  I wanted to pull over and take a picture of the boys playing soccer with kerbau  (water buffalo) in the background.  Two of the huge water buffalo are visible in the upper left of the photo.  But others are covered by grass.  Sadly, the boys stopped playing and ran over to say hi when they saw a white face in the car.

Our big meals are often at mid-day because we are out teaching and visiting in the early evening.  One day we had broccoli puff, made in the rice cooker.  No oven.

Last week we had taken a friend from church out for lunch, and Sanford had a fruit drink of orange and pomelo juice.  It was so good and refreshing and not overly sugary.  I have been leery of the fruit drinks because on our last trip to Indonesia in 2015, I got sick after drinking an iced fruit drink at a Malaysian restaurant.  But that drink last week was so inspiring that I bravely tried one this week:  an orange and mango concoction called "The Pochohontas."  Not sure where they got that name, but it was good.

You know how when you call a customer service number in the US, they often say press 2 for Spanish?  I was on the other side of that choice this week.  Our local bank's customer service said to press 2 for English.  And both times I had to call, the people were incredibly helpful.  We can now pay our fast offering online, as well as paying our internet bills and putting money in the account for our rde-sharing service (like Uber).  It has been a hassle learning all the steps, but hopefully will save time over the next 14 months we live here.