First Week in Indonesia

Well it has been almost exactly a week since I stumbled from the plane and into welcoming arms, here in Indonesia. I was hot and sweaty and desperate for a place to lie down :) Since that time I have been busy adjusting to the temperature and humidity of Indonesia (yep still hot and sweaty!). I have been learning my way around, or at least I can get myself to the International School, the Language School, a nearby little store, and a yummy restaurant.

Hopefully my world will continue to get bigger. One of the things on my to do list is to learn to ride a motorbike, so I will have the ability to get around easier. The roads around here are crazy though, so it will take some time to get use to them. Plus they drive on the left hand side of the road!

Yesterday I took my placement test for language school. It was an informal chat with two of the teachers, asking me about my family, my work, and things like introducing myself and it was all in Indonesian. There are definitely some weak spots including my pronunciation and grammer. Overall though they said there were impressed that I had remembered as much as I had, since I left Indonesia over 6 years ago. They also said that my speaking was smooth and not hesitant, like I was constantly searching for the right word. So I will be starting in Unit 4. This seems high to me since there are only 9 units, but I am going to try it and see what happens. I can always hire a tutor to help out too. Language School starts July 8th and I will be attending class in the afternoon. Each unit lasts about a month. I will let you know how it goes :)

So here are a few pictures from this first week...

 I have unpacked and set-up my room in my friend's house. It wouldn't be complete without pictures of family and friends! I am so blessed to have the master bedroom in the home with a comfortable bed and my own bathroom (which actually has hot water most of the time!).

Enjoying some delicious Indonesian food! This main dish is called Soto Ayam. As almost always, meals in Indonesian include rice and the best part is the fresh fruit like, pineapple. 

We had a lot of fun last night celebrating the 4th of July with a group of expats/missionaries at the International School. We had a BBQ and potluck, followed by sparklers for the kids and fireworks. Turns out you can get some pretty amazing (scary!) fireworks in Indonesia at the market :) I put together a video with just few clips of the fireworks and singing. You can click on the link above to watch it. (If you can't see the link above, then you will need to click on the blog title or "read more" to go to the blog, where you will be able to view it)