Well, we're here, in our house that we will call home for the next year! We arrived last night, after traveling from Jakarta to Semarang. It was a quick fourty five minute flight, but an exhausting day. There is a lot more involved flying domestic in Indonesia than in the U.S.! When we landed in Semarang, we were greeted by a friendly face, our friend Daniel Geaslen with MAF, already living in Salatiga.
We were hungry so we stopped at Mcdonalds on the way out of Semarang, as we drove south to Salatiga. Last chance for familiar food for quite some time! To be honest, we got our fill of that kind of stuff in Jakarta during the few days we were there. Jakarta is a very modern city, and they have all types of food that we are used to.
We felt half awake for the hour drive to Salatiga. It was already dark, and the traffic was heavy the whole way. We got to our house somewhere around seven o'clock. Another MAF guy we had met before, Sean Cannon, was there with his three girls (who Elise is excited to hang out with). Sean and Daniel had worked to get our house ready for us. They stocked the fridge a little bit, got our internet set up, got our baby furniture picked up that they had made for us. Sean even put a boquet on the kitchen table to welcome us!
We were so excited to see our new house when we got here. It's the first house (not apartment) we've ever lived in together as a family!) And it looks even nicer in person than it did in the pictures we saw.
It wasn't too long before we got the kids to bed. they are in the same room. We put Ian in his new crib, and he was out pretty quick! Then Elise got to sleep in her new "big girl bed" (not a crib). It was her first time sleeping in one! She was so excited about that.
We went to bed pretty quickly after that. Elise woke up at 3 AM (still adjusting to the jet lag). Heather and I woke up with her. She wasn't interested in going back to bed. So we stayed up and started un-packing!
At four AM we were in for a treat. We've heard about the 4 am call to prayer heard in Moslem countries. Well we heard it allright! It's hard to describe that sound. You can hear what sounds like a dozen mosques from all directions broadcasting their call to prayer, some closer (and louder) than others.
We heard there is a wedding going on just down the street. So last night it sounded like a discoteque was right next door. And they got it cranking again....no joking....7:30 AM. So it really sounds like we're right next to a night club! No biggie, we were already awake. I think that's something else that "wouldn't fly in the United States."
........About "The Game"......you may know...Heather went to University of Missouri aka "Mizzou." I went to Arizona State. for years we've dreamed of ASU and Mizzou meeting in a bowl game or something. Wouldn't you know it, a couple years back they scheduled a regular season game together (actually two....they play again next year.) So the game falls a few days after we move out of the country! Watching it wasn't a luxury we had....but we found the audio feed on the internet. So while writing this, we were listening to the game (more like I was listening to it). A great game, ASU barely edged Mizzou in Overtime....................
So we've made it out of our house one time already today....Sean (who helped set up our house) invited us over for pancakes. Now we're off to explore the town a little with Daniel and find some lunch. It's only one PM....and feels like six or seven PM as we've been up since three. Give us a few days and we will have this jet lag thing licked! Ill try to send some pictures along soon. Blessings to you!
Ricky
