Bertemuan Bapak-Bapak

Every fifth night of the month is the neighborhood Bertemuan (meeting)  Bapak-Bapak (guys...more specifically married or old guys).  Here in Indonesia, and specifically on the Island of Java, towns are split up into very specific areas and neighborhoods.  Those neighborhoods have monthly men's and women's meetings!

So tonight was the monthly meeting.  I've been to several since coming here.  I remember at first feeling incredibly out of place at these meetings.  Now, well I still feel out of place!  But now I feel like I understand most of what is discussed.   The Indonesian and Javanese languages are both used in these meetings.  They try to stick to Indonesian for the sake of me and my friends Daniel and Aaron who are also in my neighborhood.  If they use Javanese.....were for sure lost!

I took the opportunity near the end of the meeting to take a picture of the scene....first I asked the neighborhood leader or "Pak RT" if it is proper if I do that.  He was more than happy to allow me.

There are probably about 40 or 50 guys who come.  On the right in the blue shirt is my friend Daniel.  It was his last Bapak meeting before he moves to Papua.  Pak RT asked him to give a short speech.  They kept asking me to take more pictures.  So I obliged of course!  This next one is from the other direction.

And because the living room of the guy who hosted it this month is shaped like an L, I had to get the guys sitting in the far corner too!

There are also guys who usually sit outside on the porch and chat, and don't actually partake in the meeting.  My friend Aaron joined them tonight.  He loves to chat.

So the little dishes of food you see are little snacks prepared by some of the "Ibus" or the wives who are in the back and out of sight.  We usually have a good selection of snacks at these meetings, and sometimes they roll out a full scale dinner!  What do they talk about?  The meeting is usually kicked off with a 20 to 30 minute Muslim prayer service (in Arabic), followed by discussion about the neighborhood funds (that we all contribute to monthly).  Then it's fair game for any issues in the neighborhood.  A common topic is the "jaga malam" or the guys who take turns guarding the neighborhood at night.  We also talked for a while tonight about a new cement rainwater ditch that was just built in our neighborhood by Pak RT himself and a few other guys from our neighborhood   (Exciting stuff eh).  The guys usually "Bercakap cakap"....or "Ngrobol ngrobol" (shoot the breeze) for quite a bit.  Tonight we ended after ten PM.  It is a lot of fun though and quite a privilege to get to be included in this very cultural experience every month, and relationsips with the guys there are slowly built as you sit next to a different guy each time and get to chat.  It's also encouraging to understand more and more every month.  It helps to realize this language school thing is paying off!

Finally......check out some of the sights and sounds from the bapak meeting in this video I took!,   It is after the meeting when guys were chatting and eating snacks.  About halfway through the video the guy I was sitting next to asked me a question and we talked (in Indonesian).  Hopefully that disbands the rumor that we haven't really been going to language school here but instead have been living the good life here, soaking up the beach, the sun and the sand!

I meant to add this to the last blog....video of Ian trying his first piece of cake on his birthday! Complete with commentary by Elise and the Perez kids.... He sure dug into it!

Our 1 Year Old!

We had sort of a day-long celebration for Ian's birthday today!  It was a fun day.  We had a party for him with some of our Indonesian friends this afternoon.

If you are curious how Indonesians sing Happy Birthday, then watch the video below!  We sing Happy Birthday, then they sing "Panjang Umurnya"...or "long life."

Earlier in the day we had invited our MAF friends who have kids to join us at a local indoor playground, for a play session to celebrate Ian's big day!

It's a fun place!  Indonesia is big on having places for kids to play.  It seems every shopping center has a kids play place.  This one is conveniently located right next to one of the town's best "supermarkets,"  so sometimes one of us lets the kids play while the other does the shopping we need to do.

On Ian's actual birthday one week ago, we did have a party, but it was an impromptu thing as we had gotten home from a week in Jakarta the day before.  Our friends the Perezes joined us that night for cake and ice cream.

Mommy and Elise worked hard to make Ian's cake. 

 He sure enjoyed having his first piece of cake!  He woofed it down.  Strangely....he didn't want anything to do with his second cake.


Random pics from the last several days....

I've been taking a few more pictures than normal over the last week.  I cleaned the mold out of my camera lens....

Notice the whitish spots forming on the surface.  That's something you have to think about here in the tropics, and apparently I didn't pay enough attention.  I thought it was going to have to be junked, but a you-tube tutorial taught me how to open my lens and clean it all in about twenty minutes.  Like new again!

In addition to that, I have been having a little fun with a used telephoto lens I bought from one of our language school teachers.....

Elise with our friend Jared.  Elise really likes Jared!  A while back Jared had knee surgery to repair a broken ACL, and Elise is always sure to ask him how his knee is doing.  She is a compassionate little girl!  Jared and his wife Teresa have a dog named Ada (below).

Dogs are not common here, so it is a treat to see Ada once in a while!

My friends Jon (left) and Ben (middle) (also MAF folks) playing soccer.  Every Wednesday they play at the international school.  Sometimes I join in.  It's a great way to get some exercise and hang out with the locals.

Ian doing his signature point and "ooohhh!!"

At a "cultural expo" at a local college with our friends Aaron, Katie and Andrea (in the background).

Lastly, we decided to make the jump of turning Elise's afternoon nap into a "rest time" where she can sit in her bed, read her books, and play with her stuffed animals, etc etc.  The other day, we went in and saw this......

First Easter in Indo

Happy Easter everybody!  It has been fun trying to explain to our three year old a little bit about the meaning of Easter this year.  I am not too sure she gets it though.  The conversation usually goes something like “Elise.”  “What Daddy?”  “Did you know we are celebrating Jesus rising from the dead today?”  “Yeah, and then we get to go eat easter eggs and candy right?”

Elise and Ian today in their Easter gear

Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  I am so glad that, not only did God create us with a need for proof in order to believe things, but he honored that need in a major way on that first Easter.

 “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”  Then they remembered his words. "
Luke 24:  7-8

Several years back I learned a lot about this.  Even the staunchest of historical critics that oppose Jesus agree on a few fundamental and irrefutable facts about Easter and Christ rising from the dead.

The agree he definitely died on the cross.

They agree the tomb was found empty on Sunday morning.

They agree that Christ made appearances to many after he rose from the dead.

They agree the group of his followers were radically transformed after those appearances, going from a scared and scattered group among whom only one was present when Jesus' life was withering away on the cross, to a motivated and visionary group who saw thousands join them almost immediately.  Out of the 11 remaining desciples, 10 were said to have died as martyrs for Christ.

With those things being in place, it would take more faith to believe some of the rumors that were created, like the disciples stole his body out of the tomb while nobody else was looking, that Jesus actually came to in the tomb, dusted himself off, was able to nurse back to health and make his appearances.  Or my favorite, that it was actually someone else on the cross not Jesus, and that people were mistaken.  With the historical evidence in place, all these options take a lot more faith to believe than the story we read in the Bible.

To read in better detail about this (ie where in the world did I get this) click here.

So Ian didn't hunt for eggs today, but big sis shared some of hers!

And of course, a group shot!

Everybody knows one of the best parts of Easter is dressing up your kids in cute clothes and watching them hunt for easter eggs!  Elise and Ian enjoyed an easter egg hunt after church today. (Elise got a little practice the other night at our language school's Easter party/egg hunt too!)  Well Ian watched, while Elise gathered up some plastic eggs (full of yummy treats)!

Heather and I were trying to remember where we were on the past few Easters.  We've realized that the four Easters we have spent as parents have all been in different places.  Last year Easter was two days after Ian was born.  We celebrated Easter in the hospital in Boise.  We were still there because Heather had a C section.  The hospital photographer happened to come on Easter day.

Ironically, Ian celebrated his second Easter today, but still hasn't celebrated a birthday yet.  That will be on April 22.

So last year's Easter Egg hunt took place both in the hospital room in Boise, and on the neat playground they had.  Elise was the only contestant.  She had a blast.

There she is sitting on the floor in the hospital room, enjoying some of her loot!  It was the first time she grasped the concept of an Easter egg hunt.

The year before, we were in Arizona visiting.  Elise and cousin Isla got together on Easter for some cute pics!  

That's my twin sister Kelly and husband Joe with little Isla on the same day.  (ironically we both have baby boys now too, almost the same age.  It must be a twin thing)

And finally....Elise's first Easter (2009) we spent in Grand Rapids Michigan.  We lived there for over three years and we miss Michigan!  We had a lot of family visit us from Missouri on Elise's first Easter weekend.  Elise was only four months old.

It's amazing how time flies, and how fast they grow!  Next year we will be in yet another place.....Papua.