Ronnie is bound and determined to keep up his running here, although there is no place that is ideal to run. So far, his best bet is the running track at ITB. However, the red dirt stains ones shoes after just one run. In trying to figure out what shoes would show the least dirt, I suggested orange since that's the colors his shoes end up anyway. Here are his shoes after his first run on ITB track. HA!
Last weekend on our quest for new running shoes, I finally got a chance to photograph one of the little monkeys who entertain at the intersections that actually have traffic lights. Usually there is so much traffic around and we are moving so I barely get a glimpse before we are through the intersection. This time, we happened to be sitting close to the light and this little monkey on a motorcycle started riding in fast circles as his owner swung him around and around on a rope. I was able to grab a few shots, though most were not very sharp. But you get the idea.
As soon as he finished his performance, he and his owner started collecting cash from cars and motor scooters. I grabbed this shot when they came up to our car window. Ronnie was not as thrilled with the whole thing as I was, but he dropped money in the can and quickly raised the window, commenting that he didn't want that thing to jump inside the car with us! Good point.
I learned at the expat party about another Bible study group that was meeting at Starbucks this Wednesday for a social time. Anxious to meet other English speaking women, I made a point to go. All of the ladies were very nice and I could see some potential friendships among the smallish group, though I can also see a pattern forming that I am the oldest expat. (Could it be that most older people have more sense than to come to Indonesia??) The biggest drawback for me is that the group meets at a different location each week, some quite far out. I'm not sure my driver and I would do well driving all over the city looking for a different home each week. So I'm still thinking on that one...
The lady on the left whose face you can only see half of was not happy with Pak Dadang, our driver. We had just bumped into her scooter minutes before this was taken. I must have been looking out the window or down at my camera and I honestly didn't see what happened (call me Miss Daisy, as I sit in the back seat and the passenger side head rest also blocks my view). I heard a noise and looked up. She and another lady were on the scooter and when Dadang realized what had happened, she was already moving out of his way (thankfully they were not knocked off as the "bump" was not that hard). She appeared to be cursing him pretty good. He of course thought she was at fault. Later as we passed by these bananas, she drove up beside us to continue her "conversation" with him. Dadang is a nice young man who knows the city pretty well but I fear he really doesn't have the experience he needs to be driving a car. I don't plan to report him over this one incident because I would hate to see him lose his job. I am continually amazed that there aren't more accidents than there are!
Dadang and I stopped and bought bananas here yesterday without even getting out of the car.
We received another wedding invitation for Saturday night. Our language teachers translated it for us. I suppose we will try to go, as the bride is the daughter of someone who works at ITB, which is a bit more of a connection than our new drivers nephew! We've been told that maybe 1,000 invitations are sent out and food is prepared for perhaps 2,500. Would they really get their feelings hurt if we didn't attend? Seriously? We read on an expat site that if you receive an invitation from a work associate and you choose not to go, you should be aware that it may affect your working relationship.
Today my regular Bible study group went to lunch together. What a nice group of ladies. Marcia, our teacher, is sitting next to me on the end. The photo was taken with my cell phone, so some of the faces aren't very clear. The group is larger than those pictured and consists primarily of locals (both Chinese and Indonesian descent), a few Koreans, a young woman from Uganda and 3 Caucasians including myself. Ages range from 20's-70's.
I'm glad you found a nice group of ladies for Bible study! Ellie
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