Nine down....

How many to go???

Yes, we had two more dead rats removed from above both bathrooms again this morning. That makes a total of nine now. Somehow I have a feeling I’m going to lose count one of these days, as our landlady has finally decided to start checking and re-setting the traps daily. She even gave the boys a can of spray to use each time they open the attic. What it’s supposed to do for the rats, I have no idea since it is a bug spray. And did I mention that it's artificially lavender scented?

Artificial lavender perfume mixed with dead rat odor? NICE….

This is living in Indonesia. I’ll admit that I’ve had a rough couple of weeks of it. The new has worn off and I’m past my limit for vacation time. It feels like it is time to go home now. However, the agreement was to stay 10 months and that is what we intend to do. I think I just kind of hit a brick wall here, first with a lingering stomach issue and then everything else just kind of piled on top of it. You know how we all live with a certain amount of stress all the time, but occasionally there just seems to be a tipping point? Well, I reached mine week before last and it wasn’t pretty. I think it was a  just a combination of the dirtiness of this place, a good case of homesickness (missing family, friends and my own bed), feeling trapped in the apartment with the endless burning of trash coming in through open windows and the never ending prayer calls. And just not having enough to occupy my time.

I have tried really hard to make some friends here, but have been very disappointed not to run into any more Caucasians or English speaking people. So far, with lots of effort, I have met 3 women from the US. Helen is an expat (PA)  like myself who is 3 more months into this than I am. Marcia, my Bible study leader has lived here since ’89 and still has kids at home and Trevor Johnson and his wife (MO), a missionary couple serving in a remote tribal area on Papua Island who are in the city for the birth of their third child. All of these have been a blessing to me but they are all busy with their own lives and commitments. 

I had been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to attend the International Women’s Club that I learned about from an expat website. I thought SURELY I could find just one lonely expat there – would that be asking too much? Well, as it turns out, yes. I’ll include a photo taken with my cell phone (not very good quality) at the meeting last week. Turns out there were a lot of nice ladies there…but honestly, none that I see myself wanting to develop a deeper relationship with. Sigh… 

after we danced around the room in what appeared to be the equivalent of a group hug

  

I will share one experience from last week’s meeting. They were set up with a keyboard and microphone and it quickly became apparent that they take their singing seriously. The lady who gave me a ride to the meeting asked me if I would sing into a microphone after we ate. I politely declined and told her I could not sing. Then she asked both of the other two visitors who were there  (and happened to be sitting at my table) if they would sing and they both said NO. It wasn’t three minutes later before I heard her announcing that the three visitors had agreed to sing a song for them!!! Of course by this time they are clapping because we are going to sing, so what could we do but get up and pick out a song to sing together? We finally settled on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I was just so very thankful I hadn’t "volunteered" to sing a solo! I’m not sure why I was surprised by this, as we had each already had to take the microphone and stand in front of the group to talk about ourselves!! I didn’t really feel that I had anything very interesting to say but I did tell them how long I had been here and that I found the Indonesian people to be very friendly (which is true). They all nodded approvingly so I know I said at least one thing they liked. I was careful not to mention any of the above. HA!

Ok, this is the not-so-wonderful report, but tomorrow I will share on a more positive note….