Lombok, the Island

Lombok is only one of Indonesia's 1,700 islands. It was the location of the Fulbright Pre-Departure Conference which we attended during our last week in Indonesia. In fact, we headed straight to the airport to fly home as soon as the conference ended!


While staying on Sengiggi Beach where the conference was held, we walked to nearby restaurants to eat. One day as we were walking down the street in front of the hotel, we saw a man peddling a bicycle which was equipped with children's horses that moved as he peddled and played music. The children ran out to ride, paid their money, hopped up on the horses and rode with delight! It was fun watching these kids - they couldn't have been happier than if they had been at Disney World!

happy happy!!

man-powered "carnival" ride

Ronnie's presentations at the conference were very well received. We said our final goodbyes to the other Fulbright scholars and headed to the airport with enough extra time to see a tiny bit of the island on the way. At one point, the driver pulled over so that I could snap a few photos at a bird singing contest on the side of the road. Bird singing contests are serious business in Indonesia and fortunately for me, this one was already well under way. My presence only seemed noticed by one young boy.

owners coax their birds to sing louder 

"Hey Mista!"

While I was snapping my photos, a group of children playing ball in the parking lot became very excited when they spotted the bule who was sitting in the car. Ronnie was able to say some things to them in Bahasa Indonesia and they were more than a little excited to try to talk to him ("Mista!")

goodbye, bules!!

We waved goodbye to the children and headed to Denpasar for our long flight home. We had 3 layovers with legs from Lombok to Bali, Bali to Tokyo, Tokyo to Seattle, then Seattle to Houston. Approximately 40 hours after lift off in Lombok, we were walking into our HOME SWEET HOME!!

Our time in Indonesia was definitely an adventure. We met some wonderful people during our stay there and Ronnie's work had a significant impact. Though neither of us regret going, I'll admit that, for me especially, it was not easy being so far from family and friends. The time and distance between us served as a reminder to never take anything we have for granted!

Thanks to all our friends for reading this blog and encouraging us during our time away. God bless you and God bless the USA!!!