A glimpse of what I see.

Last week I attempted to form word pictures, this time around I will give you a visual feast from the past 3 weeks.  As I am attempting to get pictures of ordinary street life here, my uncertainty and awkwardness over taking pictures of Indonesians going about their lives together has generally taken the best of me.  But enjoy the photos that I have.

I will post something in the coming week, going into some more depth, but for now I will let your eyes see glimpses of what I see. 

 This is peanut sauce smothering tofu, vegetables and longtung ( a rice that is so wet and compacted that it has the texture of a potato).  Delicious.  Most days I eat rice 3x a day.  Today I had a break from the norm.  I only ate it for breakfast and supper.   

This photo is shocking because of the lack of rice.  Rice fields generally always fill in the gaps between homes and between towns in Indonesia.  Here are tobacco, banana and corn plants.

 

Tobacco fields looking up towards the small mountain we hiked.

Looking over rural agricultural Indonesian villages.  Spectacular.

Ellery, Laura, Mike and I trying the great variety of fruit juice.  I have fresh fruit juice every day, but I will never have that brown colored juice in this picture again.  It was some deplorable combination of peanuts and water.

Hard to believe there are fish in the rivers of Indonesia.  I can't get over how much garbage fills the waterways here.

Look closely at the boats filled with black material.  It is mud.  Bucketed from the lake bed into the boat.  From the boat this mud goes basket full by basket full into a truck.  The mud is then used for mushroom farming.  How much does that man earn for a 12 hour work day?  He earns $2-$5. 

The Christian University in town did a parade showcasing Indonesian's vast array of culture.  

Another cultural dress, with a blue bus in the background.  The blue buses  are the city buses.  Everywhere I look I see at least one and they stop at the slightest clue that you may want a ride.

This is the church that my host father in Salatiga pastors.  Small, young, simple and promising--I have thoroughly enjoyed being apart of it for the few weeks I will be with them.

 Family photo of my host father, mother, and two younger sisters.

Want some fruit?   

 Jason enjoys the bliss of being in the front seat of the city bus.

This is what we call "pacaks".  A traditional way to get around.
 I sit in the front seat and the Indonesian peddles away.

Bamboo!  I never knew bamboo got this big!  From furniture to scaffolding to food, bamboo is highly functional.

That ends this visual adventure.  I set off on my 4th week of language training tomorrow.  Bye for now.