The Nov in Nov.

This month I took pictures for you guys like you wouldn't believe.

Unfortunately, my camera has now entered the hospice of technology and won't give me access to those pics :( But here's a few that survived....enjoy!

My friends Lena and Adri's big bro got married...
This is the traditional dress of their people

Posing for pics...
Beautiful Lena and Adri

Only the direct family attends the actual wedding ceremony, but the receptions are open to just about anyone. They always include a lot of hand shaking. You come in, drop some money in a basket, and stand in line to shake the families' hands. Usually after that you grab something to eat and split (not rude, totally cultural) but this wedding was fancy schmancy with a sit down meal. Still, the place cleared out pretty quick after the food was gone :)

Hand Shaking Madness. The nurse in me always hopes they wash their hands afterwards. I'm often tempted to stand at the end of the line and hand out free squirts of hand sanitizer just in case. Prevention is key :)

Jatoro - He may be an 8th year senior but hes got the Rubix cube mastered. Impressive.

I moved to a kost, which is kind of like a dorm room but smaller. This is my building. I live on the 2nd floor which means....

Climbing these crazy steep stairs everyday. I get a kick out of watching little kids try to go up and down them. Their little legs can barely reach high enough to climb up and the have to jump down step by step. It's really cute!

My room pre-move. It's much more homey looking now. And I bought a fan.

My bathroom, complete with a squatty potty and bucket for bathing

Sweet univeristy girls

I ran away to the village a couple times this month and one of my friends told me about his hand. He said he was burned a few years back and instead of covering the wound and keeping it clean he kept working in the garden and his finger got infected from all he dirt. Now it's causing a lot of pain and the doctor said he'd like to just cut his hand off and call it good. I'm gonna take him some antibiotics and try to clean out his finger next time I visit, but pray this guy can have a healthy, pain-free hand soon.

This month marked Eid Al Adha, a Muslim holiday that is celebrated by the slaughtering of goats and cows. People chip in money to buy animals, slaughter them in the morning, and divy up the meat between them. The thought is that the meat is supposed to be shared with the poor so that they have a chance to eat meat at least once a year. The families I hang out with are pretty poor and this was the portion of cow allotted to them. I wonder who gets the steaks?

Some Eid Al Adha goodness...mostly rice, fish, and a few unknowns but all in all pretty tasty.

And the best part...mangos!

Learning how to use my friend's super awesome stove. It's kind of an art to keep the fire going at the right temp, but she's got it down. Way to be Ibu!

Their 16 year old daughter just gave birth to her first baby girl. Interesting fact: they save the placenta. They consider it like a twin spirit and are buried with after they die. I'd heard this before, but this family also mentioned that they are storing this baby's placenta in a jar with books and pencils so the she will grow up to be smart. If only it were that easy :)

Mom and baby in the background with all her admirers :)

The Gang. The boy on the left is my little buddy. He doesn't talk much, but his mom says he's always asking her when I can come over again and play. So precious!

October Happenings

I got invited to what turned out to be a youth rally for high schoolers...and they made me a counselor. This was one of the sweet girls I met with. It's amazing how similiar high school girls are no matter where you are in the world :)
This sign tells us not to throw our trash in the toilet. Forks, Coke bottles, and syringes I can understand, but toilet paper?

We took some visitors from the States to see one of the local mosques... The call to prayer had ended so it wasn't too busy, just this one man sholatting (praying) and a few nappers. Kids attend class throughout the week to learn about thier religion. It's kinda like Sunday School on steroids. Instead of crafts and animal crackers they memorize lengthy prayers and study Arabic. Very impressive.

Takin' it easy after studying it up

My friend Agnes moved up North recently to help out a family member. She will be missed...and so will our frequent ice cream outings. Gotta love that soft-serve!

This is a 40 acre trash dump where hundreds of families live. They make a living by going through the trash each day searching for things they can resell, such as plastic bottles or aluminum cans....

They have a big barn where all their findings are stored...

and keep track of how much they'll be paid. I can't remember how much a kilo of plastic paid out, but I want to say somewhere around 50 cents

A lot of the kids help out to earn money for their families. These are a couple of the cuties.

The village doesn't have a school of their own so a small group of college students take turns volunteering every Saturday to help the kids learn English.

They often go barefoot in the trash dump so worms and other skin infections are a big problem.

The college students, their professor, and a pregnant lady who was convinced her baby would be beautiful if I touched her belly.

Another fun group of college students who get together every week...

They are studying English and asked me to discuss education in America. There were gasps from the crowd when I mentioned public schools don't require uniforms. I'm still not sure they believe me.

Photo shoot afterwards...camera phones everywhere

I've seen some great mullets this month, but this guy gets the gold for best hair

Lena and I hanging out in front of the office space we just rented. More about this next month...The new official vitamin of the Novak family - NOVAKid

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September Scenery

I turned 24 the 1st of this month. This was my birthday fish...
Even got to pick it myself!

Who needs a cake when you've got this beauty?

Small organic farming project in a new village. These ladies are preparing the soil they'll use to grow a variety of different vegetables...

They'll grow the vegetables in something called a polybag until they're big enough to transfer to a small plot of land or a bigger pot.

Went to the mountains for the weekend and found these. Pine trees in Indo, who knew?

I think I'm going to publish a book with photos like these and call it "Where's White Girl?" Way more fun than trying to find that Waldo weirdo :)

So my friends were excited about having an "American BBQ"...

Except their version started at 2 in the morning....

And included grilled mystery meat, corn, and pineapple slathered in butter and chili powder. It wasn't bad, but man I miss KC BBQ!

Lena, my lovely co-worker

There is eight music in my playlist? If I read one blog this year it won't be yours? Sea food Cancer? Shirts like these are hot sellers...I don't get it.

Pictures from the road on the way to a village up North.

The houses are built off the ground so they can have storage space below. Sometimes it can be used for a bathroom, to raise animals, as a hang out place...or all of the above!

The polybag results 3 weeks later

One family already moved their first batch of vegetables to a small plot of land in front of their house. The little teepee looking coverings are banana leaves for shade. Hopefully they'll have lots of nutritious veggies to eat soon!

Veggies ready to be transferred so a new batch of seeds can be planted.

Wild pineapple

Wild BATS!

The pictures really don't do them justice, but these babies are huge and creepier than all get out!

These guys were all over the place in this village and definitely did not seem people-friendly. After my camera flashed on them their normal creepy squacking turned into an "I want to eat your face" squacking. As I ran back inside I remember thinking, "That rabies shot was so worth it!"

More pics from the road on the way back to the city

The roads can be pretty windy. Motion sickness pills - don't leave home without em'!

And what blog post is complete without a giant, random monkey waving you farewell?

Sampai Jumpa! :)