February Festivities

These first 10 pics are at a village up north. We went there with a friend while they were celebrating Muhammed's birthday. Basically, all your family gets together and you beat rice, listen to traditional music, offer some sacrifices, and eat...A LOT. :)

These boys were so stinkin' cute!
It was a day of rice beatin'. Grab a bamboo pole, play some traditional music, and beat away! Seems like a great stress relief :)
An old school mosque that is used for holidays and special religious events.

Such a beautiful village!

Rina and I in the traditional clothing. It's basically just a pretty sheet wrapped tight. Being an amateur sheet-wearer, I forgot to spread my feet out wide when they wrapped the bottom sheet so I ended up having to do a little penguin walk, barely moving one foot in front of the other. haha..leasson learned! :)

Sporting our traditional attire :)

On their way to beat some rice

More rice beating. Every group of rice beaters wore a unique hat or bandana. Girls will find any excuse to accesorize! :)

I got a flat tire about 2 hours into our trip on the way there. Thankfully, there was a mechanic right down the road!

Before the mechanic, I tried to air up my tire with this machine at a nearby gas station. We couldn't really figure out how to work it and were wondering why everyone was giving us weird looks. Turns outs it's a fire extinguisher. Who knew? :)

This is a historical pic I found of the local people. It was taken a long time ago, but the people here look and dress about the same. Not much has changed :)

My new friend, Jack. He has a bad case of TB and wasn't able to get meds because of some loopholes in the health system. We found a doctor who would write us a prescription and took him the meds this Thursday. Remember him and and ask that he can make a full recovery.

Teaching my friends how to take a blood pressure..future nurses for sure!

Beautiful village down south where Jack lives.

My feet after a 20K walk. Note the infamous Chaco strap tan :)

My friend, Lynchee, really wanted to play basketball for her 15th birthday. These are my girls at the court showing off their mad shooting skills. We decided to give Johnny and June up for adoption. We visited them the other day and they seem pretty happy..and fatter. I think their new parents remember to feed them.

My friend Malea's brand new baby girl! So cute...so much hair!

Only in Singapore.

When did McDonald's get curly fries? Is this universal? I am so disconnected! :)

In honor of Tom Yum soup lovers everywhere.

Watch out for those...raised zebras?

Joyous January

What is this you ask? Our friend recently traveled home to a neighboring island and brought back their native tribal outfit. That's right, this is all the guys wear. I'll let you figure out how it works.
One of the winners from the English competition I judged. The guy giving out the trophies was really excited to take a picture with me. Afterwards, he actually did an arm pump and shouted "YEAH!"

Awesome random t-shirt. Girl Power!





Packed into a car with all my neighbor ladies to visit the latest addition to the neighborhood.

I was out exploring and stopped to buy gas off the side of the road. I tried to make small talk with the lady who was pouring my gas and before I knew it I was hanging out in her village talking about life and drinking tea. These are a few of the kids we chilled with...so cute!

This is bamboo soup and it tastes just about as appetizing as it sounds. The bamboo part isn't too bad though...tastes kind of noodle-ish

This is Ferdie, the sweet little boy who fell off a bridge and fractured his arm. He's doing A-OK now and eagerly awaiting the day he can be back on a surfboard catching some waves

Another picture of a beautiful sunset...they just never get old :)

I was a guest speaker for two college classes this month. Most of these guys were government workers in their mid-20s. Their English skills need work, but they've got the pick up lines down pat!

The second class I spoke to was comprised mostly of freshmen. Their room was crazy hot and I was dripping with sweat five minutes into the class. They didn't seem to mind though - they still enthusiastically ran up to me after class and threw an arm around my stinky self for photos. Poor kids!

Merry Christmas!

Warning: These pics are in a very random order...sorry!

Encounters with my first sea snake! These guys are supposed to be very neurotoxic...I'd rather not find out :)
My friends, Chris and Kayla, visited for Christmas. Shout out to my Missouri girls..."M"!

I learned how to use a weed eater! Be proud Dad!

Kayla and I enjoying our beloved Fig Newton bars...thanks Mom!

After Johnny and June chewed through the wire cage we made them, our neighbor took pity on us and helped us build a real cage. They seem pretty content in their new home :)

This is the typical scene at wedding recpetions. You shake a lot of hands, eat a lot of food, and go home...or go cruising the streets with your elderly neighbors like I did after this wedding. We stayed out until 9:30 pm...party animals!

These are a few of our neighbors that came for our Christmas party. Aren't they beautiful!?

Turkey is a big deal around here! Andi had one imported and cooked a rock awesome Christmas dinner...so good!

Scuba diving on Christmas Eve...we saw sharks!

Christmas cookies!!!

Our Christmas decor. My teammate's mom sent us trees and my Mom sent a homemade stocking. My neighbors were quite impressed with her cross-stitching skills...way to be Mom!

Ran into these sweet little boys at a village I was visiting. They're holding up strings of crickets they caught...a nice mid-morning snack!

Rina, Sukma, and Wida...my girls! Sukma and Wida are attempting to teach me their heart language. I mess it up most of the time, but it's fun to try!

A pic from my friend's village. This part of the island has very little access to water. You can see how dry it is even though this is the peak of rainy season.

My friend became a new Mom last week! This is her holding her beautiful baby girl. I got to help teach her about breastfeeding and all the baby basics. She and baby are healthy and doing great...so precious!

The day after Thanksgiving, there is a holiday here called Eid al-Ahda which primarily involves animal sacrifices, usually a goat or cow. Suddenly all the goats roaming around my neighborhood are missing and the roads are lined with little makeshift tents like this where you can pick your sacrifice of choice.

Meet two of my awesome Iraqi friends. The girl on the left just discovered the Backstreet Boys and is completely obsessed. This family is a hoot!

Our first official health teaching! We taught all the women leaders in a local village about health topics like infection prevention, hand washing, nutrition, and breastfeeding. They were really eager to learn and we learned a lot about their health beliefs as well...it was a good time!

This pic is from my trip to the capital city. It's not unusual to have impromtu photo shoots when I'm walking around town. They just really love white skin! : ) These girls kind of came out of nowhere on my way to a taxi (note my luggage to the left) I'm not sure what they do with these pics, but I'm on camera phones all the place!

I got to go to Sea World on my way home from the capital city. Only $5 to get in and they let me take home one of these shark eggs. The shark had already hatched out of mine, but if you look close at these you can see the baby sharks inside.

This is also from Sea World. There was a little pool with sharks and stingrays swimming around and they didn't seem to mind me reaching in and picking them up. It was really fun!

This is a shot from a school where we've been helping teach English. The kids are so stinkin' cute!

Before school, the kids get together and exercise. Some of them have some sweet dance moves :)