strangely familiar.

As of today, it has been four months since I stepped foot on this island. As of today, it has been four months of changes – changes in language, changes in living, changes in eating, changes in loving, and, most importantly, changes within. There are a lot of things here which become more and more normal as I live here, and there are other things that will never cease to feel foreign. Also, there are things that I have forgotten used to be normal for me. So today, in honor of my new normal, and for your reading enjoyment, I’m going to list some of these things out.


Things I don’t say/do/hear anymore:
1. “I wonder if I need a sweater.”
2. “I wonder if this is spicy.” (Answer: It is.)
3. Drive in a lane. What are lanes?!?
4. Get everything in one place.
5. Choose. In a lot of different things. You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit, right Mom?
6. Sit in an air-conditioned house.
7. A lot of people who’s first language is English. This is still weird to me.
8. Brush my hair…because my hair is hardly ever straight. This curly, “Hagrid-like” mop on my head is untameable, I tell ya!
9. “I wonder if they have rice.” Ere’body’s got rice.
10. “That was way easier than I thought it was going to be.” Okay, so maybe this phrase isn’t totally removed from my vocabulary, but it almost is!


Things that I do/say/hear now that are the same(ish):
1. Drink a lot of coffee. This activity might have exponentially increased now that I live on coffee island.
2. “I love you.”
3. Smile. Cheesy, I know, but it is the same in every language!
4. Sannnnnnnnnnnnng. A lot of singing goes on in my house, in the market, on the street, in the mall…
5. Sweat, although this too, has exponentially increased. And dry season is just starting…
6. Get mail. Although now, it is exponentially more treasured and exponentially more wonderful! Also, it is sometimes exponentially more difficult to receive…but get it I do, one way or the other! I have some good “get it done” genes!
7. Go to the  mall. Eat, shop, buy groceries, see a movie, and, my personal new favorite, go to ACE Hardw@re. I go to ACE and pretend I’m in T@rget. Is this bad? Don’t answer that.
8. Take a shower. Although now, almost every day I take two. You can’t get into your bed at night with SE Asian dirty feet (or I can’t anyway)!
9. Cook. Yummmmmmmmmm. I’m going to miss having so many cheap fruits and veggies! Although you won’t see the likes of too many pre-made sauces, soups, or anything of the sort around these parts!
10. Live my life. I’m the same. I have the same shortcomings and the same country accent (which sometimes turns ghetto). I still love to be crafty and compassionate and colorful (especially my fingernails). I still love the same things and the same people; Father is just growing my heart to love even more.


Things I say/do/hear now that I didn’t before:
1. “I’m gonna take a becak to the market.” Go to the mall and the market in the same day.
2. “Does this milk have to be refrigerated?”
3. Argue with my driver over 30 cents. (Translated – “I am not paying 80 cents to get there! The normal price is 5o cents!”) Haha, it matters!
4. Have my feet exfoliated (eaten) by baby fish!
5. Kill multiple ants on a daily basis.
6. Eat food off a cart from the street. (Yes, I know the risks. Yes, I’ve suffered from the risks. Yes, I still eat it. YUM!)
7. SPEAK IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE! Oh yeah! And oh yeahhhhhh, still working on that one. Daily.
8. Celine, Whitney (RIP), or some 90s boy band playing in stores and on the street. On a daily basis. Also, the little eating place at the end of our street plays The Beatles! It’s so nice to walk out to “Love, love me do…you know I love you…”
9. Avoid large, LARGE holes while walking down the street. My roommate may or may not have fallen in one during rainy season.
10. Have cats (and other animals) live on my roof, on my terrace, and in my yard.
11. Live with a bunch of geckos (known here as cicaks :: chee-chaks) crawling on my walls. They have the cutest little babies! We have 3 that live in our kitchen, a couple in our living room, and a whole bunch on the awning above our front terrace. They eat bugs…terima kasih cicaks!
12. Think that a meal that costs more than $5-6 dollars is REALLY expensive! We like to float around the $2-3 category.
13. Have someone tell me I’m beautiful every day. I’m really going to miss this one!!
14. “That massage was so cheap!!”
15. Personally, one of the weirdest, yet most normal, but still most "alerting" things I hear every day is the call. The call happens 5 times a day, every single day, and it is a call for Muslim people here to pray. It ranges in length, and no matter where you are, there is a masjid close enough by where you can hear it. The first one starts around 3:30 AM. The last finishes around 8:00 PM. Here’s a brief moment:

THE Masjid.

Some days here are harder. Some days here are just the same. And, maybe, some days here might even be easier. But what I know is this: Every day is worth it.


Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to [the Son], the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of G0d. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
(Hebrews 12:1-3)

cooking 101.

This weekend we had a little fun. I asked for some help in becoming more and more like my people here, and of course, we all love to eat! A couple of my friends came over to cook some traditional food here. Now, first, let me tell you…they love to fry things, so that was quite an experience! But the number one thing I wanted to learn to make: Sambal.

“What is sambal?” you might ask. As far as the quantity consumed, I would liken it to ranch dressing in America. Or maybe ketchup (since that comes from tomatoes). Actually, they may consume enough of it here that it would equal the amount of ranch dressing AND ketchup consumed in America. THEY LOVE IT. And well, I do too.

It’s ingredients are simple. Some garlic, small red onion, tomato, and red pepper (cabe merah aka SPICY little guy). Now you can also add some lime (which I personally love, haha), but that’s less traditional. We were going for home with this one. All in all, a spicy and delicious sauce for just about anything you’d like. I’ll explain a little more as the pictures comes up!


My sweeeeeeeeeeet friends!



These are most of the ingredients you needed for our meal (minus chicken, rice, eggs, and a few other things).



They are skilled choppers!



My friend is slicing up the tempe (like a soybean cake). I LOVE THIS STUFF, especially when you do what we did to it….





My friend getting all the ingredients ready for Sambal. Remember how I told you this one was number one on my list? YUM.

          Before and after!


   




It’s a “little” hot here anyways, but the kitchen heats up in a hurry! We took a little break.



So here is the finished product! Ayam Sambal (Sambal Chicken) & Tempe Goreng (Friend Tempe)! Yes, we battered & fried that soybean cake, and yes, it is DELICIOUS!


 
Of course, we had to have fried rice too!! Can you count how many fried things I ate last night? Yes, Jillian Michaels and I had a date after that!

seasons.

Today, I am feeling guilty because I haven’t written anything on this blog for over a month. January has been really busy, but not too busy to post something! Forgive me, if you’re in the habit of reading this story of mine, because I have been lazy. Jangan malas (Don’t be lazy)!! What’s coming in the next month though, is a whirlwind of funny stories, life lessons, and some photographs (I hope, yet to be taken) of my life. So much of that has been swirling around in my head, and it is time to get it down in writing.

Today was a kick-start for the blog. Today was a day that I’ve been thinking about for a long time.

Well, let me back up for a minute.

We’ve been studying this wonderful language here for three months. We finished on Friday. We finished on Friday!!! That doesn’t mean I’m done learning, but the formal classroom language school is over. We actually went out for ice cream during our final evaluation, ordered it ourselves, and talked with some people. Later that night, we went over to our language teacher (also good friend)’s house for a sleep over…complete with TV! Haha, it had been a long time since I’d watched TV. And wouldn’t you know? White Collar was playing. Father just knows what we need all the time. (Yes, I like TV. Sue me!) Anyways, that was a huge milestone. 3 months of language study. Over? I still can’t believe it. I can’t wait until I wake up on Monday and I don’t have to walk down the street and hail a becak and go to school.

But, in some ways, I can wait. Because the end of language school meant Rachel was leaving to go to her final destination. And it meant my constant companion for the last 4 months was not going to be here anymore. So in a lot of ways, I didn’t want it to end. Of course, the end came. My mom used to quote Hope Floats to me a lot…

Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad. But it’s the middle that counts the most…
Thanks, Mom. Those are some very true words. We took Rach to the airport this morning.



It was a sweet and hard goodbye. But you know, I’ve seen His faithfulness over and over and over again, and I know that I will continue to. So while I’ll be once again finding a “new normal,” I know that He provides. The beginning was scary. The ending was sad.

The middle counted the most.

After a sweet and emotion-full morning, tonight we all gather together. There was so much joy in tonight for so many reasons, but one thing a dear friend said really stuck with me. Of course, it comes from the Word.

Trust in the Father, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
- Psalm 37:3

That’s really a packed verse. Trust. Do good. Live where you are. Befriend faithfulness. Sounds a lot like what I’ve been saying to myself lately in a different way – just walk.  Intentionality has be swirling around in my head lately. Best friend says there are two types of people. Those who know and those who don’t. We walk in a manner worthy, in a manner that points every person closer to the Truth.  To befriend faithfulness.

be·friend/biˈfrend/
Verb: Act as a friend to (someone) by offering help or support.
Synonyms: assist – help – aid – support

That’s what I want to do. Befriend faithfulness. I want to act as a friend to faithfulness by offering help or support. Help it. Aid it. Give it opportunity to grow in the lives of people and in my own life. Walk intentionally. I want to faithfulness to the Father to be cultivated in me as I walk with Him over the next year or so. And the overflow…well, I want it to make an impact in lives here. It’s interesting the order that these four things come in. The most interesting, in my opinion, is that trust comes first and foremost. After that, the others follow.

So in as much as I can say on this blog, with so much more in my heart, those 4 things are my desire in this season of life.

Trust.
Do.
Dwell.
Befriend.