a matter of taste

Every now and then, while browsing through a local shop for necessities, we stumble upon little unanticipated "treasures". These surprises are... er... surprising not only due to the fact that they are familiar, recognizable brands - but for other reasons as well. Sometimes we have a good laugh at the differences between what people think sounds appetizing. What sounds good to us, doesn't always sound so great to our Indonesian friends - and vice versa. See for yourselves.

Mmm. Good ol' Tic Tacs. "mango flavour" isn't so bad actually. But it's not what you'd think of if someone offered, "tic tac?" We found the orange flavored ones recently, and they are still my standby Tic Tac flavor of choice.

Oo! Lays! Oh... seaweed. These aren't quite that bad. They'll do in a pinch, but they're not nearly as yummy as the... non-seaweed flavors.

Don't knock it 'til you try it. These may look odd - they are. But they are oddly delicious. Phil has a standing request. Whenever I go out to town for anything and ask him if there is something I should remember to pick up, he mentions the Lemon Ritz.

Let's not forget the Blueberry Ice Cream Oreos. These are actually gross. Surprise. Not even sweet-toothed Nadia will eat these things. Are the words "Ice Cream" supposed to make it sound better?

mixed post

This post will have several topics, so brace yourselves.

Moving is a recurring theme for our family. We're doing it again... soon. At the end of July, we're heading from our home here in Java to a new place in Borneo (that's further away than it may sound). For those of you who have our old address, ignore it from now on. For those of you who would like our new address, send us an e-mail and we'll make sure you get it (or leave a comment here and we'll track you down).

Packing up and shipping our household from one island to another is kind of a lot of work. We weighed our options:

1. Pack up and ship everything

2. Get rid of everything here and buy it all again there

3. Get rid of most things, buy some new things there, pack and ship the rest

We went with option #3.

We're in the process of selling and giving away most of our big items (like shelves and chairs and stools, an oven, a printer, motorbike helmets, etc). I'm tasked with figuring out a way to safely pack and ship everything else. Every day for the past 3 weeks, I've spent 1 hour each afternoon working on collecting packing materials, making lists, calling the post office to arrange prices and details for shipment, making scary trips to the dark, dank heart of our local market for supplies, and beginning to pack what I can get away with taking from our every day supplies.

Almost done! The barrels ship out next week.

On a completely unrelated note... In a recent post, I mentioned that Phil graduated this spring from his master's program at Moody. A few weeks ago, I threw him a little party to celebrate. We invited about 25 people to come enjoy dessert and coffee with us as we rejoiced in the completion of Phil's degree. It was, I'm sure, not the way he would have chosen to celebrate (especially with the painfully obvious absence of our closest, dearest friends and family - oh, how we miss you so), but I couldn't very well let this milestone slip passed unacknowledged.

Our house was full for the evening of people, both brown, and white; those who stand, those who squat and those who sit in chairs. We had a lovely time visiting together and eating American desserts (I managed to make a pecan pie for Phil - I also scored REAL whipping cream... it cost me... but it was REAL!).

in focus (?)

At a pool recently, Phil was playing with the camera.

He saw a pretty flower. Then noticed something in the foreground.

For some reason when showed up against his hand, this spider doesn't look as big as it did before. Also, i wouldn't stick my hand there. Well... maybe for 5 bucks i would...

'keem up'

Here's how N likes to help. First she gets dressed up properly. Mommy's Red Sox hat, and heels are essential to the outfit... to any outfit. The dress was completely her choice as well. Who knows how long she had been planning this activity and all the peripheral details. She likes to talk us through what she's doing. Here she's simply... "keeming up" (cleaning up).

all about the baby

Sorry friends, this post is mostly about Nadia and what she's been up to lately. One of these days we'll take some photos of our packing process or something else that's going on, but for now the antics of our cute little nearly-two year old are pretty photo-worthy.

As we sort and pack and sell our things, our house is in a bit of upheaval. This is not lost on Nadia. She is an opportunist. Every day she finds new treasures to try on, smack against the wall, shove in her "closet", drop into the toilet and "hide" under the dining room table. Here she is trying out mommy's swim goggles (the ones she swiped from a half packed barrel). Also notable is her cozy little squat.

In a package from home last week we received a few boxes of macaroni and cheese. This was Nadia's first taste. She gobbled up almost as much as Phil did (which is saying something; it's his favorite). Thank you, Ma!

Recently an old friend of mine moved to town. What fun it's been to spend time with my Ruthy as she and her family are studying language (and living across the street!!!). She and her little girls have been a breath of fresh, home-scented air for me lately, and i'm thankful that God brought her here. Here we are trying to help our girls play with finger paints.

The paper is taped to the counter, the kids are stripped down to undies (or diapers), the mommies are glistening with a sheen of sweat (from the heat and recent bustle of cleaning up dinner, not the stress of the finger painting endeavor), and the scene is set for either a whole lot of fun, or frustrated tears (as is every thing with little girls under the age of 10).

Nadia couldn't get over how much the finger paint felt like lotion...

...and shampoo.

Eventually she got the hang of it, and after watching her experienced little friends, dove right in to the proper usage of finger paints. Thanks, Ruth for sharing!