Surprise

Kind of a long week this week for some reason. By the time it was Wednesday, I couldn't figure out why it wasn't Friday. And that was despite the fact that I had Monday off work for Martin Luther King, Jr. day!

But, the beginning and the end of the week were the best part of the week for sure. Amy and I went on a daytime date on Monday since the children were in school and I had the day off. We went to lunch and saw a movie together. It was fun. And the end of the week we celebrated my wife's birthday by opening presents, going out for banana splits as a family (same place as last blog post), and going out to eat a meter-long pizza as a family. We had a good time.

Mmmm . . . . Mango Gelato

My wife was happy that I finally surprised her with a present thanks to a good friend. She is very hard to surprise for a few reasons. Usually since I always come home after work if I can help it, if I try to go anywhere to shop she wonders where I am and what I am doing not coming/being at home. If I order on-line she might get the Email receipt of the shipment or it goes to our house and she gets it before I do. She usually gets the mail before I do. She can see if anything has come out of the bank account and where it's gone to. This year things are a little different since our mail and packages are delivered to my work twice a week and I access the bank accounts from my computer at work. Add to that our friends willingness and suggestion to do the shopping for me and ship it to me and I have the perfect way to overcome my previous challenges with creating a surprise. My wife has been talking for months (if not longer) about having an iPod to listen to while walking and running that is not so bulky as her phone and she can pick the songs more easily than my old one she's been using. Surprise! Happy birthday. I hope you enjoy it.

It's fun to surprise people. I'm not exactly sure why that is, but I have loved it for a long time. I remember when I was young leaving things for people at their doors or surprising them with some kind of service. I try to find ways to do this at work also. The best things are not things that people expect you to do, but little things that they are not expecting. Just doing something unexpected for the benefit of someone else gives me a thrill. I am not always the best at doing this. Some people I know are practically experts at noticing something small someone else needs and doing it. I admire them a lot and wish I was better at this because it is one of the joys of life. Is this just me or do you enjoy this also?

Short post

Not sure I have a lot to talk about this week. Things were pretty normal and work was not overly busy. A lot of people missing at church this week; maybe they're all sick? It is still about the same temperature it was when we arrived, just more rainy. The couple of times a day it downpours cools the temperature a little - to about 90 F. I conducted our church meeting in Indonesian today, also. But not much out of the ordinary.

Anyway, one thing I can say for certain is that I love it when my wife comes to my work to have lunch with me. This is one of the unexpected benefits of my wife choosing to be a stay-at-home mom and having all of our children in school. It means that sometimes she can come to my office and have lunch with me. It's the best. This week we went to a place where we have been before called Harvest that has good sandwiches and calm American music playing in the background. We ordered our own sandwiches and we ordered one banana split to share. If you're not really specific about things here you can be surprised. This time was no exception. We ordered our meal and dessert and a few minutes later a huge bowl of bananas, ice cream of different flavors, shavings of chocolate, and whipped cream showed up, . . . before the meal. We both looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and said at the same time, "Well, I guess it's dessert first!" It was delicious.

Happy New Year

Over the new year holiday both last year and this year we spent time on the beach and time in the rain. But this time it was a lot warmer and less family. This year we went to Bali over the weekend and had some fun as a family.

We went whitewater rafting, rode elephants, swimming, boogie-boarding on the ocean waves, eating at a lot of different restaurants, going to church with a very small group of members of our church, visiting an organic restaurant we had to walk through rice fields to get to, playing games together, talking, watching a Balinese play at night, seeing a man fire walk on burning coconut shells, walking, riding in the car for hours, and taking short plane trips to and from as a family.

View from organic restaurant

Fun and memorable, along with a little fighting, yelling and missing other family and friends. We couldn't even get on the Internet much at all and so couldn't call people, text, Facebook, Skype or anything. Sorry.

Some of my best memories from the weekend are the times we spent eating together talking and playing 20 questions as we ate. Some of the places were quite an adventure. At this one place that had Mexican food, and barbecue ribs, you had to fight for a place. Not sure how to describe it except that at the front of the restaurant it is just open to the sidewalk and street like no wall or door or anything on that side. This is not too uncommon around here as so many things within walls and under a roof are open to the outside too. But it was very crowded the first time we tried to go and just as crowded the next time and people waited in line for 1/2 hour or more just to get a table. To me this said that it must be pretty good and worth trying for. So we started standing in line. Well it's a little hot and the kids are getting tired and the everyone is antsy to get a table and we're right next to the barbecue where they're grilling ribs which is at the front of the restaurant and it's a bit of a challenge. In order to eat you have to wait in the aisles near the tables and when someone finishes their meal you better hurry over and sit in their spot, even before they're dirty dishes, etc. are cleared off the table or you will be waiting a lot longer. So we stood in lines and kind of schemed, helped some, watched others, and kept a close eye on everyone eating their meals of burritos and BBQ spare ribs in order to get our turn. I spotted some people who were finishing up at a table that would be perfect for our six but it was in the other aisle and a man who started waiting at about the same time was standing near it. I had moved over closer to that one and we both did a sort of slow dance getting closer to the table so I decided to ask him how many people in his group, not wanting to give up what would be a great spot for us and thinking that I could be helpful to him to also get what I want. He wanted the same big table and the big one next to it for his group of 16! I protested that his whole group of 16 was not here before our group of six and some of them may need to wait. (The restaurant probably only holds about 35 at a time.) I think I got him on that one and he was civil enough that he allowed me to hustle onto the bench a couple minutes later when the people there stood up. He got the larger table next to us at almost the same time, but that left some of his group standing. They got lucky and were able to order first, and they ordered enough for the whole group! Oh well, at least we were sitting and it wasn't too long before we could order. As happens all too often, some of what we ordered was "out" but we got most of it, avoided being in the downpour of rain that started while we were waiting in line, and enjoyed eating it. It was an adventure in eating, for sure.

Inside Mexican/Ribs place with random people

In Indonesia, people smile and say hi and seem friendly, but when it comes to driving, getting off airplanes, and getting a place in a restaurant, they have a unique way of both going with the flow and getting what they want even if it means edging you out. For us to go with the flow we also have to squeeze in, push to the front, jump out first or whatever it takes, but smile as we do it. Then no one things anything of it and it's all good. It's  just a different kind of polite than we're used to.

Happy New Year.