August flies by

Kids at the Charity Iftar eating

August has been busy with lots of visa interviews, a visit to Manado, and trying to find time to write my "EER". We also celebrated our first and only Indonesian National Independence Day on August 17th. There have been several opportunities for me to attend Iftars. During the month of Ramadan where Muslims fast during the daylight hours, some gather at the end of the day with family or others to break their fast with food and prayer. Our consulate holds a few of these and invites political, religious, or other leaders or students to join for different events. I went to one that was a charity Iftar with my family. We donated money towards gifts, food, and supplies for a school that provides education to children from poor families and then went to break the fast with them, hear their presentations, and give them what we brought. We went to one last year when we had just newly arrived, too. They are a highlight.
On August 17th we had a branch activity where we celebrated the Independence Day (66 years) and the birth month of the Primary (a lot more years). We had a good time. Our children dressed in some traditional clothing and modeled it with the other primary kids and then showed their talents. Our girls shared poems and baked goods. Our youngest played the piano in a last minute entry. (He had told us earlier that he would not be doing anything and we couldn't convince him otherwise, but he decided on his own while there that he could play something he had memorized.)
My EER is my yearly employee evaluation. It's a big deal since it's what is used to determine whether I get tenured and promoted. It is a challenge to write since I need examples from the past year that are good but it also has a word limit. It requires precise wording and a careful choosing of what you will put in and what you will not. My supervisor has a section and the principle officer (her boss) has a section and I have a section. I provided information to all and my proposed changes, etc. I have also been getting advice from others to help me make it good.

View across the sea to volcano "Old Manado"

Mt. Lokon still steaming

At the Yesus Memberkati Monument in Manado

The gas hose is going from the pump THROUGH the van 

A couple weeks back I went on a trip to Manado in North Sulawesi. This area of Indonesia is mostly populated with Christians, unlike a lot of Indonesia. It was different seeing churches instead of mosques but most things were pretty much the same. While there I ate sate (like a little shish-kabob) made from something that lives in the water and is like some kind of clam but in a shell more like a snail. I also got to do some pretty exciting things (besides working 10-12 hour days) like meet the governor of North Sulawesi and attend an event at his mansion. Before I came home I even had a chance to go out on a boat with a glass bottom and see the coral and fish in the coral and jump in the sea with goggles and a snorkel to explore around the coral. It was amazing.

The captain of our ship leading the way

Oh, I climbed with climbing ropes on an indoor climbing wall for the first time in my life yesterday. It was fun, but I spent most of my time "belaying" for all of my kids to climb. They had a good time, too.

Before eating a fish head

After eating the fish head!!

Summertime 2

In the month since I've been back in Surabaya, I have mostly been very occupied with work.
We are extremely busy during the summertime with tourists and people wanting to visit the US for various reasons. There is also a lot more to do when others are out on vacations or travel or transferring to other posts, which usually also happens in the summertime.

Monk

At work for me, this time is also busy because my first employee evaluation is due in August, 1 year after I arrived. This requires a lot of thinking and is critical to my being able to stay in the foreign service in the future, which I definitely want to do.
I am happy to say that after a couple of weeks being by myself in a too quiet home and watching Monk during dinner every night, that my family has returned. It has been amazing having them back. We are now busy getting ready for the kids to start school and planning ahead for the times they are out of school so I can take vacation time wisely.

At Kenjaran in Surabaya

When I have been home with my family we have played games, watched movies, gone to the mall and out to eat, and so on. One special treat since they have not been in school is that each one of my children has come to lunch with me at work once. I loved having them do that. They are all awesome kids.
I have also had fun with a new Ipod touch and I upgraded our internet recently, too.
This month is also Ramadan here in Indonesia so we'll have events like Iftars during the month and then a break at the end of the month when it ends.
Time sure flies!

Summertime

Okay, so I guess I need to do another long update since it's been a long time since the last post.


The week after the last post was extremely busy at work due to people being out and high-level visitors in town for government meetings. I was involved in these and also trying to get things ready to go on vacation to the states. We left to the U.S. where I spent 2 weeks of vacation time with my family and a week of training in DC before coming back to Surabaya.
It was time well spent. I had a great time in Utah which made it a little hard to come back, particularly since my family was still there.

Things I did while in Utah:

• Temple session in Salt Lake Temple
• Temple session in American Fork Temple with my wife, we were the  witness couple and my Dad officiated
• Baptisms for the dead in Salt Lake Temple with my son and nephew
• Completed the Ragnar Relay, over 190 miles for our team of 12

• Freedom Run 10K with my son
• Timponogos Cave with my family and my brother and his family
• Fishing with my parents and a couple brothers and family - I caught a big trout

• Set off fireworks
• Watched parades, one in Provo and one in Lehi
• Swimming
• Went to the Manti Pageant with family and friends
• Sleeping in tent in Manti and battled mosquitoes
• Saw and slept at my wife's sister's nice new house in Provo
• In Utah for the birth of my new nephew, who I got to hold a few times
• Helped lay sod at my brother's
• Mowed my parent’s lawn a couple times
• Had a barbeque and home-made ice cream
• Watched "Uptown Saturday Night"
• Bought new laptop battery
• Got some new clothes
• Bought a new pair of shoes

• Attended the temple sealing of friends from Salt Lake in the Salt Lake Temple
• Ate sister-in-law's homemade salsa - mmmm
• Slept in numerous places, including: parent’s bed, parent’s guest bed, in driver’s seat of rental van, on floor of North Summit High School gym, in tent in friends’ backyard in Manti, in sister-in-law's new house on daybed, in father-in-law’s guest bed, in hotel in DC, in wife’s cousin’s home on air mattress, and of course on the airplane
• Went to DelTaco drive through for ½ lb. bean and cheese burrito with green sauce
• Had ice cream from BYU creamery
• Went on tour of Welfare square with family
• Attended church at parent’s ward, brother’s ward, sister-in-law’s ward
• Kids won ice cream and hamburger from gumball machine in restaurant in Manti
• Played board game with brother and friends
• Played phase ten with friends and a million mosquitoes in Manti
• Sunday dinner and chatting with wife’s family
• Ride up American Fork Canyon to a reservoir and Jeep ride
• Shakes from Dairy Keen in Heber and Iceberg in Alpine
• Saw Whitehouse and Renwick Gallery in DC
• Experienced near freezing temperatures and 90+ degree weather (a little)
• Spent almost 50 hours actually in the air, not counting time in-between flights, at the gate, going through security and getting to/from the airport
• Went through about 10 security checks at airports.
• Drove thousands of miles in rental van
• Watched Movies in the theater - Kung Fu Panda 2, 17 Miracles
• Went to Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point
• Went as a family to Boondocks - played LaserTag, Miniature Golf, Video games together

Am I forgetting something?

It was exhausting and fun and refreshing. Can't wait until next summer!