LIF Carnaval!

 

Yay!!  We are on vacation for two weeks, and the Oleksiuks arrive tomorrow!!  To celebrate the last day of term, the school had a carnival.  Everyone dressed up, and the whole primary school performed some Indonesian songs.

Eben was an Indonesian chef (notice the batik short beneath the apron and toque).  Jaffa picked the batik dress that memere bought her in Yogya.

Eben's teacher, Stephane, dressed as a Papuan.  He was wearing a grass skirt, and so I had to ask him about his koteka (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koteka).  He said he was in fact wearing it.. I didn't see it though.

Finally, here is Eben and his friend Yandri.  They are good buddies.

It was a great celebration!!  And now.. vacation :D

Get active civil society!!

Last week, an organization called Yappika http://www.yappika.or.id/?lang=en held an event to encourage youth to become more active in civil society.  I didn't get to stay long, but there was a photo exhibit, a band (!) and a book sale.  Afterwards, there were a couple of panel discussions about what's happening in Indonesia these days, and how citizens need to be involved.  Really happy that there is some good awareness-raising happening.. the presidential elections aren't too far away!

 

 

A six-and-a-half birthday celebration

Eben negotiated another party for this half-birthday this year, the argument being that he wants to celebrate himself with his Jakarta friends.  [There is an argument brewing from the girl-child that she needs a half-birthday to celebrate her birthday with her family in the US... hmmmmmm]

 

This time, we invited a dozen friends (rather than the whole class, like we did last year) for some time at the pool.. and some capture the flag.

 

 

To keep things moving,  we had two construction activities planned.  First.. we had ready a farm, a castle, trucks and cars, and sand and LOTS of chalk .. and the garage and the driveway and the cul-de-sac.  Wow!!  Creativity in action :)

 

 

We ended up with New York, Hollywood, a beach, a hotel, four boats and three volcanos. Awesome!

 

After that, it was time for cake.. it was make-your-own.  We had bricks (cut up chocolate cake and rice krispie treats) and all kinds of sprinkles and chocolate rocks, also boulders (big marshmallows rolled in hot chocolate mix).  And cone candles, of course!

 

happy half birthday to you.. happy half birthday to you..

It was a fun afternoon with friends!!

Blu is still crazy

He makes us laugh every day.

Who sleeps with their leg over their head??

And this is him lying in the sun, refusing to move.. because he loves the sun and LOVES being very, very, very hot.  I tried getting him to stand, but he wouldn't.  I tried dragging him, but it didn't work either.  Finally, I picked him up under one arm and carried him home (Mercy's leash in my other hand).  Crazy man!!!

First Aid for Pooches

A few weeks ago, I took a great First Aid course for dogs (for humans to take care of dogs).  Now I know all about how to dress wounds, how to avoid and treat heat stroke, and how to do CPR on a long and a short snout.  This is our group; to my left is Bernadette, our resident (and professional) dog trainer.  We had fun, and learned a whole lot in three hours!

Four girlz

Besties! And a bunch of real cuties. Glad they aren't teenagers yet!

Tokek

Look who we found out by our washer!  He was fabulous and quite brave.  Still very small. 

He's one of the ones who sings to us at night..

Rainy Puncak

 

We always appreciate going up to Puncak for the fresh, cool air.. this time, it was freezing and rainy!!

 

There were two among us that couldn't refer back to good memories of winter, and they were rather unhappy about it all..

 

 

 

That didn't stop us, though, as there was lots of firewood and plenty of tv.  And facepaint!

 

 

 

And we rushed outside when the sun came out :)

 

 

 

 

As usual, we ate well.  The grand finale was the gateau des rois that Marie brought.. so we played the game to give out pieces and then the one who got the porcelain token got to be the king or queen for the rest of the day!