All Good

(Originally written in April) Becoming a parent has been an interesting experience, to say the least. The perspective that I have quickly acquired in the short 15 months still surprises me. As I watch my baby-turned-toddler explore and test the world, I can’t help but think about the thoughts my parents had about me as I have grown up. The times that I tested their patience, did they privately keep their cool, or were they to the point where all they wanted to do was get away for a break? When I screamed and fought their hugs because I was overly tired, did they understand or feel a little rejected? When I thought I was clever and lied, did they see through the schemes yet pretend they didn’t?

I have a very clear memory from preschool when I lied and got away with it. At my preschool, we each had personal mats to use as our floor work space. These were also used for nap time or if a student was feeling ill. One particular day, I didn’t feel like working, so I lied to my teacher and told her I felt sick. She responded by letting me lie down and rest. I remember feeling so smart and proud of myself that I had found a loophole. As a four year old, I innately knew how to cheat and lie.

I have other memories of lying, yet feeling guilt, embarrassment and shame as a result. Although those are always uncomfortable emotions, I thank God I feel them. How sad of a world it would be if no one ever felt conviction for doing wrong?

 

Flash forward to now. Just a few days ago, I had a very stressful weekend while traveling alone with P. As part of living overseas, our visa requires us to leave the country every 60 days. Usually these trips are enjoyable and a chance to catch up with friends we have in neighboring countries. However, now traveling with a young child, the enjoyment has tended to diminish. Where before we could easily sleep on the airport floor if needed, we now must have a hotel booed beforehand. For P, nap times require dark and quiet, which isn’t easy to plan when away from home. And as any parent knows, no nap time equals a cranky kid!

All that being said, we had survived the weekend and just had one last night at the airport lounge hotel before our 6:55 am flight the next day. However, it was 10 pm at night and P was in no way ready for bed. So to burn some energy, I took her back out into the airport mall area so she could run around. What I thought would be 30 minutes max, turned into the next 36 hours of tears, frustration and confusion. You see, in those 30 minutes, P fell on the floor. And as I was picking her back up and soothing the tears, my phone fell out of my pocket. I realized what had happened about 2 minutes too late. By then, the phone had been picked up.

The feeling when your phone is gone……. Such a horrible feeling. All your pictures, your calendar, your contacts. The thought of having to start everything over, not to mention the cost of purchasing a new phone.

That night, P slept fine. I, on the other hand, barely slept a wink. And then to add to the situation, we missed our flight. We were a 5 minute walk to the check-in counter and yet, I had arrived 10 minutes late and as a result, was not allowed to fly! Getting no sympathy from the employees behind the counter didn’t make me feel any better. Although, to give them a break, I’m sure they have to deal with more than enough late and emotional customers.

At a loss, with no phone, I returned to the airport lounge with baby in hand and asked to use the computer to contact my husband. Tears ensued. People passing by gave me looks of sympathy and two different families helped watch P as well as loaned me a phone to make an international call.

Once we had a new game plan, I could think a little clearer. I got us changed to the next flight (which was the next day) and Daniel confirmed a booking for a hotel that night, via email. With 20 hours to kill, I decided to take one last shot in the dark and talk with the airport police concerning my phone. Typically in this part of the world, police aren’t always trusted. The cops spent most of the day going through the CCTV and identified a young man picked up the phone a few minutes after I dropped it. Next they determined he was an airport employee and called his friend who linked them to his family. He then came to the airport that evening and was told to share his story with me in the room. I got my phone back and even in the local language shared God made him better than taking a phone. It was such a shock that my phone was back in my hands. This phone like a cat has proven to have 9 lives.

Since that trip Daniel agreed he would join all visa runs and it has made for a fun way to force a 2-3 day holiday together. God works in many ways and if we allow he always proves the stressful and difficult times are to stretch and make our love for him stronger.

Godspeed,

The Gables

What to share?

Hello to ALL,

We have not put enough attention to this blog space since we completed Peace Corps. Now more than 2 years later we are fully adapted into the other side of living in Indonesia. Over the past years in country we have developed strong friendships, continued to worship Jesus, worked with hundreds of people, and visited many places, and stayed commited in marriage while raising our young daughter.

We are not sure what to do with all we have experienced and learned.

If you are stumbling across this post or knows us intimately please provide any thoughts you may have. We appreciate whatever is on your mind at this moment.

Godspeed

OUR LUCKY PENNI

November started to approach and the belly continued to grow. To our surprise Paige's body didn't swell up as much as we though it would. Instead she seemed to be mimicking the Indonesia Ibu with only a "dodge ball" belly. She was so beautiful and healthy, still teaching Zumba at the local gym until 6 months.

Paige flew alone to Texas early September after we celebrated 5 years of marriage! This was difficult as we were apart until I arrive just before Paige's bday (Halloween) and expected date of our new baby! We decided not to know the sex and due to Indonesia simple check ups we really knew very little other than shape of our baby, able to use the sonogram every month during or checkups.

Paige says she loved pregnancy, which of course means she will want a few more.

On Nov 7th, 2014 at 9:53 Paige delivered naturally our beautiful blessing. A girl, Penni Doa Gable!
Paige again proved how amazingly strong she is mentally and physically and even surprised the nurses with her determination.

PENNI - Javanese for well presented and organized in Beauty
DOA - Indonesian for Pray

I am now back in SEA until Christmas, when Paige, Penni and I will return to Semarang, Central Java.

We thank all for your support and concern. God is Great

Indonesia after 3 year

Wow it’s been 3 years...

As we pass the 3-year-mark living in Indonesia, we find ourselves at an interesting time in our lives. Just like many Peace Corps Volunteers who finish their service, we live much differently than we did 10 months ago, and we only live 3 hours from our PC site! As many know, we live in Surakarta, a large but still traditional city. We quickly found a home, motorcycle, and jobs that allow us to speak English (often). No, we don’t live as we would back in Texas, but, yes we have steered away from many actions we previously understood came with living in Indonesia. No more bucket baths, zero access to A/C, everyday bicycle rides, neighborhood kids running through the house every evening, constant attention… Yes! and yet, bummer. We are extremely blessed to be working full time jobs and really for the foreseeable future, would not see ourselves going back to PC life. 

A few weekends ago we were fortunate enough to join a group of current volunteers

back in our old area holding a 3-day event called Indonesian Girls Leading Our World (IGLOW). Paige led a morning aerobics class again this year. The day before the aerobics class, we woke up early and excited to make the trek, which is about a 4 hour trip by public bus. Quickly we realized our old toughness had worn away. About 30 minutes in to the bus ride, we were sweating non-stop and grumbling about the heat. Then, the continuous stopping tested our patience, even to the point that we got into a small argument between ourselves. During PC time, this style trip was a regular occurrence, and one that we could handle without discomfort or complaints. 

This was a very revealing moment that proved again that Peace Corps Volunteers grow tough during their service. Many of us come back home not sure really how to explain our experiences, and then quickly it feels like it is gone. We never lose our memories but the feels, tastes, smells, and emotions are shadowed. As we met the volunteers, we found ourselves talking with excitement about their daily lives. We missed it! 

It seems important now to embrace the past for what it was and use it to propel our futures. The good, bad, and ugly is who we were and most likely who we will continue to be. Paige and I are proud of our lives and believe deeply that our Savior Jesus Christ still has purpose for us here in Indonesia. To all our past volunteer friends, we are thankful for the time we spent with you, no matter how small. May your time in Indonesia help you to excel and be happy in life. 

For those who made it to this point in this letter, we appreciate your concern for our lives and want to share that Paige is 4 months pregnant! We are definitely excited, but ask that you avoid Facebook shout outs and comments. We are enjoying this time, especially the intimacy and privacy of sharing with close friends and family. Instead of Facebook comments, we’d prefer to hear from you through emails or phone calls. We would love to use this amazing time to catch up with you all.

Love and Respect,

Paige and Daniel

817-945-3433

Paige.Gable@live.com, Rockwall6@hotmail.com

 

Surakarta, Indonesia (Solo) - Many updates to come

Hello friends, family, and onlookers. We plan to change the style of this post to help inform Indonesia travelers. Due to the lack of foreign languages found in most of the country, little complete travel information online, and our past Peace Corps experience we hope to provide complete and personal information about different locations throughout Indonesia. We will be focusing on Java as we now live in Surakarta, Indonesia, and will update as we travel.

Thanks for following and Godspeed.

After 27 months we are now RPCV

Paige and her students before performing a "Marak" dance. Click on the image to see more of our friends.

Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

June 6, 2013 at 5 pm we become official Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV). Along with 17 other volunteers, we survived 2 years and 3 months of the social experiment that has been Peace Corps Indonesia.

As the days clicked by closer and closer to today, we tried our best to process emotions and live in the moment. Knowing that no matter what we decided to do after Peace Corps, this is a life experience like no other and we wanted to cherish it, both the good and the bad.

We have tried to visit everyone we could for last conversations, apologies for any mistakes we have made during our time, and to thank them for all the help they gave us throughout our time. Daniel mentioned that he found the last few weeks an eye opener to the way people process emotions, especially with the subject of good-byes. We found that many of our friends had a difficult time voicing their feelings. A few exchanges have honestly been disappointing. As we have prepared to finish, we've sorted through our belongings and given things out to friends. With some kids, we have tried to pull out verbally what they have enjoyed about this last year, only to get 30 minutes of horribly awkward silence and eye avoidance, followed by taking the gift, jumping on their bike and riding away.

For some, while meeting, the conversation wouldn't go too deep, basically just questions about what our plans were next, and then at the last minute, they would hand us some kind of gift. Unlike back home, here it's not really common to open the present in front of the giver. So we get home, and open our gift to find something well beyond a basic gift. These gifts blew us away. Not only were they possibly financially straining on the giver, but they displayed the thought and time that they put into the gift. A beautiful silver cross necklace from a Muslim friend, a large printed picture of me and students, cross-stitched javanese art, engraved matching rings and hand picked matching batik clothing. The gifts were amazing, but the feeling of humbleness and love was unbeliveable.

We are saying good-bye to many new friends that we are forever linked to as RPCVs. We've spent the last 3 days enjoying their company while closing out our adminsitrative duties. We gonged the gong in the Peace Corps office signifying our graduation from PCV to RPCV. We pray for them all as they head back to the USA for grad school, work, and the fun of mixing back in to the "American Dream".

As for us, we are headed to Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia to pursue the next phase of life. Daniel will be working for a company based out of California as a quality control manager and Paige will be looking for editing opportunites at the local universities and publishing companies. We are excited about having modern living conditions again with A/C and high speed internet connection while still living in the heart of Indonesian culture. It will be a very fun adjustment that will keep the adventure alive.

We plan on keeping this blog alive to document this next phase in Indonesia. But as a closing Peace Corps note we wanted to share a few statistics we roughly estimated to show some of the life we've been living.

In the numbers after 27 months (representation of us individually)

820 days of Peace Corps service

2200 miles of bike riding

800 days not driving a car/motorcyle

100+ trips by bus

9 countries visited (USA, China, Honk Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia)

19 airline flights

2400 liters/ 530 gallons of water consumed (estimated 3000 liters sweated out)
125 pounds of rice consumed (Daniel)

4100 times of hearing the (Islamic) call to prayer

750 sessions of dish washing by hand
750+ days without air conditioning
35 days/times we experienced below 70 degrees (30 during our trip home to the USA during Christmas)

15 dogs seen while in Indonesia, 8 dogs petted

22 schools entered for teaching, motivation, etc. (10,000 students)

4,782 new Facebook friends and counting

8,200 times asked "Misterrrrrrr, Mau Kemana?" (Where are you going?)

12 bottles of sunscreen

820 second-hand cigarettes smoked (approx at least 1 a day)

Is it Sustainable?

Sustainability Conference 2013 in Malang, Indonesia

April marks two years of living in Indonesia and we are still thankful, safe, and content. If God allows we hope to be in Indonesia or SE Asia longer as we are actively searching out jobs that will extend our previous careers. We have learned that getting an Indonesian work permit is very difficult outside of English teaching, so our search also includes other nearby countries. The search for what is next also includes the USA as we cannot deny our love for our family and home. The next two months will be busy and we ask that you pray that our difficulty will be in having choices, not in the lack of choices.

In our last semester, we made the decision to focus on sustainability. You may have read previously that our schools and community lack professionalism and have no procedures in place to sustain good action or projects. This in turn has created a habit of non-existent creativity and the “sustainability” of just doing whatever was done the year before. As a last push to make a difference, here are the things we have been focusing on this last semester:

          o   Identify the best activities and lesson from the past 3 semesters.

          o   Document materials through computer documents, sound files, videos, and websites.

          o   Discuss with the teachers and school the best way to save the information.

          o   Create an executive style summary of the past activities for the Principal and school.
                This is to help keep the time and money allotment for future school budget planning.

          o   With counterpart(s) rework some of the material to promote confidence.

          o   Remind the school, continuously, that we will not be here after this semester.

          o   Close all possible communication gaps and relationships to end on the most positive note possible.

In March, we were spoiled by Peace Corps at our Close of Service Conference. This conference included 3 days with our counterparts to discuss sustainability at our schools. After the time with our counterparts Peace Corps surprised us with 3 nights at an all-wood bungalow resort on the mountain side of Batu. Batu was where we originally studied 24 months ago, so it was really neat to have a pseudo-closure from our original experiences in Indonesian.

During our last night of training our fearless leaders, Ken and Betsy, lead us in an activity called Starfish. If you haven’t read the story, look it up online. It is one of those simple inspirational stories that are needed now and again to open your eyes to all that you have done. After the story, we each spoke about one person in our two years here that have been positively affected by our presence. It was touching to hear how little successes with a small desa neighbor or an eager student at school will definitely make a difference in this world, or at least in their world. Planting seeds even though we might not see the flowers.

Outside of school, we are just continuing to enjoy life here. I can’t count the number of hours Daniel has spent researching, applying, and preparing for our next chapter. We aren’t worried about what is next but we’re hoping that we have a clear path sooner than later. In the meantime, we are trying to savor the time we have here, because even if we stay in Indonesian, we most likely won’t be in our same town, with our neighbors, students and friends. The Peace Corps life has been a tough one in that there are lots of goodbyes. It was extremely hard to say bye to everyone back home, and we’re not looking forward to saying bye to our family here. The world is still too big. It’s sad to think that if we leave Indonesia, we might never see these people again, but God willing, our presence has made an impact eternally. 

**Click for LATEST PICTURES**

Cookies with Mrs. Paige


Generation of Stars Easter Performance