To be honest with you I know today is Saturday, April 16th, 2011, but with everything that has happened up to today, without a calendar, I would be clueless.With that said since last week we went from San Francisco to Hong Kong and enjoyed a day in the city. In Hong Kong, we stayed at a hotel outside of downtown near the airport but we we’re able to take a train into downtown. Because of the time difference Paige and I woke up around 2am local time and worked out then went back to bed to get up around 6am to catch the first train. The city in the morning was quiet and we surprised to find it difficult to find a place to eat breakfast. It was funny to see what looked to be westerners out running near the ocean walk area. The locals didn’t seem to run, but everyone that looked American was jogging along the bay. Downtown Hong Kong is huge and very clean and organized. You could easily walk inside from building to building for hours. We saw an amazing bird aviary before heading back to meet up with our group. From Hong Kong we had a 5 hour flight to Surabaya, Indonesia. (Side note- check out our matching yellow shirts. We REALLY didn’t mean to do that….)
Once we arrived in Surabaya aka “Sauna World” we met the Peace Corps Indonesia staff of about 25. The staff includes transporters, accountants, tech support, teachers, and trainers. It has been amazing what all has been setup to this point. We are very thankful and impressed with the program. In Surabaya we stayed at a western style hotel and started training. We received more shots and how to prevent sickness in the future. Unfortunately I had already got a stomach bug that zapped my energy. The first 4 days were not comfortable but manageable. We started our language learning and how to use a squatty potty, yes sir my left hand does wipe my butt. You now know why the left hand in Indonesian culture is taboo. From Surabaya each volunteer was assigned a host family for the 10 weeks of training. We are spread out over a 30 min radius in the Batu region. We live in small villages that have various levels of development. For example Paige and I live in a small mountain village where there is no location that provides internet and the main source of income is farming and selling cheap items out of your house. The weather has been constant with temperatures in the low 80’s with rain everyday for a few hours and overcast skies most of the day. We live about a 10 minute walk away from each other and have about 8 more weeks of training. More to come but little time to type currently.
3 comments:
Praise the Lord you made it safely! Oh yes...squatty potties..no fun at all:(
I think the stomach bug is just a natural occurrence, it is for me anyway, Greg's stomach seems unaffected by anything here!
The pictures look great and know that we are praying for you both!!!!
Thanks for updating guys. You know, when survivorman was in Indonesia, he chewed on the betelnut to help make him feel better through all the stomach issues he was having. I don't think it served in the role of Pepto, but more like a stimulant to make him feel better. Ha, just a thought.
Praying for you all.
James
Glad to see you guys made it safely. Honestly, I'm embarrassed every time people take a photo of my statue in Hong Kong but it seems like you couldn't resist, either. Thanks for the update - i don't know how you do it from looking at the photos of your village.
Hyunsik
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