Berenang (to swim)

Ok, time for a bath!

Or better, a swim, and then we can skip bath time!

Bersyukur (to give thanks)

A big part of Indonesian culture is the syukuran, where family and neighbours get together to bersyukur for someone's birthday, a graduation, the safe arrival of a new baby, or for someone who has died. Here we are celebrating our next-door neighbours Keti and Leni's birthday.

After speeches, prayers and a yummy dinner, Phil and I joined in singing some worship songs with the girls and their friends.

Bertetangga (to be neighbours)

Walking up our street on the way home from church. Reuben ran ahead and got to the kids first.

Bersosialisasi (to socialise)
Mercifully, Indonesian grammar makes sense to us most of the time (so far). Add ber- to the front a word and shazam! you have yourself an intransitive verb. On the other hand, the other week I confidently declared to one long-suffering teacher that: 'If my mother faints I will wee on her and she will revive.' Hmm, let's try that again, shall we?

Spot the orang asing (foreigner)!

Our neighbours are a mixture of Papuans and people from other parts of Indonesia.

Berjemur (to sunbathe, or put something out in the sun to dry)

On really hot days, people put their mattresses, sheets, pillows etc out for the sun to kill any mould and germs. It's almost always upwards of 30 degrees and 80 percent humidity. Surrender and embrace the sweat, I say.

We share the use of this dirt yard with our immediate neighbours.

People prefer to sweep than mow, so a grass lawn is a rare sight here. Such a shame!

We also share use of this well. The water from it is cleaner than town water, but we still need to filter it. Needless to say, in the tropics there are no water restrictions!

Church in Sentani

Hanya oleh anugerah. Itu saja, ada tidak yang lain.
Only by grace. That is all; there is nothing else:

Different culture, different language, same wonderful message.

Indonesians are very much into musical items in church.

This is Philip's karate instructor or Sensei.

He is a great guy and we go to the same church.

Soren climbing trees with kids after church.

We walk the 10 or so minutes to church with a few of our neighbours.

Fun and Games

Tea party time.

Soren ready for bed in his new shark pyjamas. Thanks Nana and Papa!

We love our local pool

Mount Cyclops in the background is shrouded by afternoon cloud.

And soon the mist is rolling in.

Pak Anis

Pak Anis is our landlord and immediate neighbour, and is loads of fun. He's from the island of Flores (near Timor) and his Indonesian is very loud, very fast and very animated!