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!