Regarding our President

If you are interested in international news, check out this Times article. I generally don't read news (ok, I never do), but someone posted this link and I managed to read it. :)

So much food, so little time...

Leaving the island is overwhelming. There are so many food options, and I want to enjoy them all! I just spent a week with my parents while I was getting my documents squared away out of country. We hardly left the apartment, but boy did I eat well
(I know it's a shock to those of you who have ever been guests in their home)!















We did get to have a few meals out on the town, too. Out rather late one night.

Home Improvement

Finally, here are some pictures you've been waiting for....

Living room--before and after (the walls were blue with red scribbles on them, but you can't tell in this picture due to the glare; check out the post on April 18 and you can see it clearly):















My bedroom--yes, my very own!







An indoor potty! Do you know how exciting this is? After 2.5 years of always having to hike somewhere to use a bathroom, I still can't kick the urge to "hold it" a little longer because of the dreaded hike--then I have to remind myself, No! The bathroom is right here!--still. After over a month.
I actually prefer a squatty potty to Western, but I must say I did enjoy a throne in Singapore. :)

Kitchen before and after:



























The outside is still the same.


Hopefully this will give you a bit of an idea. Maybe next month I can post a video clip--when I have another shot at internet. For now check out more photos on FB.

Cafe au Lait

I am not a coffee drinker. But I love the smell of it and the taste of coffee in my milk and sugar. However I never could handle the caffeine. But I've been indulging this past week with a little cup of 3-in-1 mix packets in the mornings. Right now it is after midnight and I feel jitters. Surely it's not the coffee...? Leftover shakes from the earthquake this morning? It feels like heavy machinery being operated out on the road. Who knows.

At any rate, that is a bunch of randomness leading into the news that I have a cat now. I gave her the name Kopi Susu Odeng, which translated literally is "coffee milk white." I've been calling her Susu. The name is a language duo: Kopi Susu is basically "cafe au lait"/"cafe con leche" in the national language, and Susu Odeng [oh dang] means "white milk" in the local language. I wanted a name that represented something sweet that would be original to the many other cats named "sweet" around here (the cafe con leche that I had every morning in Venezuela was sweet; here any reference to "milk" automatically means sweetened, condensed milk unless otherwise specified--sorry if I am offending any coffee drinkers by my novice definitions!). After all that effort and thought going into the name, I hope she lives a long life and becomes a professional mouse-hunter.

Quick story: Friday when we went to the beach, Susu had only been with us 2 days. We were gone all day, and that night she was nowhere to be found. The neighbors said she was probably stolen because she was pretty and clean. The next day as K and I were praying over our lunch, I added, "And Lord, silly though it may be, it would be really nice if we could know what happened to Susu." I half-expected to open my eyes and see her trot in the house. But she didn't. And then we started eating and less than 5 minutes later, in walked a neighbor with the cat. I stared in shock and disbelief. Isn't it crazy how God cares about the little things in our life? He is good.

Ikan Bakar on the Beach

Friday morning it was pouring down rain at 6 am. At 8 am our team gathered at camp, and discovered our buddy KD was quite sick. It was E's birthday and KD was going to teach E's husband how to spear fish. We were going to enjoy grilled fish (ikan bakar) on the beach. KS was on day 5 of a pinched nerve in her neck. We were undecided as to which beach we wanted (believe me, the options are endless!), and the 9 of us ended up driving around in 2 trucks on awful roads through the mountains for a couple hours before settling on a beach--which was one we could have gotten to easily from camp on a paved road. KS got a migrane from her pinched nerve, but we all survived and the sun came out for a bit and the rest of the day was overcast and not hot and the road home was paved and smooth. :)

Loyal and fearless as they come, KD went out hunting despite feeling like he'd "been hit by a truck," and didn't return until he had some lunch. The ladies fixed up the catch and torched him in the fire pit we created with SP's help.


Left: KD trying to warm up after the catch. Three days later, we're pretty sure it's dengue fever.





Don't let any go to waste! My eyes started burning and watering like crazy during lunch (maybe from sunscreen?) and I had to keep them closed--hence the eyes in these photos. It developed into a sty.
What a day what a day! But good eating, and fun relaxing.

Make New Friends...

but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold!

K unexpectedly needed to leave the island for a few days to do fingerprints so I decided to see if one of my friends from my old village could come stay with me. It was great to have her with me. She spent 2 nights with me in the new village and we went exploring with a couple of the teenage girls. Out to the little island off the coast and to a cave. Fun stuff.
























Below is the view from the little island, looking back at our village. Our little section starts at the bridge on the right and ends at the mosque on the left.