3rd Day in the House ~ Getting Settled!

Hi All!  Well have lots to tell you and I must say all this is so new and foreign to us -  We have slept here now 3 days and it is getting a little more familiar!  First we were able to find a 2nd hand frig - and so nice to fill it with some groceries - there is a grocery store close to the High School that sells some items that are familiar to us visitors - ha!  I was able to get some items that we needed- raisins, oatmeal, pickles, they have wonderful juices here - and with all the fruit available - we enjoy drinking mango juice in the morning!  In the restaurants they also serve carrot juice - would you believe it?

Water from the faucet is not good - so we order water bottles to drink from - everyone has them in their homes.  Had to buy the stand too which we put up on the kitchen sink.  

Little by Little we are picking up items - simple, cheap and the bare basic's! We started with some stool's to sit on and now using a box as a table - but today we picked up some more chairs - more like lounge chairs - definitely more comfortable for the bippy! 

The living area looks pretty big but is not ~ with it being bare like that it seems like it is!

We are both sitting under a ceiling fan - there was a rocking chair left behind in the house - so we are enjoying that and take turns sitting in it! Ha! Luxuries!

Oh yes - for the Dutchies - we found some Dutch cookies - just had to pick those up at the store! With us now being able to make our own coffee - well a little cookie is just the right thing of course! yeah!!!!!

Today the 3rd day we picked up those lounge chairs - and I found some popcorn - and so our first batch of popcorn - yum!!!!  Yes they also had "extra virgin oil" at the special store!  And balsamic dressing! NICE!

As you can see I am online! Oh my goodness what a treat to be in the house and have internet!

We have purchased this Flash Drive with a phone chip in it that is connected to a cell tower~  Now it isn't the greatest - and we might still decide to get a faster land line connection = but at least we are now online!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I must tell you about our shower situation ~ you will probably be laughing~  But this house did not come with a hot water heater - so only cold water out of the shower head....brrr!

So we boil water in the evening and mix it with the cold water and put it into the pail - go to the bathroom and rinse/lather/and rinse using a scooper to scoop out the water to wash with!  Oh my goodness - it's like camping the old fashion way!

We might be able to rent a hot water heater - but for now - this is working - oh how we appreciate everything - when you think of the comforts we are accustomed to at home!!!!!!

So do remember us when you are taking your showers! Ha! 

We purchased a bed cover - Ellen is doing the "wild thing" - the colors are bright and "cheery" here - you probably will laugh when you see the bed cover -

....................but it works and we just needed something - simple.  Colorful huh?  Wild!!!!

We headed out this morning and walked up to the main street - walking past the homes here in the kampung.  Nice to greet the people along the way!  Everyone is friendly and always give a kind nod when passing by!  Salamat Pagi! Good morning!

There is a mosque close by the house every kampung has one it seems ~ calling people to prayer.  We get through out the day prayers on the loudspeakers - starting at 4 am - and then again at 12 noon and probably 4-5 times a day.  They are devoted to prayer - and we can certainly learn from their dedication!

Also there is a  crazy rooster in the neighborhood that begins to crow about 2:45 am - and gets other rooster going like crazy in the distance This "guy" was must  be loco or something - he is totally off track in his business!  His business is to wake us up at dawn right???????

People greet us from their homes - busy doing their wash in the morning.  Because of the dampness in the air (all the time) it takes a whole day to dry - so early morning washing is good!

We might be able to borrow a washing machine and a couch soon!  That would be nice because our wash is stacking!  We have always done it at the hotel laundry's dept but sometimes it comes back smelling like softener - very very strong.  So it will be nice to do our own washing - and hang it out to dry!

Anyway - we walked up to the major street in our area and caught the angkot # 9 to town (mini bus) and then when we got to the address for the flash drive - it was the wrong place - so off we went with another bus to the completely opposite side of town!  There we found the cell phone store to buy the flash drive - success!

We then caught another bus back to shopping area and ended up having to walk some blocks - the bus didn't quite get us there but we were close enough to where we needed to be!  We then walked the main street looking for some items we still needed: some lounge chairs, a faucet (ours is leaking) and we came across the Saturday morning market!  Many people were doing their shopping - fresh vegetables and fruits stands - all the meat - cut and sitting on tables - out in the market place - yes - chickens, beef, pork, chicken feet, ducks you need it - it is there!  Oh my goodness - we kind of stay away from the meat section- still not accustomed to that...and when I see that - well glad we don't need meat - just not ready to buy it that way...no way!  Ladies sitting side by side selling their vegetables from their gardens - and each one seems to have the same things - but I finally did find the onions & cauliflower I wanted - yeah!

We tried to find some Lumpur - but ended up with loempia's instead!  It seems that lumpur (stick rice with a chicken paste inside) is not a common treat anymore!  We have to know where to buy it!  But the loempia's are good! (kind of a egg roll but with veggies in it!)

We grabbed a taxi to get home - we had headed out early 9:05 am and now headed back at 1:15 pm and it was hot out there! Here we are at 2100 feet elevation and yet it still gets really hot!  So we are realizing it is better to get things done early - of course when we find a motorcycle to rent/purchase we won't have to do so much walking!  We are putting the word out that we are looking to rent/purchase a older bike - they are available...!

The taxi driver turned on Country music in the car! Oh my goodness Nick & I chuckled - the driver put thumbs up - he liked to listen to it - but we think he might of done that for us!  Cute huh?

So back to the house - Nick set up the flash drive and as you can see - (that is - if you are reading this blog!!!!) then the flash drive is working!!!!! Oh I do hope I can get it online!

Tomorrow Sunday - yeah back to church!  Looking forward to it!