A Birthday Celebration here in the Kampung!

         ~~~~~A week gone by!

 Jessica and her friend Richard came by to be sure and invite us to a Christmas gathering!  She wanted her "oma" and "opa" included she said!  Oh Jess - we will try - it is our plan to do so! 

"Thanks Jessica for coming by and checking to see what our plans were!" 
 Richard was helping out to carry some items needed for the potluck they were having!
The group Solafide usually meets on Friday evening but on Saturday they were going to do a special Christmas afternoon and evening!  We relaxed for a while intending to go and THEN it began to rain....oh my goodness - so very hard...and did not stop!!!! Oh Nico - do you still want to go out?
We will be drenched on the bike?  At 4 pm I had a SKYPE appointment with my son Jas and little Skyler! I would need to be back by that time.  He would be waking up in Holland and starting his Saturday  -

 .....well it rained and rained ....so we stayed home!  Oh Jessica - "sorry we didn't make it after all!"

 

Our neighbor Pak Wasis does maintain the yard for us once a month...and does a really good job too!  He has a very sharp knife with a long blade and squats down and does the whole yard like that - 3 sides.  We are thankful for his help and we appreciate how neat he is too!  Pak Wasis lives right across the street from us.

 

 And here are our dear friends (teman)and neighbors (tetengga)  that we are very fond of!  Pak Jono and his wife Bu Kasum and their daughter Intan.  Today is Intan's 20th Birthday!  And we were invited to come and celebrate it with the family!  Nick and I walked over and began to sing:  
"Happy Birthday to YOU...Happy Birthday to YOU...Happy Birthday dear Intan...Happy Birthday to YOU!" 

 

 Nick had the honor of cutting his own piece of the chocolate (coklat) Birthday cake!  (the letter "c" is pronounced "ch" here) so chok-lat - !

 

Pak Jono showed us the stuffed cow that Intan received as a gift!  What a wonderful & warm smile you have Pak Jono  !  

 Intan opened her gift and was very pleased with it...a shoulder purse and the color fit her T-shirt perfectly! Intan is a 2nd year student at the Christian University here in town and she is learning to become a Teacher! 

 We had a little something for Kasum - she is always full of smiles and ever so sweet and friendly!  It was a mirror in the shape of a heart with little sparkles on it!  How fun to let them know we care so much about them..."Mom" too was happy!  She said in English to me last week "I Love You" oh Kasum I love you too!  Precious! 

We wrote the card to Intan in English because Intan is our interpreter - she speaks well and she read the card and had a big smile..yes she understood! 

Kasum, her mom comes to our house and helps us learn to speak Indonesian...she is VERY patient with us!  You know, it takes a lot to learn a whole new language - especially at an older age (gosh I have to admit it - it seems the "brain" isn't  holding all those new words very quickly!) But we both admit the more we hear the more we are recognizing words and it becomes more & more familiar to us!

Terima Kasih - Thank you
Salamat Pagi - Good morning
apa khabar -  how are you?
khabar baik - fine good
ma'af  I'm sorry, excuse me
permissi - when you are leaving and excusing yourself (permission?)
nama saya Ellen - name my Ellen (My name is Ellen)
siapa nama mu - what is your name?  (what name you?)

The words are in a different sequence in the sentence...
so even though it seems strange to say it like that... translating it in my head - it is the right order.

suka - like
saya suka kamu - I like you
saya tidak mengerti  (one I use a lot!!!) I don't no (tidak means no)  understand

Well anyway - there are many words (kata) and we really need to learn sentences (kalimat) so that we can learn to ask, say, things in the right order.  Conversational Indonesian is the best way to learn.  The Language school here - makes the students go out into the stores daily to talk, ask and interact with the people ...and Nick & I actually run around too - shopping here and there but it is often
satu ini - that one   or we say dua itu  which is two of those.... ha!  Instead of: "salamat pagi saya mau dua mango silakan?" good morning I want 2 mango's please?

We needed a book the other day and Kasum helped me prepare: "Salamat sion Saya mau buku kamus Inggris-Indonesia /Indonesia-Inggris...ada?" good morning I want book dictionary English-Indonesian / Indonesia- English ... have?  They answered  Ada (have) tingkat atas upstairs - all I did was follow him because he nodded and I recognized the word - ada - have! Yippee! I was pretty proud to have walked in a store toko and have accomplished this - Oh Lord help our brains take in all this - and keep it there!

When we sit with our friends and receive such warmth and kindness - oh...both Nick & I so want to be able to communicate with them!  It seems we do with little words here and there...and they are ever so kind to understand these "foreigners" in their midst but still ...we hope to get a better hold of the language!  Our Indonesian neighbors are pleased to know we have some Indo blood in our veins and want us to be a part of their community!  We feel that so strongly!  This week on Wednesday - Kasum has invited me to a Ladies gathering from the Kampung community here (Dukuh) - so I will enjoy a special afternoon with the ladies here meeting in one of the homes.  We shall see how that goes!

Next week is Christmas - we are invited to have Christmas dinner at Elisha & Beppie's place on Christmas Eve...how nice!

This morning in church we were invited by one of the members to come to their home and enjoy a Christmas musical (27th)  & potluck.  They will be sharing in song
"The Handel's Messiah" - singing parts of these beautiful choruses- sounds wonderful!  We were pleased to be invited!  My Mom sang The Handel's Messiah in the church choir she was in for many years - and she had a beautiful soprano voice!

We enjoyed church this morning - after worship we broke up in groups and  talked about what we were thankful for and what our needs are...and went to verses in Acts.  After a wonderful time of fellowship - we enjoyed a potluck lunch - turkey with all the trimmings ...AGAIN!  It is so special to sit there under the cover at the picnic tables (remember we meet at the Christian High School) and enjoy so many special people and make new friends!  Nick & I feel blessed to be apart of it!  So many people from so many places - a true blessing! A special time & way to share and enjoy  Christmas this year!