Chinese New Year Today ~ 2565!

Yes ~ today is Chinese New Year and so Elisha & Beppie our friends from Kawan Kitchen invited us over for a buffet dinner with friends!  How very nice - thank you!  We look forward to it!

This morning as we woke up we decided it was time to get some walking in!  So we had our good ole' oatmeal breakfast, dressed and off we went for a good walk!  We walked for 4 hours today!  From our Kapung Dukuh all the way to downtown area and then back again!  It was a good walk indeed!

But we were not in a hurry - and when you walk, you see so much more.  If we go into the downtown area we go on one motorbike so we can do some shopping (and I hold the shopping bag between us on the motorbike)  - and it is hard to look around you when you are keeping an eye on the traffic on a motorbike.  So Nick thought it would be a good idea to just walk into town...so to have a better look at the shops here and there.  Great idea Nico...let's do it!

We took a stop at one of our favorite places kafeole'

to have a cup of coffee.  Another good idea!
We enjoy the surroundings there - a pretty restaurant in a garden-like setting!

We then continued to walk to Jl Sudiriman the main shopping street.  We strolled through the pasar's and Nick found a t-shirt he liked.






 He also found these darling little tug boats that as a boy he had played with!  Made of tin - you light it up with candle wax and it makes a real tug boat motor sound - so' cute.  And what a chuckle that they were made here in Salatiga where he had lived as a boy!

We have some little friends that come to visit here!

We shopped in a shoe store too - I was looking for some shoes for the motorbike - something easy to slip on - instead of the big Keens I use for walking.  But guess what?  My feet are too BIG here....they don't have a size 10/41 here!  Most people are smaller here - and so this mama with her big feet - well I just can't find a shoe to fit!  I will most likely need to go to a larger town - where there are more foreigners maybe?

Nick & I enjoy reading the sign's, & often we see Dutch words & some English...can you figure it out?

Hey there is Nico's first name on the shop...it was a Christian/Catholic book store.

A large sign was erected for Chinese New Year in the park!

Gosh - just look at that enormous Banyan tree...wonder how old that might be????

We strolled back to our area and after 4 hours of walking - well we felt good & enjoyed our walk - and then the rain came!!!!



We saw this Pharmacy store Apotek Salatiga and Nick wanted a picture of it...and look how cute a dokar just past by! 








Oh how I love to see the color along the way!  Just look at this plant - with the bright red leaves!!!!  Deep red and so LARGE - just growing along the path! 



We got home and relaxed for a while and then Kasum came by to deliver the cookies I had asked her to make (she has a little shop at her house) & so she brought the roti kacang/peanut cookies and we sat down to do a little Behasa

Do you see Nico's new shirt?  Yes with a "dokar" on it.... a horse drawn carriage!

Indonesia language!  Oh she is so helpful and again - so very patient with Nick & I.  "Nico dan saya pergi jalan jalan tadi hari ke Jl Sudiriman ke toko sepatu" Nick and I go walking this morning to Jalan Street Sudiriman to shoe store. 

Sounds good eh?  Well it is hard - but she is ever so patient with us!  We both like the language and it seems like a easy language to learn...yeah once you begin to learn it, that is...ha! It is really fun - we just need to be patient with ourselves & know it is OK to learn it slowly -

Well at 6 pm we planned to go to Kawan Kitchen to celebrate Chinese New Year! Elisha & Beppie had their day off, so the restaurant was closed for the public - but nevertheless busy preparing for their guests!

 Susie, one of the staff was chopping onions.....

....and Anita was getting all the dishes out -

Peace! Yes Anita!

                        Peace & Victory!

 Friends started coming in - gosh Elisha & Beppie are something else...they had invited many friends to come to celebrate Chinese New Year! 

 Beppie & Elisha are such wonderful host & hostess - they welcomed everyone!   Here it is their day off and then they invite people to come and celebrate and of course he spent many hours in the kitchen to provide a lovely dinner for all of us!

 My we were all so spoiled! 

Friends chatting & also making new acquaintances.

  Some we knew - others we didn't.  But before you know it - with a little chatting here and there - well you are friends! 

 There is Kristian & Lianne our Dutch friends!  They are heading to Singapore on Thursday to renew their passport/visa's...oh they will have fun seeing Singapore for the first time!  We told them ALL about it!  Try the MRT (underground trains) take the boat tour through the harbor of Singapore, see the crazy hotel with the BIG boat on the top, go to that beautiful park that has pretty much all the shrubs & plants from all over the world - they say!  So much to see and do there!  you guys will have a blast!

 Andreaz YOU are taking a picture and I am taking a picture of YOU!

 Beppie give this little guy a BIG FIVE!

I think he thought that was pretty cool!

Here is Ruben, Elisha & Beppies younger son, with his girlfriend Jeanie!

The kids had fun eating at their own table.....

 ....while the grown-ups enjoyed chatting at their tables!

 

This is B.J. and his wife Tri (pronounced tree) - they are newlyweds... aren't they adorable?!  B.J. works at Kawan Kitchen as a cook and also comes to the English class Nick & I teach twice a week - and he is such fun! 

Well after a lovely evening - we got things cleaned up and everyone left - and we sat with Elisha &  Beppie for a little while longer having a nice hot cup of tea!  Gezellig!  So nice to sit and chat just the four of us!

We had both taken our motorbikes to the restaurant and now it was time to head home!  Gosh I tell you family and friends...here it is 10 pm and I am following Nick down the road on a motorcycle - on the streets of Salatiga Java Indonesia - Nick up ahead and I am behind him...following  him - going through these fun streets and little avenue's....quiet out there...hardly anyone on the road....oh gosh...a soft evening breeze - I am thinking "oh my just look at us go!...Will we remember these special moments...a great day, a great evening with sweet friends, and now zipping through town on a motorcycle" ...I just have to pinch myself! What fun Nico - I just love this!  Nick just laughs....he knows his wife....yes her own kayak, her own motorbike....well gosh Nick...such fun...just love all this stuff...you know I do!  Yes...Nick smiles..
                                ......I KNOW YOU DO Ellen! 

                      Happy Chinese New Year!