Whole lotta shakin' goin' on
By moving from Nebraska to Indonesia, we were leaving behind tornado warning-filled summers and coming to an island country with all other sorts of fun nature-inspired threats: tsunamis, monsoons, mudslides (not the Khalua-based kind, unfortunately), mosqitoes the size of standard poodles, wicked humidity and everyone's favorite-the earthquake.
Over the last three months, Indonesia has had more than its share of earth-moving events, and not in a good way. The island of Sumatra has been pummeled relentlessly by Mother Nature, and just last week suffered another massive quake which hit off the coast, badly damaging the already-tsunami-ravaged island of Nias. We've received lots of concerned e-mails and even a few phone calls from friends and family back home, wondering if we were OK. We are, we're just fine, but there are a lot of people who were just beginning to put their lives back together who are now having to start all over again for the second time in three months. They need lots of prayer and lots of help in other ways, too.
Thanks very much for all of the e-mails and concerned calls. It's good to know we're not forgotten all the way over here on the other side of the globe. We miss you guys from home every day, and we're glad you miss us too-or at least wonder how we are when you hear about Indonesia on the news. The island of Java, which we live on, hasn't been smacked around by the planet much in the last few months. Sumatra, directly to our north but still an entirely different island, has been. News stations over in the U.S. don't always distinguish between islands and just say "Indonesia" as a whole, when in reality there are thousands of islands and which island they're talking about really does make a difference. We live about an hour away from Jakarta (in good traffic) so chances are if something happens in Jakarta, we will not have been directly affected by it.
Still, I promise if anything big ever does happen in or near Jakarta, or even on the island of Java, we'll do our best to let people know we're OK as soon as we can, either via e-mail, blog or phone calls. We're safe from the threat of a tsunami over here-we're far enough inland in Bukit Sentul, Bogor, that if a tsunami wave were to hit us, it's likely the majority of California would be in danger, too-the wave would have to be that big.
In other news, we're doing quite well. There are 11 weeks of school left. Eleven weeks left of my 11th graders. Whoo-hoo! We're really looking forward to this summer, too. We can't wait for our friends to visit in June, and we're currently planning for travels in July. We recently had the wild idea that going to South Africa would be fun, so we're checking out airfares to go there. If that doesn't work (I'm guessing it's rather spendy) we'll be headed to Thailand for about 10 days, maybe with a stopover in Singapore on the way back.
Our wee helpless kitten, Beans, is no longer wee nor helpless. He's just insane, and is big enough to climb or jump on to just about anything. He recently discovered that he could make it up onto the ledge of the bathtub, so walking around that has been a fun game as of late. Visitors to our house have to exercise caution when walking around corners, as Beans likes to hide out in wait, and pounce at them when they walk by. He's getting annoyed with Travis and I, since we're not surprised by him doing that anymore. "Hi, Beans," we say, and keep walking. He always looks disappointed, and tries to compensate by attacking our feet. In his mind, he's a big black panther on the trail. We let him think what he wants, and try not to hurt his feelings by laughing too loudly at his expense when he's in the room. Poor Beans.
Well, I better go teach or something...
Over the last three months, Indonesia has had more than its share of earth-moving events, and not in a good way. The island of Sumatra has been pummeled relentlessly by Mother Nature, and just last week suffered another massive quake which hit off the coast, badly damaging the already-tsunami-ravaged island of Nias. We've received lots of concerned e-mails and even a few phone calls from friends and family back home, wondering if we were OK. We are, we're just fine, but there are a lot of people who were just beginning to put their lives back together who are now having to start all over again for the second time in three months. They need lots of prayer and lots of help in other ways, too.
Thanks very much for all of the e-mails and concerned calls. It's good to know we're not forgotten all the way over here on the other side of the globe. We miss you guys from home every day, and we're glad you miss us too-or at least wonder how we are when you hear about Indonesia on the news. The island of Java, which we live on, hasn't been smacked around by the planet much in the last few months. Sumatra, directly to our north but still an entirely different island, has been. News stations over in the U.S. don't always distinguish between islands and just say "Indonesia" as a whole, when in reality there are thousands of islands and which island they're talking about really does make a difference. We live about an hour away from Jakarta (in good traffic) so chances are if something happens in Jakarta, we will not have been directly affected by it.
Still, I promise if anything big ever does happen in or near Jakarta, or even on the island of Java, we'll do our best to let people know we're OK as soon as we can, either via e-mail, blog or phone calls. We're safe from the threat of a tsunami over here-we're far enough inland in Bukit Sentul, Bogor, that if a tsunami wave were to hit us, it's likely the majority of California would be in danger, too-the wave would have to be that big.
In other news, we're doing quite well. There are 11 weeks of school left. Eleven weeks left of my 11th graders. Whoo-hoo! We're really looking forward to this summer, too. We can't wait for our friends to visit in June, and we're currently planning for travels in July. We recently had the wild idea that going to South Africa would be fun, so we're checking out airfares to go there. If that doesn't work (I'm guessing it's rather spendy) we'll be headed to Thailand for about 10 days, maybe with a stopover in Singapore on the way back.
Our wee helpless kitten, Beans, is no longer wee nor helpless. He's just insane, and is big enough to climb or jump on to just about anything. He recently discovered that he could make it up onto the ledge of the bathtub, so walking around that has been a fun game as of late. Visitors to our house have to exercise caution when walking around corners, as Beans likes to hide out in wait, and pounce at them when they walk by. He's getting annoyed with Travis and I, since we're not surprised by him doing that anymore. "Hi, Beans," we say, and keep walking. He always looks disappointed, and tries to compensate by attacking our feet. In his mind, he's a big black panther on the trail. We let him think what he wants, and try not to hurt his feelings by laughing too loudly at his expense when he's in the room. Poor Beans.
Well, I better go teach or something...
posted by Erin @ 8:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home