horas. HOras. HORAS !!! Day 2

Tuesday, Day 2 HORAS! The Batak aloha !

 Early again but I didn't catch the sunrise. After coffee, more coffee and some fruit we headed off again by boat...to the Batak stone seat of counsel.

 Running through the gamut of batik, carving, chotsky hawkers we arrived at the village and the stone chairs and the best ever tour guide possible. She weaved the story of the Batak people, the details of their homes, weavings, carvings and symbols engaged us made us laugh. We rummaged through the homes and sat on the stone thrones and moved to the scene of the area where they executed the judged. LSN...Batak were serious about meeting out justice. The gist is when you act like an animal...murder, rape, adultery, treason you die like an animal. They torture you till you pass out, chop off your head, cut you up and eat you. A little bit of shaman get the evil out and that's about it.

 I was hoping the small children among us were confused by her accent...otherwise it was a recipe for nightmares. Again through the gauntlet of stuff and sad faces and please buy this thing or that and maybe this. Or if not in this stall there will be 10 others with the same to hurry through. It reminds me of the gift shops at the exit of museums but much cheaper and much more of a hard sell.

 We stopped the boat on the way back and swam, ate our lunch, talked amongst ourselves and enjoyed the scenery, the company and the food. We were home early and took off on our scooters to the great beyond, life in the normal. In the 2 hours we drove higher up, saw 2 crashes, watched quickly rice being planted and water buffalo being water buffalo. That was fun riding through on our little scooter....

 It's 10 pm and we lit some candles in memory of those who have gone before. We just came from family presentations, a wonderful tradition carried forward. Last night...we heard the story of their story. It's really about stories, the ones we tell, the ones we hear, the ones we remember. Stories unfold our histories.

 Horas is a word used to express in it's simplicity...our routine connections. Our hellos, goodbye, how are you,that's great, that's too bad...it's a necessary word to build bridges. Like our family stories...in their simplicity they are the building blocks of our family.

Day 1 family is a good thing ...

MONDAY 5:45 AM.   Water sun food family..repeat.

Sitting on the edge of Toba, waiting for the sun to rise. Sleep was restless and our room is a bit rustic. But...I don't mind and its so ok.

We met Lois and Daniel at the airport got in our taxi and DROVE. It is a long ride, not that it is so far but the roads are really that bad and the towns we go through that small. We talked and talked and talked and talked and soon we were on the ferry at dusk and then we were in the arms of family.

In Lynden, most everyone I know enjoys this thing called extended family. It is pretty amazing to belong to a group of people who are from every corner of the world and I belong...just like that. It is pretty wonderful.

We ate, we talked, we drank...we wondered who belonged to who and what is their name. 3 kisses for the Dutch, handshakes and hugs for the US.

Late to bed and early to rise....Today we go to the waterfalls...all 46 of us.

High...all of it, the smells, the plantations, the broken attempted indonesian, the smiles on the faces of the familiar but unknown, the beauty and the mess. The chichaks and roosters, the nasi goreng and gado gado and fruit. The stories and the laughter and being family.
Lows...loudness in the night from our neighbors.
LSN: Rubber trees are really skinny and palm trees for coconut oil, really fat and short.  LOTS of them...Toba is the highest volcanic lake AND the island in the middle we are on..as big asSingapore.
Being in a family is a really good thing.

5:30 pm...what a great day. After some spectacular coffee and wonderful breakfast and meeting the Canadian contingency who came last night we were off on our boat to
See a Batak village, see some school kids, go to a waterfall, swim in said waterfall, come home and crash. Talking and visited and eating and swimming and burning our skin and talking some more. Cousins, Aunts, brother, sis in law, husband sand more cousins...listening in Dutch, practicing Indonesian...crying and laughing.

I'm laying on the bed and smelling smoke, hearing motorbikes, feeling burnt...being with family. It's so good.

Sound and Fury or a whole lot of stupid

Sunday the 14th: Sound and Fury

Morning in Medan.

cloudy, windy and rainy this AM.

We arrived last night at 10, found our hotel, unwound...I had a lot of unwinding to do as the flights caused much undo panic. The STUPID STUPID phobia of flying struck with vengeance and today my body is sore from the tension of my fears. You have no idea  how bad I feel physically and emotionally about that anxiety. It is what it is, we are HERE.

4AM there are a lot of slamming doors and then the prayer call.Then about an hour later for about an hour we heard flash bangs..or to me in my haziness mortar rounds. Maybe they were fireworks, or the rounding up of the escaped convicts...anyway. LOUD.

HIgh's ....we arrived safely, the hotel is beautiful, Indonesia is the BEST.

Lows..my crippling fear of turbulence, the awkward set up of the airport in Jakarta....under construction and a gong show to maneuver.

I have prayed a lot in the past few days..fear can do that to you :). Today ..we round us all up and drive to the Lake. Looking forward to seeing the Fam. 

Lots of anxiety for little return.  A bit like the never ending check points at the airport...no matter where or what or why...we took our passport out, looked through our luggage so many times.  Sound and fury...like every time we hit turbulence I feel like the plane will break apart.  security is fine, redundancy is stupid. Fear of flying is just stupid. 

Thursday and Friday

Thursday: At the airport...

So far....Drive down was fraught with the usual in depth conversation about the state of affairs in life and the church. We can be, I can be a contentious one.

After wonderful hugs from Nick and Mijo we arrived at the airport REALLY early but as a result was first in line ahead of a large contingency of japanese students on their way home who  who were in line after. As a result, check in, security and arrival at gate...A breeze. 

So we ate Udon for lunch. Why not start the different right away...salty noodle soup with chicken. We will wait to be in Japan to eat Sushi. 

I am supposed to have wifi but it won't connect. Oh well. We have about 30minutes before we board. Here we go........

Thursday: in the plane.

4 hours in...smooth ride so far but flying over clouds. It's the weather system coming into the PNW as we leave it. I got a Kosher lunch for Scott...I don't know. I had the Japanese lunch and the Japanese student sitting with us, he had the Western meal. Go figure. Lots of movies to watch ... many hours ahead as we chase the sun west. We are at 33,000 feet and it is -51 degrees out. We have 6 more hours to go.   

It's Friday: in the plane.

2 movies, an attempt at a nap, checking the distance, speed, weather, cloud cover for the umpteenth time. Scott is much more calm and centered. We skirted the whole of the Alaskan coast and all the Aleutians...those islands go on for about 6 hours.   Scott is enjoying his Kosher meals...they bring it to him about 20 minutes before we eat so he can take the plastic off the dinner tray. Seems if he is picky enough to want Kosher...he has to be the one to take the wrapping off.  Why Kosher you may ask..ahh, why not!

So far the flight has been wonderfully uneventful and dull ! 1 down 5 more to go.

Tuesday before the Wednesday which is the day before we leave.

Today I am anxious. I have repacked, worn the clothes to see if they are comfortable in hot weather...its kind of hot here today. I am anxious about the travel, being so far away. I am also excited to go, facing my demons head on without medication.  

Each day I am hoping to do most if not all of the following.

 High's and Low's

What I did not know before

The tourist 

The family

How I saw God work...

and what I would like to call...'Well, that was odd !' 

Today I want to see how well my keyboard works on my Ipad and if writing on 'notes' will be a good option.

Pre..pre trip non shakes and non quivers...

Unusual for me...I have not been that nervous about the trip to Sumatra. I have not been checking the weather in all landing zones, nor have I had sleepless nights wondering what if.  When I heard about the plane that crashed in SF...I did not reconsider nor check to see if I could cancel my tickets. IT is odd for me not to be nervous about flying, and for me not to be afraid. I am thankful, because such a state of mind can change the joy of any adventure. And this is an adventure and it will be fun and I am so thankful that Scott is on this adventure with me.

I have packed and repacked...I may be taking too much but maybe not. We are doing carry-on's rather then the full suitcase...it is only for 10 days.

In the book of Ephesian I am told.."Finally, let the Lord make me strong and depend on His mighty power". I want to walk in this while on every plane, in every landing and takeoff.

Toba Lake, in Sumatra, is a long way from Lynden town. We travel to Tokyo, Jakarta, Medan...taxi to Toba and ferry to the Island on the lake where we are staying. I am brushing up on my very limited Bahasa Indonesian and trying  not to think about Mijo and Nick being here and having to 'people our fort'. I love the idea of the unexpected and letting go of expectations. Taking each day, full of it all...
Letting myself try what I wouldn't usually and getting up  early to see the sunrise and making sure to see the sunset. I hope to listen to the stories of my families from Holland, Australia and Canada.

Come with....I will try and tell you the stories as I live them. If I can't here...I will on fb.

It is warm...it is summer

I love that weather happens, otherwise, what would the news channels have to talk about. What I find rather interesting is that when weather is unpredictable...it is cataclysmic. We can't have hot weather, we have to have dangerous weather. We can't have a dry streak...it's a drought. 

If we believed our news channels we are on the edge of the apocalypse...