Mondays are my days off. This may sound odd for anyone who does not work in the ministry. Monday is my new Saturday. This has both its advantages and disadvantages. One the one hand, there aren't too many crowds at the beaches, parks, malls, etc. on Mondays. On the other hand, many of my friends work in the real world of business or education and for them, Saturday is still on Saturday.
Today just happened to be a half day off, however, since the author of a study we are doing in youth group was speaking in Jakarta. I did get to sleep in until 9am (despite being woken up around 5am for the call to prayer over the loudspeakers), then got up and puttered around on my computer for awhile. I had a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal (the only way to disguise non-American milk) with brown sugar (I take a packet or two every time I'm in a coffee shop or restaurant since I can't find it in the stores). I did a little work (just a little, it is my day off!) and then headed out at noon.
I had a new address for Pak (like Mr. or Sir) Sarmili, but had complete confidence that he would be able to find it. He constantly reminds me that he knows everything about Jakarta. After only one wrong drop-off, we found the complex and I headed up to the seminar.
I've been reading a book on mentoring by Dr. Tim Elmore http://timelmore.com/, and we will be doing a study written by him starting in a couple of weeks, but I'll admit that I wasn't really sold on his material. However, the three hours I spent listening to him today really changed my mind. He really knows his stuff and has a solid foundation for his teaching. He discussed a term he coined, Generation iY, referring to those born after 1990. It was very interesting, and I will be reading his books now with much more interest (despite the fact that he uses way to many acrostics).
Side note: Our boxed snack at break time was so Indonesian, I had to share it with you.
1) We quite often get water in these little containers and have to poke a straw in the top. I laughed when I saw the speaker up front trying to peel the cover off of his water like it was a pudding snack pack and remembered when I once tried to do the same thing. Side-side note: the word for water in bahasa is "air"
2) A fried something-or-other (top right) with hot chili sauce. From what I could tell, it was deep-fried on the outside, and rolling around on the inside were a few julienned carrots, hard-boiled egg, mayonnaise, some kind of meet, and a stick of cheese. Oddly, it was pretty good.
3) What's that on the bottom right? A brownie. Sprinkled on top? Shredded cheese. I am from Wisconsin, but cheese? on a brownie?
4) Lastly, stapled inside a plastic container, an attempt at a cheesecake bite. I think...
After the seminar, Tina (my co-youth-worker) and I headed over to one of 3 malls within walking distance so she could take me to a store she knew I would like. This store sells office supplies, books, dvds, video games, computer and phone accessories, and of course, treadmills. Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I loooove office supplies. I didn't really click with this particular store however. I don't know if it was the lack of post-it-notes, the overly high priced paper (a pack of 50 pages of looseleaf for about $4), or the fact that they didn't have or were sold out of the two things I specifically went there for. I did end up buying a book of Bible stories for children (in bahasa Indonesia, of course) and a nice map of Jakarta to hang on my wall.
After meeting Leah at the mall and sending Pak Sarmili home for the day, we walked over to Chili's for a nice meal. One thing we Americans take for granted - free refills. Ok, so we had to pay for the tortilla chips, but they were bottomless. Turns out the "bottomless" soda only referred to regular Coke, and not diet Coke (sorry Leah!).
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| My mountain of a salad (with ranch dressing!!!), quesadilla, and bottomless Coke |
That brings me up-to-date! Well, not quite. But at least now you know that I made it home safely from Papua. I hope to add more posts and photos of the trip soon. Although, you might have to wait until next Monday!
