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November 26, 2011

Hello From Indonesia!!!

Yes, we made it here! We just got internet yesterday, but honestly the last week or so has been so busy there was no point in having it before hand.

Where to start!? The plane ride over was actually pretty straight forward (for having 4 little kids)...14hrs from Vancouver to Hong Kong, a quick 1.5hrs in the Hong Kong airport, and then a 5 hr flight to Jakarta. Unfortunately some of our family was sick when we left, and spending a night and a day in airplanes didn't help much. We spent our first few days of jet lag recovering from sickness. But all in all, we made it just fine and it could have definitely gone worse than it did! Thank you to all who prayed us across the Pacific!

 Here we are in Hong Kong pausing for a picture in our rush to our next gate. Unfortunately we never had time to sit down at all here, a quick bathroom stop and then get on the next plane!

 Jakarta was kind of a blur to our family. We only spent 2 days here as our visa paperwork was hurried through since we were in a rush to get to Salatiga for the start of language school. Here's Luke outside of the guest home we were staying in. I wish I had better pic's of Jakarta, but I was beyond tired and only had my 'point and click' camera.

This picture definitely does not do justice to the shear amount of people here, and also the crazy traffic. Riding on a typical street reminded me more of kayaking down a mountain river as the traffic just seemed to 'flow' along through the path of least resistance. From a car you were almost always within a foot of any number of cars, scooters, or Bajaj's (pronounced "Bajai" - 3 wheeled covered motorcycle type things made in India, they're everywhere in downtown Jakarta. I got to ride in one 3 times. Super cool!  I wish I had my camera).

Jakarta is like a world unto its own, as Central Java (where Salatiga is) is a much different place. Someday Amy and I (& the kids) would love to spend more time seeing & experiencing Jakarta.

Here's a little example pic of a Bajaj that I stole off the internet. The old ones are red and have 2 stroke engines, and the newer ones are blue and have quieter 4 strokers.

After 2 days in Jakarta, we headed back to the airport (to the dismay of our kids) and got on another flight to the city of Semarang. Fortunately this was just an hour flight, but included 3+ hrs in a hot airport for a Canadian family that is used to snow pants and toques this time of year :)

From Semarang we were picked up in an air-conditioned van and road the 1 - 1.5 hrs to Salatiga...and to our new home! The MAF families here have gone above and beyond in helping us to settle in here and figure out how to live.

I hope to have our next blog post soon and introduce y'all to Salatiga and the world we're just getting to know! Thanks again for all your prayers as we have really felt God's hand of protection on our family throughout the last couple of weeks.

2 comments:

  1. Awesome! We are so glad you guys made it there safely and in one piece! Thanks for the update. We look forward to hearing more about adjusting to life in Indo.

    WNG

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