So it's late...

... and I really should be in bed, but as my friend Becky said, I haven't updated my blog lately, and I had an indo-moment I thought I'd share.

Becky and I went to Bistro Delifrance, which is one of many restaurants in our community. I like it because it has good coffee and good breakfasts.

So, we went for a quick dinner. She ordered some chicken sandwich thing. I ordered "Riz au bouef" (I tried to pronounce it the French way, but the waiter corrected me: "Rizobeef") Anyhow, the Riz au bouef was supposed to be a beef stew type dish over delicious oven-baked rice. Sounds good, no? Anyhow, the server mentioned it would take about half an hour. We thought this alright, and ordered appetizers. Everything came quickly, except the "Riz au bouef". We waited half an hour, chatted about politics (specifically Obama's inauguration tonight) and leafed through newspapers.

Riz au bouef: nowhere to be seen.

We talked about school, about the workshop Becky was at and summer holidays... pretty soon an hour was up since we ordered.

Riz au bouef: yet to arrive.

So we talked about the people who might be leaving indo, and the people we want to come back (hint: Liz Borchardt) and pretty soon an hour and a half had passed. I waved to the waiter.

"Would you like your bill?" he asked

"Bill?" I responded in alarm. "Where's the Riz au bouef?"

The waiter turns pale and has a glazy stare. He darts into the kitchen, followed by Indonesian curse words. A few minutes pass and he comes to our table with 5 'complimentary' slices of baguette with jam and butter.

He then smoothly saunters through the restaurant, out the front door and into the restaurant next door.

"This isn't going to be good," I tell Becky.

A few minutes pass, and the waiter walks past the window with a plate of white rice. A waitress meets him at the front door and covers the rice with a paper serviette. The man then walks through to the kitchen.

Minutes later I'm served Riz au bouef on a plate of plain white rice.

The Riz au bouef was nothing to write home about, but at least the story was.

Boycott Christmas!!!

I posted this last year, but feel it's relevant again at this time of the year.

www.adventconspiracy.org

Spend less on gifts.
Give more presence.
Love like Jesus.

Strange Things Indonesian: The President is Watching

Something a little different here, is that in rooms where people tend to gather (like classrooms) it is common to have a picture of the president and vice president of Indonesia, with the pancisilla in between. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is on the right and Vice President Muhammad Yusuf Kalla is on the left. The photos are symbolically placed a little lower than the pancisilla (which represents the basic ideology of Indonesia).

Growing up I remember having a large portrait of the Queen in our classroom, but she wasn't looking straight at us. She was a silent observer of our maths and language lessons, patiently and gracefully standing next to the Tom Thomson print. Bambang and Yusuf are looking at us, however, watching everything that happens. If I go to another classroom, they're there again! This is a bit of pressure not to corrupt these young minds.


At our school, each classroom has a picture of a blue-eyed Jesus too; a much more calming, pastoral element in the classroom (and His portrait is placed a few inches above the presidents'.)

Strange Things Indonesian: IndoCake

I've been thinking of making a series of 'different' things in Indonesia. There are many, many things Indonesian I love, and a few (in my own ethnocentricity) that I don't quite get. It's much more entertaining to hear about those followed by my jolly quips. So here goes.

Indonesians love cake. Every special event must have a cake and a banner (more on those later). Cake in Indonesia is different from Canadian Cake.

First of all, the cake itself is usually spongy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it isn't the fluffy deliciousness one often enjoys in other cake-loving countries.

Second of all, the icing is oily. Not just a little oily, exxon valdez oily; I've immersed my lips in a tub of vaseline, oily.

Thirdly, cake may appear to be covered with white chocolate shavings (over oily icing). Beware! All is not what it appears. Cake often comes with grated processed cheese on it. I tell no lies.

"I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm not saying it's right. It just is."

I bought a Vespa

I've loved Vespa's ever since High School when my favourite album was MxPx's "Life in General" and they sang "take a ride on my Vespa, I'll take you home." Maybe I'm a bit of a nostalgist, or maybe I'm one of those creepy people who can't grow past high school, but I still love them and finally bought one another teacher was selling. She had named it 'Winston' but I quickly changed it to 'Winnifred' as I thought my bike should be a girl.

It's not the toughest looking thing, but you have to admit it rates high in the coolness quotient. It's also a beast to drive... (I occasionally refer to it as 'the heifer') as it only has a 2 stroke motor, and it weighs a little less than a Toyota Landcruiser.

Prince and Princess Day

In Gr. 2 we had a Prince and Princess day to teach about respect, manners, and polite prince and princess behaviour. We got to wear crowns. It was awesome.

Persecution in Jakarta

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Today was a pretty exhausting day, emotionally. A group of us from our church (Jakarta International Christian Fellowship) and our school went to visit the female students from the Setia Seminary, an evangelical seminary in East Jakarta. These girls are currently camping in large military tents (with 40 to a tent) and basically waiting and praying to be allowed back onto their campus.

The Setia Campus is located in Kampung Pulo in East Jakarta, where tensions have risen as a muslim group in the area have forced (to put it mildly) the students out of their campus. Things escalated on July 25 when a student was accused by local residents of stealing from them. Large groups of people surrounded the school throwing rocks and causing trouble. Tensions remained high for three days until some village residents actually broke into the girls dormitories and physically assaulted female students. The police decided the students must be evacuated. At their worst, crowds surrounding the school were said to be around 10,000.

As the evacuation occurred, several students were seriously injured when people in the crowds threw acid on them. 17 students had to be hospitalized. Although having police escort, police did little to stop thse assaults. Apparently prior to these events, members of Islamic group canvassed the neighbourhood demanded residents sign a petition to get rid of the school. Apparently they forced some, even Christian famililies, to sign the petition.

Since the evacuation, government actions do not seem to be supporting the seminary. The mayor of East Jakarta has even said that since the seminary is the minority, the government cannot do anything (so much for freedom of religion in Indonesia.) The school is afraid the government will stall action long enough students will tire of waiting and will return to their home areas. The school is also afraid if this happens, it could set a precedent for other Christian institutions in other neighbourhoods. They hope Christians will not forget them, and will help get their story out internationally to put pressure on the Indonesian government to take more effective action.

Of the 1500 Setia students, 400 have returned to their home areas, 500 girls are at a scout camp, and 600 boys are at a transit house. Police have said no one is alloed back on the property, so students basically left with only the clothes on their back.

Meeting the female students was remarkable. We came on the second day of a three-day fast, which broke at 4pm everyday. We arrived during a prayer and worship time. I sat and watched and was overwhelmed seeing this group of 500 girls praying so earnestly for something so emotional and personal. At one point one of the leaders had them pray for food, as on Monday they would be totally relying on God to provide their meals. This blew me away.

After the prayer time, we met with a group of girls who were really excited to meet us. It turns out they haven’t had a lot of visitors, and there really isn’t much to do at the site. They told us about their personal experiences with the evacuation. We talked about their needs, which included socks, shoes, and blankets, and even counseling for those seriously traumatized by the events. The girls seemed to radiate joy despite their difficult and serious circumstances. We chatted about our families, what we did, and their studies. We enjoyed a game of Uno, which would provide a bit of relief from future boredom. A couple of our team members gave their English Bibles to a couple of students, to which the students were grateful to the point of tears.

All students had to wear bright yellow cards around their necks with the word “Evakuasi.” We asked Pak Jusuf (a professor of Setia) about this and said it was so outsiders could not infiltrate the group. Aside from issues of theft or taking a meal, a major concern was that their persecutors might try to spy.

At the end of our visit we met one young man who had a t-shirt draped on his head, and a bandage on his arm. He was one of the people injured by acid, and the t-shirt was covering recovering wounds on his head.

For our group this visit stirred many emotions: anger, sadness, and even joy at seeing God’s provision. Meeting these people who were enduring blatant persecution humbled me and made me take stock of my own life. I worry about so many stupid things. God could take everything away, and he would still be good. He would provide for my needs. I also take my faith and ability to practice it for granted, as well as prayer. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an urgent, immediate need, and a people so fervent in prayer. It makes my own commitment to praying seem trite and flimsy at best.

I hope to return in a couple of weeks, but I do hope and pray they will have returned to their campus.