Here is what our first 10 days looked like, one day at a time.
Monday, we arrived in the afternoon, had dinner with the Toews and got settled into the house where we’re living. We had our first Indonesian take-out meal. The Toews got us the first meal they had when they arrived in Tarkan 12 years ago.
On Tuesday we toured the MAF hangar, met the national staff working there, and Herman helped us sign up for cell phone plans. While we were touring the hangar, the pilot on standby was called out to medevac a gunshot wound patient, and on the way back was able to give a seat to a master’s student in theology who was traveling to celebrate her graduation at the ceremony. Then we had our first “Bahasa Indonesia” Indonesian language class with Ibu Arsel, and after that we drove around half of the island with Henk. After, we had dinner with the Rojas family. Our luggage that was sent separately from Jakarta by air-freight arrived today as well.
Wednesday in the morning, Kristina took us to get cash and shop at a few different stores. We had Indonesian language class in the afternoon again, and then had dinner at a restaurant next to our house.
Thursday, we met a kind woman from the island of Java who is living and working in Tarakan as a missionary – she will help us and the new teacher couple with various tasks in the home – most excitingly, she loves to cook and is eager to show us some Indonesian recipes. The closest translation for Ibu Mona’s role is a “maid,” but she does so much more than that, and we are eager to get to work with her (once we are moved into our newly renovated apartment). Then we visited the school, and had another Indonesian language class in the afternoon. That evening we had dinner at a restaurant together as a team, and then Bible study and a team meeting after dinner. This Bible study is a tradition going back decades on the team.
Friday, we did a “driving check-out” in the morning with James, I borrowed a moped from the MAF office and drove it home, and then that evening we had dinner with the Braims.
On Saturday, I planned to walk to a nearby coffee shop and check out a nearby gym to see what they have. Emely land I were able to visit the nearby coffee shop (it was awesome), but in the afternoon the opportunity came up for me to ride along on the medical transport flight I wrote about separately.
Sunday we went to the nearby Indonesian/Chinese Anglican church, had lunch at the Chinese place that the priest recommended, and then had dinner with the Versteegs.
Monday morning we had planned to open up bank accounts, but at 8:30 that morning we learned that the community leader wanted to meet with us. So first we went there and met with him (with Ruly and Yusuf), then we went with Herman and the Stricklands to get our bank accounts opened up. Opening bank accounts took several hours, and we didn’t get back until around 2pm. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I worked on creating the video about the flight on Saturday. By Monday night we were exhausted, so we rested at home, ate leftovers, had popcorn, and watched Abbot Elementary. Oh, somewhere in there we played a few games of Quorkle, too.
Tuesday we went out again with Herman to get our tax IDs, and sign up in the health insurance system… for about $2 each per month. That actually finished far more quickly than the bank account, so we returned home and then had Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language) class in the afternoon. We had lunch at the Uncle Coffee café near our house, because it’s so good. After language class, I went on a short moped ride with James and Nate Braim at dusk. We drove by the MAF Rumah Singgah. The ride was beautiful. Emely and I made lemon curry tofu, it was delicious, but I left before it was done and Emely finished it off. I walked to a nearby store for some ingredients before, but they didn’t have what I needed so I substituted red curry paste. It was way too spicy.
Wednesday we finally had a restful morning. I composed an email update. I set up the Weather Station on a trampoline post in the backyard. I’ve walked three times this week to Peningki Hill, on Monday, Tuesday, and today (Thursday). My quiet times and those walks have been really a delight. Also visiting restaurants and eating with the MAF families. Yesterday we had leftovers for lunch. Then had Bahasa class. Emely made chicken fried rice for dinner. And then we went to the gym. She loved her Zumba class.
Thursday morning I walked at Peningki hill again, and talked to Nathanael. I had a nice quiet time before that. And I’ve been working on some writing. Oh, yesterday, I think it was, I wrote a long update in my journal in the morning. Comparing Indonesia to some of the other places I’ve lived. In the afternoon we had language class, then we had our team restaurant outing and our home Bible study.
Blowers, Stricklands, Toews, Versteegs, Braims, and Rojas. Those are the six MAF expat families who speak fluent English (though the Versteegs first language is Dutch). To my knowledge, there’s only one other fluent English speaker on the island, though many people have a little bit of English.
And then so far we’ve interacted briefly with some of the Indonesian staff: Ibu Arsel, Ibu Mona, Ibu Nia, Herman, Pak Yusuf, and Ibu Ruly. Also, Wiwi at the gym, Rev Jakobus at the church, and the people I talk with in the morning while walking.