Ron and Sally Jo Blog

We have returned to Indonesia; our fifth time here.  It feels familiar but there are also always changes.  We returned to Yogyakarta where we first spent time in 2001.

We had a 20-hour stay in Bali on the way to Java which gave us time to catch up on some needed sleep and a walk along the beach.  We stayed in the same hotel that we did in 2000; it was still very nice.

Here in Yogyakarta we are living in a small flat on a church compound.  The flat was furnished with basic furniture but we needed to outfit the kitchen and begin to make it feel like home.  We’ll take you on a quick tour.

On entering our flat is a small room, only big enough for a sofa and 2 stuffed chairs.  This is typical; it is the place you greet people.

The living/dining room includes a couch, a sink, a small bookshelf. and a table which we use for eating, working, and playing games.  There is also a TV – with all programs in Indonesian.  Off the living room are two bedrooms.  (There are only two sinks in the flat—the kitchen sink and one in the living room.  There are none in the bathrooms.)  We definitely need to put more things on our walls!

Our first meal in the house (breakfast)—and yes, Ron is tired!  We had our familiar granola from home and had found some yogurt and milk in the grocery store!

The bedrooms are quite small but adequate.  At least they have air-conditioning!  We set up a charging station for our communication system – computer, 4 phones (2 US and 2 local), and portable internet port.

Our kitchen was furnished with a two-burner gas plate, small refrigerator, and a water stand.  The university thought we definitely needed a microwave (even though we don’t think so) so they got us one.  Indonesian kitchens seldom have regular ovens.  Off the kitchen at one end is a spare bedroom and at the other end are two toilets/showers.

The compound is fairly quiet and away from most traffic.  There are many trees and bushes; we hear birds in the morning; we see many butterflies.  The actual view from our front door is of the garbage collection area!

Sally Jo joined a group from the compound on Saturday morning for exercise.  It was a version of yoga with Chinese influence.  The photo is not good but is included anyway.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2018 at 7:07 am and is filed under Indonesia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.