We held our workshop for Sunday School teachers in the Nommensen library. During the workshop I believe all 700 high school students peek in the window and tried to get Jacob's attention. He eventually closed the windows, even though that cut off the breeze. We watched as students carried desks up to their upper floor classrooms.
And then we went off to our adventure in Huta Bayu Raja. I Googled this, hoping to provide a map. Nothing on Google. Along the way we saw some construction. They build things in a most serious way here with lots of cement and building blocks.
The roads were still good while we were driving to and through palm oil plantations.
The motor bikes are everywhere here. Not to the level of Vietnam or Malaysia but still a main means of transport.
This is in a big village where we slowed for traffic. Notice the older man chilling in the shade of the building, and the wash hanging out to dry. We believe there are no clothes dryers here and we see lots of clothes lines weighed down.
We made a turn or two and were out of palm oil plantations and into rice fields.
And more rice fields.
The farmers are sometimes buried right in the middle of their fields. This reminded us of what we saw in Vietnam.
The road turned into potholes. We couldn't decide if it was a road with potholes or potholes with a road.
Riding a motor bike around the potholes would be extremely challenging.
We saw many churches along the way, most of them sharing the same architecture. Notice that the road has become narrower, but not potholes, at least for a short distance!
Kids don't try this at home! School lets out just after noon on Saturdays (yes, that's right, school on Saturdays!) and these guys weren't going to wait for the next empty microbus. It could be a good way to catch some breeze, also.
It was fun to see the students walking along the road, laughing and joking with each other.
All the girls here have colorful backpacks while most of the boys have more subdued colors.
Sharp instruments section: this lady was strolling down the road with a big machete. She had likely been working with others to harvest the palm oil kernels.
This guy is riding a motor bike while balancing a big pole featuring a monstrous blade on the end. The blade is so long it didn't even fit in the photo. This pole is used to reach up into the palm oil trees and cut loose the big kernels.
At long last we arrived at our school, SMA Negras in Huta Bayu Raja. The school must have been in the suburbs because there was no village to be seen from the school.
The first thing we saw in the school was this slogan, we're guessing it says that discipline is the key to success. We know that Kunci is key.
Here's the big voltage regulator used to provide power to the projector. I elected to run my laptop off of the battery.
It's lunchtime! Our favorite time of these teacher meetings. All of the lunches came gift wrapped in gleaming white paper. The bag to the left contains the smokin' hot sauce. I'm surprised it didn't melt the bag.
And here it is. Chicken, noodles, peppers, and, of course, rice.
Across the street from the school there was a beautiful Christian grave, just on the edge of the rice fields.
During the teacher meeting the big boss gives his presentation, while Mar (far right) translates for us.
The big boss told a story and every time he said one name, the teachers had to swivel their hips to the left, and when he said the other name, they swiveled to the right. That's our Nommensen friends Erni and Maylena in the front row.
Afterwards it was time for the closing ceremony. All of the guests were presented with an ulos.
Afterwards we enjoyed watching a soccer practice, including some of the children of the teachers.
Then we had to take photos with all the teachers, over and over again. We believe there will be over 100,000 photos of us in Indonesia by the end of this visit. Notice the lady in the black loving on Jacob!
On the way home we stopped momentarily to admire the water buffalo. Yes, he's licking his nose.
There were two water buffalo in the field, but one was shy.
More kids on top of microbusses. Do you think they have seat belts up there?
On the way home we passed through several small villages with homes built right up to the edge of the road.
Some of the villages included the old style homes, built out of wood and on stilts. Modern style homes are built of concrete/stone block on a slab floor, with a concrete drainage trench around the foundation.
More kids on the roof! We have not seen anyone fall off yet, but he have been told that it happens. Notice that a few potholes have been thrown in for extra challenge for the roof riders.
Still more roof riders. By the way, they are riding on the roof because the bus in crammed full of people inside.
Road construction. Big piles of sand and rock. All the work is being done by hand, including smashing rocks.
Lots of materials here but no work going on. I'm sure the road improvements will happen in good time...in Indonesia that means later!
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