"Is it dangerous?" and other questions

The official city website makes Bandung look like a great place to explore. We're sure looking forward to it! Depending who you talk to, the population seems comparable to that of Washington  state and N. Idaho, crammed between active volcanos.

One of the questions we get asked often: "Is it dangerous in Bandung?" Honestly, we don't know. Lots of people live there and do fine, year after year.

Some things will be different than Seattle, like the frequency of earthquakes. Check out the current quake monitor here. We expect that the ground will move under our feet a lot.

Gedung Sate

Want a few more interesting facts about life in Bandung? The International Relation Office caters to university students, and these lines made me laugh: "As in other parts of Indonesia, it is almost always sunny in Bandung, except during the wet season (September - April) Umbrellas and light jackets are recommended during that season. Sweaters may also be needed in the early morning or evening." Wait - isn't September through April most of the year? So it rains a lot.

Want to compare the cost of living with where you are? Here's a fun website with that info.

We're planning to learn Bahasa Indonesia at IMLAC. Here's a video about the area and the school.

Don't you feel like you have enough homework, exploring all those links? Have fun.

Christmas in Bandung

"What's it like over there at Christmas?" we've asked our friends who live in Indonesia.

"Christians go to a church service!" they all agree.

Though the country is mostly Muslim, many Indonesians have embraced the practice of resting, vacationing, and spending time with family during this season at the end of the year.

The lobby at the Hilton Bandung

Malls and hotels capitalize on tourist and local trade with decorations, special sales, and guest events. There aren't a lot of nativity scenes, but you can count on secular decorations: Santas, baubles, presents, and window displays. So ... Christmas in parts of Bandung looks similar to celebrations in the big cities of North America.

Of course, Bandung boasts palm trees and tropical downpours rather than fir trees and snow blizzards. There probably is more nasi goreng (fried rice) than turkey for Christmas dinner. And short sleeves and sandals are more common than winter parkas, snows skis, and warm boots.

We'll have a lot of adjusting to culture and environment, but how we look forward to our next Christmas - in Bandung!

Working toward a new home

We just moved into our basement. It's a great space. But it's a temporary landing pad until we move to Indonesia. Lots of our friends are asking how we could say "YES" to this opportunity. We were comfortable. Safe. Secure. Had good jobs. Great connections and friends ...

And yet, here we go. We're uprooting "life as we know it" for something new - learning a new language and telling Good News in Indonesia.

Will you support us? Send us and go with us in prayers and giving? Please become our partner in this new adventure: we can't do it without you. Click here to give. Thanks for being part of our team - on behalf of those whom we'll meet there.

The student life

Waldemar and I love to learn. Whatever catches our interest, we read up and study until we satisfy our curiosity. We seem to be perpetual students.

We have a bunch of books and links for learning the Indonesian language. We're researching about Bandung itself. Whenever we can, we talk to people who have visited or lived there.

Sometimes I think my head will explode. It takes longer to capture information, but if I can tuck it into what I already know, it makes good sense.

One of the things we look forward to when we get to Bandung is seeing how other people live. It will be our fourth live-in culture. In each one, people have unique worldviews and expectations. There's no perfect setting ... so there are many ways to adjust within the community.

W likes to gather information on how things work and how things are done. I love the stories people know about themselves and their surroundings. Who will we meet? And what will we learn? We're excited to find out!

Where in the world is Bandung?

The simplest way to describe the place where we're going to language school is to spin the globe to the lower right of Asia. Islands dangle below the bulk of China and cruise the ocean between India and Australia. The longest east-to-west island is Java, Indonesia. A fourth from the left, smack in the middle (north to south) of Java, lies Bandung. It's surrounded by volcanos. in hill country.

"You're so lucky to be going there," say Indonesians. "It's cooler than Jakarta and Singapore." It gets down to 66oF some nights and days are in the 80s and high 70s. I'll take a few sweaters for those cold nights. And maybe I'll be able to wear the shoes I abandoned for my month of flip-flops in Singapore.

There's also a lot of rain. Growing up in Chilliwack, a BC valley town surrounded by coastal mountains, I should feel at home. Actually, I hate rain and dark clouds overhead. But everyone assures me that the sun comes out most days. And the rain is warm, unlike the icy downpours of SW Canada. Whew.

We first heard of Bandung in March this year. Now we're bumping into people from there at every turn. Yesterday we picked up a table from CL couple. The wife is indonesian, and her sister is at a Bandung university. A gal on the video capture team at NU comes from Bandung. Etc.

When we decided to go in March, people asked us if we were excited. Ummm, maybe not right away. There's too much to leave behind. Now our anticipation is building with every encounter and each conversation.