Week 40 - Indonesia
Sunday was the last day of Ramadan and we spent it relaxing and swimming. We got very little sleep that night, between the prayers broadcast from the mosque, the celebratory fireworks and the cheers. Monday was the big holiday Eid Al-Fitr. We slept in a little and had a quiet morning with regular school work, then we had an invitation to an Eid Al-Fitr celebration at our property manager's house. It was a long drive, but worth it. His wife prepared several yummy local foods for us to try. The other guest was a Dutch man working on a PhD in anthropology and we had some pretty interesting conversation.
The drive home was even longer, due to traffic, but all the mosques are lit up beautifully for the holiday so that was pretty fun to see.
Tuesday was a school, beach and pool day. Wednesday we did our school work in the morning and went for a cooking lesson in the afternoon. This was a really good class. The chef taught us some Indonesian dishes but also some Thai and other Asian dishes as well. He was very well traveled and knowledgeable, and gave us some good general principles. C watched very closely, S was less interested. Everything was delicious. After we ate we were given a tour of a traditional market and we got some fruits and veggies to take home. It was a good day and we learned a lot.
These are the green beans we got from the market!
The rest of the week was school, beach and pool.
C is still making good use of the Nightingale Montessori algebra box.
S is still enjoying the swings at the beach.
J and I are getting busy planning the next few months which will be our last few months of travel. We've decided to extend it to the end of August, because there are still a few places in this neck of the woods we want to see. We've also realized we will be skipping South and Central America, which is ok, because that could be its own separate trip another year. So the rough plan is about a month in Australia, a month in New Zealand, two weeks in Fiji, two weeks in Hawaii, two weeks in Alaska (C's request) and home by September 1. We've worked out details for Australia and New Zealand, which was tricky as they're just opening and suddenly everything is filling up. We're working on Fiji now. J wanted to go to Tahiti after Fiji, but there weren't any flights. We both wanted to get C to Alaska since S got to go to Madagascar, and you have to fly through Honolulu to get anywhere west of Fiji, so we're going to check it out with a short stay. So that's the plan, still have a lot of work to do. It's hard to believe the year is almost over. I kind of wish we could just keep this lifestyle, but I also miss the farm. I don't really want to sell everything and become permanent nomads, but I think a least a few more big trips are in our future. Yes, it's hard work, but then what lifestyle isn't?