Wandering Browns

Having been back in the comfort of the United States for one week now, it seems like our time in Cilacap was something that happened long ago! Here are the last batch of pictures from our time in Cilacap: Mrs. Titi asked us to come take pictures at a studio in the center of town. They had us take the picture against a plain gray background, and then photo-shopped in some pretty awesome backgrounds, including the Eiffel tower!? I loved how Mrs. Titi had us go to this professional studio, then made the funniest faces and poses. Also, Landon and Mrs. Titi are making the same face in the picture above. The other children are Mrs. Titi's niece and nephew who live next door to her. Mr. Teguh is holding Landon, and is Mrs. Titi's husband.  On our last full day in Cilacap, I took Landon down to Teluk Penyu beach to dig around in the sand, blow off some steam, and take some more pictures of boats. On our way there, we ran into two school PE classes playing in the field cl...

As a college student, December was always a hectic time. After Thanksgiving, it seemed that everything came to a head- papers, projects, and finals all loomed in the weeks before Christmas. I always shopped early and over the course of a few weeks to combat the pressure of that time of year. After completing my graduate program, I never felt that Christmas was so hectic and commercial that I didn’t have time to celebrate the real reason for Christmas- the birth of Jesus Christ. Sure, I was annoyed when Christmas stuff appeared in the stores in October, but really the start of the Christmas season for me has always been Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, you prepare for Christmas! Here in Cilacap, there are no problems with the “commercial” part of Christmas. No rushing around buying gifts. No Santas in the mall and commercials on TV with all the best Christmas toys. We don’t even have a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints here to sing Christmas songs wi...

Meet Mrs. Titi, and note how big she is compared to Landon... A few days ago, I had a bad day. Landon was especially naughty, Austin was off work but dealing with work stuff, and it was just a bad day. I missed home/family, I missed going to church, I missed normal food,  I missed speaking to people and having them understand me. This rarely happens to me so when it does the tears flow. Anyway, the next day, I ran into not one, but two women who both spoke great English! Not only that, they both invited me to their houses! I was very sweaty as I met them both post-run, but man did it help my spirits to speak to women who spoke English. I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows me and hears my prayers, but more than that knows what I need more than I do. Anyway, the first lady gave me a slip of paper with her phone number and told me to call her and come to her home and she would make me spaghetti. Her husband is from Amsterdam and is there right now so she is all alone....

Playing around at the hotel I wake up. Usually too early because Landon has been awakened by the loud street noise just outside our window. He crawls into bed with us around 5:30 and hopefully sleeps a little longer. Time for breakfast! Much like the rest of Asia, people eat the same things for all three meals here. There is a big buffet at our hotel that includes steamed rice, cooked vegetables, meat, and usually some sort of cooked soy product as well. There is chicken porridge, which is actually rice porridge with chicken in it, as well as fried veggies and meat that has been battered. That's the Indonesian section. There is always toast and various pastries and breads, which I find to be dry. I always opt for the bread pudding where all the dry bread is cooked with eggs, milk and vanilla into a delicious little custard. then there is the small "western" breakfast area with pancakes or french toast (always cold), sausage, veggies au gratin, potatoes, and omelets....

Thanks, hotel driver, for taking our picture! On another day Austin had off, we went over to the mangrove forest not very far from the center of Cilacap. Of course, with traffic and such it took about 30 minutes to get there, but it was worth it! The people at our hotel tried to tell us there was not much to see, but I thought it would be interesting to go anyway. This is the only mangrove forest on Java, and is shrinking because of deforestation/clearing for farmland and taking away sediment. The government has proposed ways to preserve it, but that doesn't keep locals from trying to survive, is my guess.   I'm not sure if I've ever seen a mangrove forest quite like this before. Wikipedia told me that these trees are most likely red mangroves- because of their roots. They live in water that is tidal and so they have to be able to withstand salt water as well as fresh water. Red mangroves keep upright in the marshy/boggy water by making stilt roots to support them...

Close up crab patterns- with their hiding holes Tiny crabs made these intricate patterns in the sand overnight First, the fisherman had to take the motor out of a nearby shack and put it on the boat. Austin finally had a few days off before starting working on the 2nd of two units he is helping with here in Cilacap. I have been wanting to go to the island since we got here, and we finally got the chance! It was one of the coolest experiences we've had since starting traveling- so magical! The island is just right across the river from Cilacap, and its name is Kambangan Island, nusa=island in Indonesian. It has four maximum security prisons on it, reached only by ferry across the river. People held there include terrorists, drug dealers, and politicians in prison for corruption. Sounds like a fun group. The prisons are accessible from the east side of the island- closer to Cilacap, and the tourist attractions are along the southern border and the western border. The ho...