Wandering Browns

BYU Basketball player! Getting ready to shoot! Halloween is not a holiday in Indonesia. However, it is a holiday that we wanted to celebrate with Landon. Looking through our limited clothing options, I managed to scrap together a BYU basketball player costume. We even have a BYU basketball with us for a prop! I purchased a bunch of candy from a expat grocer down the street and we were in business! He couldn't keep the ball in his hands for long without dropkicking it! Getting organized, with his ball in his bag October 30th I explained to Landon that it was Halloween and we needed to practice saying, "Trick or Treat". Landon loves to look at pictures from my phone and had noticed that last year, he was dressed up like a dinosaur and got lots of goodies, so I think he had some recollection of what was in store. He went behind a sliding door in our hotel room and Austin showed him how it was done. Then it was Landon's turn. He just wa...

We walk in the door, Landon says, "Buddha!" Which I'm pretty sure is not a normal 2-year-old vocabulary word! We ventured out of the bubble of our hotel room and area to go on a tour of the National Museum of Indonesia, which happens to be across from the National Monument of Jakarta. The tour didn't end up being on the same day, but we are glad we had an excuse to get out and learn more about Indonesia. Map of Indonesia and its different ethnic groups Model toddler Before we saw any exhibits, we stumbled upon some sort of conference taking place in the lobby. There were dancers dressed up in traditional costumes, so we waited around (and Austin took some phone calls from work) until they performed. Landon kept busy by trying to destroy fragile things in the gift shop and running around in the copious amounts of open space. When the traditional dance did take place, I could tell it was a less experienced, less practiced group of dancers...

After church/Sunday lunch taxi rides are exhausting! We took another very interesting prop plane ride from Cilacap to Jakarta on Saturday so Austin could get checked out by a doctor in Jakarta. It was great timing because it meant we got to go to church the the next day. Church was great- the English ward is very small, but very friendly and welcoming. It was probably 30% American, but many other nationalities were represented in the congregation from all over the world. The individuals who gave talks gave great testimonies in English although their native languages were Chinese, Spanish, and Indonesian. Sunday school was taught by a woman from American Samoa, who was married to a guy from New Zealand. The mission president and his wife were Australian. It was wonderful to have the gospel in common with these people from all over! Landon had one nursery buddy. I helped out for the 2nd hour because the nursery teacher was not there. A wonderful couple invited us over for lunch. ...

After a LONG week of work, Austin had a day off! We took it easy in the morning and left late morning to visit both tourist attractions in town in one fell swoop. The first is Teluk Penyu or Turtle Bay. Turtles USED to come up on the beach to lay their eggs. They were killed off, though, or found other beaches. So now, it is just a trashy beach with fishing boats all over it. The water is still very pretty, though, although Austin says it is polluted. Anyway, we walked this way because there are these awesome shell shops on the way down to the beach, and we wanted to purchase some souvenirs. We ended up with a cute little white and blue turtle made out of shells and ceramic, and a cool looking green/blue fish. We bartered down to about $7 for both. I think that was fair for what we purchased.  Ammunition bunker Barracks- i.e. holes hewn in a hillside After bartering, Landon fell asleep on our walk along the beach. There were little fishermen huts and restaurants a...