Pictures of March 2009

When I looked through some pictures that we took from our recent trip to Purbalingga, I found some that are interesting. I choose some of those pictures and then picked three that I think are worthy to be the Pictures of March 2009.

This picture was taken by Pita one early morning in Purbalingga. The object was Ibu Esti's bike (who is Dina's mom). It was foggy and the temperature was cool, I wish I could woke up early that morning and enjoyed the wonderful misty morning in that town.

We were in the town square, blended in with the people in Purbalingga enjoying the saturday night life. The square was packed with people, motorbikes and food vendors. The picture was taken by either Abbie or Peco, I am not sure, but I like the way all the motorbikes parked in a long row.

Purbalingga

Purbalingga is a town approximately 5 hours away from Salatiga. We had the privilege to visit Dina’s family in this town last weekend. We had a blast and we were glad we made the trip before saying goodbye to her. We left Salatiga at 4:30PM and we got there at around 9:30PM. Though it was tiring, the long ride in the bus didn’t stop from having fun on our way there.

Tired, feeling dirty and hungry, Dina’s mom became our savior when she served us the delicious Soto Purbalingga for dinner and tempe mendoan on the side. It was yummy! The first night at the house was great but in the morning we woke up pretty grumpy, especially Abbie, because there were some noisy children screaming around. We found out that there is a Kindergarten school right exactly across from the house.

Pita made the morning a bit different. She woke up earlier than most of us and took a bike ride around the market and rice field. She took some pictures of it. The misty morning of Purbalingga is beautiful.

The adventure began when Dina took us to the water park 30 minutes away from the house. We took an angkot and then a bus to get there. It was interesting because there is a pretty big water park in such a town like this. We’re happy that not many people went there. We really enjoyed the park, swimming in the pools, sliding, did some crazy stuff and got hurt, and flying fox. That was fun.
Pita found a guy who do sketching for living. It wasn't bad at all.The lunch was reserved for the infamous Soto Sokaraja and Durian Ice. Soto Sokaraja was excellent but for some of us, the Durian Ice was a struggle. I love the Durian Ice and for once I must agree to Dina and Maria that perhaps it was the best Durian Ice in Indonesia.

Saturday night is a fiesta time for the people in Purbalingga. The center of it all is the town square. We walked for 30 minutes to the square and it was packed with people, motorbikes and food vendors all over the place. We hang out in there for a couple of hours, talked to people, took some pictures and ate dinner.
On our way back, we stopped by at Maria’s parents’ house. It was exciting to meet with them and listened to their stories about life and their children.
The next morning we woke pretty early for church. We all felt sore from the swimming but it didn’t stop us from wanting to praise the Lord. Anyhow, we struggled to stay awake throughout the church service. Many of us had to fall asleep during prayer time. Forgive us, God. Back in the house, Dina’s mom served us a hearty breakfast that we enjoyed so much. We then hang out and talked about random things.
It was a long and short trip but we all enjoyed it. It was good to getting to know Dina from the other side and listened to her mom’s story about being a single parent raising three children. I thank the Lord to have this opportunity to getaway during the weekend and experiencing Purbalingga. It was cool to see His work in providing us with protection and blessings.
Thanks Dina for being such a wonderful HOSTESS! ;)

Skate & Bowl

Two weekends ago we went to Jogja for Ice Skating and Bowling. The trip was part of Dina’s “dream” to do those things before she leaves to Batam for good. At first, we weren’t sure if we could do it because it looked so difficult but with little courage from our white friends who have more experienced in it, we then proceeded. Peco and Tiffany didn’t have any problem sliding the ice, for me and Andre we had to re-learn it from when we did roller-skate a while ago.

But for Dina and Pita, it was a tough world!

It didn’t take too long for them though to learn the art of ice-skating thanks to Peco and Tiff. They could finally slide the ice with their skates. For Andre though, he could skate with speed but the problem was he didn’t know how to stop!

After 2.5 hours of experiencing the ice world that mostly occupied by children, we finally rested and moved on to a different play world.
I’ve played once so did the rest of us, except for Pita. After a short briefing from our coach Peco, we came into the battle of bowling.
I found that bowling is more than just throwing a ball into the pins. It took some skills.
There was a machine that counted how many it was interesting to see how we strived to win this game.
Finally the game was over and our coach won the game, the second position was Pita who we thought was her beginner's luck winning. Hehe.

Paris van Java

I finally made to Bandung visiting my good friends Eric and Katie. It was a great trip and I had a great time with them as well as sightseeing around Bandung.

Paris van Java, that's what the Dutch called Bandung back when they ruled this country, has changed so much from the last time I visited this city. Lots and lots of malls, factory outlets, restaurants and hotels. But one thing that hasn't changed much is the trees. I like the way the government maintains the trees in most part of the city.

I spent most of my time hanging out with them. They took me to an Italian restaurant called Fashion Pasta on the upper part of Bandung. I recommend this restaurant for anybody visiting this city because the food and the atmosphere is excellent. Eric and Katie also took me a tour around Bandung with car and motorbike. It was fun! I managed to do some shopping too. :)

I was blessed on this trip, not only because I was with great friends but I also learnt more about God and myself.