From the Logbook...Workin' Hard

MAF is known for it's high standards and great safety record, especially considering where we take airplanes on a daily basis, landing every 8 minutes around the clock.  But we do have a lot of fun too.  The guys I will be working alongside are a lot of fun to be around, and everyone is usually up for a good laugh or two; VERY important to maintain your sanity in this lifestyle.

I will be "off" from flight training for the next week because my instructor pilot is going to Jakarta to attend some meetings.  When he gets back, we will hit the training schedule hard again.  Now we hope to get our future home up and running, and we're praying our container from Java will arrive at the end of the week.  

From the Logbook...Preacher Flight Con't...

In my last post I talked about some of the different animals I saw while in the village of Marokoi.  The two German nurses there have many birds they keep as pets, including the horn bill in the photo above.

In addition to the horn bill and this red parrot, there were a few other birds that I couldn't get a decent picture of.  All were very exotic and extremely colorful.  As we taxied the airplane out preparing for departure, I saw what looked like a python, around 8-10 feet long, swimming across the river as well.  The jungle is definitely very alive and active.

From the Logbook...Preacher Flight

Today, Good Friday, I rode along as a passenger instead of as a POI (pilot under instruction).  Technically, MAF was closed today due to the holiday but we still had one flight to fulfill.  We flew into a village about 100 miles from PLR where two German nurses live and have ministered for over 30 years.  We dropped off 3 board members of their organization so they could preach and participate in Easter festivities in the middle of Borneo.  Despite the picturesque scene above, the approach and takeoff are very challenging.  I look forward to the day when I have the experience to safely operate in and out of the village of Marikoi.

The village we visited was full of all kinds of Flora and Fauna that only a jungle can support.  This big butterfly wouldn't stay still, thus the picture is a little fuzzy.  In the next few days I'll post some more pictures of some of the other animals I saw during my short time in Marikoi.

From the Logbook...Training Continued...

On Tuesday we got off to a slow start due to mechanical reasons and then a gusher of a thunderstorm.  You would never know from looking at the clear skies above that just a few hours before the heavens opened up and let forth their power.  We were able to accomplish some flying in the late afternoon however, which was a lot of fun.

Yesterday our objective was lots of takeoff and landing practice as well as emergency procedures.  We were practicing an a VERY large river near PLR so when lunch time came around we just taxied to the middle of the river, shut off the engine, and floated lazily downstream for about 25 minutes while my instructor and I enjoyed our PB&J's while sitting on the float.  Fun times!

From the Logbook...Training has Begun

We arrived in PalangkaRaya over the weekend and today I dove right into training to fly the Cessna 185 float-plane.  While I was being shown the specifics on how to preflight the aircraft, we found a severely worn water rudder cable.  That was a "no go" item, so we postponed our planned flight and got out the toolboxes instead.  The aircraft was already up on the hangar floor, out of the water, so it was ready to be fixed right away.  I did learn one of the benefits of being such a big guy today.  The cable we replaced passes from the rudder of the airplane, under the tail, then into the float which then turns the water rudders.  Being that the cable and it's pulley are located in a teeny little spot inside the float, one of our national employees squeezed inside to help remove the cable and pulley.

Thankfully, we were able to install a new cable and after lunch we went flying.  Today's lesson was just to get me warmed up in the airplane and work out some of the rust that has worked in over the last several months of not flying.  Despite the evident rustiness, it was still a blast!  Hopefully, I'll be up in the air again tomorrow morning.   

An Update

There is a reason that I haven't been able to keep friends and family updated here for the last month...life.  I will try to sum up some of the main things that have happened in the last month(s).

• After a lot of discussion, we were asked to leave language school early because my future flight instructor and his family in PalangkaRaya, Kalimantan will be moving to a different MAF base.  Before he leaves, he has to check me out because he is the only float plane instructor on the island of Borneo.
• We were still going to language school up until yesterday.  I just finished unit 7 of 9.  We still have two more units to finish the whole language school curriculum.  We will return to Java later this year to wrap things up in language school.  
• We decided to buy a lot of our household furnishings here on the island of Java due to availability, quality, and price.  After purchasing many things, going through the hoops of shipping them to Kalimantan has been a large task.  I'm happy to report that it all left in a 20' shipping container this morning.
• Tomorrow we leave for PLR and I should be back in the cockpit next week.  As I'm able, I will be posting stories and pictures from our life and ministry in PLR.  My camera misses me!

My Backyardigans part 2

While the butterfly we found couldn't fly very well, it could still flutter a little bit.  When it flew from Paige's arm to her hair, she decided quickly she wasn't so fond of the pretty butterfly.  

The butterfly also made a little jaunt from Brooklyn's arm to her face.  She was really brave with this and didn't freak out at all.  I did have to remind to to breath though.  She was a great sport.  

My Backyardigans

A few days ago while the girls were playing outside they found a butterfly that had just emerged from it's cocoon.  Since it's wings we still drying it was having a hard time flying away, so we had fun with it and let it walk on the girls arms.  

Brooklyn is always the most interested at this point with all things nature.  She loves to understand the in's and out's of why things work and how they live.  It is always a joy to explain to her what I know.  Stay tuned for more pictures from our butterfly encounter...they are pretty funny.  

Borobudur Part 2

Here are a few of the thousands of chiseled stories carved onto the walls at Borodudur.  Certainly they all tell a story or history that I don't know.  I suppose we could have hired a tour guide, but that would have went over like a box of rocks with our 3 busy girls running all over the place.

It always makes me wonder what scenes like this would really look like if brought back to life today.  I am ignorant to most of the ceremonies and rituals that occurred there hundreds of years ago.  Maybe it is better that I don't know.

Supposedly the above carving is a princess on her way to give birth to the future prince of the area.  Some of the pictures ironically showed things that we still see in one way or another on a daily basis; horse drawn carts, large gatherings paying homage to someone, or just monkeys, elephants, and other wild animals.

While we were at Borodudur there was a large group of Spaniards all gathered around this man.  It was a bizarre thing to watch them all chanting something while bowing, dancing, and kneeling around him.  I couldn't tell if this man was happy to be there or just annoyed.  Borobudur holds a "Mecca like" importance to Buddhists and Hindus alike.  Yearly they gather by the thousands, usually in May, to pray and celebrate together.  

Borobudur Part 1

Yesterday, Becca and I took the family to nearby Borobudur because Brooklyn had the day off from school.  It was a great trip and it was a fascinating place.  Trying to contemplate it's almost 1300 years of history was hard.  

At the very top are numerous stupas, each with it's own Buddha idol in the middle.  Knowing this complex was all made by hand over 1200 years ago without modern machinery and tooling was hard to fathom.  Due to this fact it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Later this week I will post some more pictures from a closer scale showing some of the innate carvings that line most of the walls at the temple site.  

An Arachnid Viewing...

Last week I headed out with the girls to see what there was to see...and mostly just get them out of the house before mommy blew a fuse. (4-6pm seems to bring the worst out in our girls) The above spider looks and moves a lot like a crab.  It is about the size of small paper clip.

This isn't the best picture because my shooting light was fading.  But, it still shows a very bizarre specimen of spider; about the size of a half dollar coin.

I wonder if the spider above and the spider below are a similar species, or perhaps male and female of the same species.  The had very similar shapes, yet very different colorations.  They are about as big as a man's hand.

You might think that I like spiders since I posted a few pictures.  This couldn't be farther from the truth.  They give me the willies, and I don't particularly like them.  However, I am always astonished at how our Maker put so much detail and purpose into something so small.

The Guitar

I have seen that most males in Indonesia can play the guitar.  Upon asking our teachers about this, they said that it is an unspoken rule of sorts that all men are expected to try to learn to play guitar.  Even if you don't like it or possess any talent, you can say you tried.  Because most males try to play the guitar, many are very good at it.  It isn't uncommon the walk down the street to hear some youth trying to pick his way through a rhythm from one of the latest songs from America.

Bath Time

Most Indonesians take two baths a day.  The first one in the morning at about 4:30am and a second around twelve hours later.  How they keep their kids clean after their second bath when there is still daylight is a mystery to me, yet their kids stay clean.  Most do NOT have hot water, and even in the tropics a cold bath is still very much cold.  This little girl was bathing in her front yard, for all that passed by on the street to see.

The Squat

You are not a real Indonesian unless you can squat on your haunches for hours at a time.  I can't even bend one of my knees that far due to a knee surgery from high school.  The last time the heals of my feet touched my butt was 15 years ago.  Both men and women alike, young and old, can sit like this forever.  They talk like this, work like this, eat like this, and a few other things as well.

To Smoke Or Not To Smoke

An interesting subject here on the island of Java is the local mindset in regards to smoking.  Women DO NOT smoke, unless they are willing to endure enormous social ridicule.  I have seen ZERO women smoking here. Men on the other hand is a totally different story.  Most high school boys I see are already addicted to the tobacco/clove cigarettes.  The one benefit to having cloves mixed with the tobacco is it releases a slightly more pleasant smell than just tobacco alone.  I know very few men who are non-smokers.  The rest are hopelessly addicted to the stuff.

Watching Life Pass By

On an afternoon walk through the neighborhood, you will find many people out on their porches watching life walk or drive by.  Most are VERY cordial and happy to chat for a while.

Just Around the Corner

Just around the corner from our house you will see this one, and many others just like it.  It is almost as though the neighborhood grew around them and their farms of yesteryear.  As we learn the dynamics of the different families in our neighborhood, it is interesting to learn that usually the "founding fathers" live in the old, wooden homes while their children live right next door in nicer, newer, brick or concrete homes.  The home above presumably has dirt floors and a fire pit in the middle of the house for cooking.  There is no chimney either...the smoke just wafts up through the ceiling and through the tile roof.  They say it helps keep the bugs down.

A Few Creepy Crawlies

The girls and I went out walking through the neighborhood to see what kind of "wildlife" we could find.  There is always something to see.

This spider was about as big as my hand.  We see this species everywhere here.  I think they are called wood spiders.  Stay tuned throughout the rest of the week for some more sights of people from our neighborhood.

Neighborhood Pickup Game

While riding the Piglet around town yesterday with Paige, we happened upon this soccer game at the nearby soccer field.  It always amazes me how well they can play without shoes.

The other thing that amazes me is how many of these little guys can already ride a motorcycle.  Instead of riding their bicycle to the park, they ride their motorcycle.  Most Indonesians know how to ride a motorcycle around town before they are ten years old.  Supposedly, as long as they don't go downtown, they won't get a ticket.  

A Few Sights Around Salatiga

In the mornings after the girls are all at school Becca and I try to go for a walk a few times a week before we hit the books and do our homework.  As we stroll through the neighborhoods the "collision of technology" that we see everyday still collides with our paradigm of what the world should look like.  At least it is beautiful.

I have been meaning to get a picture of one of these in operation for some time and I finally had my chance.  While riding the Piglet around town with Paige we happened upon a sawah (rice paddy) and saw this man and machine in operation.  I have no idea what to call this thing, other than a mud-making-rice paddy-smoother outer.  It's really loud too!  It is basically replacing the work that would otherwise be done by a team of water buffalo.

Just like any public works project, there has to be a few men just sitting around watching the other guy work. These two men were happily talking away right next to the sawah that was getting prepared for planting.  They only spoke Javanese so my communication was limited.  However, he knew enough Indonesian that he told me to wait until he put his hat on to have his picture taken.