Life in the big city can be hectic, they say, and last week was no exception.
While there were the usual traffic jams and crowds, and the usual smog and smoke; it was also our last week in the capital before moving on to other parts of Indonesia, and so it was quite the busy week.
For the sake of time and space, here is a brief rundown of our last week in the city.
We began our week on Monday with more Indonesian lessons and conversation practice at the office. The participants were just beginning their second week of homestay and were able to send some time with their hosts over the weekend. One group traveled to a beach north west of Jakarta, another to a wedding and Taman Mini (a Indonesia cultural park) and another to Sumatra (I’m a little bit jealous). This gave them a little bit of an idea of what Indonesians do for recreation and helped them learn more about the culture.
Tuesday we had the privilege of visiting Kartidaya, and Indonesian organization dedicated to fostering literacy and language development in the villages. Seeing the passion of the students was amazing, their desire to serve others, especially the unreached.
Please pray for this organization, its staff and the people it trains as the task before them is immense and their resources are not. Pray that people in this country will grow to value their work and support them, and that other people and groups from western countries will support them as well.
Wednesday, we were able to listen to the Director of the organization talk of the work being done here and his past experiences. It was a great challenge to a great encouragement and us.
Thursday was a regular class day for the participants and Friday they wrapped up the classroom part of the trip with a big test.
The rest of Friday was spent getting ready for the next phase of the trip in different parts of the country.
Saturday, the participants attended a coupe of weddings with their host families and we made preparation for our Good Bye dinner Sunday evening.
We visited a Baptist church near the office Sunday morning and had a shared a meal with them and had a great time meeting some of the youth group in the early afternoon. Then it was back to the guesthouse to start cooking for dinner.
The Good Bye dinner went well, we made chili, burritos and tacos and had corn and fresh baked bread. The Indonesians seemed to enjoy the food, but I think it wasn’t nearly spicy enough for them. The participants were able to see their hosts one last time and express their gratitude for hosting them for two weeks.
It was a good evening but a long one, after cleaning up and packing most of us turned in after midnight, and had to be u at 4am to go to the airport to catch out flights out.
As we were leaving the office for the last time, we also heard the call to prayer echo over the city, sending us off in a way.
And the early morning streets were almost deserted, apart from a few cabs and commuters getting an early jump on the traffic, as were we.
The airport was busy, as it always is, but we were able to move through the lines quickly and get to our gate.
When it was time, we boarded a crowded 737 and headed off, leaving now familiar Jakarta for a new island, a new culture and a new phase of learning to love and serve the amazing people here in Indonesia.
