Lydia's First Concert

Cultural events are not as accessible here compared to Wheaton, which is a mecca of cultural activity, so when I saw a concert for kids advertised, I jumped at the chance to take Lydia.  I learned that Karawaci (the suburb where we live) actually has a community orchestra, children's orchestra, children's choir, community choir, and suzuki lessons.  The orchestra and choirs were going to be performing at a venue just down the street from us, and there was also going to be a special cultural performance from a group of Afghani refugees.  Basically, everything that I love and am passionate about all in one performance! The climax of the evening was going to be a performance of "Peter and the Wolf."

It looks like a grimace but that is excitement to be at her first concert!

Lydia and I biked over to the concert and found seats in the hall.  Since it was her first concert, I wasn't sure if it would hold her attention or how she would react. She climbed up on my lap when the lights dimmed and the concert began.  She thought the instruments were loud and was a little scared when there was a sound problem and the mic made a loud noise, but other than that she was perfectly attentive during the entire hour long first half of the program.  It helped that after the orchestra played, most of the choral pieces were accompanied by dance.  The choir was made up of what looked like junior high and high school aged girls and was quite good.  They performed folk music from around the world.  One of my favorite pieces was called "Badminton" and there was a choreographed badminton game that made the piece come alive and was a lot of fun to watch.

Sitting together.

After the intermission, the Afghani refugee musical group got up and performed several pieces from their own culture.  Watching the faces of those teenagers, I couldn't imagine what sorrow they had seen and the lives that they were living now.  Here they are in Jakarta, just waiting.  Not able to work, attend school, or follow their dreams.  Unable to return to their home country under threat of death.  Not accepted into a third resettlement country.  They have no idea how long they will be in this stage of practical paralysis.  You could see the longing in their faces as they sang about their country.  You could see their joy as they danced to the sound of their traditional instruments.  All of them wore beautiful and elaborate traditional clothing that showcased the elegance and uniqueness of their culture.  There is a group in Jakarta that works with these refugees and provides them with some English classes and other classes for the kids, but unfortunately it is too far away from where we live for me to realistically be involved.  It would likely take 1-2 hours just to get there.  Maybe someday God will bring refugee ministry closer to where I live.

You can't see well, but that's the Afghani refugee group performing.

After the Afghani cultural performance, Peter and the Wolf began.  It was narrated in Bahasa Indonesia and acted out by some of the kids from the choir.  Two hours into the concert, I had to take Lydia home to put Elias to bed, so we didn't get to see the ending, but it thrilled my music loving heart to see her reaction and response to the concert.  As we rode home under the few twinkling stars in the sky, she talked about the wolf chasing the bird and said, "the wolf is chasing us." The next day when we rode by the concert venue, she asked if we could go to the concert again.

Peter and the Wolf

For the next several days all she talked about was Peter and the Wolf.  We checked the book out from our school's library and she asked for us to read it over and over again.  We showed her a full performance of Peter and the Wolf on youtube several times and she intently watched the whole 30 minute performance each time.  I'm excited that there's the possibility for Lydia to be involved in these kinds of ensembles as she gets older (if she is so inclined).  To have such resources right where we live is no small thing!

Out on the Water

It had been a while since we'd had an adventure; so I didn't think twice before accepting the offer to take a day trip on a boat to see the Thousand Islands off of Jakarta's coast.  I knew that it might be crazy to take a very active one-year-old, currently exploring everything and constantly on the move, and to be stuck on the boat for a whole day, but we were up for the adventure.  It was time to get out of the Lippo Karawaci bubble and do something different.  

Family pic in the cabin of the boat, note the squirmy one-year old.

Elias is not too happy about being momentarily contained.

Twenty-three faculty and staff from ITC signed up for the adventure, although we brought the youngest passengers on board.  We started our journey at 5:15 in the morning, meeting our drivers on campus and driving down to Batavia Harbor.  From the dock, we climbed into a speedboat and were taken out to where our boat was anchored.  The boat was probably the most western-feeling place that I've been since arriving in Indonesia, even more so than my own home.  For one, there was CARPET.  The floors were amazingly soft; a paradise for a little crawler's knees.

And he's off!

A lot of times homes here are huge and magnificent but not comfortable, and falling apart at the edges.  Usually appliances are not up to date, cupboards look as though they need to be replaced, and bare bulbs shine from the ceilings. None of that was true of this boat.  Everything was shiny, up-to-date, and modern.  Each bedroom even had it's own bathroom with a lovely shower, toiletries that smelled amazing, and built in speakers and music station.

When we first got on board, I felt a little unsteady and my stomach didn't feel quite normal.  It was a strange sensation to walk around in something that was gently bobbing up and down.  We'd heard that if the water was choppy, you could get seasick.  I certainly hadn't thought about that when I signed us up.  I did not want to spend the day with a vomiting one year old or two year old.  But thankfully, we soon all adjusted to the gentle motion of the boat and were able to enjoy it.

When we woke Lydia up at 5 AM to get in the car and told her we were going to the boat she said, "I'm excited!"

Exploring the cabin.

The food was amazing.  First of all, to not have to worry about food for a whole day or prepare it was a treat.  But each meal was also deliciously familiar but with an Indonesian flavor.  There was fried rice, sausages, pastries, coffee and tea for breakfast, chicken, fried vegetables and salad for lunch, and salmon with mashed potatoes and more salad for dinner.  Not to mention cake after each meal.  There was also a mid-afternoon snack of an Indonesian food called Siomay (fried tofu, eggs, fish flavored balls of dough) and egg rolls--some savory and some sweet. Seriously, the boat ride was worth it just for the food!

We hung out a lot in the indoor cabin for safety reasons, but would take the kids up on deck for walks.  Elias loved exploring the cabin, crawling up and down the stairs that led to the captain's room and down into the sleeping quarters, and he of course found all the outlets and breakable dishes that were within reach.

Here comes trouble.

Mr. Handsome

Always in motion.

Up and down the stairs to the captain's room.

A view of the entire cabin.

Up on deck.

The ride out to the islands was about three and a half to four hours long, but we snacked on yummy pastries, drank coffee, and walked around the boat to explore while we travelled.  The waters were calm, so it was a pretty smooth journey.  As we got farther from Jakarta, the skies grew clearer and we saw the blue sky and sun.  When we reached our destination, the boat stopped and let down the banana boat.

Banana boating for the first time.

Oops, I'm the only one in the water!

I'd never ridden one before, but got to take a turn.  Within minutes of all of us getting on, the driver of the dinghy started zipping back and forth through the water.  We could see that he'd made it his duty to get us to flip, and pretty soon we all landed in the water.  When we got back on the boat I ended up on the back, and got flipped off a second time.  We all fell in the water one more time before heading back to our boat.  

Everyone got dumped off.

Lydia had fun standing on deck and watching the banana boat get pulled around and flip off its passengers.  Jeff went out snorkeling while I watched the kids, and then we all ate lunch.

After lunch, the kids went down for naps, and we began the journey to our next island.  The water was significantly choppier this time and we were really bobbing up and down.  I tried to lay down for a while, but it was rocking too much for me to be able to sleep, so eventually I got up and went up to the deck to watch our journey.  It turned out that the water was too choppy for our original destination, so the captain took us back towards Jakarta instead.  After about 3 hours, we stopped at another small island that used to be a Dutch fort.  We could see the Jakarta skyline from the boat.

On the old Dutch fort.

Lydia with her sea shell collection.

We all got ferried to the island and had a chance to walk around, take pictures, and collect seashells, Lydia's favorite past-time.  Jeff and I alternated going to the island since Elias had to stay on the boat. We made our way back to the boat as the sun was setting, showered, and watched evening settle over Jakarta as we made our final journey to the harbor.  We could see the skyline stretch out alongside of us, and we got a clear picture of the scope of Jakarta.  We sat out on the deck with the kids in the night for a while, watching the sparkling lights.

We anchored in the harbor and ate dinner, then headed back to home.  We got home by around 8 PM, a successful day on the boat with no sickness.    

All the ITC faculty, staff, and family members/friends who came.