Current events

Lately I've been able to get around and see some more of the areas around my new town:

 A view of town

 Loads and loads of chocolate beans being loaded into a truck in town

 Being silly at the university

 Christmas arrived several weeks ago, with lots of interesting decorations 

 We walked to the top of a hill a little ways out of town to a peace monument

 The university is below there

 Today I went with some friends from church to see how a couple of guys from India are working to record the bible in a local language, which will later be broadcasted on the radio

 We got to listen in on the recording prosess, even though we couldn't understand a word of what they were saying

 The recording studio was set up at a very beautiful place about 30 min by motorbike from town

My friend is helping cook for the team. Here she is cleaning some rice that was bought at the local market. 

Meat in bamboo this time

Today my local church here had yet a cook-up to earn some money for their christmas party, and this time it was pork meat cooked in bamboo (with lots of spices and chillies)!

 Working up a sweat

 Yes it will be spicy!!

 Crushing turmeric (gurkemeie)

 About 25 kg of meat was put into the bamboo 

Krumkaker

Here I was thinking that krumkaker were really Norwegian...turns out they have them here as well ;)
Here in town they like to fold them twice, while other places they roll them up.

Pulang kampung

This weekend I went with my friend Vero to her kampung (village) for the weekend. It was a 4-5 hour ride on motorbikes, first over a mountain and then along the coastline northward from my town. The bike trip wasn't all that comfortable I must admit ;) but it was so much fun to meet my friends family and friends and see where she grew up. Here are a few pictures of what I experienced this weekend:

 Hanging out at Veros big brothers bike-repearing shop (where my bikes back tire was changed as well, after getting several holes on the way up)

 Veros sister and cousins playing cards on the porch

 There were lots of pigs in this village, one of which ended up on the table for sundays lunch. This is how they hang up the pig after its been slaughtered, then they cover it with coconut branches and set it on fire to burn the hair off.

I got to see a lot of spice-trees in Veros familys garden. This is cengkeh ala. cloves (nellik)

 Here she is digging up some kunyit (turmeric) (gurkemeie) for me to see

There were also pala trees (nutmeg/muskatnøtt), a yellow fruit with the nutmeg covered in a pink layer, that is also dried and sold more expensive than the actual nut.

 This is cloves been dried (nellik) in the sun. Gradually it changes color and becomes darker and darker. The whole village actually smelled like cloves!

 A huge beetle 

 Some houses were made of wood, while the more modern ones where of sement with some wooden beams

A "guard pig" .)

 This is a pepper tree, or bush maybe

 Guess what this is?! No, its not en exotic spice, but a spider egg, yuck!

 On the way to the village we stopped at a few places for pictures. There were 8 of us, 2 people on each of the 4 bikes

If you want candy, you have to mandi dulu! (take a bath first)

 Vero making soup, and adding some coconut shells for fuel. Burns hotter than wood

 Veros sister cutting up limes in the kitchen

 After chuch on sunday, coco-beans drying in the sun (kakaobønner)

 The gang on the way home, stopping to take pictures at this beach before it got too dark (while I was thinking, shouldnt we drive as far as possible before it gets dark?! ;) Always time for pictures!

SD

A couple of days ago I went with my friend to her workplace, an elementary school (SD). She teaches a class of 9-10 year olds. It was really interesting to see the differences between a school room situation here and in Norway (from how I remember it being when I was in elementary school ;) The school day started at 7 (!) and before that the teachers had a meeting together at 6.30 (!!). I guess it's best to get most of the learning out of the way before it gets too hot

A couple of random pictures:

1 kg of MSG...enjoy

Selfie with Aisa