mary and luke, javanese style.

for a few months now i have wanted to take pictures of my kids in javanese clothes.  my kids are growing up on java and are obviously influenced by the culture and way of life here.  though people don't wear these kind of clothes on a daily basis they are often seen at significant events, historical photos, etc… and i love them.  

this is their classic javanese photo… in portraits javanese people often don't smile so they didn't.  can't you tell how truly javanese they are.  ;)

that girl and her poses… the way she tilts her head and moves her hips kills me.  

i love this picture because it perfectly captures the way that mary tells luke what to do and the way he listens to her.  i'm sure she was encouraging him to do something funny so they could get more m&ms and be done with the pictures.  yes, i bribed them.  

and i leave you with this behind the scenes photo… 

that is really how they both felt about the photos.  mary couldn't wait to get dolled up and tilt that head in an awkward manner for every 'pose' she has… and luke was hot, sweaty, itchy and mad.  i'm not sure how i caught the above photos of him looking happy… i was probably talking about star wars or toots, if i'm honest.  :)  

the shrimp farm

have you ever thought about how shrimp are farmed?  me neither.  

last week we took a day trip to the island of madura to check out our friend's shrimp farm.  it was really interesting.  there were 33 concrete pools where the shrimp are raised and we came the first day of harvest… so here are the guys draining the pools and catching the shrimp in the nets.  

as the pools are drained the water in these canals all head back into the ocean… 

 some of the workers taking a break from the heat of day.  we went at 1pm and it was SO hot!!!  they are wearing sweatshirts and masks to protect themselves from the sun.  we're close to the equator here and the sun is hot on the skin! 

and then we took a stroll, threw rocks into the ocean and looked at beautiful, open space that we never see in our crowded city.  

the drive there was about three hours, most of which was through the island of madura.  madura is so different than where we live… we live in a city of 6 million people and it is crowded everywhere.  madura is much more village like… there are little groups of houses, markets and farms along the road.  the part we traveled through is green and very spacious.  i love just looking around at the peaceful scenery.  next time we go, we hope to stay longer and check out more of the beautiful island. 

and thanks to our friend, michael, for the invitation to see his farm!  

more afternoon playtime…

luke and the school girls that entertained him.  luke was totally not into all of the attention until i grabbed a ball.  a ball makes any awkward situation okay for luke, he just can't resist the pull of playing with a ball.  :)  

they played soccer for quite awhile and he loved it!  then they all got tired and moved on to this bottle cap game.  i didn't really understand it but i know that it's a game that has been played in villages for generations.  i love things like that!  they gave luke a turn too and cheered every time he did something remotely correct.  it was sweet.  

new friends and old friends… our neighborhood.

this week the rain has let up and we are celebrating!  we've spent our afternoons outside with neighbors… and sometimes strangers, like these girls.  a funny story about these girls provides a little look into the odd life of normal people living in a foreign land who are all of the sudden considered totally awesome.  haha!  if they only knew… 

luke was in the blow up pool and i was sitting on the street taking pictures of him (yes, the blow-up pool is basically on the street too).  these girls passed and i snapped a picture of them and smiled.  well, i think that was their clue that we are friendly, and not aliens, so they wanted to come take a closer look at us.  

luke was playing in his pool with nenek mul and these girls huddled around them.  surprisingly he wasn't upset, just really quiet.  they just stared, for awhile… like 15 minutes.  it was awkward.  

then, they asked for my autograph!  ha!  there is a first time for everything, i guess.  this cute little girl was getting out a pen for me to sign her notebook.  i tried to tell them that i was just a normal lady but they insisted… umm, ok.  

nenek mul and luke.  she lives across the street and is one of the sweetest ladies… she just laughs and giggles as she plays with the kids on the street.  we love her!

back to our new friends.  they left luke and went slightly down the road to find mary having a picnic with khansa.  the school girls huddled around them for at least 15 minutes and also surprisingly, mary was okay with it.  finally Mary walked home and told me and nenek mul that she felt awkward and just wanted to have a picnic with khansa.  nenek mul handled it and the girls happily walked away.  i thought that might have turned them off to us… but two days later i came home to six bikes and six little girls waiting outside our house to play again.  i guess we have some new friends.  :)

those "star-struck" instances still happen when we're around new people that haven't seen us before.  but one of the things we love about our neighborhood is that that doesn't happen often.  we are as close to "normal" as we'll probably get in our neighborhood.  our kids play like normal kids, we chat like normal moms, and we're nothing special.  we will never be indonesian but we feel a part of this neighborhood.  we love having a place my kids feel comfortable and accepted for who they are and not considered "other" because of their skin color.  when we prayed about where to live we felt a real peace from God about this specific house… so thankful that He led us to a place that we can enjoy life with our neighbors.

here are some of the neighbors that stopped by later that afternoon… we haven't seen these particular ones in awhile because the rain keeps people inside during the normal afternoon play time so it was really fun to have the group together.  i'm so thankful that we have a few weeks of dry season before we head back to the states for a few months.  this afternoon play time is one of my favorite things about living in indonesia!  

indonesian kids are adorable, aren't they!?  

Kartini Day

last weekend we celebrated Kartini Day with a little parade in our neighborhood.  Kartini Day is the remembrance of a woman (Raden Ayu Kartini) who fought for women's rights in Indonesia.  The day is usually celebrated by school children wearing traditional clothing and looking all too cute!  :)  Not sure where the connection is between women's rights and beautiful attire, but that's how it's done.  

the neighborhood playgroup that Luke was a part of last year held a little parade for playgroups from our area.  Basically we all just walked around the neighborhood and then each group did a song at the end.  It was so fun to see all the cute kids and beautiful teachers in their ornate outfits and beautiful head coverings.  i love the deep and unique cultural traditions in Indonesia.  

Mary, Luke and Khansa (our sweet neighbor) walked hand in hand most of the way.  Mary wore an outfit from Java, Luke was a man from Madura (obviously, he even has a mustache!) and Khansa wore bright Bali attire.  

i can't believe how big (and beautiful) she looks… make up and all.

and here are some photos of the other cute kids there… including our little neighbor friend, adik fahri.

some of the teachers from another school.  look at those outfits!  i love them! these are called kebayas, the traditional fancy clothes here that are worn for most occasions.  they are so beautiful!  mary has been asking if i could get one made for her.  i secretly love that she loves these bits of indonesian culture.  :)  she may just show up to church in america in a kebaya!  

i thought this little girl was so beautiful!  i finally asked her mom if i could take a few photos of her and the girl anxiously agreed… 

and here are tired, hot and sweaty mary and luke coming home.  

most of the make-up on both mary and luke had been washed off with sweat by this time… but look at those fake smiles and luke's pose.  so funny.