Hello again! This time I'm writing from the house of James and Mihee in Batam, Indonesia. Batam about a 3 hour flight from Bali, is a locals' city. However there are several definitions of "local" around here.
Fist a recap of the past few days since the last post. We went to the meeting in Bali which was held in a small two story building. We sat upstairs where the meeting was actually held, while the bottom-floor seats were connected via video monitor; friends were able to answer questions when they were seen on a screen upstairs so a microphone could be brought to them. The whole auditorium probably held about a 150 people if full. The brothers don't where jackets here, which makes dealing with the climate easier, even though the hall did have air conditioning. This congregation is made up of mainly people who have traveled here from other places, like Australia and San Diego. Some retired here a few years ago, others have arrived recently, looking for an inexpensive place to live where they serve in English. Like our congregation back home, this congregation welcomes a lot of tourists just passing through, like ourselves. It's always comforting to go across the world and easily sync up with the weekly meeting program. After meeting we went to a nearby restaurant with a few locals, then headed back to the resort.
We spent another day enjoying our resort accommodations, and Sophie and I spent a good deal of the day swimming in the ocean and drinking Prost beer. In the afternoon we walked to Bali Collection, an outdoor mall across the street from our resort. We had the Indonesian version of pizza and then did some souvenir shopping. Afterwards we headed back to get packed up for our early flight to Batam, which was taking off about 6am.
Upon arriving in Batam we had enough time to stop at James and Mihee's house, get settled and change clothes to attend their Sunday meeting. Their congregation has their assembly on the weekend, so this would be the last opportunity to attend one of their meetings. We drove to the Kingdom Hall and had our first opportunity to witness Batam driving first hand. Driving in Indonesia is essentially a free-for-all. The only rule is don't hit anyone, but otherwise, lanes, right of way, even the direction of the road are all mere suggestions! The Hall was only 10 minutes away from the house, and is a small but quaint building. It's a modest place for sure, but holds some of Jehovah's very precious "belongings". There are several Indonesian locals which attend here, as well as several imports from different places, including the Netherlands.
Batam is a majority Muslim city, but the populace is made up of primarily Indonesians and 2nd and 3rd generation Chinese. The people are largely very poor, eating on around a US dollar a day, though there are also some very wealthy communities here. Most of the friends here are using savings to live and some occasionally go back to the US to work for a few months to fund their next stay abroad.
After meeting we went to lunch with the friends and then went to a dance party at a foreign sister's place. There were many children in attendance and they danced their little hearts out, as did many of the adults. It was a casual and fun environment.
The next day was a real blast. Some of the friends from the hall and us went to a wake boarding amusement park of sorts. It's essentially a long rectangular lake with a system of cables installed overhead. You strap on a wake board, life vest and helmet, then grab the handle on a cable and let it pull you around the lake, surfing on top of it. Getting started for your first time is very tricky, and makes for a lot of crash-landing in the water. Several of us were eventually able to get the hang of it though, and it was a real thrill to glide down even a good portion of the lake. We stayed until about 5pm enjoying association, water sports food and drink. Afterwards the group stopped at the house, and then went on to eat dinner. I however had to stay at home and try to sleep, because....
Unfortunately I've had to return to a working schedule this week, which means syncing back up to Vegas time, with mixed results. I'm typically working an 11pm-8am shift here, where the plan was to stay up afterwards for field service and association and hit the bed around 4pm. The going to bed on time part hasn't worked out real well, so i'm definitely sleep deprived and feeling it. The following day i slept in while James, Mihee and Sophie went to field service. That afternoon I went to lunch with James and another brother, then came home. The group went to see a movie while i tried to get some sleep.
The next day, after working a full day, i went to field service with everyone else. I had a very pleasant morning working with a local Chinese brother, who thankfully did all the talking in the majority Chinese neighborhood we went too. Afterwards we met for lunch in a multi story shopping mall. Because the girls were already scheduled to get manicures in that mall, I decided to go to the movie I had missed the night before, since there was theater in the mall as well. James came with me and after doing some window shopping, we went to the movie. Afterwards we met up with the girls and came home.
So that brings us to today. After my work shift ended I went to catch some Z's while the family went out to lunch. I've been writing this and watching movies on TV ever since. I will be going back to bed soon, and tomorrow is our last day in Batam before we start to journey home. The day will most likely be dedicated to packing up and getting ready for the trip before we board a ferry back to Singapore, where we will catch a flight to Korea, then back home!
Hope you enjoy the pictures below.
