Running Around Town

As some of you know one of my favorite things to do is go running. I recently signed up for a 1/2 marathon here in April and have been training for a couple months. I use the term "training" very loosly, since I really only run once or twice a week(I have a feeling it might be a really rough race!). Anyway, one of my favorite things about training is running longer distances and getting to explore the area around me(maybe a more fitting word would be that I get really lost and have to find my way back home, but I'd rather call it "exploring"). I love running around here(except for the hills) because there's so much that I pass and see on my runs. I've wanted to share for a while what it looks like and some of the different areas around me. These pictures are along the route from my last long run that I did.

One neighborhood I run to is called Puncak Tidar(the top of Tidar). This is a really nice development with some pretty massive houses. I know it's like this everywhere, but it's hard to believe the divide here in economic classes. There's this neighborhood and then right next to it is a village with tiny houses.

Even though it's about 2 miles  straight uphill, this is one of my favorite spots to run to, because it overlooks all of Malang.

Next I pass this little guy who always looks like he wants to rip my face off. I'll keep my distance from him...

The monkey belongs to this house, which has(as you can see) about 100 bird cages outside their house.

In some places there's a wall along the outside of Puncak Tidar. At one end, there's a little door that you can go through that leads to a little village on the other side. It kind of reminds me of a secret passage. I love it!

This is the little path that runs along the other side of the wall to go to the village. I wish I was more brave to take pictures of the people I pass and greet, but I'm never brave enough to stop and whip out my camera and take pictures of them.

After there's a road that takes me back to my neighborhood that winds through kampungs and passes this one are of rice padi fields.



There's a little shortcut I can take to get to another neighborhood that crosses a little bridge only wide enough for a motorbike to cross.



This is one of the kampungs I pass through after the bridge to get back to my neighborhood.

It amazes me how different each neighborhood and area is here. I love experiencing each part, interacting with the people as I run and taking in God's creation all around me.

New Food Friday--Sate...Malaysia style

While I was in Kuala Lumpur, I got to taste all sorts of food from different places. The first day walking around, we went to a street that's known for having great street food. During the day it's a normal street, but at night it's consumed by street vendors selling food. While we were walking up and down and taking in all sorts of smells(good and bad), we passed a guy who was making Sate. Well, there was no way I could pass that up!! He had all sorts of sate- so many types of animals and so many parts of animals, too.

This was only 1/2 the selection, but you could choose whatever you wanted and the guy would cook it up for you on his grill!

This is a really bad picture and you can't see the actual food, but I ended up playing it safe and chose lamb sate and crab sate(it was actually a mixture of things stuffed in a crab shell.

Well my face was still smiling after I ate it all, too! It was DELICIOUS!! My favorite was the lamb sate, but they were both really good!

Kuala Lumpur

This past week was spring break for one of the schools here in Malang where 2 of my friends are teachers. We had been planning on doing a little trip somewhere while they are on break and ended up finding a really cheap way of being able to go and stay in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It's amazing how inexpensive it is sometimes to get to surrounding countries here. A part of Malaysia is actually connected to one of the many islands of Indonesia, but we went to the part of Malaysia that is connected to Thailand. We stayed there for a few days and it was amazing to explore the city. I had no idea what it was going to be like there and expected it to be a lot like Indonesia. Not at all! The city is so modernized and is a pretty big business hub, especially with the Petronas Towers being there. It was really easy to get around the city with the train system they have and is a huge walking city--they even have sidewalks!!! that's very different from Indonesia :).
My favorite thing about KL was how incredibly diverse the culture is there. The population is a mix of people from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and China. These influences in KL, of course, also mean AMAZING food. I think I got Indian food almost everyday. There is also a lot of tourism in KL which brings in a lot of Europeans and Americans. It was refreshing to not get stared at for being a different race, because there are so many different races there. For the most part people there speak English, but Malay is a lot like Indonesian, so we were able to use our Bahasa Indonesia there, which many people thought amusing.
Here are a few photos from our time there:

We went on a walking tour that was on a map we had and there was a lot of beautiful architecture around the city. This is one of the buildings that was built during the times of colonization there.

Like Indonesia, the major religion is Islam. This is the National Mosque in KL. It's kind of hard to see from the front, but it's massive!

We learned that KL isn't a very cheap city(well... in comparison to Indo), but this place was free! The nation's flower is the Hibiscus and there was a whole Orchid & Hibiscus garden. It was gorgeous!

Why yes, it's true. I do love KL!

From the bottom of the Petronas Towers. So cool to see! We didn't get to go to the top though :(

Just hanging out at my new house...they had a place to "look into the Malaysian culture" and there were all types of houses to look into.

The only picture of Esther and I together from the trip! Oh, long story short, because of some hiccups and miscommunication with Indonesian Immigration, our friend, Dee, couldn't leave Indo. We missed her a lot!!

This just made me laugh, when I walked into a convenience store. Why wouldn't you have an instant mashed potato machine next to the coffee??

It was really fun and refreshing to be able to take a few days and experience another culture and part of Asia. Malaysia is such a unique country that was completely different than any expectations I had!

New Food Friday...Snail Sate

This sate was one of the first I wanted to try, but trying to find it has been like being on a treasure hunt. Since snail sate is only sold from street side carts, they can move from place to place. So, if you see it once, it may not be there again. Usually the street carts have the name of what they sell on the front and for a long time I looked for the Indonesian word for "snail", but could never find it. Then I found out the signs say "Sate 02" because the "02" are supposed to look like a snail. Clever.

Well, one day before class, I saw a street cart...more like a guy with a box on the back of his bike... that was selling Sate 02. I swerved to the side of the road and got one portion of it. The guy tried to sell me more, but there was no way I was buying more before I knew how it tasted! Well, needless to say, I think I struck out with snail sate. I'm sure it wasn't the best person to try it from, so I may give it another shot someday. But, something about the chewiness of it and the fact that I see them everywhere on the street after it rains, kind of turned me off to it. Maybe it was the fact that there was no nasi(rice) to wash it down with. :)

Story Telling Competition

Last week, I was asked by a friend if I would help out by being part of a jury for a kids story telling competition. Being more than happy to help out, I agreed not knowing any details, figuring it was just for the kids that take English classes at his after school center. Come to find out it was actually a legit competition! It was held at a Elementary-High school and a bunch of kids from different Elementary schools were competing in different events all week--story telling(in English!!) was just one of the events.
When I got there, there were 26 elementary age students from different schools around Malang participating. They were supposed to choose a fable/story from Indonesia or another country. They memorized the story, retold it in front of the audience and were scored based on their story-telling competency(pronunciation, performance, presentation, how well they followed the story, etc.). I'm probably not the best person for a jury, because I thought they were all great---I was probably the equivalent to Paula in American Idol. We listened to all of them give their stories, then chose 10 finalists who told their stories again. From the 10 we chose the top 3 winners. They all did such a great job!! I was amazed at how well they spoke English(kids start learning English now in SD, or elementary school).

A picture of all the contestants...They were so cute and got all dressed up in costumes for their stories. Most of the ones that were dressed up were for the Indonesian stories, but there were a few little red riding hoods there too :)

The 2nd and 3rd place winners...I loved their look of anticipation for the 1st place winner!

Aaaand the 1st place winner...she's a little excited

The jury and the winners...sorry for the bluriness, one of the students took the picture haha

New Food Friday...Sate Kambing

This was actually my new food from last week, but poor internet connection kept me from uploading :) Next on my list was snail sate, but when my friend, Kurnia, and I went to look for it the seller wasn't set up yet, so I settled for the next best thing...goat meat sate. I will just have to wait for snail sate next week(I don't mind waiting!). I've had goat sate before and it's actually really delicious and tastes a lot like beef, but for some reason this time was below par. Maybe it was just the place where I bought it.

Murah Hati

One thing I'm constantly learning more about from Indonesians is being "murah hati" or how you "generous" in Indonesian---direct translation is a cheap heart(or liver...they use the same word for both sometimes!). In every way I am challenged by the way they freely give in their lives-their time, their service, their food, etc...and always with a smile on their face. Neighbors and friends are like family to them and guests, even if they're dropping in unexpectedly are treated like royalty(they even have a common phrase in Indonesian for that). Indonesians have been a true example to me of how to have more of a servant heart. I'm reminded of 2 Cor. 8:7 where Paul says(talking about the generosity seen) "Just as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in complete love for us--see that you also excel in this grace of giving."
This past weekend was another example to me of their generosity and kindness. My friend Kurnia invited me to her friends' house for the weekend. Mind you, I have no idea who her friends are and have never met them before, but immediately I was welcomed into their home and lives. Her two friends live in Pandaan, which is about an hour north of Malang, in between here and Surabaya. Their house is in the middle of rice padi fields(literally)...it was amazing. They immediately welcomed me and as we visited and talked, I learned a lot about their family and life, and they even tried to teach me Javanese(the language most people prefer to speak here). They laughed everytime I tried to use a Javanese word. The mother has 8 siblings, most of which live nearby in Pandaan. We went and visited 3 of her siblings, who all welcomed me the same...as family. The amazing thing to me was how simply they lived, but how generous they were. Their family of 6 live in a 2 bedroom home, but joyfully opened their home to 2 more for the weekend. I had such a blast meeting them and going around the town with them. One of the aunts said to me at the end of the weekend that since my family is so far away, they have become like 2nd family and I am welcome anytime. :)

Trekkin through the rice padi fields

We went to the top of a lookout hill where the view is amazing...you can't really tell because my camera skills are below par :( I can never get over the colors of green here!

Thanks for the memorable weekend, guys!