LifeInContrast.com

The other night as we sat on our porch and watched the first serious thunderstorm since we’ve arrived, we both remarked that we couldn’t believe it was 5 months already. I told Denise “here we are!”
It was really relaxing to watch the hard rain fall from the dark clouds to the green landscape below, [...]

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This weekend I am headed to Jakarta as the only competitor from all 3 of our Bandung schools, to participate in a Bahasa Indonesia spelling bee for teachers whose first language is English (i.e. Westerners).  The spelling bee in Jakarta pits me against representatives from our schools all across Indonesia, although it’s possible most of [...]

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It’s a little after 2am on Friday night, and every mosque in the city is still going at full volume. The mosques began their vigil at around 6pm and have been loudly broadcasting prayers ever since. I’m told they will continue non-stop through the night until the morning. It is an amazing [...]

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Yeah, that’s right.  I’ve got the Simpsons Movie on DVD already, complete with fancy packaging.  It’s a very good bootleg, completely watchable.  Watched it on my laptop last night, in fact.  And it cost me all of 80 cents.  Don’t hate.

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(Photo: A massive KFC here in Bandung)
There are many Pizza Huts, McDonald’s, and KFCs in Bandung. In most cases the food is not exactly the same, but it’s still pretty good. The sauces are usually a little different, sometimes sweeter. The ingredients are generally the same, with tiny changes. Combo meals [...]

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Thursday the 13th marked the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhan (also known as “the fasting month”), when all Muslims must refrain from food, drink, and sex during the daylight hours.  In fact, nothing must pass their lips during the day, so that includes water and smoking.  Ramadhan is a time when Muslims are [...]

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My motivation to post lately has been pretty low, but I assure you we’re still alive.  :)  Oddly, we didn’t feel a thing from the 8.2 earthquake that happened on Sumatra earlier this week, or any of the 40 massive aftershocks that are still terrorizing residents there.
It’s late on Saturday night, and we’ve spent most [...]

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About midnight last night I was working on my laptop when I felt the whole house shaking, our cement house. I yelled for Denise to wake up and stand under a doorway, although in retrospect all of our doorways have glass overhead. It lasted for about a minute, pretty minor shaking, similar to [...]

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Last weekend we took a trip to the province of Garut. First stop was the traditional village of Kampung Naga, where they eschew the use of electricity and live the way their ancestors did. It was a little depressing to see antennas sticking out the top of some of the huts, but it [...]

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Here’s my new motorbike - a 2006 Honda Supra Fit that I bought for about $900 USD. It’s got some serious power! Now I just need to practice more so that I can actually ride the thing. Then maybe I can join that motorcycle gang.

(click thumbs for larger images)
Here’s a [...]

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