Visit to the Pijat for memijat....

 So, just over a week ago Craig was playing soccer and sprained his ankle pretty good.  Although it hasn't been super painful it is still very swollen and bruised.  As were showed it to our local friends they all had the same response...you  need traditional massage!  So....we did it!

 As we walked into the man's house...we were a bit surprised to see him just sitting there on his couch "working" on another patient.  We sat down for Craig to wait his turn.  The longer we sat there, watching and listening....the more Craig was ready to go home.

 About this point...Craig stood up and said "Ok saya mau pulang!"  meaning...I am just going to go home now!

 But then he braved it out...making his way over to the couch, he was a bit hesitant.  With good reason!

 The man started off slow and gentle..mostly communicating in the local dialect which we do not speak or understand.

 Yes, the other patients stayed around to watch this white guy get worked on...I think at this point he was trying to convince Craig to stay and let the man do his work.  He kept saying it will only a hurt a bit and then tonight or tomorrow you will be much better.

 As the man began to push a little harder...Craig was initially laughing and jerky his leg away quite quickly

 I think the man probably started holding on tighter and pushing a little bit harder...he definitely seemed to know just right where to apply the pressure

 Yep, that one hurts!.....notice the man sitting next to him smoking and smiling...

 Telling another story about when he used to play soccer, I think he was just trying to distract Craig.

 Just a few mores spots and you should be all better.  I didn't get a picture of it but after this the man asked Craig to run around the room a few times because he should be all better.  The man just sat their and laughed and laughed...as did the others watching.

Finished off by applying some icy hot type stuff...as he was finishing up with Craig a large group of people showed up.  They had come 2 hours to see this well know "Dr"!  Overall, we chalk it up to a great learning experience that will NEVER happen again.

learning to make traditional food...

In the last week I have been "experiencing"a lot.  This has given me a chance to compile pictures of different things which we will later go back through with our language helper.  Today I learned to make opar ayam.  This is a traditional way of cooking chicken with natural herbs and coconut milk. 

 grinding the fresh herbs by hand

 everything is fried here....

 even the seasons get fried

 adding fresh jeruk "orange" leaves and bay leaves

And there ya have it...Hudson wasn't super keen on it. He would rather just eat rice and ketchup :(  But still asked for second helpings!!

The Bus Trip

Last week my friend and I planned a trip to the "BIG" city.  We have been to the city many times before BUT....never by bus!  We had heard from many people that it was very easy and cheap and that we would be fine.  I decided to take Stella with me (my adventure side kick!)

We left our house about 9:30 am and walked to the "bus stop" just down the ride.  This was for the local bus/van service that runs within our city.  This cost us around $.25 to go to the other side of town. Then we crossed over the main road (I only mention this because it is CRAZY!)  We waited on the other side of the road for our bus (big Coach Bus size) that would take us to the city.  We waited about 3 minutes with many sketchy busses trying to get us to get on :(  ...So, our bus came the door opened my friend got on first and then I with Stella in my arms stepped on...and the bus was OFF!  I grabbed at anything I could find and pulled myself the rest of the way up the stairs and through the isle as we looked for seats together.  As we found our seats I quickly whipped out some dramamine for my motion sick prone child as I knew she was going to need it on this trip!  I am happy to say that overall the trip there was good and "safe" and only the kid in front of us puked (NOT Stella!!!)  Oh I almost forgot to mention that this 1 1/2 our ride was just over $1!  We arrived at our stop and got off and got into a taxi to take us to the shopping center (about $1.50 for a 20 minute ride)  Stella slept the end of the bus ride and the whole taxi ride...what  a trooper!

 We spent our day together just relaxing and having fun...but then around 3 we realized we should begin our journey home before it got too dark (usually around 5:30ish)

We asked a few people and they all recommended that we take the taxi to the bus terminal and catch our bus from there.  They said it would be where the majority of the busses would be and so it would be "easy" to get a bus there.  HA!

We waited aprox 2 hours at the bus terminal.  And let me tell you...it was not for a lack of buses but rather for a MASS of people.  Every bus that would pull up people would come out of NO WHERE and crowd in..pushing and pulling and prying...NO THANK YOU!

(This is not my picture...and it may be a bit exaggerated but it was what it felt like!!!)

 A few times we began to enter the mob but it was just TOO crazy!  Finally after almost 2 hours of waiting in the noisy, smoggy, hot and humid bus terminal I said OK the next bus we are getting on it.  We positioned ourselves where we hoped the door would open and stood our ground.  The bus pulled up....the people crowded in and we stood our ground inching, pushing and pulling with legs and arms wrapped around me I picked up Stella and put my purse in front of me and kept inching forward!  PUSH PUSH PUSH..yes I was pushing now too!  Finally on the first step of the bus...we made it!  Found two open seats and plopped down...I could not stop shaking.  I don't think I was so scared as much as it was the adrenaline!  Needless to say...we did not make it home before dark!  But we DID make it home and we were safe!!!  And it was DEFINITELY a cultural experience!