THE BUTCHER, THE BAKER, THE HEADHUNTER!

Have been out of circulation for a couple of days - have been in bed with a raging temperature and cold sweats - Biddy says it was probably a mild dose of malaria which you can apparently still get even when you are taking the tablets. Anyway feeling better now and temperature almost back to normal.
Stan has been taking my class as well as his own and done a sterling job. We take most classes between us (with 12 students) and only one or two on our own when we want small group discussions (with 6), but have decided we definitely prefer working together. On Monday we were talking about how jobs are changing from the jobs their grandparents had. So we were discussing whether those jobs would still be needed in the future,with the increase in technology. When we asked them what their grandfathers had done we had the usual answers, mainly fishermen and farmers, until we came to Tia, whose Grandfather was Dayak. She didn't know the word for what he did, so just drew a finger across her throat! After some discussion it transpired that her Grandfather was a headhunter! We were assured that the Dayak decided to stop headhunting white people in 1908 - we said we were very relieved!

The variety of food available on the street at dusk is really amazing. There are no stalls there during the day and then at dusk the vendors turn up with their wares either on handcarts or all on the back of a bicycle - one carried tables and chairs as well as his gas stove, pots and pans and food to cook - and we worry about finding space in our car for New Wine stuff!
The area outside the college is the sweetcorn stalls - they are along both sides of the street - little barbecues covered in sweetcorn.Near to Biddy's house we have the nasi goreng (fried rice) man, noodles man and (our favourite) the terang bulam (moonlight) man - he cooks thick pancakes that are at least 3 inches thick (he brings the batter ready made in a bucket!)and fills them with a choice of about 10 things, sweet or savoury. We have chocolate and nuts - delicious!
Some of the vendors drive past the front door and stop if you go out. They all have their own 'call sign'. They are either on bicycles or motorbikes and again carry everything with them. In the evening is the noodle man (he has a horn)who will cook you noodles of all colours. There is the vegetable man in the morning (about 6am!) who rings a bell. His cycle is loaded with boxes carrying every vegetable you can think of. It is amazing there is room for him to pedal!

One of the biggest differences here (apart from the heat, the language and the food) is how noisy it is at night, much noisier than in the daytime. As it gets dusk the grasshoppers start and then the lizards join in. I didn't even know that lizards made a noise but I am assured that they do - it sounds like babies crying and it continues all night - takes a bit of getting used to!

Stan decided to make it easier to watch the football and went to the electrical shop in town and did some haggling. He bought a 14 inch TV for 40 pounds and an aerial for 1 pound - and the picture is superb! Walking back from Ruth's (our German friend) was an hour's trek, as at 1am there are no ankohts, and we have to be up at 6! Ruth and her German friends are coming here to watch England v Germany on Sunday and Stan has promised me he will be on best behaviour!

Tomorrow we were due to travel 4 hours to Central Kalimantan - an ex-student of Biddy's has asked her to be Godmother at her daughter's baptism - and we (and the American girls) had been invited to go and stay the night. Biddy has suggested that it may be wise if I don't go as I'm still running a temperature as it's 4 very hard hours drive and the village they are going to has very basic amenities, so I have agreed to stay here and Stan is staying with me. We are disappointed not to be going but in a way it will be nice to have some time on our own as we really have had none since we got here. Also it is not deemed polite for us to walk close together and certainly not to hold hands (this is where Will starts making finger-down-throat motions).

Finally - and should have put this first really - God has done an amazing thing for us this week. On Monday a group of students from a school nearby who are of another faith (the girls were robed)turned up at college with a letter from their English teacher. She had heard that there were some 'native speakers' at the college and asked if we could spend some time in conversation with her students. We were told we must be sensitive in what we talked about, and we agreed, so one group turned up on Monday and another on Tuesday. They understandably wanted to speak to women. On Wednesday another group turned up, with a couple of boys with them, and asked if they could talk to the man, so Stan spent half an hour or so with them after which they asked him to go with them to eat. He thought they meant down the road, but they put him on the back of a motorcycle and took him out of town! (I was at home in my sick bed so thankfully knew nothing about this and wasn't worried!). He said the place they took him to was very poor, beside a river where people were washing their clothes, their children and collecting water but they gave him the most delicious meal of soup and chicken and then brought him back. They also asked if they could keep in touch with him on Facebook! Isn't God wonderful.We don't have to worry how to get in touch with people so very different from us, he does it for us. We have certainly made some interesting acquaintances just going shopping - people want to touch us and have their photo taken with us and are so delighted when we try out our Indonesian.

PLEASE PRAY FOR -

The college as they are still short of students for the September intake and are interviewing again this week - pray that prospective pastors will come forward.

The girl who lives opposite - Fitri - and her 18 month old son Farrel. She is a second wife and her husband lives with his first wife. She only sees him briefly about once a week and she thinks he may have lied to her about wanting to be with her, she is worried that he won't provide for Farrel. She is so very young and our hearts ache for her.

Biddy as she drives the girls to Palangka Raya tomorrow. She has borrowed a car from the college which she says is much safer than going by taxi. She is such an amazing lady, we do admire her so much. She is so active we have to run to keep up. She mentioned in passing the other day that when we go to the airport she is also flying out as she has to have a check up in Singapore following her breast cancer operation last year. Please pray for her.

Love and blessings
Sue and Stan xxxx