I went to Indonesia to help out at a translation workshop. This workshop in Wausa lasted three weeks. Kartidaya is the Wycliffe equivalent in Indonesia. Kartidaya puts on these workshops with help from Wycliffe, SIL and the Seed company. Four languages were being translated here and I was asked to provide tech support for the workshop. All of the language communities supported by these translations are pretty remote. So much so that none of their computers could get updated. Part of my work was to update all the important software on the computers and to check them for problems. Besides work computers I looked at a number of personal computers that needed cleaning. I ended up cleaning out a decent amount of viruses, troubleshooted printer and network problems as well as host of other things. Happily I was up to the task for all the challenges that were faced.
At this workshop all the translators were Indonesian nationals. Helping them were consultants from SIL. I was pleased to find that I had a common connection with almost all the SIL consultants. Stew was a Biola linguistics professor. Helen had been at Rosemead while I attended Talbot. Janelle had been apart of the MK club with me at Biola during our undergrad years. I enjoyed connecting and having some good conversations with my fellow Biola alumni.The translation workshop itself was fairly remote concerning internet. There was a cell network with very minimal coverage for data. A couple e-mails got through over the course of three weeks, but for the most part it did not work. How would you handle three weeks of being cut off from the web?
The valley we were in was ringed by mountains and the clouds would come rolling over them. Many of the fields around were rice fields close to harvest and boy were they green. If you know rice fields you will now high brightly green they can be; almost a florescent green. It can be very pretty, especially contrasted with the flaming colors of a sunset. The valley was very lush as you can see in the pictures, though these pictures really don't do justice to what was there.Indonesian food is diverse in its more populated areas. Malaysians and Thai might argue their food is better but I can definitely say I also like Indonesian. However where we were the food was more simplistic. Every meal consisted of rice and a spinach type leaf. Sometimes we would have fish or a fruit like papaya. However I was not used to rice for every single meal of the day and I missed the variety from the coastal areas. However, it was still pretty good and I can appreciate skill with which the food was prepared.
Once we had finished it took me three more days to get back to the US. On the way I stayed at the FM7 hotel in Jakarta as I had an overnight layover. Instead of eating at the hotel restaurant I walked outside and across the street where I found a little eatery where a small group of folks were watching a world cup game. I think it was Germany vs Ghana. Anyway, I was able to get some delicious food for a fraction the price of the hotel cost and enjoy the game with a more enthusiastic set of company.On the way home my layover in Newark allowed me to watch the US vs Portugal game with a very enthusiastic American crowd. All of them were cheering or moaning as the game went on. I admit it was pretty fun. I got back to the states and had a whole day before heading out to Minnesota for a family reunion around my Grandmother Helen's 90th birthday. But that is a story for another day.
And that as they say is that.
