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| Showing off our quickly drying laundry! |
It's the tail end of dry season at the moment ...at least we think so. Wet season is supposed to start around September, since it is an "ember" month. In Indonesian, "ember" means BUCKET, get it? So September, October (should be Octember, ha, ha), November and December are all bucket months....but so far no rain for at least 9 weeks here.
So this post is an ode to the dry season.....things we like, and things we don't!
NUMBER ONE THING WE LIKE (ABOVE PHOTO): Dry laundry every day! (During the rainy season, our laundry can literally hang around for DAYS before we finally fold it up a bit damp!) The same is true about our dishes. They air dry really fast these days. We have a rule that we don't towel dry dishes here. Did you know that most pathogens do not survive the air drying process? Since our water quality here is very questionable, we've just made the decision to kill more germs by air drying. The only problem is, during wet season, sometimes our cups stay wet for hours and hours!
NUMBER TWO THING WE LIKE: Dry dust. In my opinion, dry dust is better for playing trucks than wet mud, because it is a lot easier to clean off of a dirty boy and his clothes! However, I could also say it is a number one thing I don't like, as the dust gets everywhere in our house.
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| Demonstrating the excellent play possibilities of dry dust |
NUMBER THREE THING WE LIKE: Patriotic Cheer and Sprucing up of the Neighborhood! Indonesian Independence Day is August 17. Since it is the only holiday that all Indonesians of all religions share, it is the most largely celebrated holiday of the year. Traditionally, everyone spruces up their homes and keeps their yards clean and tidy for Independence Day. A lot of people even put fresh coats of paint on their gates and such. It's also REQUIRED for every home to display the Indonesian flag....even the foreigners!
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| Indonesian flags in front of every home |
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| The neighborhood display of 5 neighborhood flags, right next to the neighborhood list of rules/values |
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| Freshly weeded and swept flower beds and gutters |
NUMBER FOUR THING WE LIKE: Red Tomatoes! During dry season the tomatoes actually get enough sun and heat to turn red and ripe....while during rainy season we are often stuck with green, hard ones.
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| Red tomatoes. Still not as tasty as Walla Walla back yard toms, but good enough. |
NUMBER FIVE THING WE LIKE: Daily viewings of our local volcano, which is always covered in clouds during the rainy season.
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| Our volcano, Mount Merbabu (which means Ashy Mountain) |
NUMBER SIX THING WE LIKE: It's kind of like Autumn! While we don't have autumn here, we do get a lot of leaf fall because things are so....dry....and so trees take the opportunity to change their leaves, as the local expression goes. The bad thing about it is .....it's a lot of leaves. Interesting, the Indonesians don't call them leaves once they fall. They call it "sampah" which is garbage, and if we don't get our leaves cleaned up often enough, to them it's the same as just leaving piles of garbage laying around our lawn. So, while it's fun for Jonathan to get to jump in the leaf piles, the truth is I don't really like this component of dry season. I can't find a decent rake ANYWHERE ....here we just sweep our yards with a witch's broom.
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It's "Autumn" but it's still 85 degrees right now!
NUMBER SEVEN THING WE LIKE: Frequent swimming! There is a hotel nearby that has a nice pool and best of all they also provide free pick-up and take home service. We all 3 can swim there for about $5 which includes towel and drink and transport! During dry season we try to go every Sunday afternoon. During the rainy season, it's usually raining at that time.
Thank you to our Australian friends for giving us this very special pool walrus! |
Now that I've accentuated the positive, I just have to share a few things that I JUST DON'T LIKE about dry season.
NUMBER ONE DISLIKE: Smoke! Every day is burn day. Since every thing is dry, our neighbors delight in burning their trash and leaves in their yard every day. The smoke stays close to the ground and floats around and comes in the house. Dave loves to keep the smoke out by turning on all of our ceiling fans to their highest settings....which keeps our house smoke free, but is kind of like living inside a hurricane. Fortunately, no one in our family suffers from asthma, but many people really struggle with their respiratory system during this season. We even know one woman who had to return home to the USA for treatment and healing because her dry-season related health problems were so severe!
NUMBER TWO DISLIKE: Our yard has turned into a gravel pit. We do have grass when it's raining, but all of our grass has now died to reveal.....this. Now I know why our yard worker always uses a weed eater instead of the lawn mover he has access to. To sift out all of this gravel would take 100 men with shovels a week to clear!
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| Close up of our yard in September |
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| Another result of the dryness -- large cracks in the soil, right in our front yard! |
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| Savoring a small patch of green |
I do have a lime tree and a hydrangea I am trying to keep alive by watering ....and thus there is a small patch of green in our front yard where some of the grass has been able to survive. One day Jonathan crawled onto this little patch and made up his own song....."I love grass! I love grass!" It made me remember this summer when he ran barefoot through the lush backyards of so many of our friends ....we couldn't even catch him most of the time!
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| Neighborhood dust bowl----er----soccer field |
The soccer field across the street from us has really turned into a dust bowl....we get so much dust when people ride their motorbikes or cars on it. Or play soccer. Or if a nice breeze comes through....
So soon the rains will come and I will have a whole new list of likes and dislikes to document and share with you. Dust will be replaced by mud. Dry laundry by damp. Gravel pits by mold. Stay tuned!
