Earthquake:
Although earthquakes are apparently common in Indonesia we both experienced our first on Sept.2nd...just 3 days after moving into our new apartment. Sept. 2nd is usually a day of reflection for me and this year it marked 5 years since I lost my Pappy. We were planning to take it easy and celebrate the new apartment by having friends over for dinner. Travis was working at the clinic and I had just left for grocery shopping when the earthquake began. The funny thing was we had just been talking about earthquakes the previous evening. Travis knew exactly what was happening however I was alone and I had no idea what was going on. I lost my balance & my equilibrium and I thought maybe I was becoming ill...then I looked up and saw everyone running from the building. At first I was relieved that it wasn't me ...then I was scared because...well, everyone was running from the building. Finally a nice man could see that I was confused and he grabbed me and shoved me out of the building. It took a few more min before someone said the words earthquake in English. It was quite strong (a 7.3 on the Richter scale) but thankfully in Jakarta there were no buildings down around us or major destruction. There was a lot of minor damage like large cracks in the buildings and small rubble piles. Our apartment suffered only minor damage and we were able to still have our first dinner in the new place with friends. We later saw on the news that in cities just south of Jakarta there was a major landslide that buried homes and an arcade. Some 21 children and 29 adults were buried. With no equipment to dig with but their hands they did their best to recover the injured and dead.
My first Ramadan:
The beginning of Sept was also the start of the Holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured; from dawn until sunset. They are not allowed to eat or drink ANYTHING from 4AM - 6PM for any reason and understandably it is considered very rude to eat in front of them as well. It is more difficult to obtain any kind of alcohol during this month however Jakarta is so big and is affected by this on a much smaller scale than other cities due to the number of expats working here. There are many bright decorations which are mainly green and they have large drums everywhere. During the main two days of the holiday they are singing songs and prayers from the mosques and beating the drums day and night.
The clinic:
The clinic has been doing wonderfully. We have such amazing staff to work with. They all have had such a tremendous response to all our new systems and training and we just couldn't be prouder of them...specially the last several weeks when they have been working very hard and on empty bellies :) We have been busy with new patients, spinal screening events and Travis has started to give some "Hour to Health" presentations that would rival those of any purpose driven subluxation based chiro. The first was last month and we had another one this Saturday. There has been such a positive response to these talks that Travis will be creating a series of talks for them to attend. They are amazed with the powerful information and very appreciative that the doctor is willing to take the time to share the information with them. You can literally see their light bulbs turn on when you know they get it. What a wonderful thing to be a part of!
Visions of Brats dancing in our heads:
Well I am very happy to say that my first 3 months living in Indonesia were truly remarkable. Aside from the city life of Jakarta and scenic trips to Bandung I have had the privilege of riding the worlds largest Ferris wheel in Singapore, eating street food and clubbing with Iranians in Malaysia and enjoying the most beautiful sunsets in the world from Bali. I have fallen absolutely in love with Ginger (Ginger tea, ginger cookies, ginger candy)and fear I will go into withdrawals once back in WI. I have also experienced some things I never thought I would such as a terrorist attack and an earthquake. I have learned to speak some Bahasa Indonisian and truly enjoy Indonesian food (still not a sambal fan) As my 3 months comes to a close I am looking forward to seeing friends and family back in WI. Being so far away only makes you appreciate who and what you have that much more. We can not wait to attend the weddings of our friends and family and I think we both have visions of bratwurst dancing in our heads :) Even though I miss all these things I also look forward to returning to Jakarta this October with Travis and seeing what excitement the next year brings us ;)
