Mid March House Update

Some more progress was made on the house. Some of the things done this week...

Windows and Doors continue to be stained.
Balinese Gazebo finished
Outside of house almost finished painting
Many lights installed
Plans for railings, bridge and roof of master bedroom terrace complete
Windows in Kitchen raised a few inches higher
Wood floors upstairs starting to be installed
Some landscaping done

Below is a view of the house from the back...

Tika staying busy buying and planting plants...

The wood floor in my office starts to go in...

The front of the house is finished with its painting...

A worker finishes planing the last floor board of the gazebo...

Tsunami 2004 Remembered

I thought a few photos from Aceh would be appropriate for the last day of "Indonesia Week".

About 5 months after the devastating tsunami, I traveled there to take photos of children for the book, Letters From Aceh. The book contained letters written between children at JIS and children in Aceh. The letters in the book are incredible...they will bring tears to your eyes...all the proceeds from the book went to build a new school in Aceh which is open and running now.

The three days I spent in Aceh were probably the most emotional three days I have ever had. The destruction was unreal...difficult to fathom. However, the people were incredible. Despite losing virtually EVERYTHING in their lives including family members, I never once heard one person complain....in fact, we were greeted with big smiles, laughter and optimism. The Indonesian people are perhaps the most resilient people in the world today.

I remember talking with a little girl (whose photo is on the cover of the book) who had watched her mother, father and brother swept away by what she called the Big Black Monster. She was able to run to a tree and climb it when she saw the monster coming. She stayed in the tree for two days as she was afraid the monster would come back. When I asked her how she could keep smiling after witnessing such an event, she said, "Sir, life goes on...I will see them in heaven...I have to stay happy". She was only 10 years old.

This is one of my favorite photos I took while there...it really illustrates what that little girl said...

Life Goes On...

This little girl and her brother lost their entire family...

The Komodo Dragon

These guys are big...and they can eat you...why we were standing only inches from their drooling mouths, I will probably never understand, but it was cool...

Red and White Day

Today, the last day of Indonesia Week at PIE, was Red and White Day. The kids had to wear the colors of the Indonesian flag...

In the gym, they had a mock Balinese wedding....complete with Gamelon...

Tika spent all of yesterday and last night shopping for fruit to decorate her booth of fruit. She wore her Balinese outfit...

New Exhibition

I was asked a couple of days ago to send the photo below to be printed for a new exhibition in North Jakarta featuring the top 30 photographers in Indonesia. Not sure how the top 30 photographers are chosen, but what an honor to be considered along with this group of professionals. The print will be one meter in height....that is a pretty big print. Since my underwater camera is the D70, I had to do some pretty hefty upsizing to get a one meter print...hope it comes out well...The Exhibition will be this month...

At PIE (Pondok Indah Elementary School), it was Beach Day ...
Kayla was not feeling very well (she has a bad cold), but still managed a half-smile for me this morning before school with her "beach dress" and "beach hat"

Working in the Rice Fields

Today, it was hat and sarong day...Kayla had to wear a hat (see below) like she was working in the rice fields. So, I am featuring a couple of photos of some rice fields (sawah) in Bali...

The Highlanders

So, today started "Indonesian Week" at Pondok Elementary School...Kayla and Tika wore matching Javanese outfits today to school.

I gotta say, I am pretty lucky to have such pretty girls in my life...

For the blog, I think I will start out East and make my way West in Indonesia this week in photos...
Below is one you may have seen before...
a group shot of some Papuan chiefs at a funeral...

How About an "Indonesian Week" ?

It is "Indonesian Week" at Pondok Indah Elementary school this week, so I thought I could feature some photos from Indonesia in the blog this week...

So here is an opening photo taken at Palau Kri in Papua...one of my favorite places in the world...

Last Day of Africa Week

Ok, this concludes my little experiment with "Africa Week" in the blog...

The photo below was also taken the same day in Savuti (similar to the photo I posted a few days ago). I like the casualness of the lions...they are so cool, like there is not a worry in the world.
...nice to be at the top of the food chain...

This photo is way over "photoshopped", but I think it is cool...and a nice ending to
"Africa Week"

A Village In Botswana

Hey, how about that? It is leap year...the 29th of February!!

... and it is Friday!!

"Africa Week" Break...for a house update

There was some big stuff that happened this week on the house. We had some work done in the "kebun" (garden)...we moved some earth from the back yard to the front yard to give us a more level yard...grass planting will come later, but we do have some nice trees that are growing fast...

The roof of the Gazebo was installed...later they will cut the overhanging grass to make it level...I really like this kind of roof...very "Balinese"

...and finally, the "wet" kitchen was installed. This is the kitchen in the back of the house where most of the cooking will be done. The nice kitchen is being worked on now...it will be much nicer than this one with teak cabinets, and island, and granite tops...it will be very nice. Tika was very happy today as the kitchen is her domain...I don't make ANY decisions in that area...it is HER room...

(sorry about the bad photo...I was rushed, and the lighting was bad)

That's a BIG CROC

While taking a boat ride on the Zambeezi in Zimbabwe (I love saying that), we saw this huge croc sitting on the side of the river. I wouldn't want to meet him outside of the boat...