We're going camping now, we're on our way ...

The journey of "camping" -- living out of a suitcase -- for a couple of months begins now. Piles of items are forming all over the house as I organize what's going to Thailand, what's going to Saudi, and what's going to hot climates and moderate climates in suitcases. I freaked out Jeri when I sent her these photos (and more) of the Thailand piles -- lots and lots of stuff!

Here's our basic schedule, subject to revision by delays in visa processing and the unknowns of how long it will take. We only have tickets for our first legs, thus far.

Jim leaves 13 June (one year, to the day, that we arrived in Balikpapan): He will be in Houston for a physical and for visa processing. The third party company that is assisting him assures him that he will be able to leave on the 24th.

Sharon deals with shippers and shipments on Monday - Wednesday. Just in case there are delays, I booked my flight out for Friday morning -- giving Thursday for final shipping work or other surprises.

Sharon flies to Thailand on Friday, 18 June. :-) Arriving Ubon that evening.

Sharon flies west to Germany on Friday, 25 June.

Jim flies east to Germany on Friday, 25 June.

We sleep in a hotel in Munich and then on Sat., 26 June, drive to Bavaria for the wedding of Wolfgang and Ilaria, our friends with whom we worked in Nigeria. Other SLB peeps will be there so it'll be a mini-reunion!

We hang around Germany and parts of Austria for about 10 days. Totally un-scripted at this point ...

Around the 6 July, we fly to London and have a few days vacation before Jim's training starts in Cambridge, also unscripted, but certainly a service at Hillsong London is a must! Training is 12 - 16 July (new software for his work). Sharon strolls around Cambridge and the many bookstores (where she could find all sorts of books that would be illegal in Saudi!) while Jim slaves away in a seminar ...

17 July: Jim flies to Doha to meet the guy who will replace him in Indo. They do the handover for one day and then,

19 July, Jim arrives in our new home ... Al Khobar. And his adventure begins!

Meanwhile ...
17 July: Sharon flies to Houston and then right on to Anchorage to hang out with family!!!!! Yippee!!!!!!!

Maybe in the first half of August, but we don't know this part, yet, Sharon flies to Houston for her physical and visa processing, hopefully for not more than 10 days.

Maybe in the latter half of August, but definitely sometime, Sharon joins Jim in our new home and her adventure begins!

Random photos from recent days

I know that I've not blogged in a longggggggggg time. I have many reasons but none of them make much sense, I suppose, so I'll not mention them!

Anyway, here's some evidence of recent fun.
Gift my English students. Some could not attend the party due to a bug that's going around our camp but it was a great party nonetheless!

























A walk to a nearby restaurant, along the beach -- Batakan Beach House (BBC) -- Joey, Boy, and Jeri know of it!










Don't ask the score ... but I did attempt to play some pool with Jim!











And glorious gerberas!

Bali Fun, Part 2

Our fabulous driver, Made (pronounced Mah-day). He "made" our trip sooooooo much better!











What a place to have a pool, aye?












got a hair cut at a fabulous (and low priced) salon -- found it online before we went to Bali and booked an appt. early. People travel from Australia for this guy's cuts!!
























at our hotel ...











































a local dance/drama group! Quite good, actually!













The story is of a battle between good and evil.






































Rice ... up close!














Volcanoes ... of which there are many!
























Cocoa beans!
















The famous (or maybe infamous!!!) Kopi Luwak coffee beans ... yes, the ones that are "processed" through the bodies of the Luwak cats and "harvested" from their poop. Jim bought some. I never was a coffee drinker and now ... for sure that won't be changing!!!!!!!!

And Now, Bali Fun, Part 1

The terraced rice fields are astounding! Every square inch of ground is utilized!










And this dear old guy has charm oozing from his pores! He kept coming up with more poses ... Jim bought his hat for $2 -- a very high price for this region! (The guy has more, by the way.)





























Workers in the heat of the sun ...




































Look closely, those are rice terraces near the top of those hills!






































My favorite part of the trip, I believe! Going off the beaten track, walking on the outskirts of the village dumping site so that we could get to the area where a group of families have, for generations, harvested sea salt.

Such poverty.

All of the rise is sales from the sea salt boom hasn't brought a bit of increase in profits to these dear folks who slave away in the heat day after day ... year after year.

The process --
--bring leather buckets full of salt water to the raked sand fields
--scoop up the wet sand and carry it in baskets to the pit
--let the salt water drain through the sand into open bamboo shoots that run into wooden bowls
--sift the salt water one more time, into another bowl
--pour the now-very-dense salt water into shallow wooden dishes that are out in the sun
--allow the water to evaporate for the rest of the day
--bag up the salt











The leader of the group ... so gracious with time and generous with his salt, giving us two huge bags of it! He was so touched by the money we gave him as a thank you that he kept wanting to hug us (with his sweaty skin and all!) and almost cried.
Then, I almost cried.
Such a tough life. I brainstormed with him a bit (with our driver helping with the translations!) as to ways he could increase his income. Option 1: get his two (living, out of 3) children educated well enough that they could get a proper business license and begin exporting the salt, directly! Option 2: have Made (our driver) and other drivers begin to bring vans of tourists (just small groups, not big buses!) to view the work -- I assured them that everyone would be willing to pay!!!









































Where's Jimbe?