The Traveling Pelican

Dear E, Most people get around this island by taking Ojek's or motorcycle taxis. Super fun! We took a taxi every time we went to the office, or anywhere really. The ride to the beach was just beautiful. long stretches of green jungle, nice views of the ocean, and some fun times navigating the bit that wasn't paved :p. Also, the car taxi we took to the airport was themed! I guess the driver really likes Tazz?? It's been a crazy week. Too much happened for one post so I'll have to write two. We got back to Ambon Monday (this) evening. I looked at the calendar today and was shocked to realize it's already February 17! This last week we were in Saumlaki, south Indonesia. It was HOT there! Oh my goodness it was like being in an oven. Everything I wore out to work or dinner I had to wash asap. Overall, I did enjoy my time in Saumlaki. Despite spending the first two days in bed sick with a horrible sore throat, the rest of the time was quite interesting. S knows ...

Dear E, Masha and Anya just launched their business Golubee! I'm so excited for them and think their products are so cute! Check it out and share with your friends 😊 https://golubee.com/ ❤️

We've made it to Saumlaki, a village on Yamdena Island. Today at S's work, I was asked to share a little bit about myself. The team here is really sweet. All of the team are Saumlaki locals and have been very welcoming to me. After I shared about myself a bit, they presented me with a gift that represents their Yamdena identity (some colored cloth) as a token of our kinship in the faith. I have been very blessed by the affection of these people. I don't have a ton of pictures but here's what I have so far. The first couple are from our trip leaving Ambon. The rest are from Saumlaki. My room in Saumlaki. You can't really see it well, but it's pouring outside. The rain here is crazy. There are a few more pictures on Instagram. The wifi here is not great so this will probably be my only post until we return to Ambon.

Dear E, I’ve decided that eating the fruit here in Indonesia is like experiencing the world in color for the first time. All the mangoes and pineapples and papayas back home are black and white compared to these. Breakfast has been granola and yogurt and fruit and I could eat this every morning. The past couple of days I’ve been sitting in on my friend’s work. I won’t talk about the details here, but so far it is pretty interesting. There was a delay the first day so we’re behind which make for long full days. Still, it is good to see someone who has never heard from the book of life reading getting exposed to it. There are only 2000 people who speak this language but soon they will have the completed second half of the book in their language.  Life here is hard for the people. Despite the country being rich in resources, there are still islands that are very poor, especially the remote villages. The village people we are working with are ancestor-worshipping animists. We ar...

Dear E, The fruit in Indonesia is incredibly good. I can't stop eating it. If I lived here I'd probably become a fruitarian. The mango is unlike any mango I've ever had in California, mangosteen (purple and round-ish) was not at all what I thought it would be like but it's delicious, and then there's Rambuton (red and spikey), or hairy fruit, because it looks like it has hair. rambuton tastes a bit like a large grape to me.  The trip here took three days and three flights. Needless to say, both my friend and I were exhausted when we arrived. Also, because of the coronovirus outbreak, most people were wearing masks on the flight and I did end up wearing one for all three flights. I have to say I was happy to wear one even though I probably looked post-apocalyptic.  Japan Airlines was an awesome company to fly with though. We had great food on the flight (they included ice cream!) and some unexpected ramen during our layover in Tokyo. Does having ramen in ...