Catching Up: Miscellaneous

Clear Sky Day

On an unusual day, I was able to capture the mountains off to the ESE from our bedroom window at a sharp angle looking to the right. And YES, that is a volcano.

Day Spa
As venues have come and gone in our apartment building, we admit we have not made much use of them: mini mart, ATM, barbershop. Recently, Sandeeva Day Spa and Reflexology opened. They ran a 50% discount program and we both made use of this option a few times. For example, during the discount period, a 1 hour reflexology foot and lower leg massage cost less than $7 US. And it was fabulous. It is a very small place, however, and we aren't very good at pre-scheduling appointments so we have to take our chances. ( Sorry no photos.)

AWA Bazaar
In early April the American Women's Association held it's spring bazaar. We were really short on experienced personnel for this event; in fact, we had no leader at all so it was a group effort. AWA's bookkeeper and a previous Bazaar coordinator, now living in Alaska, played major roles. Yes, it's complicated having someone residing in Alaska helping to coordinate a bazaar here. You might remember reading previous posts about B and me helping out with vendor check-in/escort starting at 4 am. This year I also helped on both days of vendor registration and I even made up the vendor badges, silent auction sheets and more...

And yes, I arrived at the venue at 3:30 am and worked until 11:30 am. B unfortunately couldn't join me this year as he is spending much more time in Cilegon now.

A Special Canine
There is a special cocker spaniel in town! She is the first "sniffer dog" in the country to be trained to detect smuggled wildlife. Because of her special nose, she is much better at it than her human counterparts and she is only a year old. According to an article in the newspaper, training a dog to detect wildlife is much more difficult than training them to detect narcotics or explosives. Every time the cocker properly detects a sample, she is rewarded with her favorite doll and a hug. She sounds adorable but at the same time she is doing a really important job.

Car Ballet
On the day we needed to visit the immigration offices to renew our residence visa we arrived extremely early due to an odd lack of traffic. We got a prime parking spot right in front of the door. That's our black Toyota Alphard if you don't remember what it looks like. Also in the photo, the parking assistant is pushing (literally pushing by himself) the white sedan out of the way as the first of several cars needing to be moved to allow someone to park back in the far right corner(out of the shot). After the new car parked, the previously moved cars were all pushed back to their original spots. We've seen this before but it is still amazing to watch.

Traveling Safe?
I couldn't count how many men were in this open truck.

Cilegon and Interesting Drive
It's still raining periodically here, though typically rainy season has ended by now.  Looked like rain would start any minute. And it did. And it was a lot of rain.

My trip back home the next morning was "interesting." I took these photos from inside our CRV (car #2).

Our driver # 2, Pak Rapiudin got me home safe and sound. Flooding worsened as I traveled from the area. Within a couple of hours of when we passed, a small section of the same roadway collapsed.

This has caused significant travel issues.The alternative route is much longer. One day it took B 5.5 hours to return home. B believes it will be 6 months before the roadway is reopened.