Rugby

Yes, I am proud to admit that have played my first match of Rugby in Banda Aceh Indonesia.
I have a friend out here who has told me about these matches on several occasions and I finally got myself out to the stadium today to play. It is one of the few sports that is played co-ed here. (All expats though) It is touch rugby so as to avoid too much injury for those involved. Most of the people there really know what they are doing, but I got a few quick pointers throughout and seemed to hold my own. Like it much of my earlier sporting history, my defense is significantly stronger than my offense (not sure what that means, but anyways...). So, I generally stayed away from trying to run with or catch the ball, but made some nice touches throughout the day.
Towards the last half of the day, I had my first rugby knock out. One guy got the ball and thought he had an open run, apparently he did not see me standing in front of him (I admit I am a short woman, but he was no giant, so not sure what was happening). Anyways, he went full force ahead straight into me and knocked me down to the ground. Not completely sure what happened except that my head hurt quite a bit and things were blurry. I stayed down for a few minutes and when I sat up everything seemed a bit blotchy with yellow spots. I was told I had a big smile on my face, so people weren't too worried.
I got back up and started to play again but was advised it might be best to sit out for a few minutes. The yellow spots thing was kinda cool I must admit, albeit a bit weird. I sat out for about 5 minutes and then until the downpour past and then rejoined the match.
Despite the bruises, a good first rugby experience.
But, as I was doing sports in Aceh... I get home and yes... you guessed it, no electricity (meaning no running water. I don't even want to get into water issues -- we have now been losing water too). Luckily we have the trusty generator so Iwas able to take a nice 'warm' shower to clean the mud out of my hair.
All-in-all, not a bad day. Although my body will likely not be so happy with me for the next few days.

*Sorry no pictures of today's excitement.

Independence Day

August 17th - Indonesian Independence Day!

A Friday off. I had planned on working the day, got in a few hours and then headed out to some neighborhood festivities.

All of the houses fly their red and white flags. However, in Aceh, things here are more about the games than about the Independence. That has to do with the fact that, while there has been a peace deal, many of the people of Aceh still feel very little tie to Indonesia and are still hoping for independence. Anyways, the games were fun. When we arrived they were just wrapping up the last of the kids games - nail on a stick, swung at a water balloon by blindfolded kids. Probably not the safest game out there.

We then had a men's football (soccer) match played in sarongs. The real excitement of the game was that when the music started the men had to stop playing the game and dance instead. Fun indeed. Although, unfortunately not the best soccer players or dancer.

Next activity was a real highlight... Men climbing a well greased coconut tree trunk. The men climbed atop of each other in hopes of reaching the top of the pole - roughly 45 feet high. As you can see in the picture, they climbed onto each others shoulders one man at a time. The challenge is that the pole is covered in some mysterious thick black grease. It must have taken about 3o minutes for the first group to get someone to reach the top - they just kept sliding down the pole.Upon reaching the top of the pole, the lucky fellow got to play with all of the goodies stored at the top. First prize - a 1 liter bottle of Sprite which he shook up and spayed all over the people below. He then pulled down the umbrellas and plastic balls. The guys kept trying to climb the second pole, but were never able to master it. So at the end of the night, they just tried to pull it down.

So, it was a fun day out.

7.5 in Jakarta

OK, So many of you have heard there was a big earthquake in Jakarta on August 8th/9th (depending on which part of the world you are located). Indonesia is a huge archipelago, made up of lots and lots (very technical term) of islands.
Banda Aceh is miles (and islands) away, so I felt nothing. Didn't even know about it until I received a message from my lovely mother saying she knew that I was nowhere near Jakarta, but she still wanted to know I was OK.
I am happy to let you know that I am just fine.
Here is a map of Indonesia for your viewing pleasure. You can see I am located all the way at the northwestern tip of the country.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html