Tulungagung

October 22, 2011

Trying to sleep when you are more than exhausted combined with an internal clock that is completely out of synch with the local time gives you a morning where you are wondering, “what happened to the sleep”….it was a good night though…4:30 a.m. brought something very very unique…more on that later though 🙂

Breakfast…When considering traveling abroad versus within the United States, do we give much consideration to breakfast? Or do we just assume there will be eggs and biscuits, pop-tarts, milk, berries an special K? 🙂 Or are we ready for what the day brings? 🙂

There are times when it has been the standard eggs and such…I’ve also been places where your option is one item: a biscuit and some mayonnaise or some tuna fish…whatever can be scraped up…or at times you may get the full option treatment…if the area is dominated by westerners. In South Korea, there were variations of Kim Chi or Dum Sing with an Omelet 🙂 In Jakarta, we enjoyed won ton soup and noodles with chicken (still smacking my lips). However, this morning we had…..

And yes, I am posting pictures of food. If you plan on traveling overseas, especially for an extensive period of time, then there are a few things you really need to be aware of….and one of those things is FOOD! 🙂 This delicious item consists of some rice, vegetables, peanuts, and a bit of pepper on a banana leaf….ok, here is that word again, “DELICIOUS”…over the years, my mother has teased me about not actually being “a good little African boy” (my family spent significant time in Liberia growing up), now I can say “Look Ma, rice for breakfast…and I didn’t even put Ketchup on it”…laughing…

After breakfast, I step outside to see a common sight…a well manicured yard, with fruit tree’s in it…this one has a mango tree…in my Homer Simpson voice, “hmmmm….yummyyyyy… 🙂

Stepping out into the yard, think I’ll go for a stroll to get a feel for the surroundings. Big Big shift from the U.S., much less personal space required to live…even in the good neighborhoods….people live right up on each other, talk to each other, know each other, look out for each other…wow…what a novel concept…

Going a bit further, I come upon an interesting sight…really gives an example on how a lot of our discussions on sustainability and urbanism…aren’t really that far advanced. Walking by this banner, I see a really interesting neighborhood:

The streets are narrow enough that it promotes either walking or the use of the scooter bikes. The houses are built very close together and promote social engagement and interaction.

Beautiful colors, no set-backs put the homes right up on the primary avenues of egress and create an environment of engagement…as I walked by, plenty of people stuck their heads out to see what was causing the shadow passing in front of their homes 🙂 Something that stands out NOTABLY…..Look at how CLEAN everything is….they take pride in what they have…regardless to what it is….