Day 2!

In the morning, Liz went with Susan and the kiddos to run some errands. Poor little Silas has a fever again, so we took him to run a Malaria test at a clinic. Liz enjoyed playing with Oliver (5) and Lucia (4) while Susan took Silas in. These kiddos are little bundles of energy! Amalia and Nicholas would have LOVED to play with them.

Thankfully, the test showed no signs of Malaria, so we went on to the grocery store. It's always a fun adventure exploring a grocery store in another country. Eid al fitr just ended, so there were decorations and special celebratory sweets and treats in vivid green. There are many products I hadn't seen before, but the most notable differences from stores in the States are probably the aisles of powdered milk and powdered coffee. There are dozens of varieties of powdered milk, each targeting a different group; toddlers, pregnant women, growing kids, etc. Nescafe seems to have the coffee market cornered here, and the lack of quality whole beans is deeply felt by the few expats. We brought in half a dozen bags of Starbucks beans, and find it rather amusing that the country doesn't drink it's own beans.

Liz hung out in the car with the kiddos seewhile Susan purchased some new paint. Silas was still feeling pretty crummy, but Oliver and 'Cia happily sang songs and taught me a few Indonesian words.

We headed back to thw house and enjoyed lunch prepared by Erni, Susan's sweet young house helper, who is an AMAZING cook. Then, Liz got to work painting. The bottom few feet of the walls were recently tiled and a sloppy band of grey concrete remained around the perimeter of the interior above the tiles. It was surprising what a difference it made to see it cleaned up and painted!