The Accommodations

We had been told during our preparation meetings that we would be staying in the houses of some of the village church members.  We were prepared to sleep on the floor, on a mat they would provide.  We were thinking that it would basically be like camping.  Kirk and Todd were put up in the pastor’s house, the Serworwora’s and Kartawijaya’s at other members’ houses, and their bedding was as predicted. 



Man U fans are everywhere!



Indoor bathroom: "Shower" on the left, toilet on the right.

Chris and I were taken about a 10-minute walk away from the others to the house of a man named Aboy and his family.  They couldn’t speak any English – nor we any Bahasa – so there was mostly pantomime the entire time.  The family consisted of Aboy, his wife, his sixth grade granddaughter, Tia, and an older lady that Chris and I dubbed “the grandma”.  When we arrived, we couldn’t believe what we saw there.  We were given a private bedroom with trundle beds – complete with Manchester United sheet sets!  Granted, the mattresses were not what we were accustomed to, but no sleeping on a mat on the floor for us!  (They did think it was pretty strange that we put up our mosquito netting anyway.)  Unlike the other houses, Aboy’s house had an indoor toilet (yes, still a “squatty potty”) with mountain water and a hose for “showering”.

When we woke up each morning, they provided mocha coffee and biscuit cookies.  They also insisted that we give them our dirty clothes to be washed.  Each day during our stay we would come back from our working and find our freshly washed and folded clothes waiting for us in our room.  We had checked into the Ritz-Carlton of Sungai Galing!  Seriously, though, this family was so kind, warm and hospitable to us during our entire stay.  More about them later.