Adventures in Padang

My first few weeks in Padang have been a whirlwind of getting settled in, starting to try to understand Padang's earthquake risk and development and a lot of fun adventures. I'm adding a few cool photos of things I've done.

The professor at Bung Hatta, Hendri, took me to Payakumbu where he teaches a weekend course. I observed a little bit, but then went wandering around. This area is famous for being beautiful and green. You know me, I can't help but try things when I see them. Thrashing rice is actually not as hard as I had expected and it is done communally by the women so everyone was having fun. The farmers were thrilled that I could speak a little Indonesian and were excited to show me how to do it.

Another interesting thing I've tried is cutting up logs with a machete. This is not a normal log, but a type of log called sagu that is used for food for humans in Papua and cows in Sumatera. It is spongy and doesn't taste very good. But it was a fun experience to make food from logs. ;)

So far I have done a list of crazy interesting things with Nanda, Hendri and some new friends I have made. I fed fish at a fish farm, learned to tell men to leave me alone in Indonesian, went to a traditional wedding party, got peed on by a bunny, got a lesson in Palestinian history, learned to play a traditional game, bribed some police officers, learned to drive a scooter in Indonesian traffic and so so much more.

This weekend one of the nicest things I did was meet a really cool couchsurfer and her friend who showed me a beautiful waterfall. We spent the morning swimming and playing in the water. Nanda was a little less afraid than I was of diving into the shallow water (thats him jumping from the rocks)!