Flexibility is the key to living overseas regardless of what brings you out of your homeland and to a new place, people, language and culture.
Medan is still very much a developing city. Infrastructure in things we take for granted in the States like sidewalks is still very elusive. Other things are more familiar. There are very modern malls and restaurants and shopping options. And unlike the US you can have nearly anything you might want delivered to your door for literally pennies. But you have to pay attention to what you’re ordering.
I love their name for this (though the inconsistency in the naming is curious)! I can’t say it’s not entirely accurate, but it still just makes me smile.
Other things are less obvious in their differences. When we lived in California prior to deploying overseas we lived in an older neighborhood where HOA’s were non-existent. While the rugged individualist in me liked this, it led to some interesting situations at times. While we would dutifully put up our Christmas lights sometime after Thanksgiving and have them down again by mid-January, other folks left their lights up all year.
This might look like the sad remnants of a birthday celebration. But it’s not. Gena devised this for a very different reason. It spans the inner area of our carport. We don’t have a car, but we have a large area where we could park two cars end to end if we were so inclined. There are bright fluorescent light bulbs both in the more interior area of the carport (barely visible in the photo above) and in the area closer to the street.
Unfortunately, we discovered the lights did not discourage all visitors. Oddly enough, we realized a bat was roosting in the inner area of our carport. Literally right next to the light. Not sure how he/she slept with it on – but then again it was odd they were sleeping there at night when bats are generally active. So there was confusion on multiple levels going on with this little guy.
I’m as much of a live-and-let-live guy as I can be with nature. And our nocturnal nester wouldn’t have been a problem except for the fact he liked to snack at night. His food of choice was fruit, and he wasn’t exactly a neat eater. There accumulated a pile of seeds and fruit bits beneath where he hung – along with, shall we say, the processed remains of his meals. This was quite unappetizing and so we had to do something. But how do you rid yourself of an unwanted pest who shows up generally after you go to bed?
We tried multiple options but Gena finally decided to string up this festive foil. And that did the trick – our bat buddy quit spending the night in our carport, which meant we didn’t have to clean up after him every morning, which meant we were much happier overall. Hopefully he/she is also!
The Nelson Family Indonesia 