Ask the Woods Wednesday #10 / July 25, 2024 by Kali Wood

Today’s topic is all about baking! While it may seem like a small topic to most, it’s near and dear to my heart. I LOVE baking! I love making treats for co-workers, for family gatherings, pizza for our weekly movie nights, and especially decorating cakes for my kiddos’ birthdays.

After we moved here, baking was a challenge. We had an extra large toaster oven, which would just fit a 9x13 pan and took some practice to bake things just right. Recently we bought a proper gas oven. It even has 2 shelves!!! Now I’m so used to my small electric toaster oven, that I have to re-learn how to use a full-sized gas oven.

Here’s my short list of challenges and benefits of baking here:

Challenges:

The heat causes buttercream frosting to lost it’s shape and melt.
The heat causes butter in cut-out cookies to soften too fast and they don’t keep their shape.
Ingredients can be difficult to find or are expensive.
The humidity and heat seem to cause baked goods to mold quickly.
Using the oven in my non-air-conditioned kitchen can feel like a furnace.

Benefits:

Bread and yeasted recipes rise quickly and beautifully.
Butter that needs to be softened will soften in minutes on the counter.
Palm sugar is a local, affordable alternative to brown sugar.
I’ve learned lots of tricks to work with the heat and humidity that I wouldn’t have known otherwise.
I get to experiment with local flavors (like Pandan, Coconut, and Banana) in my baking.

Overall, it has been a fun experiment finding out what works and what doesn’t here. I’m thankful for my friends here who have shared their tips and tricks. Laurel has become quite the little baker. She thoroughly enjoys making bread, brownies, cookies, pizza dough and chocolate cake. I thoroughly enjoy having a responsible child who can help with these things.

Ask the Woods Wednesday #9 / July 10, 2024 by Kali Wood

Today’s topic is all things HOMESCHOOL!

The first part of the question is: Why did we choose to homeschool our kids?

The answer to that begins 6 years ago and about 9,000 miles away when we were still in St. Louis and before Matt had even known about a possible call to this side of the world. Laurel had finished PreK at one of the local Lutheran schools and we realized that we couldn’t afford to put her in school full-time there. The public school wasn’t a good option and so we talked with other homeschool families and made our choice.

When we moved to Indonesia we could have chosen to enroll the kids in an international school. There are 3 of them in town. There are 4 reasons that we did not:

When we arrived we didn’t have a car and using a rideshare to and from school twice a day would add up monetarily and with my time.
The tuition for these schools are quite high and we would rather spend that money elsewhere.
We wanted to solidify our family unit. We going through a HUGE transition and wanted to have the kids around us as much as possible so that they knew that no matter where in the world we were, if we were together, we were home.
We enjoy the freedom of the homeschool schedule. We can take short breaks when we need to and spend time together as we need to.

We choose to follow a classical Christian curriculum and it has worked well so far for Laurel and Eleanor. Laurel loves the reading and enjoys learning Latin. Eleanor benefits from the memorization of it and looks forward to studying some of the subjects that Laurel has already done. Caroline is ready to be a student in the fall and has already learned some skills from just observing her sisters.

The next part of the question is: Do we have any fun field trip experiences?

Unfortunately, here in Medan there are not too many. We have swim lessons each Thursday and the 3 girls attend a gymnastics class once a week. That covers our P.E. time, but not much else for enrichment such as museums or zoos.

BUT… we do have access to other cities, islands, and even countries for field trip opportunities. When we travel, I look for places that would be educational or can be connected to something we have learned. We go to zoos, museums, or historical sites.

That said, we have taken two trips to Bukit Lawang to hike in the jungle and have used our knowledge from Laurel’s Mammals class and Insects class when looking at the wildlife there.

The last question is: Do we have a homeschool community near us?

Yes! While it is a small community, it is a great one. There are 3 families that we have really connected with who homeschool. We have weekly play date with them, do seasonal activities (such as: dye Easter eggs, learn about St. Patrick, Valentine’s themed STEM activities, and so on).

Ask the Woods Wednesday #4 / March 20, 2024 by Kali Wood

“Was learning the language difficult?”

Both Matt and I will agree that learning Indonesian was not difficult. But we wouldn’t qualify it as easy, either.

The language itself is pretty easy. It uses the Roman alphabet and each letter makes the same sound with very few exceptions.

When we first moved to Sumatra in 2019, we enrolled in language classes right away. Matt and I were in class together and we had 6 units to complete. Each unit was 4 weeks long. We had class 2 hours a day and 5 days per week. Each day we were expected to spend 2 hours after class interviewing the locals and practicing our verbal skills and 2 hours on our written homework and general studying. So for about 6 months our full-time job was learning Indonesian. While we were exhausted during this time, the schedule made it easy for us to learn the language because we were constantly immersed in it.

Matt and I on our way to our last language class on March 20, 2020.

Let’s fast forward to almost 5 years later. How are we doing with language now?

Matt has retained most of his language skills and has added to his vocabulary exponentially. He even did some translating when other LCMS workers came to Medan for our family retreat in January.

My language has definitely lessened. I am good with everyday tasks and getting around, but I struggle having an in depth conversation in Indonesian. I’m hoping to go back to “school” for a language unit this summer when I have a break from teaching the kids to help me improve.

Laurel has even take a language unit with other expat kids last spring. It was a good introductory course for her and taught her the basics. She is more willing to ask how to say things in Indonesian and to try and figure out Indonesian signs when we are out and about.

What do you want to know next? Please comment with a question for next week’s installment of “Ask the Woods Wednesday.”

Ask the Woods Wednesday #2 / March 7, 2024 by Kali Wood

Here’s our second installment of Ask the Woods Wednesday!

“What seems weird now when you visit America?”

— Anne G.

Matt’s response:

When we first arrived in Medan I was shocked by the chaos. It seemed like there were no rules. Food being sold wherever anyone could set up a stand. Traffic moving according to a mysterious rythm. And it was dirty. Now that we have made this city our home I have grown to understand it all better and to love it. When we are back in the States it's shockingly clean and orderly. It seems sterile and while it makes some things easier it does seem strange and I often long for the chaos of the streets of Medan.

Kali’s response:

When I am in America, I am always surprised by not hearing the call to prayer 5 times a day. In Medan, it is broadcast from every mosque in the city. We have 3 within walking distance of our house, so it gets pretty loud. It has become embedded in the background of our every day life. When we are the States it seems quiet.

Connected to Islamic culture, I’m always very aware of the lack of clothes people wear in the States. We have become accustomed to seeing girls and women dress in very modest clothes despite the heat, humidity and lack of appropriate air conditioning. Even bathing suits are long sleeved and often accompanied by leggings.

Laurel’s response:

All the people with white skin and not having to speak Indonesian (such as: Permisi=excuse me, terima kasih=thank you, sama-sama= you’re welcome, and maaf=I’m sorry.)

This is Kali’s commentary on Laurel’s response: While there are quite a few bule (white people) living in Medan, we don’t see them often when we are out and about. If we see a bule at the store, we do a double take. Unless we are intentionally meeting up with friends we are not likely to see anyone with white skin.

Ask the Woods Wednesday / February 29, 2024 by Kali Wood

Welcome to our first installment of “Ask the Woods Wednesday”. Each week we will post an answer to a question that you have submitted. If you have a question for next week, please post it in the comments.