This last Tuesday, the team headed out to our first village stay, about a half hour boat ride away. It was a small village of about 300 people at the edge of the island. As we approached the jetty, we saw about twenty young boys and girls running out to meet us. Our friend, Cade, who is joining us for the village stays, stood up and yelled, “six seven” in the local language. Immediately all the kids joined him in six seven-ing. For the remainder of the trip, this became our main way of communicating with the kids.

Throughout our stay, the village community was super enthusiastic about sharing their culture with us. As we entered the village, they greeted us with drums, and the village leader thanked us for visiting. During the days we were there, they had prepared different activities for us. One of the days they showed us how to make kites and gasing spinning tops. Another day, they taught us how to make traditional desserts and snacks. All the while the children would follow us around and teach us different hand clapping games.

We were split up into different homes, the guys in one house, and the girls in another. We (the girls) got to help our ibu (host mother) mother cook a lot of the meals. Apple learned to chop squid! We also learned how to take apart a crab and eat with our hands. It was difficult to get the hang of the manners of how to walk, eat, and sit politely, but our hosts were gracious with us. One of the nights we got to play with the gasing with our host brother and father. It was really special to get to connect with them in these different capacities, as well as to have conversations with them about family, aspirations, and values.

The guys’ bapak (host father) loved hosting. While he didn’t allow the guys to help him out with the cooking or cleaning up, he was eager to have conversations with them about life and purpose. Overall, their stay was made up of a lot of laughs and good conversations. The guys were also invited to a celebration for a store that was opening! There they got to sit in a circle with the village men and spend time with them eating and chatting.

The last day was really special. In the early afternoon, we hosted an event with a series of traditional games that the community got to compete in. These included marble games, relay races, and stilts (which they thoroughly beat us at)! In the evening, they lent us their traditional clothes, and we gathered as a community, for story sharing, singing, and dancing. Overall, our first village stay was a joy and a blessing to us and our Southeast Asian friends.