4th of July -- Indonesia Style!!

Does Indonesia have a 4th of July? They sure do, every year after the 3rd of July! Seeing as Independence Day is in the top 5 of all of our favorite holidays, we knew we needed to make it known that there was quite a bit of America in Indonesia this week. After getting an early start around 7 am (Papua jet lag?), we all got showered, fed and decided it was time to plan out our next few weeks. Getting inspiration from a 30-minute documentary he watched on the plane about Google, Dad decided to put up a "whiteboard" (yellow paper) to map out the remainder of our time here. A little less than two hours later, we had a tentative fun-filled and packed schedule figured out. (As we blog about the rest of our days, you will most likely notice that every single day from here on out somehow relates to celebrating Leah's birthday!).

Being that today was July 4th, on the schedule for today was "Mom and Dad work, Sally conference, Kids - 4th of July." What better encompasses the American spirit than some hearty hamburgers and hot dogs? Since Indonesia is not known for either of these delicacies, we knew we'd have to look elsewhere. What better place to do so than the American Club?! Naturally, my parents don't have a membership there (since that would involve paying fees, and when they can just mooch off of friends and get in free, why waste?!), so Dad called his friend Miel and asked if she'd be willing to sign us in. It just so happened that the electricity at her office was scheduled to be off from 1-5 today, so she said she'd happily meet us there. We quickly threw our bathing suits, tennis shoes, and work-out clothes into a bag (not knowing what the day would bring!) and headed out the door!


When we got to the Club, we were pleasantly surprised to find all kinds of American decorations and English speakers, and felt right at home. We met up with Miel and sat down for some lunch. After seeing that everything on the menu looked tasty, we finally decided what to order: Ben - a Double Decker Burger and Root Beer Float, Molly - a BLT, Steph - Hawaiian Pizza, Miel - Chili & Cheese Hot Dog, and Leah - Enchiladas (she decided to embrace the "Melting Pot" side of American culture!). All of the food was scrumptious and perfectly satisfied our American desires.

After lunch, we decided to explore the Club and find out what all it had to offer. (During lunch we found out it cost $10/person to swim, so we quickly nixed that from our list of to-dos!). A few wrong turns and lots of questions later, we made our way into the Teen Room where we found a Pool table, a Ping Pong table and a Foosball Table. In natural Wacek-form, a tournament quickly commenced, which involved every combination of teams (Molly & Steph vs. Ben & Leah, then Molly & Leah vs. Ben & Steph, and finally Molly & Ben vs. Leah & Steph) playing every game. Billards did not fare well for Leah, who ended winless to everyone else's 2 wins. Ben was the Foosball master, going undefeated, and Steph didn't manage to win any Ping Pong games during the tournament. (Although, before starting, she did make the disclaimer, "I know I said I was bad at Pool and Foosball... well, that was an understatement for how bad I am at Ping Pong!"... so at least everyone was prepared!)

After the tournament was over and we took a break to watch some MTV-Asia, the discussions began about who was the winner and everyone's statistics, etc. Not wanting Molly to be the winning girl, Steph and Leah got up the courage to rematch Ben and Molly in Ping Pong. The game was neck and neck through the beginning until Ben and Molly pulled ahead to a 16-7 lead. Leah and Steph didn't lose hope, though, and broke out some secret moves to tie it up. Without losing composure (and with some ever-so-helpful mess-ups from Ben and Molly), they came back to win 21-19!! Naturally, the celebrations and cheering went on for about 5-minutes, and the gloating continued long into the night. (To see some of the dance moves that may or may not have taken place, watch this!)
When they finally got done high fiving, doing "the monster," dancing, and cheering, we all headed back to the cafeteria. We ordered some American food to take home to Mom, Dad, Sally, and Karen and then made our way back home. At the apartment, Leah and Steph whipped up some scrumptious Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches to eat while playing a fun game of Fish Bowl Charades (which included: Donald Duke, Jim Thorpe, Bil Dad, and Lady Gaga...aka Felix the Cat!).
Happy Independence Day to all our fellow Americans back home! Thank you to those who serve or have served to give us all of our freedom!!