where fresh green boughs don't exist. . .

. . . I did what I could to bring the appearance of them to our apartment. 

After looking at three different stores, I found bags of small pinecones (score!) and a long strip of garland. With that, some burlap (that Linda sent in a package earlier this year - she knows me so well!),  a few decorations from last year, and a little creativity, our place is full of Christmas cheer :)

A second appearance from Donald Trunk. Sporting his festive side. 

favorite of my creations. taking the place of an angklung for a while

how can you not smile at this guy?!

And last but not least. . . Chris' addition to the Christmas cheer.

If you know Chris, you've probably seen these friendly guys before!

. . . and snowflakes that I made during grade 1 art time :)

The "E-Girls"

This season, I got the chance to coach this

lovely bunch of grade 5 and 6 girls with Sarah. 

{Sarah and I met playing flag football at Corban,

and have gotten to know each other better since being here}

headed to their first game!

After practice one day, with cookies from coach Sarah and I

On the bus headed to their first tournament.

I wish I had a video from our first day of practice. With the exception of two girls, none of them had ever played basketball before. . . it wasn't pretty. We had to start with the very basics: how to dribble, what traveling was, what offense and defense meant, etc. But by the end of the season, these girls could make their lay-ins (this was big!), run plays, and we got a win! 

It's hard to have organized sports seasons in Indonesia, because half the schools here run Jan - Dec, so their school years look different. Then, half the schools that do match with ours, don't have girls this age that want to play. We only got to play four games, which is a bummer because they were just starting to peak when the season ended. 

After their first tournament game.

On Thursday, we had our end of the year team party. I finally got in the school's indoor pool. Last year it wasn't heated, so that was pretty much a no! These pictures are from a different day. . . sadly, I forgot to bring my camera for our party! But I stole this picture from Sarah!

We brought a beach ball, and had a blast splashing around. The party finished off with the classic team awards. After coming up with about eight awards, Sarah and I had to start getting creative. We managed to award each girl a certificate for something different! :) And don't forget the food part. . .we had lots of that too! 

As much as I enjoyed coaching the girls this season, even two days a week sometimes felt like a big commitment some days after working! I give props to the coaches who coach every day of the week. I sorta wasn't looking forward to another coaching season after Christmas. BUT, I'm excited because I found out most of my basketball girls are joining soccer next season, so they'll make it worth the time! :)

Oh, and I'm sure we'll be the "E-Girls" again. They said, "the boys are the Eagles, we want to be the E-girls instead!" so there you have it. 

"E-Girls"

G809

I meant to put up these pictures a looong time ago, and just found them in my draft blog posts. I don't really feel like writing much to go along with them, but if you're interested in seeing what our apartment looks like, here's a peek. I always struggle to get shots with good lighting in our place because there is a huge window on one side, which makes everything else look dark in pictures. . . 

Anyways, here's our place - The Empire, Unit G809

As you walk in the door (again, sorry about that awful lighting!)

Overexposed, to show the room

Underexposed, so you can see our AMAZING view!)

Though you can't tell from this, there are two soccer goals on that field. I love looking out the window and watching kids play. And even a little bit of blue sky that day!

Our good friend, Donald Trunk

As you can probably tell by now, whoever decorated/wallpapered this place had some eclectic style! yikes!

This little Bajaj driver print was a birthday gift from my friend Madi. I'd been eyeing it since the beginning of the year :)

No, our oven still doesn't fit in the kitchen well, but still thankful we have one!

The turnaround view from the window side. Bedroom on the right, guest bedroom, bathroom, and laundry on the left.

Again, not how I would have decorated the place (goldfish clock!?), but I like the bar connected to the kitchen!

I didn't add pictures of the bedrooms or kitchen. The bedrooms are the blandest part of the place. Nothing too colorful or exciting. And maybe I'll get pictures of the kitchen sometime. . . when there aren't dishes in the sink :)

Stay tuned for some Christmassy apartment pictures soon!

P.S. 10 points to whoever noticed the two Spiderman toys that made appearances in several pictures. I'm a good wife, and somehow let them remain as part of the decor ;)