Peace be with you!

My name is Nader Ata. I am a Conventual Franciscan Friar of the Our Lady of Angels Province, USA. I am a transitional deacon preparing for Priesthood Ordination in the fall.

Seeking to live with Franciscan Joy each and every day!

*All of photos on this blog were taken by me unless noted otherwise. Please ask permission before using them. Thank You!*

*Also I am not the greatest speller or writer in the world, so please let me know if something is misspelled. Thank you!"

Enjoy!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Indonesia Part 3

Here is a classic picture from my trip to Indonesia. Why you may wonder? Because Pete and I have this uncanny ability to put on a shirt that either matches or looks like the other person's shirt. This day Pete and I both put on red shirts. It was also one of the days were I changed my shirt color and he keep his. It is uncanny! This past Christmas he came over my parent's house wearing a red sweater and I asked him if he borrowed that sweater from me. Pete said "No!" I then went into my room and put on the same exact sweater, it turns out that the Christmas that I was at the Novitiate my mom gave both of us the same sweater as a gift.

Next you will see pictures of another mall we went too, this one is called Grand Indonesia and rightly so because it has eleven stories to it. Here is a picture of the mall from above and one from below. This mall was very interesting. It not only had a ferris wheel, a carousal, and other boardwalk rides, but it also had a huge play area and stage for children. At one point we were watching the show and the "Peanut, Peanut Butter and Jelly" song with a skit was done. If I remember how to upload videos again I will, but no promises. This mall also had something very interesting that caught me way off guard. I was walking around and Pete and Nancy told me to look down and then I saw a manhole from the NYC sewer system. There was also a subway car from NY in the mall with subway noises too. For a minute I wondered if I was in NY or Indonesia. Also from NY was the Rockefeller Center Statue of Atlas with a fountain and music too. And if that was not enough their were Broadway themed restaurants and posters. As we turned the corner there was also a section on Japan too. Here is an image of that.

The next two pictures are dedicated to Mike my brother-in-law's brother. One is of him with this huge Hulk statue in the Mall. As you can see it is so big that it is taller than one floor and extends past the second floor. The second picture is from a Puma shirt that Mike purchased. First, the shirt has a picture of an Island on the front of it but no one knew which Island it is. Mike thought it was of Indonesia, but it was not. Second, the shirt had this hilarious tag to it. As you can see "Wash this when Dirty"...duh! It was funny to me that the company would take the time to put something so obvious to me on it.

The next picture is from what could have been a great tour of the city. Once we got on the horses we realized that this was not so. First, the horses looked so malnourished and when you get into the cart it feels as though it is going to flip over. Second we were expecting to see Jakarta's National Monument - Monas- which essentially looks like the Washington Monument in DC with a flame on top. In reality we never saw the full monument except part of it through the trees. To the right is a picture of Monas that I took from the horses, it was the closest we got it the whole trip. The horse ride was definitely one of my sister's least favorite moments of the trip. The next two pictures are of two other sights in Jakarta. The one on the left the Permuda Statue - also known as the Pizza Man according to my Internet searches. I personally have called him the Fire Man. On the right is a picture of the welcome statue in front of the Grant Hyatt Hotel - a main hotel in Jakarta - we joked that is actually to welcome Pete and Nancy as a married couple.


Lastly here is a picture to express our time with Opa. The day we arrived in Indonesia Opa was sent to hospital. By the time this day came about Pete and I had caught a cold - thus we were not allowed to go into Opa's Room. We did not want to make him sicker or weaker that he was already. While we were waiting outside of Opa's room Pete and I decided to pray Evening Prayer together in the hallway. It was a one of the most memorable moments of the trip. As we were praying Nancy came to the door and asked us to pray louder because Opa could here us. It was such a gift to pray there and to pray for him. Also while we were praying a lady from the room across the hall asked if we were Christian and if we would pray for her daughter? After explaining to her that we did not want to pray in her daughter's room as to get her sick we prayed in the hallway with the Mom and the daughter's husband. This moment made me realize the power that prayer can have and how it can inspire others to pray.

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