We have wheels!

Good-bye Ojegs! Good-bye bis! Good-bye taksis! We've got our new suv. It arrived today around 3 pm (supposed to be here around 9 am) and it's lovely. The best thing about it is that it fits 7 comfortably so with a driver, our family and two others can go on adventures around Jakarta and beyond! The vehicle arrived when no one was home but me, so I had to do the checking for scratches, kick the tires, look under the hood, etc. Not only am I bule but I'm a woman to boot, so you KNOW that it attracted some attention. Fortunately people around here are getting used to me pulling out my camera for every possible occasion, so I easily persuaded the 2 salesmen (who delivered the suv) and 2 drivers from across the street to stay where they were so I could shoot a photo. [Unfortunately, the driver who looks like Greg Baker was not around and so I couldn't sneak a photo of him for Steph and Greg to check out. One day I'll just ask him if I can take his picture.] One of the drivers drive-shares with 2 families from school and so he is familiar enough with our family and myself that he helped me check out the vehicle for scratches and the like. Already he is asking if we have a driver and I suspect that we'll have the odd knock on our door over the next month.
One of the adventures that will NOT occur in Indonesia is Mrs. Kim driving. Tris bought his license and that is good enough for me. MAYBE if I get brave I'll drive to and from my friends' homes here in the safety of Lippo, but that would be it.

One adventure we will be having in the next week is to have our family filmed for a local television show. I'm not sure how local and what it all entails, but I imagine it's like Shaw cable and the local news blips on an obscure channel. The purpose of our being filmed is to encourage Indonesian youth to learn to speak English. We will dress in 'Canadian traditional garb' (whatever that may be!) and I'll make a traditional meal. Tris is all for roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy with veggies on the side. I'm leaning more towards a nice hearty stew. Mind you, pancakes with syrup would be nice (we saw maple syrup around here somewhere) except that they don't taste as good without bacon and we just can't do pork for this event. We'll be serving our meal to an Indonesian family and so we have to keep within the boundaries of any religious rules when we cook. Obviously we're all open to suggestions. I did get a bunch of Facebook, but somehow I don't think that wearing a toque in this weather will work; I don't want us passing out on tv because I don't know how or if they'd edit it!

Not sure what else is in store for us this week, but it's been a doozey so far!

Thanks for reading.