Lazy Sunday afternoon

It's our Sunday, your Saturday evening. Some of you will consumed with Northgate's conference (get it?) and others will be hanging out at home. Our Saturday night was not spent at church like we usually do. Instead we just hung out here, doing alot of nothing except eating greasy foods and watching videos. If you want a great idea of what it looks like where we are living, watch the old classic "Good Morning, Vietnam!". What an excellent movie. I especially loved it because I just finished reading a book called "River of Time" written by newspaper reporter Jon Swain. He spent some time in Vietnam during the war and in this book he gives his perspective on US involvement, other reporters, and the lives of various Vietnamese and Cambodian people. If you like history, especially from a biographical point of view, you may want to check out this book.

Saturday went well for us. Tris went in a small bus packed with teachers to Jakarta, where they spent about 6 hours listening to various lecturers and doing workshops about the IB program. I have a feeling that there were other things he'd rather be doing, but it went okay. Abby babysat for the first time, and she had her buddy Sophie along. The girls had fun and I felt better because one of my friends, Esther, lives on the same street that Abby was babysitting on. She had all 5 kids over to her house for lunch and Esther's children played with "Abby's" children. I was happy because I was a little uncomfortable being out of the village and not being available for Abby if anything went wrong. The good thing is that we do have a great bunch of people that we could call on if need be, so I really have no reason to worry. Matthew had a great day by himself, unwinding after a long week:) He watched videos, played Wii and skyped a bunch of friends. I had fun shopping; mostly bought Christmas presents. How do I get them back to Canada??? My hope is that YOU will come and visit me and I can give them in person. If that sounds like a bribe, it's just a little something I'm learning in Indonesia...

Last week I was riding with a friend and she did a u-turn. Not unusual here, but what she missed was the "no u-turn between so and so hours" sign. Unfortunately she was pulled over by a polisi and he wasn't about to let her go. She phoned an Indonesian speaking friend and he came to the conclusion that this was one of "those" situations. My friend wrapped a 50,000 rupiah bill in her hand and passed it to the polisi. As soon as he got it he dismissed her and we took off like a shot. Five dollars goes a long way here.

Travel is interesting here. Because Indonesia and many surrounding countries are made up of islands, plane trips are the norm. I had a few friends just "pop" over to Singapore this weekend to watch a play. Many people head over their as well to go to the doctor, gynecologist, surgeon, etc. The problem is that when you leave Indonesia you have to pay $100 each time, just to leave. Our school pays that 2x each year per person in each family, but if you leave more than that you cover the cost. Also, our roads are covered with toll booths. Admittedly, the 20 cents that you have to pay each time (approximately) is not much, but if you don't have the money you don't go through to the next jalan tol (toll road).

Random thought for you:
I just realized this morning that there's one more sound that we don't hear here that we always heard in Canada, and that's the sound of a kettle boiling. Every household has to buy a water dispenser and here they usually come with hot/cold options. Because we rarely drink hot drinks ours is turned off, but it must be pretty hot inside the tank because when I press the 'heat' button it only takes a few minutes to get to the boiling point.

This week I had the school maintenance guy come and turn down our hot water tank. My argument was that if the hot water was the only one on, it is so hot it would scald whoever was using it. I was amazed at the resistance I got from maintenance. I was asked why I don't just turn on the cold water first and then slowly add hot water? Apparently I was the first in years to request this and it was extremely odd. My second argument...our helper has to tote hot water from the bathroom to the kitchen (where there is no hot water) and if she was to even 1/2 fill the tote and spill it on herself, her skin would definately blister from the temperature. Third argument: it would be cheaper in terms of electricity if we were to turn down the temperature. Regardless of the resistance, our hot water is now cooler and all is well at the White house.

One final note: if you really, really miss our family and are hoping to drive by our old house and get a glimpse of it for memories sake, don't. Sounds like it's being revamped and those old memories will just not match the new look. However, if you DO drive by and have a camera, would you mind taking a photo and sending it to us? I'd love to see the look once it's finished.

Thanks for reading.
Aunt Sam..to see a photo of our new suv see "We have Wheels," Tuesday, October 21st.