Abby's Award

Blogs are for the blogger to do whatever they want to with, right? Well, as a mom, I am using this opportunity to praise my daughter's achievements. As I wrote in the last posting, today the family was to head to Jakarta to an award ceremony for a Math/English competition, in which Abby received a gold medal. Unfortunately for me, some little bug came back from Bali with me and so I have remained at home with lots of remorse at missing the event and a little guilt that it's the 2nd time I've missed something of Abby's due to illness. It's good Sam is here to stand in as the female figure and to cheer Abby on. Matt was lured to the three hour event by the promise of a Marriott lunch afterwards:)

It has been through word of mouth only that I have heard of Abby's achievements, and it wasn't until last night when I read a letter sent home with Abby of what exactly the University of New South Wales International Mathematics and English competition is. Here is a quote from the newsletter:

SPH {our school, Sekolah Pelita Harapan} results are comparable not only within Indonesian but also across the region. Several of our students will receive recognition...and will be awarded Gold or Silver medals as the highest achievers in Indonesian and the region.


...Please sit down with your child and affirm their efforts as this was not a basic assessment but a world standard competition.

I thought that was pretty exciting, and then when I looked at her results, she's placed in the top 1% (it was a rumour we'd heard but not yet confirmed until last night).

Thanks for letting me share this bit of news with you.

Thanks for reading.

Home Again

Sam and I have returned from our two night stay in Bali. I think I should write a book on what to do and what not to do when traveling to and through that place, because I'm getting enough positive and negative experiences to share with others, that's for sure. It was a great trip overall but we didn't come home very rested. Our driver, Haris, who is constantly concerned for our well-being, says that two white women in Bali is an excuse for Balinese people to raise their prices and their expectations. He didn't say that in so much words, but between he and I using pidgin English-Indonesian that's the gist. On our trip we ran into a variety of taxis drivers, like the one who was great during the time that we had him but failed to appear for the next agreed upon jaunt, and another who said he'd wait for us while we had breakfast at a rather isolated McDonalds but who took off once we paid him (we didn't really enjoy his company anyways). Our final driver was a turkey who tried to lie about the price and got very loud and angry when I paid him what the meter said...I gave him a little extra just to get him to be quiet, which I think in the long run was his intent in the first place. Those were the rotten ones, who, when coupled with the Air Asia guy who wouldn't let us catch our plane because he though we wouldn't make it, made our trip less restful.

HOWEVER, regardless of these men, we met some other really neat people who made the trip worthwhile. One was a taxi driver who spoke English really well and had only a primary school education. Over the years he has taught himself through English travel dictionaries and by talking to tourists on the beach. When he gave us the final meter total it didn't matter that it came to $10 (expensive for the distance we'd traveled), because he was just a nice, polite guy who made pleasant conversation and who welcomed us to Bali. Another was a sweet little lady (stood no taller than my armpit!) who has owned a tailor shop for 29 years and who makes the clothes within in, alongside her husband...at least I think that's what she told me. My language skills are still needing a lot of work. Aunt Sam bought me a dress from there and as we gathered our stuff to leave, this little lady warned us of all the potential dangers in the area. She was concerned that we may not lock our hotel door properly at night, or that someone might try to steal our back pack purses while we were wearing them.

One man I am really thankful for, and I know Sam is too, is Pak Yaya. Pak Yaya is an Indonesian principal of an international school in East Kalimantan (Borneo) who saw us wandering around after we were denied entrance to our flight. He helped us find the ticket agent office that the Air Asia man so vaguely pointed out to me and he kindly shared his chocolate-banana bun with us for breakfast after I paid an exhorbitant price for the next flight out (we were offered a chocolate cheese bun but neither of us were daring enough to try it...we faked being stuffed). In return we bought him a cup of tea and some donuts. One cultural thing we noticed that was interesting is that Pak Yaya had a young man with him who was an employee of his. At one point our 'host' wanted to get something out of his suitcase so he just pointed and said something to his employee, who lifted it off the cart and unlocked it for his boss. I laughed later because when our driver came to get us from Jakarta airport, I hauled the bags into the back of our car before he had time to do it. I guess I need to ask him if I'm embarrasing him by being what Tris' sister Laura calls a "Strong, Northern Woman." Saving face here is important and I need to remember that.

Sam heads out next Monday and we're wrapping up her holiday with some family fun. Tonight she's going with the kids to the bookstore so they can pick out books for their birthdays (hooray for books!). Tomorrow we head to Jakarta early to attend the ceremony where Abby will receive her gold medal for english and then we'll head to the Marriott for lunch. I imagine Sunday will be a day of packing and relaxing and then we'll head to the airport in the wee hours of Monday morning.

Photos to follow...we haven't taken many this trip!

Thanks for reading.

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged! Aunt Sam arrived 8 days ago and although we haven't gone too far from home we have kept busy. Matt's 14th birthday was on Thursday but he and Abby were at retreat, and so Matt, Abby and Sam all arrived at our house within one hour of each other. Within 5 hours of her arrival, we took Sam to Eastern restaurant, one of our favourite local Chinese food places, and we celebrated Matt's birthday there. The pretty box he's holding is my sad attempt at wrapping his birthday gift. There was actually nothing in it but a note, which said "this is an invisible wii key." We had his Wii game rekeyed for Indonesian Wii games so now he has even more playing options.

The same afternoon that we got here there was an earthquake which registered 6.5 on the scale. I don't think that there was any damage (I think the epicenter was between two Indonesian islands) but we felt the shaking.

Because of the last 2 earthquakes we've had some cracks grow in two corners of our cement home. Thankfully the school sent a repairman and our home is safe once again. I had expected him to just fill the holes with cement and was pleased when he took apart the crack, made a hole, filled it with the appropriate materials and repainted right away. I took this photo to show you how our home is made...rebar, bricks and cement, with tile floors and ceramic roof tiles. If you look carefully you can see the workman's fingers poking through from the crack on the front of the house through to the crack on the side of the house.

Mostly what we've been doing together with Sam is seeing the local sights...very local, as in Lippo Village local with a few trips into Jakarta...and getting Sam pampered. So far she's had a mani, pedi, cream bath and massages. I think she's enjoying it! One day we spent floating and tanning in our friend's backyard pool and it was just like being on holidays somewhere in our own private pool. Speaking of holidays, Sam and I head to Bali for 2 nights this Tuesday.

I mentioned that it was our nephew Tristian's birthday on October 18, but I wasn't able to put up a photo because I didn't have a recent one. Since then Jen has sent me one and this is what he looks like as a 9 year old, and this is the weather they're experiencing in Bavaria, Germany right now!

Tris' update is that he is working hard at strengthen his shoulder muscles and although they don't look like he'd like, the muscles are improving and it looks like the surgery was a success.

Thanks for reading.

Sports Day, Health Day, Retreat, Birthday Day

Happy 6th Birthday to our niece Lucy who lives in Canada, and Happy 8th Birthday to our nephew Tristian who lives in Germany! We love and miss you both!!!

We've had a great week and the 'great' extends back into last week. Last Friday was the Senior School Athletics Day and Matt participated in running long distances and in long jump. I love the photo where he's running because he has such a good looking stride. In the 400 m he ran a good race, sprinted to the finish with gusto, yet the guy beside him was just that much closer to the finish line and he missed 3rd place by a hair. Like I said, he looked good doing it. He loves to support his house team (named Merapi after an Indonesian volcano and represented by green) and so had and overall 'green-ness' about him.

Saturday saw Abby and I volunteering at another Rotary sponsored Health Day in the village just beyond the walls of our school. It's a village that I can hear but I can't see, so it was great to get a new perspective on it as we drove through and later, took photos from the rooftop of the school. Little did Abby know that when she volunteered to come along with me she was going to be the 'dental demo' for our friend & hygienist, Dalenea. She was a good sport, especially since by 10 am she'd had her teeth brushed 7 times. I have to admit, I did nothing except move a few things and wipe up a few spills. I had my camera and had a prime opportunity to take photos of the village and the school children within the school. Needless to say, I took a few hundred. I invited a friend, Amy Sanders, along for the experience and she's just bought herself a new camera as well, so we had quite a time running around the school, from top to bottom. Of course, we respected the Saturday classes going on, and the villagers/staff in the school, but we were able to take photos we'd not feel comfortable enough to take if we were to just enter the village on our own.

Janet Weeda is a lecturer at the University Pelita Harapan (UPH) and her nursing students were asked to join Rotary Club for a day of information and demonstration of health and dental care for grade ones in the village school. Abby, myself and Amy (pink) invited ourselves along, and Dalenea (brown) was asked to do the dental care station. The kids were so attentive and loved it! I think my favourite photos were the ones of the kids close up, either laughing or watching intently.

These kids are practising brushing their teeth in the sink. Mostly they had a cup of water and a bin to spit in.

Biggest news this week? It's a toss up! Matthew and Abby are at their Spiritual Retreat for 2 nights, 3 days, and Matthew will celebrate his 14th birthday with his friends during this time. When they return they'll both get quite a treat...Aunt Sam arrives the same afternoon that they do! If we time it right, all three should be walking through our front door this Friday within an hour of each other. I've got an Angel Food Cake (purchased by mom, delivered by Dale) waiting to be baked especially for the occassion and we'll have a nice birthday dinner Friday night.

We've had a blessed week. Hope you are enjoying yours!


Thanks for reading.

Power Outages

Six days until Aunt Sam!

For the last week or so we've been dealing with power outages. At first they were short, only 4 hours. The last one lasted about 8. Thankfully we've been given a schedule and can adjust our lives accordingly.

What's happened is that one of the large power plants in Jakarta has lost a generator due to a fire. As a result a new part has been ordered for the generator, and there isn't enough electricity to go around while we wait for the part to come in and to get installed. The city turns off power in a grid system, and typically our area loses power during the day.

I really can't complain. We had the power out last week from 6-10 pm and it was HOT. There was the option of going to the mall but we chose to stay home and eat popcorn made on the gas stove instead (hooray for gas stoves...now that I know how to light one without it exploding in my face!). Honestly, when we were moving here my expectations were so low as to what our house and neighbourhood were going to be like, at least until friends emailed us a photo of our house, that I didn't know if a/c was going to be a part of our lives. Now that it is, I am just spoiled. Mostly we have a/c, and I have a car with a/c, and we have nearby areas we can go with a/c. Thankfully the school has a generator and it has a/c during the day, too.

I guess the most irritating thing is that sometimes the power gets cut off a little earlier than planned, and so I get caught unawares, and any computer work I am doing gets cut off right in the midd

I love National Geographic

We received our National Geographic in the mail today (thanks mom and dad!). Every month our family, especially Matthew, waits for the newest publication. If it doesn't arrive by the 24th of the month, the promised arrival date, then each day when he comes home from school, Matt asks "has the magazine come yet?" This month's is especially interesting to me in that it includes articles on the West Coast Redwoods in California and Oregon (not quite north as home but cedars nonetheless), Indonesia, and Mexico's Baja (that's where Tris and I met and later got engaged). Why not grab your copy of NG and let's examine it together:)

Title Page: Do you know what a thrill it is to see a picture of a giant cedar tree on NG? With the arrival of the rainy season, the air has become extremely humid here, and I usually end up changing my clothes at least twice a day (at least my shirt). It was physically cooling to me (SERIOUSLY!!) when I picked up the magazine. Immediately I imagined walking through a place like Cathedral Grove, where even on a hot day there always seems to be a little bit of earthy cool. It also reminded me of my dad, the tree-hugging faller, who I miss very much.

Editor's Note: If you have not yet experienced lying on the forest floor, looking up through the treetops into the blue sky beyond, you need to wait for a sunny day--preferably not immediately after a rainy day--and to find a cool spot in an empty forest. It's solitude like you've never experienced before.

p 38 pull-out. I think that one needs to be taken out of the book and hung in our home here somewhere. What a beautiful forest!

p. 52 The bear has the same eyes as our Corgie, Willie. He likes to chew wood (like Sunny's wooden blinds that blocked his view of the horse next door) just like this bear, and wreaks havoc doing it, too!

p. 78 The scooter that the woman is gassing up ('bensin' it's called here) is similar to the one that our driver bought last night.

p 80 "The National Mosque in Jakarta can hold 120,000 souls for Friday prayers." And THAT is why we dread going into Jakarta on Fridays. Friday night traffic is the worst ever.

p 82 "Last year some 200,000 Indonesians made the hajj..." which is why, when I was curious about possibly finding a ticket to go to my brother's wedding in September, there were absolutely NO affordable seats going in or out of Indonesia.

p 86 Take a look at the map of Indonesia. We live on Java, which seems like it should be a big island because of the political power that comes out of it, but it's a smaller island. We live in the province of Banten, 45 minutes from Jakarta. I've travelled to Yogyakarta (Jogja) with Dale and our family travelled there with the Weedas. See how Bali is pink (indicating Hindu)? One of the pleasures of going there is that there are no calls to prayer every day. The island to the left of Java, Sumatra, is where the tsunami occurred (Aceh) about 5 years ago. In the area of West Sumatra (marked 98%) is where the devastating eartquake occurred last week. Papua, to the far right, is where I'd really like to visit.

That's as far as I've read, and as soon as Matt comes home, eats, and does his homework, I'll lose the magazine for a while.

Thanks for reading with me.
*ps. My family has since told me that Redwoods are NOT cedar trees, so I stand corrected. However, it's my blog and I think that the bark looks like cedar, so that's how it's gonna be for this post:)

What the heck is "lite rain?"

When it rains, it pours, so the saying goes, and it's pretty literal here. Yesterday was the official beginning of rainy season, I'd say. We were playing ultimate frisbee when off in the distance these huge dark "sinisterly foreboding" rain clouds gathered. Using wisdom gained from past experience, most of the players took off their running shoes and played barefoot. Good idea, because those clouds moved incredibly fast. We were drenched within minutes. It was actually a great way to play because you could run and sweat and the sweat would just wash off. It definitely confirmed for me that sometimes my inability to play (my desire to get OFF the field) has a lot to do with the humidity and heat. One thing to remember in the next 6 months, or those months with an 'r' in it, is to always carry an umbrella. I often think I should get someone to bring me a pair of those funky multi-coloured rainboots in the shoe shop on Fifth. I already get stared at, and I'm pretty convinced that the locals think I'm a little "special" if you get my drift. Buleh gila (crazy foreigner) would be an appropriate label sometimes.

We just got an email from Abby's teacher congratulating her on the gold medal in English that she just received (on paper so far). She wrote in an English competition that was written across Indonesia (not sure if it's just international schools or not) and got top marks. Tris thinks it's top 1%. I would have written that first but I don't want to seem too proud, so I eased in with discussing the weather. We are very proud of Abby and the work she does.

The last week has been interesting. Apparently there is a fire in one of the electric stations in Jakarta and so every day or two the authorities turns the power off in specific grid areas, to save power. Ours was off for 7 hours today, which is the longest yet. Usually it's just 3 or 4 hours, and it gets pretty hot without the a/c. Thankfully today we had another rainfall and it cooled the air down.

That's all folks.

Thanks for reading.

I don't have a lot to say but my aunt sent me this via email and I thought it was a good one. It made me think, although my thoughts wandered from the content of this email to the school that we're involved with. It's interesting being part of a Christian school community in a predominantly (read 90%) Muslim country. I love how the focus is very Christ-centered, and it's more than just praying with the kids in the morning or having devotions. The teachers are encouraged to incorporate biblical worldview into all classes. This isn't always easy to do, especially in classes like PE and Food Tech, but it's still encouraged. There are some muslim, buddhist and hindu students in our school, and they're expected to participate in devotions and discussions as much as the Christian kids. I like it that the kids are challenged to think about the information they're given, and to think about their own spirituality, about whether or not it's important to them, regardless of whether it's important to their parents. They're challenged to make their spiritual growth their own.
One thing that is interesting about our school (and the public domain in general) is that although we have wheelchair access to most rooms, there is not one obviously physically handicapped student in our midst. Curious. Anyways, I digress. Here's the email. . .

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:
'Let me see if I've got this right.
'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.
'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.
'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.
'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.
'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.
'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.
'You want me to do all this and then you tell me. . . I CAN'T PRAY?

Let's Discuss Good Stuff for a Bit

Happy Birthday to Dale for September 30!

Things we are looking forward to in the near future:
*Aunt Sam (Tris' aunt) is coming to Indo and arriving on Matt's 14th birthday (October 15th). We're getting excited!
*Tris and Sunny (Tris' parents) are coming for 5 weeks beginning December 11. We're not doing the countdown yet because it's too hard. I don't let myself begin anticipating someone's arrival until just weeks before, or else the wait is too long...BUT we are still getting excited to see them, too.
*I am going to be Auntie Kimmie for the 3rd time for Tyler and Tanya sometime around the beginning of December. That means Abby and Matt get another 'sepupu' and mom and dad one more 'cucu'. This is very, very hard for me to not be there or see the baby, or see Lucy and Elijah's response to the baby, or TJ with his newest, or Tan after she does one more great job of making an incredible baby, OR see my kids with the little one. Wow, hard to type that without tears. I miss family.

Speaking of new ones, these are the newest editions to our family:

This is a photo of Darren, my big brother, and his wife, Chrystal. They were married September 12 of this year. Congratulations, Darren and Chrystal. We are looking forward to meeting Chrystal and her 2 girls next summer. Welcome to the family!

Tris' cousin Jain was married to Peter on the same date as Darren and Chrystal. Although we wouldn't have been able to go to both weddings even if we lived in Canada (one on the island, one in Alberta), we are sorry to have missed either one. Congratulations to Jain and Peter!


Our Australian friends, Jonny and Mel, that I've written about over our time here, aren't blood family but we love and miss them since they've moved back to Adelaide, Australia. They've just had a baby girl, Zoey Sheree, and we're hoping one day to meet her.

On our end, as much as Abby wants to adopt, there are no babies in our home and no weddings yet. Matt's learning how to flirt but hey, that's all for now. Abby's not interested in boys, and in fact, they're "horrid," to quote Ab.
Junior school had an Athletics Day yesterday and Abby ran in 7 of the 8 events. She came home a very tired young lady yesterday, but had a good time. She placed first in a relay and 2nd in long jump. I ran a relay for parents at the end but I didn't place. I just ran.


Totally aside, but something exciting to me...I went to a gardening area along a main road in Jakarta, where you walk along the road, dicker and sweat in the hot sun until you have a car full of plants. I bought a hydrangea plant and it sits outside my kitchen, across from my rosemary plant (which one day will be a bush). In my front yard is a basket of petunias that I have to admit are getting a bit faded in the sun...they need a new location. The hydrangea plant at home would be about $25. I bought it for rp 30 000 ($3).

Thanks for reading.