Mock U.N.: Palestine & Page

 This morning I woke up late and when I walked out of my room there was this stranger in my home, packing up Matt's school bag and looking as if he was going to work in a Jakarta office building.  After taking a closer look I realized it was my son, dressed in his brand new pin-striped suit.  First suit ever!
Of course I had to drag him into the yard to take a photo, on the  pretext that his grandmother would never forgive me if I didn't update her on this most important occasion.  Wouldn't you know it, she called about an hour later and when I told her about the new suit, she asked "you took a picture, right?"  As an aside, to the left of Matthew are some pineapple plants that I just discovered...I knew the plants were there, but it wasn't until the rains came that I discovered the plants were fruit-bearing.
Anyways, back to the suit.  Matt and Tris went out last Monday night and purchased it for today's Mock United Nations.  A few weeks ago, for his Speak Up club, he was assigned the role of representative of Palestine.  Since then he's had to research and develop an argument on his position regarding Genetically Modified Foods as well as on the abuse of domestic workers working abroad (or something like that.  There's a specific term for that but it's too late and I can't think of it).

It was really interesting to go and listen to kids from a variety of schools imitate the United Nations.  They had to answer attendance when their country was called..."present and voting...", they had to address the chair only, speak in 3rd person, and never answer a question with a question.  Thats what I remember.  There was o so  much more going on, and it was interesting to see the kids working within the rules and structure, having to use their research to back up their arguments, and to think on their feet whenever confronted with a question they hadn't considered beforehand.

Abby also participated in the event as a page.  She and a few other grade 8s would silent walk around the room collecting notes from various countries, to pass to either another country or to the chair.  Notes had to be UN related only.  When it was time to vote on a resolution, the pages would have to watch the doors so that no one entered or exited.  It was neat to watch.

Matt and his buddy Eric were in it together (Eric represented Chile...in his new suit jacket).  In this photo Matt's really impressed that his mom is taking photos of him....it's my job and my prerogative.

In this final photo Matt is standing at the podium as Palestine, defending his right to vote.  I think it's probably the first time he's spoken publicly, aside from class speeches, and I think he did well.  He looked good doing it, regardless!

Today, Mock U.N, tonight a sleep over at the school for student council.  Tomorrow Tris and the kids are off to their monthly visit to an orphanage just outside of Lippo.  I think tomorrow afternoon will be one LONG nap....


Thanks for reading.

A Wonderful Part of Indonesian Life

She's back!  Our helper, Ami (Ah-mee) has returned and our routine has fallen nicely back into place.  It's funny how time and circumstance can change someone's mind, even someone as stubborn as I've been told I can be.  It took me over 2 years to actually agree that the idea of having a helper (nice name for maid) was ok, and then last year I began to appreciate how Ami really does keep this place extra nice and running extra smooth.  There were days when I was feeling too ill to do much other than get dressed, eat, do a few errands and then have a nice long nap.  During that time she'd clean the house, do the laundry and get dinner on for 5:30.  In Canada I'd wash or vacuum the floors once or twice a week (daily in the kitchen, even less than once a week in the not-so-used rooms), whereas because of bugs and rodents here, the floors need to be cleaned daily.  In the warm, dry  months I'd hang my laundry, something I considered a real treat, but mostly we used our dryer.  Here it is done daily, with no access to any kind of dryer (although if you place items that you need quite quickly in front of the a/c fan, they dry within an hour!).  During Indo's rainy season, most items need to be ironed just to get that last bit of dampness out.  In Canada, our family just made sure that we didn't buy too many clothing items that needed to be ironed, or we just wore the wrinkles out during the day (I'll credit Tris for that idea).

While Ami was away, our family worked together to keep the house up to par, which included dishes ALL the time, wiping floors, sweeping, cleaning bathrooms, folding & ironing laundry, and making meals.  I think that my family sighed a unified breath of relief when Ami showed up on Monday, because now that school has started, homework takes priority and our house would probably end up a little chaotic.  Usually I'm around and during those times we haven't had a helper, or she's been on holidays, I've maintained well enough.  Lately though, I've been able to take on some opportunities that require me to be out of the house from 6:30am to dinner time, and so coming home to a sparkling home, with laundry folded on my trunk and food cooking in the oven is a wonderful treat.

I'm pretty sure that when we are directed back to Canada (or wherever), it'll be unanimous that the one thing we'll miss most is having a helper.  It's a blessing that we have such a good one, and I need to remind myself of that when my expectations get higher than reality can provide.

Thanks for reading.

Quiet Jakarta

School has started, my helper is on holidays for another week, and today I had the house all to myself.  Usually I crank music (well, in the distant past) and clean, but today, I scrubbed, mopped and folded in complete, lovely silence.  Even the outside help, the village-hired street sweepers and yard maintenance ladies haven't returned from their holidays yet, and it's so quiet around here.  Ramadan ended with Idul Fitri last week, and during the week surrounding Idul Fitri everybody goes away, either back to their village or typically, if you are an ex-pat, off to somewhere that is NOT Jakarta and the surrounding area.  Tris and I, we hung around our village and thoroughly enjoyed the quiet.  Last Monday, while the kids were still at camp, we headed into Jakarta and into the 'old city' of Batavia (Old Town).  Unfortunately, because it was a Monday, the day of the week that many things are closed, we weren't able to visit any museums or anything, but we did visit the old Dutch part of Jakarta, one of Jakarta's Chinatowns (Glodok), and the docks.  While at the docks we sat in the car and ate our lunch.  Although it was still during the time of fasting, we weren't so much respecting the Muslim tradition as we were trying to enjoy our surroundings without being obvious.  Apparently where we were isn't really all that safe a place to just hang out, so we kept a low profile.

What was incredible about the day trip is that we really were gone only 5 hours, but we drove through more districts (some more than once as we tried to become 'unlost') in those 5 hours than we typically could in 3 days.  It was a great way to gain a new perspective on how the city is laid out.  Sadly, the people are slowing trickling back into the city and into our village, traffic is once again becoming congested, and day trips into the city from Lippo Village will probably consist of one district per trip.  It's nice knowing that there are at least 2 days a year where one can drive into and around the city of Jakarta, get lost, find one's way again, and still make it home in time for dinner.