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.

Settled Once More

We're back.  In Indonesia, I mean.  It was a full, fun, short 6 weeks (5 for Tris) in Canada, but we're glad we went.  I can't imagine NOT returning to Canada at least once a year.  Not returning in those first 2 years was very, very difficult for me.  This time, as noted earlier, we went on a road trip, so those 7 days used up some of our 'normal' visiting time, yet we were able to see my brother Darren and his wife Chrystal in Red Deer, Tris' cousins in Calgary, and our friends Jamie and Sheldon in Idaho.  It was a beautiful, sunny trip through the Rockies that our family will never forget.  Thanks to those of you who fed us and put us up for a few days:)

This time, while in Canada, we tried to keep it low-key.  When asked "so what would you like to do?" we usually responded, "sit and visit".  Mostly we just sat on back decks, back porches, couches and in restaurants, and visited.  It was just like we wanted.  Time and circumstance always take a few things away, and we weren't able to go fishing or canoeing, but the way we see it is that we did travel 7000 kilometers in our van, and you can't do everything.

Tris left one week earlier than the kids and I, and while he was getting his classroom ready for school, he was spending his home time preparing our new place for us.  He got our cable hooked up, internet ready, and he unpacked almost every one of the 60 plus boxes we had shoved into one of the bedrooms of our new home.  Between him and Ami, our helper, our house was almost perfect when we walked in the door.  Of course, by us walking in the door, perfection occurred as we were back as a family again.  I must admit, I have "rearranged" perfection since then, and made a few things a little easier for me to find.  When we said yes to moving into this new home, I had only seen it twice, and really didn't know what I was in for.  This place is absolutely wonderful.

There are things in my life here in Indonesia that I just accepted because of our circumstance, like having to fetch hot water for dishes from the main floor shower. We now have hot water in our kitchen and in our bathroom sinks.  We also have a great kitchen that looks out over a nice, tropical garden, and I have enough drawers in my kitchen to successfully store and eventually FIND any of my cooking or baking tools.  There are a lot of bonuses to this house that are well-suited to our family of 4, 2 of whom are teenagers.  It was the landing at the top of our stairs that sold me on moving into this house, and now the kids are using it just like I had imagined.  It holds our big desk, a sofa bed, and a lamp, and it has become "The Pad".  It's a real treat to know the kids are upstairs hanging with their friends while we are downstairs watching a video.  Before, whenever kids came over, Tris and I would usually hang out in our bedroom and watch a movie on his computer.  This wasn't a problem in any way, but it's now a treat to be able to watch the big screen while the kids make their noise upstairs.

It really is good to be home, although it's amazing how quickly I began to miss my Canadian family and friends.

Thanks for reading.