Contemplation 2012

Wow, it's amazing how life changes and how priorities are adjusted.  When I first began this blog, it was a wonderful way to process moving to Indonesia and all the adjustments that we encountered.  I remember very specifically writing so that I wouldn't offend my new country members who might be reading, and I wouldn't cause my friends and family back home in Canada to insist that I come home immediately.  In setting these boundaries for myself, I was force to look at the good in where I was living, and to make the best of some really difficult situations.  Now, 4 years later, I feel that I am in a new stage of life and blogging is no longer as necessary as it was for me.  Couple that with having much less free time and the result is fewer posts...that and forgetting my password for a few weeks!

Our latest updates in a nutshell (o so many):
Tris and Sunny came to Indonesia for almost 5 weeks, and we had a great visit.  Revisited Bali for almost a week, and while in Lippo they were able to take advantage of the local country club while the rest of us worked or studied each weekday.  Time went by quickly and before we knew it, they had flown home and we were preparing to return for our summer visit to Canada.

We adopted a black dog named Jasper, and he is keeping us on our toes.  It's different adopting a dog that is almost an adult but we're willing to tackle the challenge.  He's not really very much like our Canadian Corgie dog, Willie, but he has some promise.  We think he's a cross between a border Collie and an Australian shepherd.  He's got this weird ridge back that friends of ours call a 'faux hawk.'  Very cute.

I've completed 3 of 12 Masters (teaching) courses and so am 25% finished.  Boy that feels good, although knowing I have 9 more to go can be a little daunting at times.  I'm studying online through a Christian university, and I love the challenges that the content provides.  It's causing me to really examine what I believe, why, and how I will take what I believe and appy it to all areas of my life.  This is a lot different from my first university degree!

Matt has finished grade 10 and will be starting his International Baccalaureate (IB) program for grade 11 and 12.  This is an intense program but it will be beneficial when it's time to head to university, as it focuses on preparing students for further study.

Abby finished grade 8 with a bang, earning a bunch of awards.  The highlight (for her parents) was Top Student for grade 8, and Scholar Athlete as well.  There were others but I may get in trouble if I put them all up for all to see:)

Tris has a new job description that gives him more admin and less teaching next year, which will be a nice challenge and change for him.  He's already starting working during the summer, with emails flying back and forth from Canada to Indonesia.  He's really looking forward to what this year will bring.

We're here in Canada now, and sadly, are halfway through our visit (today is the marker).  Heading back to Indonesia is always bittersweet, as we love our lives there, but it's hard to leave family and friends behind.  This year will be particularly difficult to return, though, as many of our good friends have moved to their home countries for various reasons, and there will be a big hole left.  We do look forward to meeting new friends though, and so will head home with a good attitude.

It's been a good day, spent with family and friends.  Trout fishing is the plan for tomorrow and so it's time to head to bed.

Thanks for reading

Company's Coming!

They're almost on their way!  Tris' parents are heading here for their 2nd visit (first was Dec 2009) for almost 5 weeks and we're really excited.  This time will be a little different as last time it was over Christmas break and this time it's over April break (no Spring Break here...Spring doesn't exist!), so we don't have as much visit time.  However, we plan on making the best use of our time and hopefully they'll have a lot of opportunity to just relax.  One of my mom in law's favourite Indonesian things:  having her dirty clothes picked up in the morning and delivered the next day, washed, dried, ironed and folded!

March is flying by so fast it's making my head spin.  My days are full of books, reading, writing and lots of editing of papers and assignments.  I'm learning a lot in my first class, and am looking forward to learning in the second one that I just started last Monday.  It's a research/statistics class, and that kind of scares me.  It's kind of fun working alongside my kids, as they work on essays and projects, and meet school deadlines.



We still have fun around here, it's just more intentional.  Our school held it's annual Soccer Carnival a few weeks ago, and Tris and the kids were really into preparing for it.  Our house team (Merapi...named after the volcano) was going with a military theme, and so our family went along with another Merapi family, the Comries, to some shops far, far away in Jakarta to buy military garb.  Once all was said and done, they looked great.  Abby, our friend Sophie, and a few other girls did a cheerleading dance to get our team going (all-school assembly just before the carnival started).

I thought matt was going for 'sasquatch' but apparently this is military camouflage.

Report cards came out and the kids did really well.  It's neat to see what areas they're really developing into, and what gifts God has given them.  Abby loves to write, and it shows.  Matt loves art, especially photography, and it shows.  Below is a photo that he took for a lighting lesson in digital art.  He was supposed to use lighting to show emotion.  Here, it's hopelessness.  

Thankfully, this is just a staged photo.

We're off to Bali in April, something that we haven't done since Tris and Sunny were last here, and so we're really, really excited.  

thanks for reading.

Birthdays and Bike Rides

Amanda turns 25

This month of March has been a very busy one, full of good things and good people.  On March 4th our Wednesday bible study celebrated Amanda's 25th birthday with her.  Amanda is one of my most loyal 'local' readers and she keeps me encouraged to continue to always write about my time here in Indonesia, both good and bad. Soon Amanda will be a far-away reader as she and her husband head back to the US, and even the thought brings me to tears.  However, as I have learned, even when we are far from friends, they still remain friends.

The March 4th weekend was a busy one, as we had Stacey 'pop over' for a visit from Thailand.  She and her husband were on a working tour, and so Stacey took the opportunity to come and check out our place for a day.  She arrived the eve of March 5 and returned the afternoon of March 7.  In between, on the Sunday, we celebrated Stacey's birthday of March 6 by packing our day full of exercise, food and shopping, all within the confines of Lippo Village.

Stacey comes for a 41 hour visit

Stacey and my Sunday started early, when we strapped on our backpacks and water bottles and rode out into the rice fields behind our home.  Earlier in the week the rains had refused to leave and so I had been praying that my ONE day with Stacey would be pleasant.  Sure enough, the skies were brilliant blue and the clouds puffy white. 

blue skies, white clouds, rice fields to the left  

a farmer's transport

rice ready to be planted

banana tree

papaya tree

Stacey in the 'jungle'

These are photos of a few of the things we saw, mostly fruit, grasses and rice.  The variations of green along the path are incredible and I don't think the camera even did them justice.

 After our bike ride, Stacey and I headed to Royal Beauty for a cream bath and foot massage.  We returned home, at dinner, sang Happy Birthday (of course!) and then headed to the mall for some souvenir shopping.  Later we realized that probably we should have done the shopping and then the massages, because going to the mall on Sunday evening is something I would do to my children as a form of punishment.

Even though Stacey was here for a short time, we had an excellent visit and we were able to catch up on a lot of the 'local'  news from our home town.  I know that there is skype, facebook, email and snail mail, but there's just something wonderful about sitting face to face with a good friend and having a really good chat.

As for my trip to Singapore this month, please click on the "Simply Celiac" link at the right, or click here.

Thanks for reading!

Stacey's on her way!

Two more sleeps and Stacey will be here!  Stacey is a friend from Canada, and we met through our husbands jobs...they both taught at the same school.  Her and her husband are doing a working tour through Southeast Asia and wonderfully, she has decided to pop over our way for 2 nights.  They'll be quick but loaded.  Not only that, it's her birthday on the one full day that she's here, so we'll have to find something fun and memorable to do.  I'm thinking bike ride through the rice fields, cream bath & pedicure afterwards, lunch and then...we'll see what comes  up.

I am sure that there will be photos to follow.  Pray for sunshine!!

Thanks for reading.

Coming, Going, and Grade 6 Exhibition

So much happens sometimes that it's hard to take a moment to reflect. When I last posted, it was a quick cut and paste from an email I received from Stephanie regarding Zoey (please continue praying for Zoey, both for proper healing AND for patience as she lies completely inactive in her hospital room). In doing so, I forgot to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom officially on this blog. So mom, Happy Birthday! I love you:)

Last week was a very difficult one for me, as one of my dearest

friends here in Indonesia moved home to the US. Jamie and her husband Sheldon left on Friday and have safely landed in their hometown. It's a bittersweet event for me in that I selfishly wish she was here so that we could continue in the wonderful friendship we've established, yet I know that for Jamie to move home to be near family is so important to her. It really is like living a military life here in Indo, as people we meet move away to either their home country or to another job elsewhere. I'm not sure that it's something that I'll get used to, but I do appreciate the time I get to spend with incredible friends like Jamie while they're here. When it comes to friends, moving from Canada was hard, and so is staying here.

Speaking of friends, we've had the privilege to have the Malcolm clan come for a visit. They come from Nanoose (we met in Courtenay years ago and they were a part of our Life Group there) to visit friends in Bali for a few weeks, and we're their "Java" part of their trip. Tomorrow they head off to Jogja and then to see the volcanos in the Mount Bromo area. Their son is 13, in between Matt and Abby, and their daughter is 6. We've had a great time cramming as much fun as we can into 5 days: Taman Safari Zoo (and the vendors along the roadside up to the area), Mangga Dua (shopping Indo style), movie theatre for $2.50 each, a community event at our school, BBQ buffet at the local hotel, and today, a visit to Malabar (traditional market) as well as to our driver's in-laws' home as well as to his own home. We've packed a little bit of everything into our visit.

This upcoming week is a huge deal for Abby. This is the week that she presents her research and processing work for her Grade Six Exhibition project. She has been studying nutrition and, more specifically, malnutrition in the Jakarta area. She and other students, mostly girls, in grade 6 who are studying the same topic have had to connect with various organizations, arrange field trips into Jakarta and do interviews with people associated some how with nutrition. Some of the organizations they met with were World Vision, WHO (World Health Organization) and Unicef. I didn't even know what those organizations WERE when I was in grade 6, except maybe Unicef because of the little boxes we'd carry around for donations at Hallowe'en, so Tris and I are thrilled for the exposure she's getting.

There's always more to write, but I'll save a bit for later.

Thanks for reading!

I've got the Joy down in my heart

Have you ever had such a good day or week that you feel like you are going to burst with contentment and joy? One of those weeks where there's nothing really specific that you can point at and say "THAT made me happy..."? That is how I would describe my week. It's a bit ironic, really, because, like I said, I didn't really have anything specific that made this an extra special week, and in fact almost daily I have received some kind of sad or worrisome news. What I think has happened is that I've had a full week, and I like full. I've been with Abby in some capacity or other all week, either during a field trip (to a pollution/earthquake/water monitoring station and also to World Vision's staff launch of Child Health Now), a presentation in her class pod (Student Led Conferences where she showed me her school work and sang me 2 songs in music class, as well as a presentation by a Pelita Harapan school needing sponsorship), watching her play basketball at her SPH cup, and watching her sing a small solo for the Easter assembly in Junior Choir. In the same assembly Matt and his hiphop crew danced 2 songs, and I was so proud to watch them both during this school gathering. Abby and I also had the privilege of sharing dinner with a group of families who live in some nearby slums.

Also during this week a friend had a baby girl (beautiful Aliya, 2.5 kgs and lots of lovely hair), and old(-ish) friends have returned to Indo for a visit. If you visited before last June or read any of my blogs in the first year, you may remember Abby's grade 5 teacher, Mr. Jonny, and his wife Mel. They've come to visit SPH friends and have brought their beautiful baby Zoe, who is now six months. Their story a year ago is that Mel was thought to be having a tubal pregnancy and there were fears that the baby would not make it. Just seeing Zoe's beautiful smile shows how God answers prayer.

Intermingled in all of this good news are bits and pieces of sad and sometimes disheartening, most of which won't make it to this blog post. I will say that sadly, my good friend Jamie is leaving for the US in two weeks. Her presence here in Indo and in my own life will be sadly missed; she has been a tremendous encouragement to me during my transition to Indonesia and away from my home in Canada. She'll be breaking up the "Kimmie and Jimmie" team but, as the lesson is constantly learned here, that's the way life is and we've just got to be thankful for the blessings we receive as we receive them and as we reflect upon the past.

Like I've said, nothing terribly exciting or out of this world, but this week has been full of people and connecting. Next week I look forward to another field trip with Abby, a possible trip to Mangga Dua to buy a wig or two to take home with me (for the kids!!), dinner with friends, a trip to the orthodontist with Matt (it's the closest thing I get to a date with my son...he's trapped in the car with me for at least 3 hours that day and so we'll have a good chat I'm sure), my first meeting as Karawaci Ladies pres, cramming in as much time with Jamie as possible, as well as visiting a bit more with our Australian friends. While I am doing this, may I ask that you pray for our friend Zoey from British Columbia, who I have mentioned now and then on this blog as well. She goes in for some major surgery on April 15th, and I'll post specifically on what her parent's requests are.

Thanks for reading.

Weird Little Events

Rebecca is now in the air and on her way home. She should be landing at YVR within the next few hours. She arrived a 44 year old woman and returned to Canada 45 years young. The tropics do that to a person:)

It was a good visit although we didn't get out much, and I think she'd say that being here has changed her perspective on a few things. That's always worth the cost of a plane ticket. When people leave us here I often reflect on how things will be different for them back home, and this time I thought I'd share a few things that happen in our home that are just a little different from what we once knew.

*last Saturday Rebecca and the kids made a few thousand sugar flowers for cake decorating. I

have a feeling that a few of those made their way under the refrigerator, a place that doesn't get swept under daily, because there has been evidence of them found on a regular basis since. There have been little purple and green cicak (gecko) poops all over my house. Normally these droppings are black, and so

I figure the cicaks have been snacking on the sugar flowers under the fridge.

*every morning at 4:30 the Muslim call to prayer occurs. You'd think we'd get used to it, and sometimes we think we do until they turn up the loudspeaker volume. I'm just thankful we don't live closer to a mosque.

*Once or twice a week we hear a man outside yelling "Aqua!" and it's the water delivery truck. For less than a dollar a bottle we can buy treated water that we use for drinking. Because the water in our area is treated, we still use the tap water for cooking, tea, and brushing our teeth. Typically though, in Indonesia one wouldn't use tap water for the latter

three actions. Even in hotels we use bottled water outside of Lippo.

*I have two beautiful orchids in my home right now, and one more outside that is starting to re-bloom. These cost me only $2 each, very different from the $30 I spent on an orchid from Nanaimo Costco a few years back.

*We do not have hot water in our sinks in either the kitchen or the bathroom, so in order for Tris to shave he sprays water from the shower into the sink. In order for us to wash dishes properly we fill two tubs of water from our "powder room" and bring them into the kitchen.

Those are a few things that I realize I'd either miss or at least be aware of their absence if we moved from Indonesia.

Thanks for reading.

Mangga Dua

This visit has been one long shopping trip. One day after another, as long as we're not resting at home (or in a friend's pool) we're shopping. At least that is how it seems. I'm not complaining in the least; in fact I've enjoyed it tremendously, and Rebecca has found some great deals to take home. One of my main objectives with her coming over is that I'd find her a 'to die for' bead store, and we did just that in a large multi-storied marketplace. Absolutely gorgeous beads and stones and pearls, and every possible chain, wire or link you could imagine. We probably spent at least 2 hours in that one particular store. It was kind of like being in a fabric store, where you just walk around touching stuff and dreaming.

I don't have much to blog at this point but I do have two photos that make me laugh. Last week at Mangga Dua we tried on wigs. I kind of like straight, long hair but I don't think I'd like it longer than a few minutes. They were so incredibly hot!!! Rebecca looks so cute she could be the main hostess of a kiddie program. Needless to say, these ones went back onto the reject pile.

Today we went back into Jakarta with two other friends, and went to One Pacific Place, a very decadent shopping mall (just to say we did), and then to a great outlet store. After a run around there we headed to a place that sells a variety of Indonesian gifts, fabrics and clothes. It was a very well-rounded shopping day. It's good to be able to say that Rebes has seen a lot of what Jakarta has to offer, and some of Lippo, too.

Tomorrow is Rebecca's birthday, and we're heading to bible study in the morning, so maybe we'll do a little celebrating there. She's been allowed to open one gift a day, starting Sunday night, until tomorrow.

If you want more details about what's been going on around here, check out Rebecca's blog to the right (Twisted Heirloom).

Thanks for reading.

A Week in Review

Rebes as been here a week already and time has flown by so QUICKLY! Unfortunately for her there aren't any trips to Bali, Lombok or Jogja, and due to driver-sharing we've even cancelled a trip to the mountains (and zoo and waterfall) but we've had a great time together regardless. A few days ago, during a school day, we spent the day in our friend's pool, worked on our red (tan just doesn't describe how we looked afterwards), and then went for manicures and pedicures. I've tried to talk Rebecca into another cream bath, but I think the bruises all over her body have discouraged her a bit.

On Tuesday we went into Jakarta to Antique Row (Jalan Surabaya) and I loved watching Rebecca gathera crowd with her bartering. Each vendor was eager for her to see what they

had to offer and, after a while, needing a breather, she deeked into the car for a bit to sort her thoughts and rupiah. When she drove away she had less rupiah but lots of bling in her bag. Not once did I intercept or interpret, and she came away with the goods we'd hoped she'd find for her jewelry making (and a few things to wear just because...). It was a good day!

Yesterday we spent at my Wednesday bible study (the photo of all the girls gathered...including brand new baby Keira), which included a trip to the new Burger King in the mall, and a later trip to the mall to find a few things for Abby. Tris is off to Puncak at a school retreat for a few nights, and so we just ate dinner around the tv and watched American Idol; it was a day of rest that was much needed and appreciated. I have to admit that we did take a few minutes in the quiet of the afternoon for some laughs. What do you get when you take two women who are sweltering hot and looking for something to do? You get two silly, grown women sitting on the cool tile floor making faces at the camera.

What I shouldn't tell is which floors we're sitting on. Let's just say, what do you think of my batik shower curtain?

Today we're heading into Jakarta in search of clothing outlet stores and bead stores.

Not sure which direction to head but that's all part of the adventure. Tomorrow we head to a school in Cikarang to watch Abby in a Spelling Bee. Twenty four students from our school are headed that way and so we'll go and give our support.

Thanks for reading.

POOP!!!

Are you here because of the title? Good. It worked; I got your attention. Last night we had the funniest experience in our home and I'd like to share it with you.

Yesterday was a typical Saturday. Chores in the morning, errands (or massages) in the early afternoon, head to church at five. After church we headed to American Grill (great salad bar) and then home. We arrived to a very 'stuffy' smelling house. It almost smelled like urine, and I announced exactly that. On his way into the kitchen Tris noticed some disgusting little balls near the refrigerator, all stacked nice and neatly as if put there on purpose. Almost, actually, as if some large creature had intentionally backed up, lifted its tail and left a rather impressive 'deposit' for us. I was sitting at the table and could see the pile he was checking out, and just in case the 'depositor' was still in the house, I made sure my legs were up around my neck. We've been hearing

some rather disturbing noises in our roof again, very similar to a rat's version of WWF (that would probably be WRWF...World Rat Wrestling Federation), but it would have to be a VERY large rat to leave something so ... large.

It was hard not to laugh when Tris, bent over at the waist and intently inspecting the pile, let out a "what the heck (or some such word) is THAT???" The look on his face was truly priceless. Later he explained that he had "komodo dragon, monitor lizard" and such racing through his brain. Both kids were called to the scene to bend and inspect as well. Rebes was no where to be found. I got over my 'fear' of whatever had been in our house and went to inspect as well. Looking at my kids, I got down on my hands and knees and gave the poop pile a poke. That brought some good 'ewwww's from the kids, especially Abby. It wasn't until I picked one up and popped it in my mouth that the screams of laughter started, and Abby yelling "she bit one! She put it in her mouth!!!" The look on the kids' faces and the laughter was worth every rupiah (a whole $2 worth) and then some.

On Friday Rebes and I were grocery shopping and decided to check out the Chinese New Year food section. We came upon these GREAT looking dried prunes that were covered in some kind of long, grassy spice. They looked like miniature horse poops, and that gave us an idea. We got a WONDERFUL, AWFUL idea. Just before we locked the door on our way to church, Rebes planted the pitiful pile of poop next to the fridge. What a great end to a wonderful day. Laughter. Tears. Both related.

Thanks for reading.

ps. for Rebes' version of the story, check out her blog (click on Rebes with a Twist...to the right)

Happy warm, lazy, sunny Saturday morning! It's 8:24 am, everyone here seems to be asleep (Tris is at the gym) and I am enjoying a little quiet time. Great time to finish up the last of a few books and to check out what's going on in the lives of my friends/family via blogs and Facebook. I love updates and finding out what's going on in the lives of those I love, whether it's good or bad.

Rebecca arrived safely on Tuesday, a little tired but ready to enjoy her Indo experience. Two days earlier I arrived safely home from Jambi and am so very thankful that I went. I enjoyed meeting a variety of women from the Jakarta area, all speakers at the seminar held in Jambi by an incredibly brave Australian woman named Jenny. People keep asking why I went, and really, I just wanted to see the area and to

be able to say I've been t

o Sumatra. During the semina

r on Saturday I was blessed with a hospital car and driver, and although

there is very little to see in Jambi, according to the locals, just shopping in the traditional market and driving alongside one of the largest rivers in Indonesia was a treat. I was able to haggle down the price of a great wicker

picnic basket (long search finally ends here) in the market, and to practice my language skills because NO ONE spoke English during my excursion. I love the pressure of having to speak Indonesian. The photo is of an incredibly ancient charcoal-heated iron being used to iron newly made pants. This was a bit of an assembly line held in a very dark, dingy little alley. "Sweatshop" is not an inappropriate name by any means.

During one ironic moment at the end of my trip, Jenny, our hostess, commented on my time away from the rest of the girls and told me how "brave" I was for going out alone (yeah, alone with the driver along by my side). I shook my head, because here is a woman who has moved alone (kids have moved back to Australia) to a city where very few people speak English and even fewer are foreigners. She's taken on the task of heading up the hospital and all of the changes, physical and intellectual, some even cultural, that need to take place. SHE called me brave! There were so many heartbreaking stories of people choosing not to get medical help simply because of a lack of money, lack of knowledge or poor choices made by families regarding an ailing family member. To do all that she does and also have to face the realities of human beings in pain and sometime dying is incredible, and I think she deserves a medal. A really big one.

I would return to visit Jambi in a heartbeat, but there are so many other wonderful, in

triguing places in Indonesia that I also want to experience. Right now, while Rebecca is here, I'll try and show her all of my nearby favourites. We have no plans to travel anywhere via airplane or train, but I do hope to stick her in a bajai (a little tin can on wheels) in Jakarta, maybe a becak in a nearby village, and at least one trip to the local salon on an ojek, the motorcycle-taxi that everyone needs to take at least once.

Thanks for reading.

photo: Janet and I leaving Jambi with our new friends Rose (pink) and Erin (black)

Five weeks came and went, and Tris and Sunny are now in wintery Germany visiting Christian, Jen (Tris' sister) and their boys. Within a 48 hour period Tris and Sunny went from a low of 26 degrees to minus whatever. We came to the conclusion here that minus ANYTHING is cold. They've gone from swimming in the school pool to sledding with Jen's boys. Word on the street is that the 23 degrees experienced here a few mornings ago was one of the coldest mornings ever experienced by one of our longer-term teachers here. A mere 23 degrees!!!

It's hard to know what to pack into little posting about this last month.

We had an incredible visit, and I've posted a few photos on Facebook to

give an idea of what we did with the

"other" Mr. & Mrs. White. Tris and Sunny left us with a few more photos before they left. One Sunday we met with our driver and his family, and had an ice cream at the mall. That's everybody but Tris (at home) and I (photographer) in the photo. I think Tris and Sunny, like all visitors to our home previously, have decided that they'd like to get a driver of their own when they return home. The ice cream was one way they showed Haris their appreciation, and it was another way to connect with the culture a little bit more, even if the mall is still inside the Lippo Bubble. Abby, Haris and I all took turns translating in what you could call "Englonesian" and we got along ok

ay.

In the waterfall photo, the one with a half-naked Tris is us standing before the waterfall I mentioned previously. I was in my glory. When I played all the photos as a slide show, I used the Rebecca St. James song "God of Wonders," and the chorus, God of wonders, came along just as this photo did. Good timing. Something as powerful and beautiful is truly a witness to the creativity of God. When you haven't seen or experienced anything like it for 2 years it becomes even more beautiful.

One more shot before I head to bed (to be continued in the near future) there's one more photo I like. It's Haris (here's the driver again...a very appreciated part of our new lifestyle) washing our car before we head

home from Puncak. In Lippo we live in what is pretty much a plain, and there are very few mountains to view, and those only in the far distance on a very clear day. Here we are right in the mountains, and this is the view from the breakfast table. It's refreshing and I think it's quite breathtaking. The air that flows into the room is incredibly clean, even if a bit of smoke wafts in as well. I love the mountains and all that they're about. It looks warm in this photo because of the palm trees, but it was really quite cold. Sock-wearing, long sleeves at night and maybe even jeans cold. We soaked it into our bones and used the cool later on in the day when we drove in the oven that is Jakarta.

Thanks for reading.

Happy New Year 2010

Wow, life just keeps on going even when you don't blog:) Since my last posting we've crammed a lot of "holiday" into our days, starting with Christmas events around town and school, on to Bali and the little island of Lembongan, home again and then a few nights in the mountains at Puncak. Tris and I head into Jakarta for a one night's stay tonight (it's his birthday on Sunday) and school starts on Monday. This is our last week with Tris and Sunny and so we will be slowly easing ourselves into routine once again.

It was Abby's 12th birthday on December 18 and as you can see, she's no baby girl anymore. We're thoroughly enjoying both Matt and Abby as they grow and mature. It

is hard to see my babies grow up but such a joy to see them making their own decisions and

choosing their own style (even if it's not skirts for Abby like I'd like), and watching them test out their personal style of humour and of communication. What is weird is when we see a little of Tris and I in them. I watch Matthew gesticulate (that was the word of the day yesterday on igoogle...) and think...that's my mom...that's ME! Watching Grandpa Tris and (my) Tris walk side by side, each with their hands in their beige short pockets, kind of leaning forward into the nonexistent wind, inspires me to have Matthew walk over to them to ask them a question. In him I see the same walk, the same posture, and it makes me grin.

Abby looks so much like her dad (so much so that my automatic face recognition program in my mac confuses Abby and Tris when Abby's hair is pulled back), and has a sharp, witty sense of humour that is her own, but we can see it 'tainted' with both Tris and my sarcasm and perspective on life. Like I said, we're enjoying watching them mature, whatever the pace may be.

I'll give the highlights of our last

month. Tris and Sunny arrived Dec 11th and in our first week we visited a slum area with Kara

waci Ladies, watched my husband and kids perform at the school Christmas concert (and yes, it was called a Christmas concert...no harvest celebrations here), shopped in a local market, had cookies and tea--lots of tea--and rested. On the following Saturday we headed to Bali, where, on

the first day, we met the Comrie family at Waterbom (waterslides).

After sliding and sleeping all day we headed to Laguna Spa and Resort. Very, very nice. We stayed there over Christmas and although we didn't officially celebrate Christmas there (that was Jan 30th for us) we did invite the Comries and Carla (Judy's sister)

to join us for an incredible Christmas breakfast buffet at our hotel. The photo of Matthew feeding a squirrel shows what our location at this hotel was like. We could choose from 8 different swimming pools, or we could wander down to the beach and swim or sleep. The hut in the left hand corner is a massage hut, which was really tempting, but after our $5 massages here in Lippo, we couldn't bring ourselves to pay the asking $70. After six days of eating, sleeping, reading, swimming and chatting over tea (always tea), we headed to Lembongan Island, one I've mentioned before in July's postings.

Our stay at Lembongan was very different from Laguna Resort, but wonderful just the same. One day the kids and I walked 20 minutes into the interior village and bought some water at a small outdoor, family-owned shop. Instead of drinking down the water and walking on, we got to chatting with one of the sons of the shop owner and in turn met his two children. They didn't know much English so we were able to practice our Indonesian. Eventually a small group of village boys came along with a few English instruction books and a child's dictionary, so we went over the words with them and had an impromptu English-Indonesian language class.

Definitely a highlight for me.

The next day all six of us walked down to the lower, seaside part of the village. Here a bunch of local kids were swimming in the rising tide, splashing and laughing right up to the moment four white (some whiter than others) foreigners jumped into the ocean with them. It was then that the laughing stopped, for a moment, while the kids stared at my family (minus me, the photographer) and my mom in law (Tris Sr. watched, too). Once

the kids got over the shock, they went back to what they were doing, and some even warmed up to Abby and Sunny enough to chat with them. After most of the gang climbed out, Tris sat

down among a bunch of boys lined up along the ledge of a house and began to chat with them, again using his Indonesian. Just prior to him sitting down, I took a photo of these boys,

but didn't pay much attention. Check out the greeting the middle kid is giving me (middle finger salute). It was actually this same "friendly" kid who did most of the talking to Tris once he sat down. Again, another highlight. This time, I didn't do any talking, but it was neat to watch the interaction between my family members and the local kids. It was neat to hear Tris

speaking Indonesian as well.

After four days on Lembongan we took a small boat to Bali, got picked up by a transport van and then flied home. I have to admit that arriving home to a decorated house when Christmas has come and gone definitely sinks the emotions

for a bit. However, I determined to celebrate Christmas as typically as possible. Once next morning's breakfast of pancakes, bacon, sweet potato and eggs was on the table, presents were unwrapped and stacked in various corners, and Bruce Cockburn's Christmas cd was playing a Huron Christmas Carol (as well as other Christmassy tunes), it felt like Christmas, if only for a few hours. I must admit, once the dishes were finished, courtesy of our helper Ami....hallelujah for Ami and not having to wash up the Christmas morning dishes ourselves...I tackled the decorations and had the place back to normal by 3 in the afternoon.

It was Sunny's (mom in law) birthday on the 4th and we celebrated by taking her and Tris Sr. to the Marriott international buffet. The food was incredible and we had a lot of fun. Sunny thoroughly enjoyed celebrating her birthday this way. On her actual birthday we went and watched Avatar in 3d. Interesting movie.

Since then, we've had some quiet days, lots of reading and eating again, and then we headed to Puncak. We spent 2 nights in the mountain villa, accompanied by our neighbours (and fellow SPH teachers) the Mercer family. It's the first time we've spent 2 nights up there and so it was nice to have one full day to explore, and explore we did. We found a 200 ft waterfall that we had to hike in to see, and it was so refreshing and breezy and cold! Minus the palm trees and huge vegetation, it was a little taste of home.

That brings us up to date, with the exception of the news that I'm officially a university student (after 17 years) again. A very scary but

thoroughly exciting thought. Talk about procrastination...I thought, prayed, cried (seriously), almost threw up from anxiety a couple of times I'm sure, and finally decided that it was time to stop mulling it over and just do it. Now it's paid and I'm enrolled and there's no turning back. Along with this decision came a wonderful Macbook Pro laptop that I'm

typing on right now and LOVING it. There are a few quirks to figure out, but time and other people's knowledge (DALE!) will get me by.

This posting will have taken some time to get through, but I have time and the means to write so I thought I'd get in as much as possible. Now I'm off to Jakarta on a golf club hunting date with my husband (surfing is a thing of the past...). To be left-handed in Indonesia is very unique (it's the 'dirty' hand in this culture) and so Tris, a lefty, is having difficulty buying clubs. We'll check out a few stores and then spend the night in the city.

Thanks for reading.

One More Day of School & Baby Update

Tomorrow is the end of the 2009 school year and parents (and grandparents!) are invited to watch the All School Assembly tomorrow. Tris, Matt and Abby each will participate in the program; last year I sang in the choir but this year passed on the opportunity. Tris is singing in the teacher choir, Matt is dancing hip hop, and Abby is in the Junior School choir. Once they're home, they get almost 3 1/2 weeks of holidays off of school.

Our little baby boy update is a good one. He is still in the hospital and has to stay there until he gains weight; he has to reach 3 kilos before heading home. Once home his parents will have to create as sterile an environment as possible when changing him and tending to his medical needs. Over the next year he'll have to have 2 more surgeries, each one dependent again on his weight gain. Please continue to pray for him. His parents are aware that many people are praying for their son.

Tris and Sunny have been here 6 days now and have been having a healthy blend of "busy and rest." We've gone to some slums and met some beautiful women and children, they've had massages (only once...gotta get them back soon!), and shopped for Christmas at both a local outdoor market and at the local mall. Sunny joined me and the ladies at our Wednesday bible study today, and tonight all of the family went to our favourite local Chinese food restaurant ("Eastern").We've toured the school and although it's big, they've got a pretty good grasp of where to go to at least get to the pools. We have some travel plans in the future and I am PRAYING that my camera will be fixed very, very soon. Yesterday we literally had a day of rest, where mostly we just stayed home and relaxed during the day. Sometimes that's very necessary, and it was a good thing.

Nothing much else to report. I hope that those at home are taking advantage of the snow, enjoying the cool, fresh crispness that you just don't get here, and are gearing up for a joy-packed, if not relaxing, Christmas season.

Thanks for reading.

Sunny and Tris Arrive Safely

They're here, safe, happy and right now, resting. Tris and Matthew went to the airport last night and pickup went without a glitch. It's funny how when you finally get to see someone (it's been 1 1/2 years since we've seen Tris and Sunny) it seems like a bit of a dream for a while, and then it's like you've not been away from each other at all. We're looking forward to showing them our 'bubble' of a village in the next few days, possibly introducing them to the 'life of spa' and also a bit of Jakarta tomorrow after a run into church. They've come from wintery cold Germany with one bag each, so we have to go clothes shopping tomorrow to get them outfitted for the next 5 weeks. Thank goodness for reasonably cheap outlet shopping!

I received a gift from Germany, and as basic as it is, it's one of the best presents ever. "What is it?" you might ask. It's a pine bough, stuffed into a suitcase and as green and fragrant as ever. Every few minutes after receiving it (thanks Jennifer!) I would go and smell the branch, and I plan to do so until the needles drop off and the branch dries out. I might just save all the dried needles and put them into a sachet, smelling them until I've sniffed out all the fragrance molecules. Sunny also brought a bag of lavendar from her garden, which I plan on spreading throughout the house in order to ward off mosquitoes. Again, it smells beautiful.

Today is Saturday, a great day for the first day in Indonesia. We'll eat, sleep, drive around, shop a little, and then probably eat and sleep some more.

Thanks for reading!

Recent Photos

Here are a few photos of our last month. Unfortunately,when Sam and I went to Bali I didn't have my nice camera, so most of the good photos are on her digital one. I only have 2 photos of Sam and I together on mine, and one of those didn't even turn out. The one of us here is probably before 6 am, taken on the day she flew back home.

One thing that we enjoy here is having a driver; his name is Haris. Here is a photo of Sam and Haris in our driveway.

The one of Sam and Tris was taken at a school pep rally in the gym. Normally my camera doesn't take good photos in that gym, so this is a unique thing, to have a photo that looks normal from there.

This photo of Abby in her school uniform is of her holding her gold medal in English, on stage at a special awards ceremony. Don't know about her gold medal? See 'older posts.'













We really haven't taken that many pictures, so I guess we'll have to get back on the ball.

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.