Millers in Shanghai
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Photos: 28 May 2006 - Cub Scout Awards
Photos of Nash & Grant receiving their Cub Scout awards. This was Grant's first award ceremony for scouts. This photo is a side shot, but I think you can still see the huge smile on his face - he was grinning from ear to ear.
One photo of Mallory thrown in, for good measure. If we're not careful, she will smear her face and hair with her yogurt.
Photos: 28 May 2006 - Workshare
One morning this week Heidi and I went into Luke's class for 30 minutes for a "Work Share," where they kids show us all of the work they have been doing. They also performed a couple of songs, and then the teacher showed us a slide show she had made with photos of the class and all of the activities throughout the year - she gave us a copy of it on DVD, as well. Luke's teacher has been great and he's had a great experience at JIS.
Letters: 28 May 2006
Thanks for those who have been concerned about the earthquake here in Indonesia. For those who haven’t heard, it was yesterday morning (Saturday morning) near Jogjakarta, a town in Central Java nearly 400 km to the south east of us. All day yesterday and today we have been watching for updates on the news and on the internet about damages and casualties. We got together with some friends on Saturday night (one couple from the US Embassy and one couple from the Canadian Embassy) and both of them kept getting phone calls to take care of things relating to the earthquake – locating US citizens who might have been in the Jogjakarta area, coordinating relief efforts, etc.
Thursday of this week was a public holiday – no work or school. We got together with members from our branch and put together some packages with toothpaste, shampoo, soap, toys, etc. for children (and their families) in a cancer hospital. We then went to the hospital to give the kids the toys and to play with the kids for about an hour. There are so many needs for help & assistance here in this country. We need to do more things like that.
The rest of the week was somewhat normal. The boys had a primary party yesterday, which including the cub scouts receiving some awards they have earned over the past year.
Here’s a letter that Grant wrote about his experiences over the past little while.:
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Yesterday I got some turtles from the Powell’s (some good friends of ours). Then we got a haircut and left the turtles in the car with our driver “Cartim” (Charteem). When we were riding home from the haircut place we decided on some names for the turtles. We thought for a while, then Nash thought of a name for the big one it was “Ted” next I thought of the name “Ricky” for the little one. Then we realized that Ricky would sound better for the big one and Ted would sound better for the little one. When we got home we thought that little Ted would be better so we started to call him little Ted. Then when we were washing the bowl I was holding Little Ted and he about bit me. Then we decided to call him Snapper, but we decided it wouldn’t be a good idea.
On Thursday we did a service project at a cancer hospital. We gave toys to the children that had cancer and we played with the kids for a while. We also gave them toothpaste, soap, and other stuff like that. When we got home I went on a bike ride with my friend and then I went to lunch with my friend. And then we watched American Idol and then we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner.
On Saturday morning I went on a bike ride with my Dad and after that we went swimming. Then we had a Primary party. At the Primary party we swam, jumped on a trampoline, ate pizza, and had rootbeer floats. I also got awards for Cub Scouts. I got the Bobcat badge plus belt loops for Chess, Computers, Language and Culture, Music, Badminton, Baseball, Soccer, Swimming, and Table Tennis.
Luke wrote his letter on a piece of paper, so I scanned it in. I hope you can read it:
Luke drew this picture of what he wants to do this summer:
Thursday of this week was a public holiday – no work or school. We got together with members from our branch and put together some packages with toothpaste, shampoo, soap, toys, etc. for children (and their families) in a cancer hospital. We then went to the hospital to give the kids the toys and to play with the kids for about an hour. There are so many needs for help & assistance here in this country. We need to do more things like that.
The rest of the week was somewhat normal. The boys had a primary party yesterday, which including the cub scouts receiving some awards they have earned over the past year.
Here’s a letter that Grant wrote about his experiences over the past little while.:
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Yesterday I got some turtles from the Powell’s (some good friends of ours). Then we got a haircut and left the turtles in the car with our driver “Cartim” (Charteem). When we were riding home from the haircut place we decided on some names for the turtles. We thought for a while, then Nash thought of a name for the big one it was “Ted” next I thought of the name “Ricky” for the little one. Then we realized that Ricky would sound better for the big one and Ted would sound better for the little one. When we got home we thought that little Ted would be better so we started to call him little Ted. Then when we were washing the bowl I was holding Little Ted and he about bit me. Then we decided to call him Snapper, but we decided it wouldn’t be a good idea.
On Thursday we did a service project at a cancer hospital. We gave toys to the children that had cancer and we played with the kids for a while. We also gave them toothpaste, soap, and other stuff like that. When we got home I went on a bike ride with my friend and then I went to lunch with my friend. And then we watched American Idol and then we went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner.
On Saturday morning I went on a bike ride with my Dad and after that we went swimming. Then we had a Primary party. At the Primary party we swam, jumped on a trampoline, ate pizza, and had rootbeer floats. I also got awards for Cub Scouts. I got the Bobcat badge plus belt loops for Chess, Computers, Language and Culture, Music, Badminton, Baseball, Soccer, Swimming, and Table Tennis.
Luke wrote his letter on a piece of paper, so I scanned it in. I hope you can read it:
Luke drew this picture of what he wants to do this summer:
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Photos: 21 May 2006
Mallory kept insisting that we put this blanket over her shoulders or over her head so that she could walk around with it on. 
Grant dressed up for his "put on the whole armor of God" FHE lesson.
Nothing's more entertaining than a monkey tied to a chain asking for money.
Photos at the IMAX theatre at Taman Mini. Heidi took the photo above when the school group was taking pictures of us. We took the photo below because a family asked if they could take a picture with us. The man was so insistent on having his daughter look at us.
Luke with his friends Dhyven and Devon at the school for "Science Night." 
Nash with his hot air balloon science project.
Grant (above) and Luke (below) each had an art project on display at the school during science night.
Letter: 21 May 2006
I don’t feel as if much went on, at least nothing too exciting. The volcano in Jogjakarta erupted, but as Clark put it, ‘It was a dud.’ We were kind of disappointed it wasn’t a bit more exciting. I guess the ‘keeper of the mountain,’ an old man that was appointed by the Sultan a long time ago, was right. He wouldn’t leave his home on the mountainside because he said it wasn’t going to be anything big. Maybe he does know what he was talking about. They wrote an article in the Jakarta Post about him. He says that he feels ‘at one’ with the mountain and he knows what its plans are.
Nash had his science fair this week. He did a nice job. They had a bit of a problem getting the hot air balloon to actually float for very long, but they were good at explaining why it wouldn’t float to all those that came to the booth. He ended up being at the school that day from 7:00am until 8:00pm. He was totally exhausted after it was finished.
I went with a friend to order a planter. She is Indonesian and her husband is from Michigan. Her son is in Luke’s class. She had a beautiful wooden planter box on her back patio. It was obviously an antique. I asked her where she got it and she said, ‘I will take you there.’ I told her that I could just go and she started to laugh. She then said, ‘No, no, no. Do you want to pay the ‘bule’ price or the real price?’ ‘Bule’ means ‘white person’. There are a lot of times I’ve paid the ‘bule’ price for things so it’s always nice to take an Indonesian shopping. She bargained with the store owner and I think I got a pretty good deal. They need to stain it and make an iron stand for it. It was nice to have her there with me. It’s always a trick trying to converse in half English, half Indonesian. It can be extremely frustrating.
We’ve had an exciting weekend. The Willis’ went on their 15th anniversary trip to Bali on Friday morning so we watched their four kids until after lunch today. We sure had a house full (of noise!). Our house echoes so much that is sounds like 50 people are running around, not 8. The boys had a blast though, swimming for hours, watching movies, playing games, playing soccer and several other activities.
Yesterday we took everyone, plus one extra…Spencer Powell whose sister was in a gymnastic meet all day, to see an IMAX film on Indonesia. We were all quite popular since we were the only white people there. A large school group from central Java was there also and it was fairly obvious that we were the only white people they had seen in person. Several times we were asked to stand together so pictures could be taken. I couldn’t stop laughing, especially when I counted 11 school children with their cameras out snapping photo after photo of us. Nash called them the paparazzi. We were stared at quite a bit before and after the movie.
Luke said something really funny this morning as we were driving to church. Luke and Daniel Willis were sitting in the back of our car looking at the pictures in the Book of Mormon. Daniel said, “Nephi looks strong!” and Luke immediately said very seriously, “That’s because he works out.”
We are getting so excited for Aunt Heather to come on the 31st and can’t believe we have already been here a year and that it’s time for our states visit. It will be strange to be in the US again. We have nearly forgotten what it’s like. That life seems so far away to me. We can’t wait to see everyone and be with family. We have missed everyone.
Nash had his science fair this week. He did a nice job. They had a bit of a problem getting the hot air balloon to actually float for very long, but they were good at explaining why it wouldn’t float to all those that came to the booth. He ended up being at the school that day from 7:00am until 8:00pm. He was totally exhausted after it was finished.
I went with a friend to order a planter. She is Indonesian and her husband is from Michigan. Her son is in Luke’s class. She had a beautiful wooden planter box on her back patio. It was obviously an antique. I asked her where she got it and she said, ‘I will take you there.’ I told her that I could just go and she started to laugh. She then said, ‘No, no, no. Do you want to pay the ‘bule’ price or the real price?’ ‘Bule’ means ‘white person’. There are a lot of times I’ve paid the ‘bule’ price for things so it’s always nice to take an Indonesian shopping. She bargained with the store owner and I think I got a pretty good deal. They need to stain it and make an iron stand for it. It was nice to have her there with me. It’s always a trick trying to converse in half English, half Indonesian. It can be extremely frustrating.
We’ve had an exciting weekend. The Willis’ went on their 15th anniversary trip to Bali on Friday morning so we watched their four kids until after lunch today. We sure had a house full (of noise!). Our house echoes so much that is sounds like 50 people are running around, not 8. The boys had a blast though, swimming for hours, watching movies, playing games, playing soccer and several other activities.
Yesterday we took everyone, plus one extra…Spencer Powell whose sister was in a gymnastic meet all day, to see an IMAX film on Indonesia. We were all quite popular since we were the only white people there. A large school group from central Java was there also and it was fairly obvious that we were the only white people they had seen in person. Several times we were asked to stand together so pictures could be taken. I couldn’t stop laughing, especially when I counted 11 school children with their cameras out snapping photo after photo of us. Nash called them the paparazzi. We were stared at quite a bit before and after the movie.
Luke said something really funny this morning as we were driving to church. Luke and Daniel Willis were sitting in the back of our car looking at the pictures in the Book of Mormon. Daniel said, “Nephi looks strong!” and Luke immediately said very seriously, “That’s because he works out.”
We are getting so excited for Aunt Heather to come on the 31st and can’t believe we have already been here a year and that it’s time for our states visit. It will be strange to be in the US again. We have nearly forgotten what it’s like. That life seems so far away to me. We can’t wait to see everyone and be with family. We have missed everyone.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Letter: 14 May 2006
Mallory’s emergency room visit last Saturday was just the first in a series of interesting events in the past few days. On Monday morning on the way to work I was in a minor traffic accident. Luckily we weren’t going too fast – it was stop & go traffic on the toll road and we were stopped but the truck behind us wanted to go. My driver got out of the car and yelled at the driver of the truck that hit us, and then we headed into work. Fortunately nobody was hurt and the damage to our car was minimal.
That same morning Heidi got a call from the school saying that Nash needed to picked up and taken to the doctor. The school nurse told Heidi that Nash would likely need stitches – he had fallen and hit his knee on something at the playground and had a 2 inch cut just below his knee. Luckily, when Heidi took Nash into the clinic, they told him he probably didn’t need stitches – they just bandaged it up.
On Wednesday on the way to work (I was driving with a different driver this time), a policeman on the highway waved at us to pull us over. As we stopped at the side of the road, the driver pulled out his vehicle registration and I noticed him grab 20,000 Rupiah (about $2.30) from the cupholder (where he keeps a stash of cash for tolls & parking). I saw him talk to the cop, who said that my driver hadn’t signaled when he changed lanes or something very minor. My driver had his back to me as he was talking to the cop, but when he got back in the car, I asked him if he had paid the cop. Sure enough, he had given the cop 20,000 Rupiah. I have heard this is very commonplace in Indonesia, but this was my first experience with it.
Thursday evening we went to the school to see Grant in an Earth Day program. Grant's class, Grade 2, and the Grade 4 class sang a bunch of songs and had a slide show or two, and a couple of kids talked briefly. Afterward we were going to go outside and hug a tree, but it was raining so we decided not to.
On Friday afternoon I was in a conference room for a meeting. Just before the meeting started, someone noticed a picture on the wall starting to sway. It took me a few seconds, but then I noticed everything shaking, too. It was definitely a small earthquake and it didn’t last more than 20 or 30 seconds. I read a news article today that it was a 5.6 magnitude quake with an epicenter at the southern end of the island of Sumatra, about 160km away. I don't think it caused much damage anywhere.
Saturday was nice because it wasn't too busy. We had a few things to do in the morning (doctor check ups for Nash and Mallory), soccer practice/game for Luke, and then in the afternoon Nash’s friend came over to work on their science project for school.
That same morning Heidi got a call from the school saying that Nash needed to picked up and taken to the doctor. The school nurse told Heidi that Nash would likely need stitches – he had fallen and hit his knee on something at the playground and had a 2 inch cut just below his knee. Luckily, when Heidi took Nash into the clinic, they told him he probably didn’t need stitches – they just bandaged it up.
On Wednesday on the way to work (I was driving with a different driver this time), a policeman on the highway waved at us to pull us over. As we stopped at the side of the road, the driver pulled out his vehicle registration and I noticed him grab 20,000 Rupiah (about $2.30) from the cupholder (where he keeps a stash of cash for tolls & parking). I saw him talk to the cop, who said that my driver hadn’t signaled when he changed lanes or something very minor. My driver had his back to me as he was talking to the cop, but when he got back in the car, I asked him if he had paid the cop. Sure enough, he had given the cop 20,000 Rupiah. I have heard this is very commonplace in Indonesia, but this was my first experience with it.
Thursday evening we went to the school to see Grant in an Earth Day program. Grant's class, Grade 2, and the Grade 4 class sang a bunch of songs and had a slide show or two, and a couple of kids talked briefly. Afterward we were going to go outside and hug a tree, but it was raining so we decided not to.
On Friday afternoon I was in a conference room for a meeting. Just before the meeting started, someone noticed a picture on the wall starting to sway. It took me a few seconds, but then I noticed everything shaking, too. It was definitely a small earthquake and it didn’t last more than 20 or 30 seconds. I read a news article today that it was a 5.6 magnitude quake with an epicenter at the southern end of the island of Sumatra, about 160km away. I don't think it caused much damage anywhere.
Saturday was nice because it wasn't too busy. We had a few things to do in the morning (doctor check ups for Nash and Mallory), soccer practice/game for Luke, and then in the afternoon Nash’s friend came over to work on their science project for school.
Photos: 14 May 2006 #2
Luke is very enthusiastic about the rain.
Grant has had fun drawing pictures of animals recently.
Photos: 11 May 2006 - School Program
This shot is in front of the gate on the way to the school. We can just walk along the river in front of our house for a couple of hundred yards, then cross the bridge (they are standing right on the bridge), and enter the school gate.
Nash and Luke in front of the administration building at their school.
Grant is in the center of the picture with his back against one of his classmates.
Grant after the program, wearing his class t-shirt (at the beginning of the year they all drew pictures of cats - their class mascot - and put them on a t-shirt).
After the program it was raining really hard so we called Cartim to come and pick us up (instead of just walking home). We waited on the bench for a while...
Photos: 14 May 2006
Mallory's injured little toe on Sunday afternoon - it looked a whole lot worse earlier in the week, of course.
Mallory loves pulling out books and sitting on the floor to read them. She often gets books from her bookshelf, brings them over to you, and sits down in your lap for you to read them to her.
This is Nash & his friend, Rish, working on the science project - a hot air balloon.
Sunday, May 7, 2006
Letter: 7 May 2006
It is another rainy afternoon here in Jakarta. People said the rainy season ends by March, but April and May have been really rainy – great thunderstorms here most afternoons or evenings. Whenever it rains we love going out onto the balconies or the porch and watching it pour.
Emergency Room
Mallory made her first trip to the emergency room. On Saturday morning (yesterday) the boys were in our bedroom and started lifting some weights (just some small metal dumb bells). Someone set a 3 kg weight on the ottoman and Mallory walked over to the ottoman and tried to pick it up. It ended up just rolling off the ottoman and right onto her foot. Immediately she started screaming and I noticed that blood squirted out from her big toe, and that the toenail on her big toe was torn off (it was just hanging by a small piece of skin). We frantically got her to the bathroom, poured water on it (bottled water, not Jakarta tap water), got some ice, and decided who was going to take her to the doctor. Heidi made arrangements for Luke to be picked up by a friend to go to his soccer game, and both Heidi and I ended up taking her in. The doctor looked at her toe, did an x-ray and determined that there was a small crack at the end of the bone of her big toe. Apparently the crack isn’t anything to be worried about. They tried to clean up the wound a little bit, but it was really hard to tell how damaged it was because it wasn’t a clean cut or anything – just blood and skin. I think the only thing that seemed to help Mallory calm down while the doctor & nurses were looking at her toe was being able to rummage through Heidi’s purse (if she spots Heidi’s purse anywhere she insists on being able to take inventory of everything inside it). Mallory spent the rest of the day with a big white bandage on her toe, and willingly stuck out her toe to show anyone who would pay attention to her.
Today after church Nash and I took Mallory in to the clinic again so that the doctor could change the bandages on her toe (Heidi’s stomach was too weak to go in to see the wound today, so I took Nash with me). This time they gave her some local anesthetic before they cleaned up the wound. Her toe looked a bit better today, and it appears that the only spot she is bleeding is from is where her toenail was ripped off, and both doctors (today and yesterday) said that the toenail will grow back in a couple of months.
Walls
We had a bunch of pictures framed recently – prints we had purchased in the US before we moved here, a photo of the kids, and some art work from Kalimantan. They were delivered this week, so Saturday afternoon we hung up about 10 pictures. It is nice to get some things on our walls that have seemed to be so bare.
Nash – Pasar Mukti Field Trip
Nash had a good trip to a place called Pasir Mukti with his class. They left on Thursday morning, spent the day in mud pits learning about planting rice (Nash liked seeing the eels that live in the rice patties), then had a bonfire that night, slept in cabins, and learned about planting several other crops the next day.
Demonstrations
Last week it was interesting to see the news coverage of the Labor Day demonstrations in Jakarta (Monday morning I looked out the window of my office and saw dozens of trucks full of people coming in from the suburbs for the demonstrations). The demonstrations were mostly peaceful the first two days, then on Wednesday they turned a little violent, but nothing too major. Luckily we were not affected at all by the demonstrations – we live (and I work) far enough away from the area where the demonstrations took place.
Volcano
We are also anxiously awaiting news about the eruption of Mount Merapi – one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia -- in Central Java, about 50 km north of Jogjakarta, a city we visited last fall. Apparently the magma / lava / whatever is nearing the top of the crater, and some of it has even started to flow over the top. For some reason, we think it is kinda exciting. I don’t know how devastating it would be to the people in Central Java, because they have been telling people to evacuate for weeks.
Restaurants
Heidi and I have branched out a little bit in our cuisine recently. We went with another couple to a Korean restaurant one night last week. They had both served missions in Korea, so the food was familiar to them. We are glad we tried it, but I don’t think we will go there every weekend. That same weekend we went with two other couples to a restaurant called Oasis where they serve Indonesian food. I’ll be honest, you haven’t really heard us talk all that much about the food here because frankly, we don’t like it all that much. Some of the local food is OK, but there isn’t anything that I really crave. Part of the reason that I haven’t really tried to many Indonesian dishes is that I am afraid of getting sick from the food. So, it was good to be able to go this place to try various different Indonesian dishes and not have as many of the concerns about getting sick. Well, anyone coming to visit us in Indonesia will certainly be getting a trip to Oasis, because it is a nice restaurant with great atmosphere. They had live music going during the whole evening – a gamelan playing Indonesian music in the foyer, then they had a pianist, a saxophonist, and a singer performing during dinner. I think the highlight, though, was the Mexican music being played by 5 or 6 gauchos from Sumatra (the large island just west of us). Apparently they really like Mexican music in Sumatra.
Miscellaneous
All three of our boys had field trips to a place called Taman Mini during the last two weeks. There are some museums, model homes from each of the different styles throughout Indonesia, and an IMAX theater. Grant and Nash went on the same day two weeks ago, and Luke went last week. They all liked seeing the movie about the ocean and seeing the different styles of Indonesian homes.
Grant’s class had a walk-a-thon last week. The kids raised money for each lap they walked around the school. They donated the money to a local school, and were able also to meet the kids they were donating to.
We found a new donut shop that makes decent donuts. People are waiting in line for hours to get donuts there. Heidi ended up waiting 40 minutes one afternoon to get 2 dozen donuts.
This is Heidi…I got tired of the boys complaining about what I was cooking each night so I decided it was time they had turns making dinner. They each have to pick a day of the week and what they want to cook. We make the list on Sunday and then I go grocery shopping to get all the ingredients. On their days, they are in charge of preparing and cleaning up after dinner. Luke made BLT’s last week, Grant - Corn Chowder and Nash made Swiss Steak. He even got up and had it all ready and in the crock pot before school. I’m hoping this will lessen the complaints and also teach them all to cook a bit.
Emergency Room
Mallory made her first trip to the emergency room. On Saturday morning (yesterday) the boys were in our bedroom and started lifting some weights (just some small metal dumb bells). Someone set a 3 kg weight on the ottoman and Mallory walked over to the ottoman and tried to pick it up. It ended up just rolling off the ottoman and right onto her foot. Immediately she started screaming and I noticed that blood squirted out from her big toe, and that the toenail on her big toe was torn off (it was just hanging by a small piece of skin). We frantically got her to the bathroom, poured water on it (bottled water, not Jakarta tap water), got some ice, and decided who was going to take her to the doctor. Heidi made arrangements for Luke to be picked up by a friend to go to his soccer game, and both Heidi and I ended up taking her in. The doctor looked at her toe, did an x-ray and determined that there was a small crack at the end of the bone of her big toe. Apparently the crack isn’t anything to be worried about. They tried to clean up the wound a little bit, but it was really hard to tell how damaged it was because it wasn’t a clean cut or anything – just blood and skin. I think the only thing that seemed to help Mallory calm down while the doctor & nurses were looking at her toe was being able to rummage through Heidi’s purse (if she spots Heidi’s purse anywhere she insists on being able to take inventory of everything inside it). Mallory spent the rest of the day with a big white bandage on her toe, and willingly stuck out her toe to show anyone who would pay attention to her.
Today after church Nash and I took Mallory in to the clinic again so that the doctor could change the bandages on her toe (Heidi’s stomach was too weak to go in to see the wound today, so I took Nash with me). This time they gave her some local anesthetic before they cleaned up the wound. Her toe looked a bit better today, and it appears that the only spot she is bleeding is from is where her toenail was ripped off, and both doctors (today and yesterday) said that the toenail will grow back in a couple of months.
Walls
We had a bunch of pictures framed recently – prints we had purchased in the US before we moved here, a photo of the kids, and some art work from Kalimantan. They were delivered this week, so Saturday afternoon we hung up about 10 pictures. It is nice to get some things on our walls that have seemed to be so bare.
Nash – Pasar Mukti Field Trip
Nash had a good trip to a place called Pasir Mukti with his class. They left on Thursday morning, spent the day in mud pits learning about planting rice (Nash liked seeing the eels that live in the rice patties), then had a bonfire that night, slept in cabins, and learned about planting several other crops the next day.
Demonstrations
Last week it was interesting to see the news coverage of the Labor Day demonstrations in Jakarta (Monday morning I looked out the window of my office and saw dozens of trucks full of people coming in from the suburbs for the demonstrations). The demonstrations were mostly peaceful the first two days, then on Wednesday they turned a little violent, but nothing too major. Luckily we were not affected at all by the demonstrations – we live (and I work) far enough away from the area where the demonstrations took place.
Volcano
We are also anxiously awaiting news about the eruption of Mount Merapi – one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia -- in Central Java, about 50 km north of Jogjakarta, a city we visited last fall. Apparently the magma / lava / whatever is nearing the top of the crater, and some of it has even started to flow over the top. For some reason, we think it is kinda exciting. I don’t know how devastating it would be to the people in Central Java, because they have been telling people to evacuate for weeks.
Restaurants
Heidi and I have branched out a little bit in our cuisine recently. We went with another couple to a Korean restaurant one night last week. They had both served missions in Korea, so the food was familiar to them. We are glad we tried it, but I don’t think we will go there every weekend. That same weekend we went with two other couples to a restaurant called Oasis where they serve Indonesian food. I’ll be honest, you haven’t really heard us talk all that much about the food here because frankly, we don’t like it all that much. Some of the local food is OK, but there isn’t anything that I really crave. Part of the reason that I haven’t really tried to many Indonesian dishes is that I am afraid of getting sick from the food. So, it was good to be able to go this place to try various different Indonesian dishes and not have as many of the concerns about getting sick. Well, anyone coming to visit us in Indonesia will certainly be getting a trip to Oasis, because it is a nice restaurant with great atmosphere. They had live music going during the whole evening – a gamelan playing Indonesian music in the foyer, then they had a pianist, a saxophonist, and a singer performing during dinner. I think the highlight, though, was the Mexican music being played by 5 or 6 gauchos from Sumatra (the large island just west of us). Apparently they really like Mexican music in Sumatra.
Miscellaneous
All three of our boys had field trips to a place called Taman Mini during the last two weeks. There are some museums, model homes from each of the different styles throughout Indonesia, and an IMAX theater. Grant and Nash went on the same day two weeks ago, and Luke went last week. They all liked seeing the movie about the ocean and seeing the different styles of Indonesian homes.
Grant’s class had a walk-a-thon last week. The kids raised money for each lap they walked around the school. They donated the money to a local school, and were able also to meet the kids they were donating to.
We found a new donut shop that makes decent donuts. People are waiting in line for hours to get donuts there. Heidi ended up waiting 40 minutes one afternoon to get 2 dozen donuts.
This is Heidi…I got tired of the boys complaining about what I was cooking each night so I decided it was time they had turns making dinner. They each have to pick a day of the week and what they want to cook. We make the list on Sunday and then I go grocery shopping to get all the ingredients. On their days, they are in charge of preparing and cleaning up after dinner. Luke made BLT’s last week, Grant - Corn Chowder and Nash made Swiss Steak. He even got up and had it all ready and in the crock pot before school. I’m hoping this will lessen the complaints and also teach them all to cook a bit.
Photos: 7 May 2006 (more)
Grant and some classmates at Taman Mini - looking at an example of a typical Balinese building. 
This is a typical shot of Mallory - she has found Heidi's purse, taken out Heidi's school ID and put it around her neck, taken Heidi's calendar, wearing Luke's slippers, and she's holding Heidi's mobile phone up to her ear, talking and jabbering away in a very important conversation. 
This is a shot of Grant and Luke in front of a house that is being built right around the corner from us. This shack at the front of the construction site is a warung, or a little shop selling drinks, snacks, cigarettes, etc. to the construction workers or to anyone else going down our street.
A shot of the bandage on Mallory's toe on Saturday afternoon.
This is Nash after his return from his Pasar Mukti field trip. They gave them all hats to wear while working in the rice fields, and Nash is holding an orchid he purchased for Heidi while he was there.
This last photo is of the eels that came out of the rice fields at night. Nash said these eels are nocturnal and they were attracted by oil lamps that some of the adults had lit to lure the eels out so that the kids could see them.
Photos: 7 May 2006
Nash and Grant must have been bored - they tried to make paper. They took a bunch of tissues, got them wet, smashed them together, then they dried it off with Heidi's blow dryer.
I thought Mallory was just playing with her toys - I had noticed her taking out several of her stuffed animals and other toys to play with them. Next thing I know, she's sitting in the toy basket. Heidi says Mallory does this a lot.
A common sight - Mallory with her drink in one hand and candy in the other.
Grant and Luke hanging out the window from the spare bedroom to the upstairs balcony.
Luke told us he was going to take a walk in the rain with his umbrella. Instead, he decided to climb the gate. Those two orange things in the ground are big water tanks - we're not sure what they are used for. The black lid behind the orange water tanks (on an angle on the outside wall) lifts up, and that is where all our garbage goes. There is a smaller door on the opposite side of the wall where the neighborhood garbage man picks up our trash.
One rainy Sunday afternoon in April.
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