Photos - October 2006

Mallory loves wearing clothes. She often just puts clothes on over the ones she's wearing. Here you can see her putting on a swimming shirt over her pajamas which she put on over (or is it under) a skirt plus another shirt or two.

Elvis staring out the window of the hotel in Singapore - Heidi took Grant with her to Singapore for her dentist appointment and Grant picked out this Elvis wig.

This is the always expressive Luke showing off the paper ghosts he made to decorate our front door for Halloween.

Mallory's trying on the magician costume that Luke wore for Halloween.

 

Nash - Track

Nash enjoying a nice cold can of Sweat (its like Gatorade) in between races at the track meet.

 

Photo: Nash, track - Oct 2006

Here's Nash running the 800 meter in the track meet at the British International School.

Letter: 29 October 2006

We just returned from a whirlwind trip to Australia. We went to Perth last spring but really wanted to see Sydney and that side of the country. We traveled to Sydney, Carins and the Great Barrier Reef, and Brisbane as well. All within 8 days!

It was a fabulous trip with some great highlights.

Most of our trips seem to involve a variety of transportation methods. This time we kept track:

6 Planes
2 Ferries
3 Trains
2 Boats
1 Taxi
1 Cable Car
3 Buses
1 Dinghy
2 Cars


Sydney

Our flight from Jakarta was during the night so most of us slept the entire flight (most, not including Creed and I). We arrived in Sydney around 7:00 am and took the train to Circular Quay which is on the harbor. Our hotel was a short two blocks so we thought we’d hoof it from the station. That’s fine and all, but it was all uphill both ways and it was snowing and we had no shoes or jackets…okay it was just uphill and it was chilly. We had a suitcase each plus a car seat and a stroller that a certain little munchkin in our family refuses to sit in. We were quite a sight in a place where more than two children is considered insane (yes, it seems to be worse than the views in the US about that).

We stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel there. It was a great location: walking distance to the harbor/wharf, the Opera House, shopping, and restaurants. The weather was even really cool, which was such a welcome change. We were all freezing. We went out walking that night and exploring. We ate at a little Italian café and then walked around a market in the Rocks area. We went over to the Opera House and went on a tour. It is so beautiful inside and it was very interesting to hear how it was built and the thought on it while it was being built. People thought it was a waste of money and were outraged because they thought it would ruin the value of their homes across the harbor!

We also enjoyed the National Maritime Museum; the boys toured the submarine that was in use as recently as the 1999. We enjoyed hearing the history of Australia and seeing all the different ships and boats.

We really enjoyed the clean air, the cool air and being able to drink the water. We loved how organized everything was. I miss that a lot. Sydney was wonderful. We could have spent days there.

We left late afternoon Monday on a flight to Cairns. It is north of Brisbane and Sydney and one of the best places to see the Great Barrier Reef.

Cairns

Cairns is a tiny little resort town. We rented a car and drove an hour north in the dark to Port Douglas. We stayed in a little Best Western place called the Lazy Lizard. Nothing special, except great hosts and a good price and it slept us all in one room. We had booked the snorkeling tour through the motel host. She was great and had a breakfast in our fridge that morning so we could eat quickly and go. Our Great Barrier Reef tour was booked with Calypso. They have a large three level boat and they visit three separate sites instead of just one, like other companies.

The Calypso bus picked us up at our motel at 8:30 am and drove us to the marina. We got on the boat that has a capacity for 60 people and found out that there were only 10 that day (including the 6 of us). That made it really nice. There was almost as many crew so we got special treatment. Before leaving the dock we were asked if we wanted to take motion sickness pills. I know my stomach (and Luke’s and Grant’s) so we took some (so did Creed). We were warned it was going to be pretty rough that day because of strong winds. They weren’t kidding. It was an hour and a half boat ride to the first site and it was really rough. We started the ride up on the second level of the boat. We couldn’t even walk around the boat. About half way through we found out that Mallory got her stomach from me. She threw up all over Creed and then me. Luke lost it as well. Grant was awfully close. I was just praying to make it to the site.

We finally did arrive and the waves were horrible. I was not too excited to snorkel. Some of you know, I’m a bit of a chicken in open water. I’m not real keen on not being able to see the bottom and knowing that something living is beneath me. I have never snorkeled because the whole breathing through only your mouth kind of freaks me out. Creed told the instructor that I was afraid of the ocean. When it was time to go they outfitted all of us in snorkel gear and wetsuits. They also gave us the option of holding onto swim noodles when we were out to help us float. The boys all got geared up and jumped in. They were off. The water was so wavy and there was a strong current, so it required a lot of effort to swim over to the coral reef. The instructor got in the water with me. I was freaking out at first, especially since I was not aware that the entire mouth piece of a snorkel goes inside your mouth. Tee Hee. (A friend said I went ‘dorkeling’ how true is that in my case…HA!). I was kind of hyperventilating until he told me to put it all in my mouth and then it was a piece of cake and I loved it!!!

The boys did a great job. We saw so many colorful fish and the coral was beautiful. We also saw giant clams. Creed went out later and Nash and Grant snorkeled like crazy. It was great. Luke was a little afraid because the waves were pulling him too far away from the boat, but he went out anyway. It was such a wonderful experience. We saw things most people only see on TV.

We stayed on the boat all day. We went to a second site that was a bit calmer. We had lunch on the boat and then snorkeled more. Because there were such a few number of people they did something they don’t usually do. They took the group on the little boat out a ways and gave them a snorkeling tour. Creed, Nash and Grant went while Luke, Mallory and I stayed on the boat. Mallory enjoyed sitting in a bucket filled with fresh, warm water. It was really a great experience.

Brisbane

We left Carins and flew to Brisbane. We stayed at the Conrad Treasury Hotel which is right in downtown Brisbane in an old refurbished government administration building. The ceilings in the room were the highest we have ever seen in a hotel room – probably 30 or 35 feet. We got up the next morning and drove an hour north to the Australia Zoo - Steve Irwin’s zoo. We were sad that he passed away such a short time ago but happy to be able to go to see what he had built from a small side of the road animal park he bought from his dad several years ago. It is a wonderful zoo and we loved seeing several areas that looked familiar from ‘Crocodile Hunter’ shows we’ve seen. We liked the shows we saw and seeing all the other animals.

On the way back to Brisbane we stopped at the fruit stands just a few miles from the zoo. We bought fresh pineapples from the area (we passed several pineapple fields) – only $3 for 2!! We also bought some fresh oranges and apples. They were heavenly!

The next two days in Brisbane we went to the temple, went to the local markets, played at the South Beach park area, ate at the Crepe Café (twice), shopped at Target and Borders and walked around the city. It was nice to be there.

Overall, our trip was great. We were tired and glad to be off planes when we got home. We wished we could have stayed in some of the areas longer; maybe another time. There is so much to see.

Halloween

We were very busy Monday and Tuesday. We didn’t have staff until today (Wednesday) because I gave them some extra time for their Lebaran Holiday. It was interesting coming back to our house after a week of it being locked up. Okay, now you will understand why we have to have staff. After the short week of locking up our house and having no one here, no AC on, no one flushing the toilets or sweeping and mopping the floors we came home to find mold on our walls, sewage backed up in our toilets and water pipes (yes, it was lovely…and the water is just now not smelling anymore) and literally, ‘killer’ bugs in our home. Nice. The climate here brings a lot…

I spent Monday getting things ready for the Halloween party I was doing for Luke’s class, making sugar cookies and frosting, getting the craft organized and together, and getting my witch costume together.
I also did laundry (saw the washer for the first time…don’t laugh….it’s brown inside!! Shouldn’t it be white because it’s always cleaning things? Nope, not here. That’s how clean our water is).

Tuesday I had to leave the house for 3 hours because the exterminator came. I ran a bunch of errands and then made it back in time to get the stuff together for the party and head to the school. After school I ran home to start the traditional Halloween meal of corn chowder and bread bones but didn’t get it finished because I had to leave for Grant’s soccer practice and Nash’s performance (that the ISTA team is doing in Beijing). Then we all ran home to decorate our gate with Halloween stuff and wait for two friends, put on costumes and then we headed out to go trick or treating. The school put together a list of kids in the nearby neighborhoods so we drove around. It started to pour so we lasted a little over an hour. We came back and ate dinner and everyone dropped dead at 9:00pm

Nash leaves for Beijing today after school. He will return on the 6th. It is with a drama club called ISTA. He was one of 4 6th graders that were chosen to go. He is very excited and so are we. They will study different aspects of drama while in Beijing with several guest instructors coming to teach them things. It will be a great opportunity for Nash. He will also be performing on the Great Wall! He is so excited. He could hardly sleep last night.

Well, that’s it for us. I know it was long. Sorry. We haven’t written in a long time. We hope you all enjoyed your Halloween. We are now getting geared up for Thanksgiving. I really love this time of year. We think of you all often and hope you are all doing well.

Photos: October 2006 - around the house

Letter: 1 October 2006

So Indonesian

Here is a little story that describes perfectly how differently Westerners think. I recently won the equivalent of $50 at an import grocery store that I do most of my shopping at. They have been having a lucky draw the past month and I have usually won about $1 each time, but this time, I was lucky!!! - Hence the name. The woman giving me the vouchers was more excited than I was, I think. These vouchers could be redeemed at any time, but had to be used on American or Australian products.

I went in to do my regular shopping and before they totaled up my purchases, I handed them the vouchers. I assumed it would be an easy process - silly me. Normally, you would think that each product would be registered in the computer along with the barcode so the cashier just had to run each item over the scanner and at the end deduct the amount. Not the way it works here. The cashier called three other cashiers to help with the process and they began looking at the labels on each item to see where it was manufactured! I thought to myself, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ I decided to help them so I started separating all the US and Australian products and said to them in Indonesian that these were eligible items. They just looked at me. Maybe it was my lack in language skills or something, but they completely ignored me. They got totally confused by labels that said a state instead of USA.

After looking at several labels, they whipped out the calculator and started to add up each item! I was going nuts. Finally, 20 minutes later, they rang up the rest of my order and deducted the amount from my total. I was able to do the lucky draw again and won $10. Do I really want to go through it all again?


Running Man

Nash had his first track meet on Friday night. It was so pleasant on the track that evening. They have another meet on Saturday but it’s from 8am to 2pm. Those kids are going to pass out from the heat.

Nash ran the hurdles, 800m, long jump and he ran the anchor 400m in the relay. He did pretty well in the hurdles and the long jump. He and his friend, Garret, stayed together in the 800 and did fairly well. Soon after the 800m, Nash had to run the relay. He did so well staying right on the heels of the NJIS student. He pushed hard and was close to passing him, but the boy looked over his shoulder and saw how close Nash was and took off. Nash was able to keep up with him. That 400m is a hard race!! It was the last race of the evening and Nash crossed the finish line about ready to throw up. He did really well overall and we were very proud of him. He really enjoys running and is hoping to keep it up even though track is over next week.

Mallory went up to part of the meet with us. She had a great time pretending she was a track star and running all over the turf on the middle of the field. She kept going and going! She hadn’t had a nap that day and I had no idea she had that much energy. She got a hold of a little JIS pom pom and kept waving it and screaming, “GO NASH!”


All Girl

I just got back from the Indian Women’s Association Bazaar. It’s my favorite season…bazaar season. Several of the expat women’s associations have charity bazaars from now until Christmas and you can find the greatest things. I bought Mallory a smocked dress from the Pretty Stitches lady. She makes the most beautiful smocked dresses I’ve every seen. I brought it home and said to Mallory, ‘Do you want to see your new dress?’ Her eyes beamed and she jumped up and down. I pulled it out of the bag and she hugged it and said, ‘So pretty!’ She had to put it on of course so now she’s running around the house holding the sides of her dress and exclaiming how pretty it is, telling anyone she sees.

Mallory is frequently taking out every pair of sparkly beaded sandals I have or any shoe with the slightest high heel and wearing them all over the house. I have a daily ritual of going around the house collecting my shoes.

She has to watch me get ready in the morning and put lotion on just like I do, facial moisturizer, just like I do, and she’s trying to get me to let her wear mascara, but I told her she’s too young and needs to wait until she’s 14!

Dentist

I get to experience the joy of going to the dentist. I was trying to avoid it, but I can’t chew on the left side so I guess I should get in. I have to fly to Singapore next week for my appointment. I think I might bring Grant along so I don’t have to go alone. I was going to bring Nash, but his passport is going to be at the Chinese embassy getting a visa for his school trip next month. I’m sure I will be making a few trips in the next month or so seeing that I believe I am going to need a crown, so I will bring Nash with me the next time.

I am excited to go to the Borders Bookstore while I’m there and a real Toys R Us! I am also excited to get some American cereal at a price less than $9 a box. I am hoping to find a few Halloween things as well.

They come to your house

Strange things that happen here….the man on the bike with the sewing machine attached to his bike (remember him Heather?) has been just outside our gate for the past two days. He must be getting a lot of work. I should take a few things out to him.

The Linen Lady came to our house yesterday and I ordered several things for our beds. She will make duvet covers, duvets, sheets, pillow shams, anything for your bed. Each boy picked out a design for their beds. They are excited.

Because it’s fasting month here, all the restaurant windows are covered so those fasting don’t see people eating. The whole thing is interesting to me. They can break their fast at about 5:50pm so our staff has their drinks (some kind of strange tea stuff they always break their fast with) and their food sitting there on the table at about 5:15pm. They all hover over it just waiting. I would not be able to even be around it until it was exactly 5:50!

That’s about it for us in this part of the world. I envy all those that are enjoying the beautiful fall. The apple orchards and cider have really been on my mind. I miss it. I miss the crispness in the air and wearing long sleeves. I miss long pants and wearing socks. Enjoy it while I sweat to death just standing outside for 3 minutes and swat at the hordes of mosquitoes that are everywhere because the rainy season is late.

Photos: Sept / Oct 2006 - Track Meet

Nash getting instructions from the official on the starting line for the 800 meter race.

Mallory in the new dress.

Nash is the one in the closest lane on the track, getting ready for baton hand-off.

Long jump.

He may be too far away to see, but this is Nash doing the 100 meter hurdles.

This is Mallory at the track meet - we sat at a table to eat in between events.

Letter: 25 September 2006

September 25, 2006

Time flies. We have been working on posting things to this blog for quite a few weeks now. We had a few technical setbacks to deal with, though. Our internet connection was down for about 2 weeks. We have a “high speed” connection (for Jakarta, that is) through the cable company. Like many things in Jakarta, though, it ended up being more complicated than we thought it should be. When we started having problems we contacted Uninet, our internet service provider, who tried to troubleshoot the problem over the phone. When that didn’t work, they sent a service tech to the house who concluded there wasn’t anything wrong with his company’s part of it. So, he made an appointment for the cable company to come to the house to take a look. Three or four days later, the cable company came and changed some of the connectors in the house, and now it seems to be working fine. We’re not sure exactly what he did, because our internet service has been, for the most part, OK for over a year and we’re not sure why it just stopped working.

Heidi wrote and we posted a synopsis of her trip to Scotland. It is funny to me how she failed to mention that we celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary over 7,000 miles apart. Somehow, we both seemed to survive and we were able to go out for anniversary the following weekend.

Things are in full swing with school and all of the activities the boys are involved in. Grant and Luke both came home with interesting pottery pieces from their ceramics class. They are both enjoying their soccer teams, too. Nash is really enjoying middle school and all of the activities he is involved in. He goes to track 3 times per week, and he has shown a real talent for running. He is one of the fastest kids in grade 6, and usually is able to keep pace with the 8th graders during practice. They only have two meets – one this Friday and another one the following weekend. Every person on the team was allowed to select 3 events to compete in, and then Nash was chosen to participate in an extra event – the medley relay (2 students run 100 meters each, then 1 student runs 200 meters, then Nash will run 400 meters). Nash has also been going to the drama club, which meets once a week after school. They have been preparing the kids for auditions for a small group to go to Beijing in November for 5 days. Nash found out last week that he was chosen to go, and he was so excited. He is one of 4 students from grade 6 (there will be 20 students in total from the JIS middle school) who will go to an annual event in Beijing where they do a bunch of acting / drama classes, workshops, and performances with 5 or 6 other international schools. They’ll also go to a few sights around Beijing, including the Great Wall. We are all jealous of Nash that he gets to go, and we are even trying to figure out if some or all of us can go with him. If not, we will definitely go another time with the whole family.

Photos: September 2006 - Soccer and Bananas

We planted two banana trees about a year ago. They have grown from about 4 feet high to a height of about 20 feet, and both trees are starting to get some fruit. The photo above shows the bananas at a very early stage - each of the green things with a small white flower at the end is a banana. The photo below shows Grant and Mallory hiding in the trees next to the other banana tree - you can see the banana bunch in the top left-hand side of the photo.

Here's a shot of Grant on the field in his Argenina team uniform.

Pretty good photo of Grant and two of his teammates mid-air trying for a header.

Photos: September 2006 - Nash's Birthday

For his birthday, Nash received a couple of pictures for his room. The one above is of something in space, the one below is a poster of different currencies from around the world.

Nash also received the game Risk, which he has wanted for some time now.

Nash opened his presents right after coming home from track practice, so he was still wearing his gym uniform, but this is a photo of him playing Guitar Hero, a game he received as a present.

Instead of a birthday party with his friends, Nash took a couple of his friends, Rish and Guido, to the mall to go to the rock climbing wall and to go out to eat. They had a good time racing each other up the wall.

Photos: September 2006 - kids around the house

I don't think this picture needs any explanation.

Mallory will often go into her room and close the door, then she'll sing songs, read books, sit in her chair, etc.

I was just going to take a picture of Mallory, but she decided it would be fun to play peek a boo.

Here's Grant & Mallory in front of Mallory's bedroom window.

Luke and Mallory made a "fort" out of pillows.

Photos: Scotland Trip, August 30 - Sept 6, 2006

Standing in a field of Heather on Arthur's Seat

In front of the main gate of Stirling Castle

Jen and I with Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Palace in the background

Holyrood Palace. The Queen stays here a few times a year.

Edinburgh Castle on the hill with the Scottish National Art Museums at the bottom of the picture.

Letter: Scotland Trip, August 30 - Sept 6, 2006

I left for my trip to Edinburgh on 30 August and returned on 6 September. It was such a wonderful trip. I was so happy to meet my friend Jen Deem there who flew in from Michigan. Believe it or not, our flights landed within 20 minutes of each other. It was perfect timing.

Unfortunately, my suitcase was not in Edinburgh when I arrived. I had very long layovers in Singapore and also in London so I didn’t understand how one suitcase couldn’t make it. I went into the lost baggage office and talked to them. They had information that my suitcase made it to London, but didn’t seem to make it to Edinburgh (a short 55 min. flight!). I thought for sure it would be at the B&B by that evening since there were several flights from London that day. Boy, was I wrong.

I met Jen and we got on a bus and followed the directions to the B&B, one that was highly recommended by Rick Steves. It was very close to downtown and Arthur’s seat -- a perfect location. We dropped our stuff off…I should say Jen’s stuff off and met the owner of the B&B, Liz. She was fantastic. She was so friendly and hilarious and always gave us suggestions of where to eat…which we found even funnier since all of her suggestions were the exact ones Rick Steves has in his book. Now we know where he gets his ideas!

That day we walked all over. We found the city to be very beautiful and the Scottish people to be so laid back and friendly. Everyone we met smiled and talked to us and cracked jokes. I think that’s pretty rare in a lot of European countries. We really enjoyed it.

We loved walking up and down the Royal Mile, the old part of the city that goes from the castle down to Holyrood Palace. We toured the castle and went on a walking tour of the old city. It’s amazing to me to see how old the buildings are.

We went home that night only to find out my luggage still had not arrived so we walked to a huge department store (their version of a super Target…yes I loved it) so I could get some things. Because of the new limits of carry-on baggage that had been imposed on British flights, I was not able to carry anything with me except my passport, iPod, phone and a book. I had nothing, not even my cameras, so off we went to the store. Liz assured us it was much better to walk than to ride the bus and was ‘a wee distance’ down the road. We soon came to find out the Scottish definition of a ‘wee distance’ always means at least a mile!!! We were worn out and my feet had blisters from the shoes I had by the time we returned.

The next day was spent going to Roselyn Chapel and hiking up Arthur’s Seat…another Scottish ‘wee distance’…it was a HIKE not a walk which we had been told!!! It was great and the wind at the top was so strong we had to hold on to a cement pillar at the very top with all of our might! We were laughing so hard. It was beautiful to see the entire city.

We spent the rest of the day touring Holyrood Palace and walking around the city. We went to the statue of Grayfrier’s Bobby and walked around the cool cemetery where he is buried along with his owner. We came home exhausted hoping to find my luggage, but still nothing. Liz had spent a lot of the day calling the airlines and the airport and the delivery company for me. She was very frustrated because she hadn’t been able to talk to a single human; my same experience from the day before. That night I had just fallen asleep and Jen knocked on my door at about 11:00pm saying, “Heidi! I think your luggage is here!” Sure enough, it was there. They aren’t sure where it had been for almost two days, but I didn’t care. I was just happy to have clean clothes and cameras!

We went on a tour of Mary Kings Close which is an area of the original city built in the 1500’s. In the 1700’s they built a city hall over the top of the street. Everything down there has been so well preserved. It was very interesting to see the actual wallpaper on the wealthy apartment walls and the original plaster on the walls dating back to the 1500’s!

We went through the art museum on Sunday and then found the church. We also went to some fireworks that night. It was so cold!!! I thought I was going to freeze to death, but enjoyed every minute of it. It was nice to be cold for once. The fireworks were set off from the castle. It was an amazing setting.

We spend a good part of Monday in Stirling, a 45 min. train ride from Edinburgh. We toured Stirling castle and looked around the beautiful valley where many of the famous Scottish battles took place. It was so serene.

It was such a great trip. I came home with books about Mary Queen of Scots and a yearning to learn more of the history of that place. The weather was a little rainy for only a couple of days. It was fun to walk through the city and hear the bagpipe players. We didn’t have the guts or desire to even attempt to try haggis. I have nothing to prove. HE HE HA HA! I definitely would love to go back. Scotland is a wonderful country with very friendly people. I was thankful that Creed allowed me to go and cover the bases while I was gone with the school open house, soccer practices and games and everything else.

Photos: 15 Septmeber 2006 - Emmanuel Foundation 2

I gave an award (towels, dish soap, dishes) to two ladies who took 2nd place in the cooking contest.

We handed out fruit to the kids.

And we helped give out food (soup, rice, and bread) to the parents. This foundation collects left-over buffet food from about 10 of the high-end hotels in Jakarta and distributes it to the 8 kampung (or neighborhoods) they work with.

After we finished we went to eat lunch (we had brought food for everyone to eat) on the steps outside the local mosque, the largest in this particular area of Jakarta.

Photos: 15 Septmeber 2006 - Emmanuel Foundation

On Friday, September 15th, the whole Ford office spent the day working with the Emmanuel Foundation (a foundation we support with vehicles). We went with a dozen or so people from this foundation to one of 8 neighborhoods (they called them slums) they work with, providing education about water treatment, food preparation, health, etc. We planted trees in and around the streets, helped distribute food and medicine, provided some entertainment, read stories to the kids, etc. Here are a few photos from the day:

Reading stories to the kids.

Distributing medicine.

Planting trees.

The crowd of kids being entertained by Ford employees.

No Indonesian event is complete without a song or two or ten. One of our employees opened the day singing a song - I don't think too many people heard her, though.