Photos - Pasar Seni, September 17th

We went to a market north of the city on Saturday with our friends, the Willis family. This market has a bunch of small shops for people to sell all sorts of art - paintings, carvings, statues, and other handmade items. The kids had fun looking at all sorts of interesting things -- some of which I would definitely not classify as art. We did end up finding a Batik painting that we liked, though. We'll get it framed and put it on one of the empty walls in our house.

Luke liked the monitor lizard statues.

One of the last shops we saw was a man selling strange-looking figures made out of some type of rope. Personally, I thought they looked ridiculous, but in the background of this photo you can see our friends Dave & Jenny Willis speaking with the "artist" about selling his creations at art shows in the US and Asia for hundreds of dollars. We decided not to buy one. What on earth would you do with a giant black rope mermaid?

Photos - More from Nash's 10th Birthday

Nash chose Raclette for dinner. We had seen Raclette cheese here earlier, but couldn't find it that week, so we tried Gouda and Edam instead.

Nash enjoying a bite of carrot cake.

September 11th is also Kandar's birthday, so Nash took a piece or two of birthday cake to him.

Photos: Nash's Birthday

Nash chose to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner for his birthday.

For breakfast on Nash's birthday, Heidi got up early and made French toast before church.

A close-up of Mallory enjoying the birthday breakfast.

Photos: Bandung Musical Instruments - September 3

On Saturday, our last day in Bandung, we searched out a traditional musical instrument workshop we had read about. At this workshop they make bamboo musical instruments (as well as other handicrafts). One of the things the boys liked the most was a green puppet on the wall -- one of the workers (sitting behind the rows of puppets in the picture) would pull a string and make the puppet's head lunge out at the boys. They thought it was hilarious (both the worker and our boys).

Here's Luke sitting in one of those chairs where two people can carry you -- where are Nash and Grant when you need them?

This workshop also had a very large bat, though we're not sure why.

When we returned to our house on Saturday, we tried playing the instruments we had just purchased -- an Angklung (8 bamboo pipes (or more) which you play by shaking the bamboo pipe), a bamboo flute-type instrument, and a drum. The Angklung is a traditional Sundanese instrument, and our driver, Cartim, is Sundanese (from West Java, not too far from here), so he showed us how to play it. At the workshop they gave us the music to play a couple of songs on the Angklung, and Cartim gave us a little performance.

Photo - Butterfly

The boys found this butterfly while swimming in the pool one day. This is one of those situations where a picture is worth a thousand words.

Photos: Bandung - September 1 & 2

Swimming at the hotel pool.

Standing in front of the crater from the volcano, Tangkuban Perahu, which erupted about 40 years ago.

After seeing Tangkuban Perahu, we hiked down about 3/4 of a mile to see another area that still has geological activity. It's no Yellowstone National Park or anything, but it did have one or two areas with bubbling water and tons of steam.


On the way back to the car.


That night we had dinner at the hotel -- the boys loved eating in the hotel room.

Photos: A Few More Taman Safari

Paddle boating on the pond.

I think this was called the monorail bicycle or something. Heidi said that the track was pretty rickety.

I don't think these photos need any explanation.

Photos: Celebrity at Taman Safari Indonesia

As we walked through the crocodile section of the park, we were stopped by a group of people wanting to see Mallory. They hovered over her in her stroller, touched her face, and one lady even kissed Mallory on the head. The boys think their sister is a celebrity in Indonesia.

Photos: Waterfall

I took this photo of Luke and Grant on the way back from the waterfall -- in the background you can see the terrain and vegetation of this part of the jungle in Java.

This is the waterfall we went to near the Wild West Show. Who looks more excited to see it -- the people in the picture above, or these three boys in the picture below?

I love this plant. I have seen smaller versions of this one in our neighborhood, and at Taman Safari Indonesia we saw this huge one. You may not be able to tell from this photo, but the leaves have jagged edges.

Photos: Wild West Show at Taman Safari Indonesia

The Wild West Show at Taman Safari Indonesia was really funny. At one point in the show, the action came right in front of us. They asked Grant to help beat up one of the outlaws.

Photos: Taman Safari Birds

We're hoping that nobody caught bird flu.

Letter 15 August 2005

Time just keeps going by. Things are going well for us. The adjustment hasn’t been too bad. We all have our days, but at least they usually aren’t all at once and they are getting far and few between. I feel that we have been blessed in this aspect. It has been a relatively easy adjustment for all of us.

I had an interesting experience figuring out how to pay all the bills last week. It took me two hours to drive from bank to bank. Things aren’t easy here. Each bill had to be paid at a different bank. I asked everyone if there was an easier way to do this and everyone said no. The phone company is supposed to send you your bill, but apparently, they only do it if they feel like it. You’re supposed to call a number and find out how much you owe and then get it in before the 15th or they’ll cut off your phone immediately. I tried for 8 days to get the total and the number was always busy. Finally, I asked my driver to call for me. He called a totally different number and found our total. Luckily, I can send him to pay our phone bill and our water bill. That helped me a lot. It was interesting.

School started last Thursday, the 11th. It was a very happy day in this household. Nash was so excited he could hardly sleep the night before. We had gone up to the school the day before to see who their teachers were and where their classrooms were. That was a relief to Nash. He was most concerned about finding his class. We walked around a bit so they would feel a little more comfortable.

School starts at 7:30am so they were all up very early. Creed and I had a new parents’ meeting that morning so we took them to their classes, met their teachers, and looked around a bit. I went with the driver at noon to pick up Luke and I couldn’t find him. He apparently had told his teacher I was going to pick him up in the office. He misunderstood me. It made me a bit nervous when I couldn’t find him. He had had a great day and made some new friends.

Nash liked the first day as well. He’s happy to be in fifth grade and is thrilled to have a male teacher. He had his first swimming class today and really liked it and also had technology. He said it was kind of hard because they just learned keyboarding. I told him he will be so happy to be able to type faster on the computer.

Grant loves second grade. He was so happy to find out his teacher is from the UK and speaks with an accent. He said a new boy just moved in today and is from Finland. They are meeting people from all over the world. He has made quite a few friends and is really enjoying things. He likes all the classes he can take and really likes seeing Luke sometimes. His classroom is just above Luke’s.

We went to a place called Taman Safari Indonesia on Saturday. It was great! It is about 90 minutes from Jakarta as you head up into the mountains. In the first part of the park, you can drive your car through and the animals can get really close. The zebras and lamas and deer would come right up to your car. Mallory was going crazy. She could hardly contain herself. She loves animals. She was bouncing up and down and her whole body was just tight with excitement. We saw camels, bears, lions, tigers, elephants and all sorts of monkeys. After the safari ride, we went into the more traditional zoo area. They allow you to hold baby animals! I’m not talking about cute cuddly little things. I mean baby lions, cheetahs, tigers, pythons, and the best of all, orangutans! We will attach pictures. It was amazing. We went on a few country fair-type rides, and we also saw a ‘Wild West Show,’ which was quite hysterical. It was funny to see their perception of an American Wild West show. We also walked a little bit further to a trail that leads to a waterfall. We saw several other animals that are only in Indonesia. It was really fun.

Our sea shipment arrived today and I feel overwhelmed at the task I have before me. If I had places to put everything that would be different. We don’t really have closets besides the ones in our rooms. We have no basement and not really anywhere to store things. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the holiday decorations because if I store them in the huge room that is attached to the staff quarters then they are subject to a lot of heat and humidity. I’m afraid they will get ruined. I’m regretting bringing so much, but I keep reminding myself what life was like during those short two months we knew we were coming. It was just impossible for me to go through everything. Of course, there are a few things that I’m kicking myself for bringing, like the three boxes of videos and nothing to play them on! They don’t even sell VCR’s here. Soooo, we boxed them all up and put them at the top of Luke’s closet. Our staff has been helping me unpack all day. I’m so grateful to them.

Here’s this week’s odd thing about Indonesia. The telephones don’t just ring here. They play songs. For example, our home phone plays, ‘Oh Suzanna’ ‘Dixie’ and one other song. Our cordless phone plays ‘The Rocky Theme Song’, ‘We Will Rock You’ and a couple of pop songs.

On Sunday afternoon we went to a monthly branch potluck dinner, right after the regular church meetings. It was at the home of one of the members here. It was good to get together with everyone and get to know them a little bit better. We can tell that it is a really close group. The boys had fun playing with their new friends, of course.

Heidi

Photos 13 Aug 2005: Orangutan and White Tiger

Everyone (except me) took a turn holding the baby orangutan. The white thing the orangutan has in its mouth is a toy whistle.

Do you think Siegfied & Roy know that one of their white tigers is missing? I'm sure at least one of our boys will be embarrassed by this photo in a few years.

Photos: Taman Safari Indonesia August 13th

One of the first animals we saw at Taman Safari Indonesia. I put this photo in so you could see the setting of this park (taman) -- up in the hills near the mountains about 1 1/2 hours south of Jakarta.

Mallory absolutely loved the drive-through safari part of the park. She got so excited when the animals got close to the car. Don't worry, though, we rolled up the window when we drove through the tiger section.

Photos of Grant and me holding a very large baby lion. You can't see it in the photo, but the lion does have a chain around its neck (I think the chain is fastened to the floor). That's not much consolation, though, if you are holding the cat and it decides you look like a meal.

First Day of School - 11 August 2005

Nash, Grant, and Luke ready for their first day at Jakarta International School.

Everyone enjoying the waffles Heidi made for breakfast on the boys' first day of school.

August 7, 2005

Hi everyone,

I thought I’d write about a few things I find interesting that have been going on at work. Ford Motor Indonesia has only been around for about 4 years, and everyone in my department of about 10 people (including finance, accounting, and purchasing) is relatively young. Most of the staff joined Ford with a few years of work experience at another international company in Jakarta. Everyone in the department is Indonesian, about half men and half women, and they come from a variety of different cities and cultures. Reflecting the national averages, most of the staff is Muslim, and there is at least one Hindu and one other Christian person.

I have had two people in my department tell me they had been considering quitting, but I think I have talked them out of it, for the time being. Ford Motor Indonesia is growing, and so is the workload, so some people are feeling stressed and over-worked. I have had a couple of interviews with candidates for an accounting supervisor position. In one interview I had last week I could tell the guy I was interviewing was really nervous. He graduated from the one of the best universities in Jakarta and has worked for a Big 5 accounting firm for about 3 years. After I asked him the normal interview questions, I asked him if he had any questions for me – about the job, the position, the company, etc. He stared at his hands for a few minutes (what seemed like an eternity), then I saw a spark in his eye as he thought of a question. He turned to me and said “How old are you?” I was dumbfounded, shocked, and amused at the same time. I really tried to maintain my composure. I answered him in the form of an age range and ended the interview. We decided not to hire him (not just for the age question, though).

Ford Motor Indonesia is primarily a marketing, sales, and service company (we do not manufacture any vehicles here). We often buy promotional materials and small gifts to give out to potential customers (hats, note pads, pencils, shirts, etc.). They often pass out samples to each employee, as well. They just had some new promotional items made for the introduction of the Ford Focus here in the fall, and they handed them out at the last all-employee meeting. Imagine my surprise when they handed me my very own black, long-sleeved turtle neck Ford Focus sweater. Yes, we live just a few degrees south of the equator on a tropical island that is mostly jungle. I’m not sure who approved ordering black turtle neck sweaters (granted, they are very thin sweaters), but I am positive that my sweater is going to stay in the closet until I return to Michigan.

Well, we are driving (or shall I say riding in) a new car. We inherited a Volvo XC-90 from a Volvo employee in our office who was just transferred to Kuala Lumpur. It is a nice vehicle. The boys are having fun figuring out how everything works in it. And Mom, it is dark blue.

This week Cartim (our driver) informed Heidi that it was taking Kandar (our gardener) two full days to cut the grass…by hand. So Heidi went to the store and bought a lawn mower for him, the non-electric type. I’m sure it will only take him a few hours now instead of a few days.

On my way to work every day I take the highway, and there are homes about 50 feet from the road on one of the exit ramps. This week I saw a red mattress sitting on the ground in between the road and the houses, and a couple of days this week I saw a guy sleeping there. This was about 7:00 in the morning and there was a lot of traffic. I’m not sure how he slept, but it looked like he had been sleeping there all night.

You may have known that Indonesia is a right-hand drive market, which means that the driver sits on the right side of the vehicle, and that traffic goes down the left side of the road. Well, did you know that hallways and stairways are also right-hand drive? I cannot tell you how many times I have approached someone in the hallway and started to go to the right side to get out of the way, and we end up with one of those awkward almost-running-into-each-other moments.

Many of you know that Luke loves to play chess. We have often noticed our house help playing chess outside in the garage (during one of their union-mandated breaks, I’m sure). So a couple of days this week when Luke couldn’t find anyone in the family to play chess with him, he went to the garage to play chess with Cartim and Ajis. Apparently they are pretty impressed with his chess skills (the next Garry Kasparov, perhaps?).

Heidi and I went shopping for a microwave this week at Carrefour (a large hypermarket where we do a lot of shopping – and no, this ain’t no Super Target). As we looked at the different models, all we were hoping for was a microwave with a “Popcorn” button. Unfortunately, most models only had a “Chicken Teriyaki,” “Porridge,” or “Steamed Fish” button – not much use for us. Luckily, we finally found one with a “Popcorn” button.

Heidi took the three boys into the international school this week for their official interviews / evaluations. When I came home from work that day, Nash said he cannot wait for August 11th, which is the first day of school. They (and Heidi) are really excited and ready for it.

Adios,

Creed (and Heidi)

Chess & Swim Goggles

Luke playing "Harry Potter" chess in the garage with Cartim (Ajis is watching).

One day this week I came home from work and found the family sitting at the table, eating dinner. I cracked up when I saw Luke's swim mask on top of his head, like sunglasses. Nash, Grant, and Luke had been swimming right before dinner when Heidi called them inside. By the way, the watermelon (and many other fruits) here are excellent.