Christmas presents early!

Yup, we opened presents early this year. We're leaving for Thailand on the 20th so the girls voted for opening presents early rather than late after we get back home on the 28th. Kinda figured they'd vote for that.Sherilyn, your books and calendars were a big hit. Thank you! I made Sara a hugging pillow in the shape of a kitty, just like Tia's doggy hugging pillow I made her for her birthday in Sept. The theme of their other gifts was musical instruments. Awhile back our maid, Ibu Anis, gave them an Anklund so we thougt we'd add some more. The big item in the picture is a Gamlang and we've been listening to a concert all evening. :-)

Quyen and I bought ourselves a WII so we all had fun playing with our present too. Paula

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas from Indonesia!!
This year WE are writing the family Christmas letter. Tia and Sara

At school we have lots of fun festivals. On UN Day everyone dressed up in clothes from their home country. Sara (60 countries were represented. Mom)
In the Festival of Lights, I sang one song with my class and played the gamelan anklung
with the other song. Tia

At Sambolo we played in the humungous waves with our friends. I caught hermit crabs with my sister and we had a pet octopus. Sara
My best friend, Nicole, usually went with her family too. Boogie boarding was fun with my Dad. Our boogie boards had killer whales on them. Tia

We saw lots of Buddha’s inside huge bells at Borobudur. Most Buddha’s were about as big as my Mom. Sara
I thought the Mendut Temple was the prettiest one. Tia

Pondok Indah Water Park has really big slides. My favorite slide was the biggest one but it was really tiring to climb all those stairs. Tia
We never wanted to stop until we got hungry. Sara

We went home to Washington in the summer, and we played with ALL 23 cousins. Tia
We rode in an inner tube behind Granddaddy’s boat and it was SO fun. Sara
I learned how to stand on my head and my Grandpa Del made stilts for us. We learned how to walk on stilts. Sara
I was so good at walking on stilts that I used the tallest ones. Tia
We all went crabbing in Grandma’s boat. My Dad got bit on his finger. Sara

Dad played golf on some Saturday mornings and played with us after he came home. Sara
While Dad was off golfing, we swam with Mom. Tia
My Mom was the leader of our Girl Scout troops. Sara

Ho! Ho! Ho! Sara
Merry Christmas! Tia
We wish you a new year blessed with a loving family, close friends, and new experiences that fill your heart with happiness and peace.
Love, Quyen, Paula, Tia, and Sara

Making cookies

Yes, Tia and Sara have been busy making Christmas cookies this season. Eating them with their friends about as fast as they're baked. :-)

Yesterday was frosted sugar cookies.

Monday I'll be in helping 1st graders frost MORE sugar cookies as part of Sara's class Christmas party. The class made sugar cookie dough together last week. Tia and Sara baked the cookies over the weekend along with their own to frost.

I think we'll be going to the Pondok Indah Water Park this afternoon.

.

Thanksmas

Well, Thanksgiving isn't a recognized holiday here in Indonesia (surprise, surprise) and most everyone leaves town over Christmas so many of us were expecting to miss that big turkey dinner this year...Then our friend, Steve, had the great idea of celebrating "Thanksmas" together.

We hosted at our house so I even got an excuse to break out my good dishes. I'd found a nice recipe to cook a 17lb turkey in only 2-1/2 hrs, and we all added some yummy side dishes. Tia and I even made rolls with Grandma Burke's recipe and yes, of course we had black olives. :-)


The 6 kids were entertained swimming in the pool and making their own gingerbread houses while we adults had a relaxing visit. It was fun!

Jamu Gedong

On Friday I finally got up the nerve to ask for a photo of one of the Jamu Gedong ladies.

These industrious ladies carry a bamboo basket of several "Jamu" drinks on their back a circulate through their neighborhood every morning peddling their herbal drinks. I see this specific lady most everyday after dropping off the girls at school as her route must be in that neighborhood.

Another funny INDO experience:While shopping for some last-minute items for the Thanksmas meal, we walked through the toiletries section of the store. A lady approached me with a tray of various deodorant and asked me if I wanted to try one. "Waah!! Put on one of your deodorant right here in the store? No thanks." In hindsight, she probably just meant for me to try a sniff or two but with our language barrier, it didn't come across that way. :-)

P.S. Here's something I copied off the Internet:

In Java these ladies tend to sling the basket on their backs and carry it somewhat like a backpack. They are known as Jamu Gendong. The word gendong means to 'carry on the back'. Early each morning well before dawn the jamu gendong prepares several litres of three or four different of jamu in her home, having purchased the ingredients from a local market. After the conclusion of the preparation, jamu gendong pours the fluid into empty plastic Aqua bottles. These are placed into a large round bamboo basket. The jamu gendong then hoists the basket on to her back and sets off on her regular jamu route.The word jamu covers a vast range medicinal drinks for various diseases and are available in ready-to-drink form as well as in powder satchets or capsules. Renowned brands of jamu include Iboe, Sido Muncul, Jago, and Meneer. Some people say to avoid buying jamu from the street as the water quality is dubious, but I have not had any problems from it in over 30 years!

Here are a few of the most requested jamu:

Galian singset — weight reduction)

Beras kencur (from rice, sand ginger and brown sugar) — cough, fatigue

Temulawak (from curcuma) — for liver disease)

Gula asem (from tamarind and brown sugar) — rich in vitamin C

Kunyit asam (from tamarind, turmeric) — for skin care, canker sores

Of course there are many more varieties available and include assisting impotency, improving sexual prowess and for women, helping with the monthly cycle.

Water Park at Pondok Indah

Last Saturday was fun.

We decided to try out a water park that's locate only 10 minutes away- right next to the Pondok Indah Mall. We've lived here for 2 years now and had never tried this place on several EXPATs negative recommendation but it actually was great! I guess some people are just a little more cautious. Slightly dated but no safety hazards that I could see and the water was clean. For five hours the girls scampered up the stairs to the top of one of the platforms and then Wheee! slid down of of the four slides. Quyen and I joined them of about half the slides but by the end, they were comfortable "all by themselves". My favorite slides were the two outfitted for riding on inner-tubes. Sometimes the girls rode in a single tube together- pretty cute. For about an hour it rained- HARD but we were wet already so didn't let it phase us. It was actually more pleasant to have overcast conditions and deal with a little downpour than the over-hot conditions that come with a fully sunny day here.

After so much activity, they were very willing to have a relaxing movie evening and let Ibu Anis get them to bed.

That evening Quyen and I went to a Shrimp Boil sponsored by the Petroleum Engineering Society here in Jakarta. Lots of familiar faces and table after table covered with yummy shrimp, baby potatos, and corn-on-the-cob. There was two live bands and we ended up dancing til the band shut down. Fun. Fun. Sunday was a quiet day of relaxing around the pool and finishing some homework. Sunday is our no-driver so quiet by nature.

Wayang

I went on a Heritage Society field trip last week to a Wayang Puppet master's home. He put on a Wayang Theater show for the group of us gals and then gave us a tour of his collection. Tizar Purbaya had puppets from all over Indonesia and across Asia. Some were pretty imaginative- we all enjoyed the puppet who could stick out his tongue. :-) .
I think I'll try to organize a trip there for a group of kids sometime. They'd love it!

I've tried to attach a clip of a movie I made of the show to my Blog to show you but my computer's too slow for the download. Sorry.

Halloween 2008

Yes, we all had a fun Halloween here in Jakarta. I think we hold closer these familiar activities when we're living in an unfamilar land. It's fun to share our American traditions too; Carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating are foreign activities for many of the girls' classmates and friends.

The girls carved pumpkins on several occasions. Sara's best friend, Aina, was leaving home for Malaysia on the 25th, and was able to carve during their one last sleepover. Her favorite was the pumpkin seeds. Tia's best friend, Nicole is from Australia, and Tia was able to convince her that the "pumpkin guts" were the most fun. Half of Sara's Brownie troop wasn't too keen on the "guts" but they all ended up proud of their jack-o-lanterns anyway. The American family population within range of the schol organized themselves for trick-or-treating and over 150 kids came to our door. More than we'd ever had in America!The girls did their own trick-or-treating with a group of children in a housing development where we could walk from door-to-door. A little safer than the typical Indonesian streets with the motorcycles everywhere.

I hope all of you in America had a terrific Halloween and the kids got lots of candy. :-)I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of some great costumes.

UN Day

The JIS UN Day celebration was on Oct. 30th and 31st. As with most International Schools, JIS really celebrates UN Day in a BIG way. The JIS grade school student body comes from 60 countries. Many students claim two countries as their "home" as their parents come from separate countries.

All the students dress in their home country's traditional clothing and most everyone participates. WOW! Some of those outfits were really beautiful. The Flag Parade serpentined through the campus with each country flag followed by the students from that country. Some smaller countries such as El Salvador were represented by just the one student holding the flag, and other countries were more largely represented. More than 30 students followed the American Flag.

The ceremony concluded in the theater where groups from several countries performed. All the countries with parents willing to help organize participated. I led the American group and it was pretty simple. The kids all sang along with a recording of several traditional American songs and we made up some fun motions to accompany. Another Mom collected photos from the families participating to put together a slide show of our home state, and it played on a screen behind the kids while they sang. We only had one practice but it went quite well- everyone already knows... Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,

I've Been Workin' On the Railroad,

Row Row, Row you Boat,

The Hokey Pokey, and

This Land is Your Land....

Student brought a food item traditional to their home country and each class shared their lunch from around the world together. Mmmm! Tia and Sara each brought chocolate chip cookies. The Students had a super day learning about each other's cultures. It was fun to watch them appreciate both the similarities and the differences; amazing how many countries have their own version of "fried rice".

Girl Scout bandanas

Hi Family and Friends

My Mom just reminded me I hadn't sent any picture of the girls in their Girl Scout activities lately so here's a couple. The 1st graders and 2nd graders meet on every-other Wed but usually have very similar meeting plans. (easiest for their leader- me :-)

They recently learned a little bit about camping. Bed roll relay, brainstorming list of items one should bring on a campout, etc. Each girl practiced tying knots with their new bandana and as you can see, Sara's group were very creative in their chosen style. :-)

Some of the girls joined the Girl Scout organization on an overnight camping trip at an Animal Park last weekend but Tia and Sara missed out. Lucky they get to go camping and do fun outdoor activities in the Sates. Some of the girls had never slept outside before!

Tia's had Dengue Fever once already and a second bout is supposed to be much more serious- often requiring a trip to Singapore for proper medical treatment. Sadly this nasty disease is transmitted by mosquitos here in Indonesia and we decided to not take the risk of camping at an animal park where mosquitos are more numerous.

It's Definitely a Frustrating part of living in Indo, to be "afraid" of mosquitos but I've got the girls pretty well trained to apply repellant every morning before school and again after school if they're heading outside. So far, no problems.

Love ya, Paula

Indonesia continues to Suprise and Entertain

I have a few new items to add to our long list of interesting and entertaining experiences here in Indonesia.

Yesterday evening we went to the locall mall, Pondok Indah Mall. It's our standard destination for getting out of the house, doing a little window shopping, letting the girls play on the various jungle-gyms, and eating at some of the 30+ restaurants and stalls in the food court.

As we wandered around the mall, there's always lots of opportunity for people watching. Ladies dressed in jillbobs and long draping Muslim garments, teens dressed in skimpy Western style clothes, spoiled toddler ever shadowed by an attending Nanny, and of course plenty of Expat and Indonesian families out for their evening stroll. (Remember- there are NO parks here in Jakarta)

We tried an Asian (Japanese/Chinese/Indonesian??) restaurant where the chef prepared our meal right in front of us. I was thinking it might be a "Benny Hannaah" style, but of course Indonesia loves to twist and turn anything they copy-cat from the West and we ended up a very entertaining interpretation of Benny Hannaah. The poor chef knew how to slide food around with his two little spatulas but that was about it. Definitely no eggs tossed in the air to be deftly cracked on a spatula edge. The meat was so tough he had trouble cutting it up, his hot metal cook top was barely lukewarm so he covered everything with a lid to get it to cook, and he used the same sauce for every dish- chicken, beef, shrimp, seafood and something else we couldn't exactly identify. My favorite was the tortured cringed face he made whenever steam rose from his cooking. :-)

Needless to say, the end product was barely edible but at least Tia and Sara had fun watching.

Later in the Mall, I was approached by four very polite and conservatively dressed teenage girls. They shyly asked if I was from an English speaking country and if they may interview me as part of their English homework assignment. I cautiously agreed and they proceeded to introduce themselves as students from a local Islamic High School and took turns reading some simple English questions they'd written on a student notebook. "How old are you?, What's your favorite type of music? Do you think Indonesia is a beautiful country", etc. Cute experience and another one to add to our list.

I almost forgot to mention one of my favorite sights showing how Indonesia likes to take foods from other country and add their own little twist. America has hot-dogs, and Japan has sushi, so why not sushi rolls with hot-dogs in the middle Sushi Dog! A booth at the grocery store I frequent has a booth advertising Sushi Dogs though I've yet to see anyone eating there.

Gotta love Indonesia. :-) Paula

Sambolo week

We just arrived home from our week long vacation at Sambolo and it was great.

Sambolo is a string of beach bungalows surrounding a sandy cresent shaped beach. Each bungalow is, literally, only a stone's throw from the ocean with tide pools for hermit crab hunting and clear waves just big enough for body surfing and boogie-boarding, Several other families we knew and newly met were also staying in the other bungalows and since the units were all full, we welcomed one of my friends to join us in ours with her hubby, 2 children, and parents from New Zealand. Lucky they brought a tent. :-)

Tia and Sara spent ALL their time enjoying the sand and sea with their friends. We adults mostly relaxed but two separate afternoons, Quyen drove us to the markets nearby to buy some fresh seafood. Mmmm... we ate well. Monster prawns on the BBQ, squid cooked two different ways, and steamed fish cooked by my favorite chef and hubby.

The week long vacation was to recognize the end of the Muslim fasting month, Ramadan, and Wednesday was Idul Fitri. Most all Indonesians travel back home to their Kampung (village) to celebrate with relatives for a week and many travel to vacation sites such as the surrounding beaches over the weekend. Luckily our beach was private so we were only treated to fireworks each night, and a special all-night "call to prayer" Tuesday night broadcast from the adjacent Muslim mosque. Only children completely worn out from beach play could sleep through that. :-)All the public beaches were PACKED and the resulting traffic was gridlocked.

We drove home early in the day Saturday so had no problems but did we see the crowds headed the other direction. Hundreds of motorbikes, many of them carrying families of 4, buses overloaded with to the point people were hanging out the door, and of course, cars, cars, cars. Crazy. :-)

This was our fourth Sambolo vacation and I think we'll try to head somewhere in another country next time, but who knows.... :-) Wish everyone was closer so they could have joined us!

P.S. Our house helper, Ibu Anis, just finished telling me about her 11 hour return bus ride complete with no AC, crying babies, and only one seat she shared with her nephew while they took turns standing. I guess it's kinda like all the craziness we Americans go through at the airports to be home for the holidays. :-)

Poppe visit

Well, here we are at Grandma and Grandpa Del's in Silverdale, WA again. Weather's still perfect.

Celina Poppe was wonderful enough to bring her crew (Elly, Henry, Tessa, and grandma Shirley) over for a visit. The Poppe's were close friends when we all lived in Eagle River Alaska and we still miss them.

Yes, the kids all had a great time renewing their friendships while swinging on the rope swing, picking carrots and peas in the garden, and perfecting their skills at walking on stilts.

Thank you SO much for making time for the visit!! We all had a great time!!

Stilts and Daisy crowns

The other day Grandma made halo crowns out of daisies for Tia and Sara. Aren't they cute?

Grandpa Del made some beginner stilts for the girls too and they spent all day practicing their new skill. They're just like the ones I had when I was their age. Grandma remembers walking all the way around the block on stilts with her brothers in Edmonds when she was younger too.

After several days, they've even gotten good enough to convince us to raise the level a little.

Ta Da!

Kay Family get-together

Quyen was in Washington for one weekend this summer and the rest of his family was wonderful to plan a big get-together where we could see everyone! It was great!

We all met over at the house Tim owns by Vantage and almost everyone was able to come. It was an extra special treat to have Richard and Jasmine up from Houston so all 23 cousins were together. We caught them all in a picture except Travis as he was away on a golf lesson. I'll try to add you with PhotoShop later, Travis!

Perfect weather all weekend so the some adults and smaller cousins played in the pool, and others accompanied the older cousins tubing behind Tim's boat on the river.

We all tried to help out with the food, but of course Mom made sure every meal was delicious. As usual, I think something new and delicious emerged from the kitchen every hour. Yum!!

Quyen, Tia, Sara, and I really want to thank everyone for making this all come together. We miss you guys!

Dad and Hazel visit

What a wonderful vist we had with Dad and Hazel over the 4th of July. Tia, Sara, and I spent a week with them at the house they were borrowing on Lk Coeur D'Alene and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The cabin was more than comfortable and as great hosts, Dad and Hazel had prepared the cabin with lots of fun extras- warm smiles, good food, their boat equipped with a tube for riding in, etc.

We took the boat across the lake the first day to a small town where we all 5 rented bikes to tour the "rails to trails". Sara was too small for the childs size bike so they even rented us one of those neat half-bikes that attached to the back of her grandaddy's bike and away we all went! It was great! And the homemade icecream we all enjoyed at the end made for a perfect day.

The following days were perfectly sunny and the lake water was so warm, even two girls used to swimming in Indonesian warm weather had fun playing in the water toys with their Grandaddy.

Justin,Joy, Emma, and Audrey arrived a few days before the 4th and Hazel's two children, Sue, and Matt with his new wife Kasie (sorry if I spelled that wrong) came too. We all had fun getting to know each other a little while water skiing and tubing, relaxing on the dock, and eating more delicious meals together. Emma even got up waterskiing for her first time!! The cabin had enough room for all of us, except for Sue who got to sleep on the boat. :-) On the 4th, we took the boat out on the lake and watched the numerous fireworks displays all along the shore. A very relaxing way to celebrate our nation's independence.

Dad and Hazel's house renovations were complete as far as the new cement deck and roofing when we arrived and looked very impressive. The inside work began in full-swing on the Monday we left. I can't wait to see pictures when eveything is completed. Good luck Dad and Hazel!

Overall, we had a terrific visit and I think Dad and Hazel really appreciated getting all their "family" together over the 4th.

Thank you for everything Dad and Hazel! Paula

Tia's Show and NO training wheels for Sara

Tia's 1st Grade class has been studying Australian Animals as a unit in school and it culminated last week in a fun musical, "The Platypus from Patteson's Pond". The kids all dressed as cool kangaroos, sleepy opossums, sarcastic kookaburras, big-bottomed wombats, and Tia's class was the cutest- koalas. :-)They all did a great job.

Sara's big news is that she's gotten rid of her training wheels yesterday! Our living room has been rearranged with all the furniture stacked in the middle for several days. That tile floor made for a great training track and I from my vantage point through the office door, I just saw her zip by a dozen times. I think we're heading outside to try her birthday bike without training wheels next.

Sara's Birthday

Sara woke her daddy with kisses this morning and told him "this is your first kisses from your new 6-year-old Daddy!"He was headed out to the field for several days so she'd gotten to open her family gifts the night before. Her favorite was the simple pink doll she promptly named "Pinkie Pie".

School was dismissed at 11AM today so I picked up most of the girls from Sara's class and brought them home for Sara's "Baby" birthday party. Each girl brought their favorite baby doll and decorated bibs for themselves and matching smaller bibs for their babies. They even played the baby party version of "pin the tail on the donkey", "pin the bottle on the baby" :-) Took their babies for a ride in the bouncy castle, toured them through the house on a treasure hunt, and even wore the bibs for their pizza, cake and ice cream lunch.Lots of giggling and cuddling today. It was fun.