We ended our Indonesian adventures, at least as a family, on July 4, 2012. That was over eight months ago. I returned for the month of October to complete a project, and I'll be back again in May for two weeks for my annual visit, but now I travel solo.
I long debated how I would wrap up our time in Indonesia. I used this debate as my excuse for not concluding our adventure on this blog. I never did decide, and eight months is a long time, so now it's just time to do it.
I guess it is best to begin with the question - why did we leave? First, we always viewed the assignment as temporary. To some extent, living in a foreign country was on my bucket list and once I had accomplished that, there was no compelling reason to remain. To a larger degree, I would probably single out familial health concerns as the primary factor. Our middle son's health was not improving and the medevac trip scared us. We also have a niece, who I briefly mentioned in this post, battling a serious medical condition. We felt the clean air and water in Arizona would help our son, and we wanted to be closer to our niece and her family to help in any way we can. Our son has since had an adenoidectomy and is much better (and I can't believe the medevac was just a year ago!).
A logical next question is: would we do it again? My answer, without a doubt, is a "yes". My wife....I think it would depend on where. Indonesia, really, any third-world nation, is probably not in our future. I would love to work in Europe; I've been eyeing our Spain operations for many years. Santiago, Chile is also on my wish list. The highest probability, though, is we won't. I believe to do so I would have to work for a different company, and I'm happy with the company I work for now.
Another common question we receive: Any regrets or, anything we would have done differently? I'm not a fan of looking back and thinking about "what ifs". I also believe we tend to more regret the things we don't do than the things we did. I do wish we had traveled more in the region, both within Indonesia, and to nearby countries like Thailand and Australia. Australia remains on my bucket list, so I'm sure we'll get there eventually. When I think about why, however, our lack of travel makes sense. We didn't travel more due to the age of our children....and the fact my wife was pregnant or nursing for the majority of our assignment. Toddlers and infants do not make the best international travel companions. We can travel from anywhere, however, so I don't really see this as a regret.
A final question: do we miss anything? Absolutely.....but not enough to go back. We miss $20 one-hour massages, $5 hair treatments, and always having affordable childcare. We miss the friends we made, our favorite haunts (Hacienda, Kinara, Taman Safari), and the opportunities the lifestyle afforded us. We miss nasi goreng, gado gado, and sapi lada hitam.
But what I miss most, is my free time. You don't really realize how time consuming life is until you've had help and then lost it. I used to have 2 hours per day during my commute to read, watch movies my wife wouldn't watch with me (anything with explosions), or even just nap after a long day. Now I have to drive. The dishes, laundry, yardwork, and pool all used to magically stay clean. My wife and I now split these duties. As much time as we spent in traffic in Jakarta - and hated it - not having to do chores gave us so much more free time that we could dedicate our weekends to our children, have a date night twice a week, and do yoga and other sports on weeknights because we had reliable, affordable childcare. No more.
Life is much more.....normal, now. I drive myself to work. My wife drives our son to preschool and walks our daughter to first grade at the school up the street, and drives both of them to their extra-curriculars like swimming and gymnastics. We live in our old house. We have a dog and an aquarium. We do housework, and yardwork, and repairs. My wife still goes to yoga on nights I can get home in time. My exercise is walking the dog. If we have an hour to ourselves in the evening before crashing, it's a blessing.
Time is no longer mine. It belongs to my company. It belongs to my family. It belongs to our retail business and to my games. I used to read four or five books a month. Now I read a book every four or five months. I used to write one or two short stories a month. I haven't written one in the eight months we've been back.
And I wouldn't change a thing.
I long debated how I would wrap up our time in Indonesia. I used this debate as my excuse for not concluding our adventure on this blog. I never did decide, and eight months is a long time, so now it's just time to do it.
I guess it is best to begin with the question - why did we leave? First, we always viewed the assignment as temporary. To some extent, living in a foreign country was on my bucket list and once I had accomplished that, there was no compelling reason to remain. To a larger degree, I would probably single out familial health concerns as the primary factor. Our middle son's health was not improving and the medevac trip scared us. We also have a niece, who I briefly mentioned in this post, battling a serious medical condition. We felt the clean air and water in Arizona would help our son, and we wanted to be closer to our niece and her family to help in any way we can. Our son has since had an adenoidectomy and is much better (and I can't believe the medevac was just a year ago!).
A logical next question is: would we do it again? My answer, without a doubt, is a "yes". My wife....I think it would depend on where. Indonesia, really, any third-world nation, is probably not in our future. I would love to work in Europe; I've been eyeing our Spain operations for many years. Santiago, Chile is also on my wish list. The highest probability, though, is we won't. I believe to do so I would have to work for a different company, and I'm happy with the company I work for now.
Another common question we receive: Any regrets or, anything we would have done differently? I'm not a fan of looking back and thinking about "what ifs". I also believe we tend to more regret the things we don't do than the things we did. I do wish we had traveled more in the region, both within Indonesia, and to nearby countries like Thailand and Australia. Australia remains on my bucket list, so I'm sure we'll get there eventually. When I think about why, however, our lack of travel makes sense. We didn't travel more due to the age of our children....and the fact my wife was pregnant or nursing for the majority of our assignment. Toddlers and infants do not make the best international travel companions. We can travel from anywhere, however, so I don't really see this as a regret.
A final question: do we miss anything? Absolutely.....but not enough to go back. We miss $20 one-hour massages, $5 hair treatments, and always having affordable childcare. We miss the friends we made, our favorite haunts (Hacienda, Kinara, Taman Safari), and the opportunities the lifestyle afforded us. We miss nasi goreng, gado gado, and sapi lada hitam.
But what I miss most, is my free time. You don't really realize how time consuming life is until you've had help and then lost it. I used to have 2 hours per day during my commute to read, watch movies my wife wouldn't watch with me (anything with explosions), or even just nap after a long day. Now I have to drive. The dishes, laundry, yardwork, and pool all used to magically stay clean. My wife and I now split these duties. As much time as we spent in traffic in Jakarta - and hated it - not having to do chores gave us so much more free time that we could dedicate our weekends to our children, have a date night twice a week, and do yoga and other sports on weeknights because we had reliable, affordable childcare. No more.
Life is much more.....normal, now. I drive myself to work. My wife drives our son to preschool and walks our daughter to first grade at the school up the street, and drives both of them to their extra-curriculars like swimming and gymnastics. We live in our old house. We have a dog and an aquarium. We do housework, and yardwork, and repairs. My wife still goes to yoga on nights I can get home in time. My exercise is walking the dog. If we have an hour to ourselves in the evening before crashing, it's a blessing.
Time is no longer mine. It belongs to my company. It belongs to my family. It belongs to our retail business and to my games. I used to read four or five books a month. Now I read a book every four or five months. I used to write one or two short stories a month. I haven't written one in the eight months we've been back.
And I wouldn't change a thing.
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