Life in these United States

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.

A Birthday Swim with Dolphins

I've reached the point in my life where I have both everything I need, and everything I want.  Not because I have everything, but because I am finally able to live the adage: "A wealthy man doesn't have what he wants, he wants what he has."

This makes my birthday a challenging time for my wife.  I told her I don't want things, I want experiences.  I've found that experiences last longer than things, anyway.  So this year, the experience she bought for my birthday was a swim with dolphins at Samudra water park in Ancol.

Samudra is a water/animal park that also has a few rides and 4D theater.  We'd been to it once before in our early days in Jakarta but had not yet returned.  This was well worth the return.

Like many things with children, the idea of swimming with dolphins was far more exciting than the reality.  It didn't help that when we began our initial interactions with the large mammals one of them butted my leg fairly hard with the end of his nose and all three of them kept rising out of the water with their mouths wide open.  I decided I had to set the example and get in first.  It was still another fifteen minutes before my wife would join me.  The kids got in when she did.  Our daughter never fully felt comfortable, but our son loved it.  I think fear takes a few years to settle in.

After the dolphin swim, we let the kids to one ride before we returned to our hotel (more on that later) for the day.

Great time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rangunan Zoo

The same Saturday we hosted my work colleagues for an Indonesian feast, we needed something quick to do with the kids to spend some time with them before dinner.  The Rangunan zoo is nearby our home, but we never really went to it because of our first experience.  It was, however, a perfect activity for a few hours before preparing for our dinner.

We arrived early, which helped with the crowds.  We also moved quickly.  Our kids were riding their scooters and had no intention of sharing with over-eager locals.

 


The camel rides are always a hit.

 

We even ran across a dance troupe practicing a traditional Javanese dance

Our daughter found time to use her roller blades for the first time.

 

Final Team Event: Trans Studio, Bandung

Every year, my team in Jakarta has a team building event away from work.  In my first year, we had the event shortly after my arrival.  We went bowling and had pizza.  The following year, we decided to raise it up a few notches and did the first of our two rafting adventures.  This year, my final year, we wanted to have the team event before I left.  The dry season is not conducive to rafting, so we had to determine a new location.  After several weeks of discussion, we settled on an indoor amusement park in Bandung called Trans Studio.

Like any other event in Indonesia that requires driving more than a few hours, our day started at 5 AM.  Bandung is a two hour drive from Jakarta, and we needed to arrive there with enough time to have our event, have dinner, and return to Jakarta by 11 PM.  A long, full day.  We met at the office, loaded on the buses, and drove to Bandung.

Upon arriving at Trans Studio, we spent the first few hours doing team exercises.  The first event was mathematical.  Everyone was assigned a value.  Men were 100, women were 75, anyone with a hat was 50 and women with short hair were 25 points.  The emcee would then call out a number - "350" - and everyone had to group together so that the sum of their values totalled that number.  Anyone who couldn't join a group sum was eliminated.  We played until three people remained.

In the second event we had to create the longest contiguous line possible using only items we had on us.  If this took place in Europe I think we would have had several people standing around in their underwear.  In Jakarta it meant removing shoe laces and belts.  I had the idea of also laying end to end.  My team's line was the longest.

The final event was balloon popping.  Each member of the eight teams tied a balloon to their ankle.  One team was red, one team was white.  Single elimination determined a champion.  My team was in the fourth and final group of the first round.  I got the bright idea that if the other team couldn't reach our balloons, they couldn't pop them.  I was chasing people while hopping on one foot.  This was effective at preventing my balloon from popping.  It wasn't so effective at popping any of theirs.  We changed tactics, but it was too late.  We lost badly.  I don't think we popped a single balloon.

After the team events we had free time to wander the park ride the rides, see the shows and visit the science museum (which is where I spent most of my time, solving the puzzles they had out).  I did take in a show and a few rides.  While watching the show, I noticed a little girl wasn't eating her ice cream, so I finished it for her (at least the picture makes it look that way!).

We ended our day with a dinner at a hotel in Bandung.  Excellent buffet spread.  After a few speeches, we took another team photo and hopped on the bus for our return trip to Jakarta.

For those interested in going to Trans Studio, think of it as a smaller version of Universal Studios.  It has a roller coaster, a free fall, and several spinning rides.  There is a haunted house ride and several shows throughout the day, including a parade just before closing.  Probably not enough for young children, but for kids tall enough to ride the high speed rides, there is plenty to do to fill a day.  But, Dunia Fantasia in Jakarta is a better option for your money. Trans Studio can add to your trip to Bandung, but should not be considered a destination on its own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End of School

When my boss asked me to extend my overseas assignment, the request was for another year.  That would have had us returning in April.  When we agreed to do it, is was under the condition it was until the end of the school year.  That happened the first week of June.

Our daughter, attending the Jakarta International School, ended her year with what they call a "Work Share Day".  This is an opportunity for the children to share the work they've accomplished throghout the year in every subject.  Our daughter shared with us the books she'd read, the stories she'd written, the plant she grew in her science class, the pictures she painted and sculptures she made in art class, and, finally, the kids all sang some songs for us to demonstrate what they had learned in music class.

This event occurred on a Tuesday morning the second day of my boss's visit from the US.  The Montessori school my son attended this year, the same my daughter attended for two years, always holds their event on a Saturday so father's can attend.  I was one of three fathers attending this event.  Mothers were in abundance.

We left very impressed with all our daughter had accomplished throughout the year.  We're very proud of her.

Our son's program was the following Saturday.  This year's theme was Bugs.  Per usual, their songs and speaking had a strong emphasis on good citizenship, caring for the environment, and having confidence in oneself.

This was our son's first ever performance for anyone other than family (unless you count the time at Universal Studios that music resulted in his spontaneous transformation to "dance mode").  He was excited and practiced for us for several weeks in advance.  We were looking forward to seeing the songs he practiced within the greater context of the larger performance.  As it turned out, none of the songs and dances he did for us were part of his routine.  They were from the older classes, but he apparently enjoyed them more.

When he walked down the aisle with his class, we remarked how cute he looked in his costume.  "He is such a cute caterpillar", my wife said.  "Why is he white?", I asked.  In the car ride home, we learned the answer.

"What were you dressed as?", my wife asked him.

With as much pride as a two year old can muster, he replied:  "A maggot."

Lovely.