Take your cat and your dad to school

Nope that's not a happy cat!!!! Colin's class is finishing a unit on pets. The students were invited to take their pets to school. Each day was assigned a different type of pet:

Thursday Mechanical Pets” – Tamagotchis etc.
Friday – “Pretend Pets” – stuffed animals etc.
Monday – “Small Pets” – hamsters, turtles, fish etc.
Tuesday – “Big Pets” – dogs, cats, monkeys etc.

Yes it says MONKEYS! YIKES!!! Chalk that up as a you just don't see that back home kinda thing! (although I didn't see any monkeys at the school) Today I loaded a pissed off cat into the van and tried to explain to a confused driver that I wanted to take the cat to school, not to the veterinarian. I'm not sure Pak Haryono understands WHY we drove the cat to school, but we made it. The kids enjoyed seeing our cat. I think many were surprised at his size. He is a typical spoiled, overweight (15 lbs!), American housecat. Indonesian street cats tend to be small, skinny, shy and for some reason most don't have long tails. Colin stood up and told the class about his cat and then answered questions. “How long have you had him? Does he really sleep with you? How old is Bing?” Really cute!

It was also take your dad to school day. Colin got to take his dad to school and show him all about what he has learned in computer lab. For this task dad had to be the student and Colin the teacher. They used a drawing program and Colin had to walk his dad through the step of duplicating a baby robot. Colin had to do this without touch the mouse, keyboard, or screen. After they accomplished this task they had some free time to draw picture of each other. Below is the picture they drew.

New Art Work

Shannon and I went to another auction this past weekend and found plenty of art work that we liked, but it was the two pictures below that really caught our eye. These two pictures are fun and exciting and we thought they would make a great addition to our collection. I hope y’all like them as much as we do and if not that’s okay because they will be in our house and not yours. (ha ha)

My Car
(1999 aquarel on paper 40 x 50 cm)

Tamasya
(1999 aquarel on paper 40 x 50 cm)

Erica Hestu Wahyuni was born in Yogyakarta in 1971. She could be considered a prodigy, developing her passion for art already in elementary school. She studied painting at the Indonesian Fine Art Institute in Yogyakarta (ISI or ASRI). Erica belongs to the increasing number of woman artists in Indonesia whose art works are also promoted in the USA.

Measles?

No, it's not measles; it's mosquitoes. I stupidly forgot to spray my feet last Friday night at Happy Hour. Luckily it was just my feet.

Here's what happened: On Friday afternoon's a group of us moms (and sometimes dads) gather in one of the driveways here in the compound to chat and share a few drinks while the kids play around us (actually they swarm around us like mosquitoes). It's a nice way to end the week. I wore tennis shoes and to get more comfortable decided to take them off. I forgot that I had already sprayed down with mosquito repellent and of course my feet were missed because I was wearing socks and shoes. While I enjoyed myself the mosquitoes enjoyed themselves too. Sooo now my feet look like they have the measles!

Moment in Time

There are in our lives those moments in time that when looked back on later will be remembered with photographic clarity. Sometimes these moments are momentous: graduations, weddings, and funerals. Other times these are just ordinary moments that hang in our memory for unknown reasons but are just as special: sitting on the creek bank fishing in the summer heat, a cup of warm cocoa on the first really cold day of winter. Sometimes you know it is happening and try hard to remember every detail, other times it just happens. At a party last night I looked around the last 10 partygoers as we sang American Pie and realized in a few weeks time all but two of this group will have moved on to new assignments around the world and likely would never see each other again, would never gather in a living room in Jakarta for an evening of sadly off tune Karaoke. I tried to grab all the details and store them away for another day in the photo album of my mind. The smell of the pizza, the taste of home brewed beer, warmth of freindships found so far from home.

Yanamomo

The Pattimura tree dominates the courtyard at Pattimura Elementary. Here kids prepare to perform the musical Yanamomo under the spreading branches of the Pattimura tree. It made the perfect backdrop for this particular play. The show focused on the Yanamomo tribe of the South American rain forest. I am not sure how the staff pulled it off, but somehow they managed to get more than 300 kids from prep reception (age 3) to 5th grade to perform an (almost) 2 hour musical. Very impressive.

Our House

Several people have asked what our house is like. Here is a picture of the front of our house. Yes it still has toys all over the place. I am sure it drives the gardeners nuts. I have noticed the toys get moved every few days so there are not big brown dead patches in the grass.


This is a picture of Grayson in the little garden next to our front door. The shell he is sitting on is one David and I found at the Sailing Club at Tanjung Lasung. It is so heavy Dakota and David had to take the canoe and paddle down to bring it back, instead of carrying it. A bunch of us were making bets as to whether they would make it without flipping the canoe. If you want to see more pictures of our house click on the "our house" photo album to the right.

Eating Out in Jakarta

Eating out in Jakarta is always an adventure. You can eat at the roadside warungs or even at the kaki lima carts. You would have to be braver than me, but you COULD if you wanted to. (David says he does) You can eat at any of the many restaurants in the malls and around town or you can eat at one the 5 star hotels and have food by a world-class gourmet chef.

David and I have a favorite Chinese restaurant we often visit. It is close enough to the house to walk if we want. Today we were out running errands and decided that Chinese dumplings were just what we wanted so we headed over to Din Tai Fung to get some dumplings. This restaurant has been voted by the New York Times to be one the top 10 restaurants in the world, in spite of that the prices are very reasonable, dinner for both of us is around Rp 180,000 or about $20. As we drove up we noticed banners all down the road advertising 50% off menu prices for the next 2 weeks. That can't be right we thought. Then we opened the doors and realized that all of the Indo-Chinese in Jakarta had beaten us to the dumplings. Sadly there were going to be no dumplings today or for the next 2 weeks. I have never seen such a waiting line… well except maybe the day the Burger King opened at Senayan City.

Disappointed as we were, we headed over to Plaza Senayan to see what restaurants were to be had. We accidentally stumbled onto another good place to eat. Bakerzinn had a wonderful menu (with pictures). David enjoyed a noodle dish loaded with garlic, bratwurst, and peppers. While I had an herbed puff pastry bowl filled with a creamy mushroom stew. Mmmm mmm mmmm it was as good as chocolate! I know, chocoholics, this is tantamount to sacrilege but golly it was yummy. The only thing we found a bit disappointing was we were too full for dessert. I guess we just have to go back for coffee and dessert another day.

Colin and his Bat

Colin caught himself a bat today. He comes running into the house hollering at me that he caught a bat. I asked him if it is alive and he emphatically says yes. I asked him if he picked it up and he told me sadly “no Ibu Dwi would not let me”. I went to see this bat that he caught and was expecting to see something the size of a rat. But to my surprise it was no more than the size of a thimble. I later put the little guy back in the roof where he crawled away very fast back in to his home.




Grayson and Potty Training
We have been working with Grayson to get him potty trained and today he did a really amazing thing and we want to share it with every one. If you would like to see what it is that he did you must click this link because a picture is worth a thousand words.

Snape Junior?

One of Cody's birthday presents from his friend Kate was a trip to the salon to get his hair colored. He has been talking about doing it for a while and all things considered I would prefer that he do weird things to his hair rather than tattoos or piercings. So now his hair is black instead of brown and I have noticed a startling resemblance to one of the characters in the Harry Potter movies. What do you think?

15! Well Almost

Today was Dakota's 15th birthday party. His birthday is really Monday but he has to go to school then so we partied today. The celebrations were held at the American club due to the fact I won't allow large groups of teenagers in my house. I would rather have cattle in the house than teenagers. Yes Mom, I know you had to replace the carpet after my Holstein dairy cow wandered through the house, but trust me she only ruined the carpet, teenagers could ruin so much more.

We held the party poolside and after a slow start the kids seemed to have a lot of fun. They had pizza, which they inhaled, popcorn that was used for a food fight and carrot cake. They ate the cake and smeared frosting all over each other. Since it was made clear in advance that our job was to a) pay for the party and b) not actually talk to the teenagers as that would be embarrassing to the birthday boy, David and I watched from the sidelines and only stepped in to make sure that no food was thrown into the pool. The rest of the party was spent playing in the pool and basically acting like teenagers.

Swiper No Swiping

This entry is for all the kids back in Mainland Square who used to call Grayson "Swiper" especially a certain "Grumpy Old Bridge!"

Grayson and I made oatmeal cookies this morning. I gave him ONE cookie to eat as soon as they were cool enough. Then I went to put up some toys he left out and when I came back he was still nibbling on that cooke. Odd, he normally gobbles cookies as fast as he can shove them in his mouth. I didn't worry too much about it, I just figured it was a new phase. The oven timer went off and I went to the kitchen to take out the next batch of cookies and noticed that instead of 11 cookies on the cooling rack there were only 7. Right about that time Grayson's fat little hand snaked over the edge of the counter and he swiped his 6th cookie. The little piglet gobbled down half a dozen oatmeal cookies. That's like eating a bowl of oatmeal! Oatmeal is healthy, Right?? At least that is what I am telling myself because he didn't even look at his luch. He probably has a tummy ache.

The Bat

Every evening when we go outside we get to see nature close up and personal. It is either the lone toad that you almost step on or the many cicaks scurrying along the wall or on the house. But the coolest thing we get to see are all of the bats. It is not like in Texas where we see a few flying by the house at dusk. It is more like the old tunnel toned down. We have a tile roof on our carport and the bats have taken a liken to it, so every night at dusk we get to sit under the carport and have the little bats fly around our heads just inches away eating bugs or heading out in search of fruit. The other night we got to see one land in one of the trees, so I ran to get my camera. I ran fast thinking that it would fly, but fortunately for me he was not the shy type. He “hung around” for a good five minutes for me to take some pictures. I hope y'all enjoy the one I have posted here.

Tattoo

Look Mom, I got a tattoo! OK so it is a henna tattoo and will wear off in a few weeks. It still looks cool.
This last weekend was very busy. Friday night Cody, oh excuse me, Dakota (he has forbidden his friends to call him Cody) had a concert. He plays tuba in the concert band. The Concert Band performed along with the String Ensemble, Wind Ensemble, Concert Choir and the Dance groups. David and I took Colin to watch. He enjoyed seeing and hearing all the different instruments but he really liked the dancers. The best part was when Colin yelled “HI CODY” as the Concert Band took their places on stage.
Saturday we went to Family Fun Fair at the Pondok Indah campus of JIS. It was pretty much like a school sponsored festival back home except more over the top. Lots of inflatable bouncer type of rides. There was a climbing wall, a big slide, an obstacle course and even a Velcro wall. Which Cody thought was fun until he got stuck upside down on the wall then the Velcro let go and he landed on his head. We ate junk food, passed on the pony rides, I got tattooed (you were wondering where the tattoo fit in weren’t you?), checked out the bazaar, and rode the little “train” around the campus before Grayson tired out then we all headed home. That evening Cody watched the younger kiddos while Dave and I went to the music lounge at the American Club to watch our friend Matt Marlow perform with Eric and Ray. It always amazes me how much talent some people have.
Sunday we did our usual morning swim and lunch at the American club then headed home to let the kids have a rest while I went to my book club meeting. This month we read The Collectors by David Baldacci. It was a pretty good book and as always the meeting was enjoyable, although towards the end much of the conversation moved to the upcoming pack out dates of many of our members who will be leaving Jakarta this summer to move on to posts all over the world. I am both excited for all those moving on to new adventures and a sad to see them go. Such is life in the Foreign Service.

Easter Bunny Spotted on Island of Sumatra

The boys saw this in the newspaper this weekend and are convinced that it is the Easter Bunny......How else did they get all that candy???

Zoo

We went to the Rangunan Zoo here in Jakarta during spring break. We were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the animal collection. They had a wide variety of animals from all over Indonesia as well as the typical zoo animals. Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my! The boys each got to get up close and personal with the giraffe by feeding him a peanut. Who knew a giraffe's tounge was that long??! Because the zoo was so big there were many things we didn't get to like elphant rides on a Sumatran elephant, boat rides, the primate exhibit and most important to the boys the PLAYGROUND (unlike San Antonio there are very few parks and even fewer playgrounds in Jakarta). We enjoyed the walk through the expansive grounds with lots of tall trees and green space. It was a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of Jakarta. Definitely will be going again.