What a year.....

We are now four weeks away from stopping the Gypsy lifestyle, moving from one spot to another and moving into our own home. We have had 5 moves since December last year, that is a lot of moving and living out of suitcases and boxes. We have racked up a lot of flying hours too!

It's is no wonder I haven't had time to blog!

I've also had to leave GJ and the kiddies behind and do a mammoth 4 week stint in Perth, Australia for uni, in addition to the monthly trips to Sydney, Australia I need to do to help care for my Mum who has Alzheimers disease.

I have also been in denial about moving and did not want to talk about it, hence no blogging.

The global financial crisis has had a big effect on our lives, even though it hasn't impacted on Australia or Indonesia nearly as much as elsewhere in the world. Unfortunately GJ worked for a German company who were once the market leader in their industry...but not any more.
The share price has gone from a 2006/2007 peak of 41.58 Euro to a low of 2.81 Euro and at that rate there is no room for family expat packages. We had 6 months notice to find another job or leave the country.....We had to leave, which was devastating to us all as we LOVED living in Indonesia. But all good things must end so it is on to the next adventure.......


I have also just found a heap of comments awaiting moderation, even though I don't have comment moderation on.............

Now I have explained my absence, I will have to keep up the momentum and get back to semi regular blogging.I have though kept up my Face Booking......I am now addicted to it lol.

Frequent flyer points

Frequent flyer points...are they worth anything?

I saved up all my Ansett point for years and lost them all when they went under in 2002.

I went to use some of my Qantas points a few months ago and they had all expired.

So why book a mum traveling alone with three kids to the southern hemisphere from the southern hemisphere via the northern hemisphere???????
Especially when there is a direct flight at roughly the same price.

The answer is so she can get a few FF points.
What the...

So my schedule:

leave home to get to airport 2 hours @3.30pm

wait at airport for 2 hours

Jakarta to Singapore 1.5 hours flight (cross the equator) 7.35 pm

arrive Singapore

wait for 5+ hours until 12.30AM and fly to Sydney

let me repeat...

wait for 5+ hours until 12.30AM and fly to Sydney

and again for effect

wait for 5+ hours until 12.30AM and fly to Sydney

arrive Sydney 11.50 am

clear customs (nearly as bad as Jakarta), wait for shuttle bus and arrive home at 2pm

A total of 19 hours traveling with kids with out a pack mule/disciplinarian.

There is another option

Leave home at 5pm fly directly to Sydney and arrive at 7.20 am, and get there nearly six hours earlier.
But get no frequent flyer points.

Guess who made this decision....no not the office
No, the jackass who is not flying with his wife and his three kids.

I feel so much better now I have vented to the world LOL.

Jakarta International airport

I have found something good about Jakarta International airport........I know, what a shock!

There is a great little hole in the the wall shop that does reflexology.........

45 minutes of excruciating bliss for about $8.

It is just as well as I had a great experience as I have had a bad one at Singapore......

I was supposed to have a 1 hour stop here BUT I have been here for 3 hours already and still have another 2.5 hours before my flight. My flight got canceled.

I was scheduled to sitting just behind business class; but I have been bumped back to the very last row.........

A direct flight from Jakarta to Sydney is about 7.5 hours if you go Qantas.......this little jaunt will be 24 hours door to door. OMG. Usually Singapore Airlines is so good.

Nobody had better upset me, because I will be/am very tired and cranky.

We are here...............

We are all alive and well and on our way to Australia.

I noticed a really fun phenomenon this week.......

After the St Patrick's ball (oops you haven't seen the photos, or heard how I met the lovely Shannon.....soon!) I lost my voice for quiet a few days.
I have just realised that because I couldn't speak I thought I couldn't blog.....ROFL

One year in Jakarta

Exactly one year ago today we moved to Jakarta, Indonesia.
Wow the time has gone fast.
This is what we lived out of for over two months.

Here we are just about to leave Brisbane airport.

We can't imagine coming home any time soon, this is a great adventure.

Jakarta International Airport

We arrived back into Jakarta last Sunday evening, at around 7pm. Last Sunday evening was the last day of the Idul Fitri holidays.
I knew the airport would be chaotic.....it always is, but why did the airport operators not also realise this and take steps.
We have arrived enough times now to know the correct procedure.......
Get off the plane and RUN as fast as you can to immigration, as the queue gets bigger by the second.
Bad luck if you have to join the huge queue to get your visa on arrival first!
Immigrations are staffed with stony-faced, slow methodical people. Oh I wish I had a diplomatic passport........they get a special fast non-queue.
So on Sunday, after we beat our way off the second last row of seats in the plane (yes, cheap tickets and kids...you always get shunted to the back) we race down to the immigration counter to find this....... By the time we had advanced a little the queue was up the steps and stretching into the arrivals corridor.
We were lucky and got a relativity fast moving line, so we only had to wait for 45 min to get through. This meant we then only had to wait an extra ten minutes for the luggage.
I think the thing that annoyed me the most was that only half the counters were open.



I was a hot, tired, hobbling, cranky lady by the time we got through and then faced the chaos that was the parking lot ( well it wasn't it-was a car dump, just stop your car and leave it where you like) and the men that think that because they lift a bag into your car (with out being asked- actually with being asked not too) and then demand more than the 20 000rp that I had given them.......

So lets summarise

• Lufthansa air, lucky they were cheap tickets, serviced was poor.
• Immigrations, I knew the queue would be extra bad, why didn't they
• Luggage, an hour isn't too long to wait????
• Thugs who extort money... (and GJ who always lets me handle them...)
• 30 minutes to be able to actually exit the car park due to jams
  
• No water in car for thirsty kids ( not much open at airport)

At least our driver, Mr Yadi was there waiting for us with a big smile on his face and when we got home Sarinah and Samino had also arrived home from their holidays and got everything ready for us.


Now if you think I am being mean to Jakarta airport, don't worry I am equally scathing of Australian international airports, particularly Brisbane.

But the best ever is Singapore airport........It is a jewel in the crown of international airports......I could spend days there.

Security at Jakarta International Airport

I buzzed as I went through the scanner in the boarding lounge at Jakarta International Airport.
They didn't waste time with a hand held devise....I was given a THOROUGH pat down before I could take a breath!
My belt buckle and white stomach were examined and passed..though my heavily bandaged ankle was skipped.


I don't mind...what ever it takes to make the world safe.

Expat Interviews!

I have just been interview at a web site for expats

Welcome to Expats Interviews!

We interview people who are living abroad. Here you will find the thoughts and observations of expats living in countries like Thailand, Philippines, Holland, India, Australia and a lot more. We find that it's always exciting to know about what motivated people to live in another part of the world, how they generate their income, how they manage to live there, and what they’ve learned from their experiences in a land that's become their new home.

Here is the link to my interview

Three monkeys at a zoo in Thailand

Still waiting for GJ to his guest post on the Mud flows at Surabaya.....

Here is another teaser of GJ's work trip to Thailand last week.

GJ is getting behind on his guest posts....

GJ has done a few trips in the last month or two and has heaps of

things to share; of course he is just too busy to compose.

I am hoping that this "teaser" of photos will spur him on.

Beach at Thailand
Floods from February
Mud flow in Surabaya
Wo-Man competition in Thailand. These gorgeous girls are actually men!

Exciting news

We are all very excited to find out that

Janny (my mum) and Tan Tan (sister)

have booked their flights to Jakarta!!!!!

They arrive in 3.5 weeks.

They will be our first visitors.

Schenker

I received an email late yesterday from the Indonesia partner of our removalists. The Australian branch have managed to make a major error in the documents resulting in a need for a huge amount of paper work and confusion at this end as well as a FULL customs search of our entire container.

Insert a tirade of swear words if you are inclined.....

I had noticed while the company was packing that all the documents were in my name. I thought that by the third round of emails and invoices that they had got it right; as per my repeated requests to put everything in GJ's name.

Unfortunately I was wrong.....(idiots)

GJ is the person with the work visa, I only have a trailing spouse visa and as such can't receive the goods.

This is what I need:- (of course the letter was sent to GJ only, as obviously I am not allowed to receive emails either LOL)

1. Your Wife's Original Passport
2. Your Original Passport
3. Copy of Matrimonial Certificate
4. Your Original Stay Permit (valid for 1 year)
5. Your Original Work Pemit (valid for 1 year)
6. Original Authorization Letter stated that you give authorization to your wife to receive the shipment from Australia to Jakarta, Indonesia.
7. Original Authorization Letter from Mrs. Jenny XXXXX to PT. Kotaisan Prima Transindo to do the customs clearance (FYI, we will prepare this letter and your wife will only sign on it).

And please be further informed that your shipment will be going through full customs inspection and examination during the clearance process. As such, please let us know if you wish to be present during the examination, so that we could arrange to get the permit from the seaport authority for you to enter the examination area. However, without the present of yourself during the examination is applicable


Do I go and get hit with bribes, or do I not attend and hope that I get everything back with out strangers hand prints over everything?

How long is this all going to take?

Everything else was going so smoothly, I suppose it is time for a little hiccup....

Luckily I have nothing in my container that I shouldn't have. They might get a bit funny with a years supply of children's panadol and runny nose medicine as well as a 2 years supply of tampons (not readily available in Asia).

I only bought a few food things, Vegemite (of course), Moccona coffee and GJ's favorite extra hot chili pasta sauce.

The thing I miss the most besides my clothes and shoes, is my washing machine and iron.
The hotels travel iron, with no steam, is useless compared with my wonderful, steamy Aussie one and as I have mentioned before the hotels washing machines suck and are super expensive.

In the eight weeks we have been living out of a single suitcase each , both girls have outgrown most of their clothes. I did a quick buying spree for them. Instead of the usual Target fashion, here we can afford Barbie and Osh Gosh originals! The were ecstatic to do a little fashion parade for GJ on Monday night. I picked up their school uniforms today, I don't think that they will want to parade those for Daddy!

They are such girls LOL

Dear Sarah (Gorgeous eldest niece)

( Hello equally gorgeous youngest niece and gorgeous only nephew)

With each outfit the girls would come out and say "Sarah would LOOVVEE this" oh, and the girls found the perfect red top that you apparently need!


Love you all, say hello to your parents!

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Volvo XC70 LE

GJ wanted this blogged in memory of his car.
We only had this car for 6 months and had to sell it
back to the dealer the day before we left.
We are trying not to dwell on the cost of
doing this.......

It was a great car to drive and very safe!

Jakarta arrival part 2

Jakarta, I think I am going to love living here (most of the time)!

Our first day was a trip to the shops for supplies. I was interested in the shop Kem chick, an expat oriented supermarket I had heard about. There was a great variety, but it was horrendously expensive. Our driver then took us to Pasaraya Grande so we could get a phone; I feel in love with these shops.
We didn’t shop as we were just doing essentials, but boy oh boy do I want to go back. We saw a huge floor of Indonesian handicrafts and traditional items. The girls and I oh’ed and ar’ed over it all while GJ told us we had years in which to shop and to get a move on.
We needed school bags and lunch box etc and had to travel through the shoe departments.
OH MY GOODNESS I have never seen so many shoes. There was a whole floor of just men shoes!
The city of Jakarta sometimes has the same population as the whole of Australia which is why I think there is so much variety.
We have had two visits to GJ’s office to meet everyone. The kids were a huge hit. They have brought forward GJ’s start date to next Monday. The CEO has his wife and the HR manager on hand to organize everything ASAP as they want GJ settled in and ready to work hard.
We have ordered a car, a Nissan Serena which will be ready next week, how quick is that!
We visited the school on Monday for a quick visit, unfortunately Chelsea was overwhelmed and got a little upset. But now that she has met her teacher, finished her homework for the week, and has her new bag, pencil case and lunch box she is happy about her first day, tomorrow (Wed).
Today we had the immigration appointment, my first every fingerprinting. Ben was watched by a hall full of people as he was fingerprinted, it was so cute. I don’t think I have ever had to sign my name so many times (I had to do all the kids as well).
We are off to view homes tomorrow. A, the CEO’s wife has been checking out brokers/real-estate agents and narrowing down the choices to suitable ones only, and in our price range.
We are slowly getting used to the time difference ( -3 hours), the only time it is a problem is when we wake up at the usual time and it is 3am.

A huge fortnight, part one

I just don't know where to start, there is so much to tell.
I will start with the words and add photos later.

• Last week at our house

This was a blur, it was a chaotic mix of wonderful time with family and friends and fiendish packing. I had a accident with cleaning products and have burnt the skin on my hands and arms. Something must of got into my gloves as I was in a cleaning frenzy. My hands are still red raw with these pox like lesions which burn, sting and itch simultaneously. It looks pretty gross. I learnt allot from the professional packers, its much quicker to pack if you don't think, sort or organise. They are so quick because EVERYTHING is picked up and chucked in a box. There was a few times that I was very tempted to ask the men to pack up the kids for a nice LONG cruise with our container....LOL. Because of my hands I had to ask the cleaner to finish off the house (small silver lining!). I went back just as he was finished and it looked great, so big and fresh. I fell in love with my home all over again, I hope the tenants love it as well and look after it.

• Week with Rob

I packed a face mask and a hair treatment for our stay at Robs, thinking that it would be 9 days of relaxing on the deck and drinking champagne......It was a whirlwind of fun, mess and good times with lots of champagne. Rob was listing his house for sale, with an open house 4 hours after we left for the airport. He has installed the most glamours hard wood floors with a lovely gloss finish which could be scratched by toys and children....this was a huge stress for Rob and I. He has updated his web site with before and after shots, he has done a wonderful job. Rob is the CEO of a company that does whizz bang high tech computer stuff. He took me in for a laptop lesson with the owner of the company. I think that Rob had a moment of apprehension after I spent a lot of time with the couple that owns his company. Lola and I got on so well. Their two girls played so well with ours and Lola and I had huge chat sessions. We solved all of Robs problems. We have decided that he needs a new car, it is time to dump the baggage that his first wife dumped on him and move on etc etc. All of this was solved over coffee and wine. The girls were so sad to say good by with their new friends. I can see why Rob would be worried, his boss and closest friends ganging up on him! He must be slightly pleased that we are so many miles apart. I can now burn DVDs....I am so sick of the kids scratching expensive DVDs with in hours of buying them. Robs mate' Ken is seeing a lovely lady with two young girls who happens to be a trendy inner city hairdresser. Rob and Ken dragged me over for a make over....It is basically the same but a lot more edgier. I have had lots of new hidden streaks and am supposed to be channelling the "Victoria Beckham" look.

• The airport

We had the best surprise at the airport.. GJ's two sisters and all the family came to see us off. The kids were in heaven that their cousins came. We all had a lovely loud breakfast before it was time to bid a teary farewell. We had a new person at the check in counter and was confused that we were immigrating to Indonesia, so wouldn't let us check in our cabin baggage. We had 5 cabin bags (luckily on wheels), a pram, a handbag, a back pack, a laptop and three kids to get through immigration and down a narrow isle of the aircraft. I can really understand my blog Buddy's, Ace comment that we would of looked very scary to strangers. We were again fortunate to have exceptionally well behaved kids on the flight (constant supply of lollies and treats works well). We had a two hour stopover at Singapore before the last leg of the journey to Jakarta. By this time we had been on the go for 16 hours...
We got a little uncertain at the airport . We were in one of the many HUGE queues waiting to go through immigration, when a serious guard came up to us and said, "all of you come with me...." It turns out that he was opening a new counter and took us through because of the pram, we must of saved at least 30-40 minutes of queuing.
He got our heart racing again when he told GJ and the kids to go and wait in a corner while I dealt with immigrations. Luckily we weren't up for full body searches etc, he just wanted to make more room as we and all our luggage were taking up too much space. He was being very nice, but his harsh face and barking tone confused us at first. The company forgot to send two cars to the airport to collect us like last time, so the driver and porters had to creatively squeeze all our luggage plus two car seats into the car, then we had to get in. GJ and Georgia shared the front seat, Chelsea, Ben and I shared one seat in the back. We all had to hold the stuff to keep it in place. We finally got to the hotel after an hours drive to find that we did manage to get a non smoking room and that we had a renovated room, which was much nicer than our last visit. We have a three bedroom serviced apartment in a hotel with a few restaurants, gym, pool etc which is very nice.

• Jakarta

I have run out of time, I will have to continue later. We are loving it so far and really feel relaxed about the move. I can't wait to get it all down.

Jakarta, we are here

We have arrived.....with our sanity and all baggage intact.
I have Internet access now, YIPPEE.... The girls and I have been lost with out it for the last 10 days.
Will post more when I have recovered from a LOOONG day.

quick, boring update

On Thursday night at 9.15pm J left, 5.5 days after he arrived.
I am still in shock that he was even here!!!!

I have spent the day scrubbing.
For example I was on my knees poking behind toilets with OLD toothbrushes.
I want to know why I am doing this for strangers who will be living in my home, when I don't do it that often for my own family.
I am going to have to reflect on this.

Our departure date has been pushed out, we will now be leaving around the 19th of Jan. We have to all fly to Sydney to get our passports stamped at the Indonesian Embassy.

Our work permits will come through next week.
When we arrive we will have to be fingerprinted,

I have never had that done before!

Nits and packing and Tokyo

We have 5 weeks left of the school year and I thought that we were going to have a nit free year.....Despite all the precautions I take, Georgie brought home a new pet; yes she named him Joe.
The girls and I have the softest, silky, fine, dead straight hair you can imagine, sounds nice but impossible to do anything with. I put heaps of stuff in to make it "bouffier" and coarse. If there is a nit within a 1 km radius it will find our heads. ( yes "ours" the girls always share with me)

• I rarely wash the girls hair in Summer, the pool cleans it and I condition it a couple of times a week; Nits like clean hair
• The girls never go to school without their hair tied back and plaited; nits like to jump from loose hair to another head.
• The water spray has Tea tree oil added; nits don't like this smell
• The girls hair is waxed, moussed and covered with hair spray every morning before school; nits don't like crunchy, stiff hair

So after I spent an hour treating all the heads in the house, I stripped all the beds and washed 4 sets of sheets and 18 pillowcases and lots of towels...........

Here is Chelsea in the midst of her comb through treatment.

This is the girls just before school, as usual there is not an escaped hair anywhere.

I will be repeating this whole process on Tuesday evening, Friday evening and again on next Sunday. I have learnt that if you don't keep treating and washing at least a couple of times that instead of finding 1 lice and 5 nits we will be infested with 100's of little critters. Are you scratching yet?, I am!!!!!! LOL



GJ has just found out he is off to Tokyo in about a week, for a week. I am SOOO jealous. I have never been to Japan and would really like to go. He will also need to fit in a trip to Germany and Singapore before Feb next year....its a hard life for some!


I have started sorting and packing. It looks like a bomb has gone off. Every time I turn my back Ben helps me by unpacking everything....... It is going to take me forever to go through our home. Every 380Msq (4100Fsq) is packed with toys and stuff and more stuff. I am finding it very cathartic, I am giving all my baby things to Lisa and De. I am being so ruthless.
I was asked if we were going to have a garage sale, but I have decided that I am going to give everything away. I think that I have got to the age where giving gifts is much more fun than receiving them. ( except for you GJ, I still love you giving me things!!! hint, hint)



As you have probably gathered we have verbally accepted the post in Jakarta. We are now waiting on the contracts to be drawn up, checked and signed. GJ would probably be starting the new job on the 1st of February2007. We will hope to arrive in very early January. The school year starts on Jan 22nd, I would like to be there for that.
We have found a great small school for the kids that we could afford and which will give us a discount in exchange for me volunteering there for a couple of days a week.

Jakarta negotiations

Negotiations are not going well. All of a sudden there is "not enough money in the budget for a full family package". GJ and the Australian HR manager feel that it is now time for the hard bargaining phase. GJ will walk away from the negotiations if it doesn't go well, it is just as well that I am not doing the negotiations or we would be going and me paying them for the privilege! You would think that they would have worked this all out before they paid all expenses for a family of 5 to fly to Jakarta for a week.
It is all too much for me, I really want to go and just want to know when should I start packing. I am trying to ignore all the stress and confusion. It is not that easy though, I woke up GJ last week with blood curdling (an axe murderer is attacking me type) screams at 1am. I have no idea why I was screaming in my sleep, I have put it done to stress and uncertainty. GJ has asked me not to do it again...LOL
We are still preparing the house as if we are going. GJ painted our en suite yesterday as well as getting a new laundry door. We have to finish painting the deck railing and re-oil the timber. We needed to do all these things anyway. I am still de-cluttering the house. I am going to clean all the baby toys and wash my maternity clothes and give them to Lisa. All toddler toys are going to be washed and given to my friend De ( she runs a home day care business) and I am going to scan all the art work that the kids have made and then get rid of the 5 tonnes of paper!
I have booked my Mums and Sisters airfare for Christmas and are now organising everything.
The kids and I just love Christmas time. This year they are going to get there dolls cradle out and make a Nativity scene ( they want to use some of the chook's straw, I am madly trying to think of a substitute!). They are planing all their decorations and displays already.

My posts from Jakarta

Thank you to Jakartass for mentioning me on his site. I have learnt so much from there and found many great links as well. I have also just found this site, Indonesia matters, which I think I am going to enjoy reading the archives of.

Here are the links to my previous posts on our trip to Jakarta.

• Singapore to Jakarta
• Jakarta, first impressions.
• Jakarta housing and Bogar
• Jakarta, Monday 8th October
  

I am still in shock over my embarrassing tipping debacle, mentioned in the above post.

• Leaving Jakarta
• Jakarta security concerns

I hope you enjoy reading my perspective, don't take it all to seriously. I am a fun, fluffy, vapid style of blogger...LOL