Jakarta

NEWS FLASH

GJ has had an exciting job offer. We have been aiming for a transfer to China, but the company has an urgent need for an experienced person in Jakarta, Indonesia. GJ is a state manager presently and the job on offer is for a national manager, so it would a big promotion. The transfer would be for 2 years only in order to train a local manager to take over. Then, we would be able to pick and choose our next location, hopefully China. GJ's company's head office is in Germany, one day we could end up there!
The international manager approached GJ directly, and as such, until they told the Australian managers I was unable to discuss this news.
We are extending our Singapore trip to take an orientation tour of Jakarta. The company wants us to see it before we sign any contracts.
We were initially very concerned about the safety of the region. The Australian media is full of dire warnings of all sorts of problems, as well as the memory of the Bali bombings and the riots of 1998. I have done a lot of research and spoken to a lot of people and have found that Jakarta is as safe as any other major city in the world. There are places in Brisbane that I would not go alone at night. I have found many helpful people online which have made us all so excited about moving. Devi, Santy and Jakartass have all be so friendly and welcoming and have made me feel at ease. I know that the culture shock will be huge, but how exciting!
The only drawback is that there is no winter. It is STINKIN HOT every day of the year, and humid. I hate this weather, I know there is aircon, but I like 4 distinct seasons, oh well, I will just have to get use to it.

Weather Overview

Jakarta is almost always hot and sticky. Average maximum temperatures stay above 30°C (86°F) throughout the year. October to February is the official wet season, when torrential rain dumps down, clearing the streets. July through to September has the least amount of rain, and that's when the temperature remains consistently high.

I would love to hear all your views and/or
experience about Indonesia and especially
Jakarta. I am very thirsty for all information.

Boob job

I had an interesting conversation with one of my Brother-in-law yesterday. He asked if my top secret news was that I was getting a boob job LOL
I can safely tell you I am NOT altering my body in any way!


Although I do have a secret fascination with women that have the tiniest discrete pin prick size diamond in their nose. I have a large honker (very Roman) and can't understand why I would want to emphasis it. Maybe I could have it done for my 40th.
For those of you that know me, I do not care to know how close that Birthday is... 6 months or 6 years IT IS NOT RELEVANT!!!!!!!! lol

Needles, Mandarin and voting.

We had a very busy Saturday (and PAINFUL!!!!!)
We have had our vaccinations for our up coming trip.
We were having a family competition in the car on Friday afternoon to see who could guess the cost of the medicines. I chose $485, GJ $255, Georgia $360 and Chelsea $460.
Well I was the closest......$530
We have stressed out our poor Doctor. Dr Craig is fairly new to this family practice and doesn't know us that well as yet. He had all these different medicines and 3 kids running around who could of let loose with the screams of demons, and he had to keep it all in order.
We all survived and there was NOT ONE TEAR from any one!
I had lolly bags for all participants, even Dr Craig got one.
Ben's Hep A didn't arrive in time, so he will be back for a shot during the week. Chelsea and Ben had some Hep B included with there baby immunization, so they will miss out on the 1 month follow up round of injections.
We have decided against the Rabies shots. It would cost over $1000 to do the whole family and would only last for 3 years. The risk is not great enough to warrant the cost. We are so lucky that Australia has NO rabies.
After this we voted in the state election and were home by 9.30am.
Dani came for our Mandarin lesson at 11am, GJ is doing so well, he is reading Chinese characters and understanding most conversations Dani is having with us. I am not doing so well, I have decided not to learn how to read and write characters. I managed to count to 10- for some reason I have had a major mental block on numbers. I am learning simple sentences and words quite well.

My arm is So sore, I had 3 shots, and the arm that had 2 needles feels like I have been punched by a very strong fist. Chelsea's leg is sore as well. She wanted me to get the pram to push her around in.

We are off to GJ's sisters house for lunch on Sunday. My gorgeous niece Sarah, is turning sweet sixteen. I am going to do a photo shoot with all the grandkids together.


Isn't this word cloud great !
I got the idea form Michelles Blog and you can do your own here. Its free!

Dear Blog, Sorry I have neglected you :-)

I have been neglecting my poor old blog, but I have been super busy......

I will have to be brief and summarize

• Seafood on the deck was PERFECT. It was a beautiful day, the company was wonderful and the prawns were DIVINE, the champagne was lovely too
• Ben woke us on Sunday morning at 4.30am by vomiting over me and our bed, and continued to "vomie" as he calls it, all day.
• Robbies friend was lovely. Suzanna had white blonde hair down past her bottom, the girls were fascinated. Unfortunately with vomit, prawns and good times, I hardly got to talk to her at all.
• I am still trying to get over the fact that we had 2 snakes with in 1 week. In the 5 years we have lived in this house we have encountered 5 snakes. GJ reckons that these averages are ok. I pointed out that in the 35 years my Mom has lived in her house, she has had NO snakes, I want her averages!!!!!
• We are all booked for our Singapore holiday. We have found a serviced 2 bedroom apartment 500m from Orchard road for the 10 days. Much more convenient than a hotel room.
• I have just booked the Dr for tomorrow morning for our inoculations. We are making a detour(orientation tour-BIG HINT) on the way back from Singapore and now need: Hep A and B, Typhoid, Tetanus injections and malaria pills. 3 injections each, I don't think I will tell the kids about this until 8.28am (appointment is at 8.30am).
• My camera decided the battery's needed recharging just as the guests arrive on Sunday, so I have no photos to show. The prawns were glistening on a bed of ice, the flowers were arranged perfectly, the sun was shining on the crystal glass wear, the pool was clean and the kids were having a ball, the oysters were plump and juicy and every one had smiles on their faces. Hope you can visualize it all.......LOL

Our huge news (which has caused my extreme stress/excitedness) has made my neck, shoulders and arms so sore, I am having to consume vast amounts of anti-inflammatory's and pain killers. It is still highly confidential so I can't say anything about it, yet (too much time with bad posture in front of a computer has probably caused the pain).

I can't wait to tell you all..........

Snakes on a plane...No they are all in my garage.

I wrote this comment on one of my favorite blogs, AMAZING TRIPS this morning. Jenn is a wonderful writer with 3 gorgeous triplets who has a little problem with rats and spiders at the moment.
I think it was prophetic, as guess what I found in the garage after lunch today.....a whip snake.

Jenny in Queensland said...
Oh Jenn, another wonderful post. I am going to do a search in Australia to see if there is anything like Bosom Buddies. I taught my self to knit this winter courtesy of The Australian Women's Weekly. I am finding it very therapeutic. As a semi- rat expert, I thought I would add my top tips. Here we get rats every February, they always live in packs, so we usually get about 5. I have about 8 pairs of cheap BBQ tongs just in case GJ is not here and I have to do the disposal. Everything goes into the bin. GJ reuses the traps though. Baits aren't that useful and my biggest fear is that the rat will die in some hard to reach spot and smell.
I have the motto - "I don't deal with critters", unfortunately the critters don't listen. I must have a huge neon sign only visible to critters flashing on my body-
"torment this person, bring your friends!" I hope the sign is not transmitted by reading my blog......

Luckily our neighbour Ben was home and helped GJ deal with this nasty critter....Ben took it home with him.
I have included this photo to show how close the gargage is to our living area. Ben's bedroom is the first one in the hall behind the green wall. My office is right behind the open door, I am standing in the formal dining room. The sunken lounge is to the left and the kitchen is behind me. There is 2 little steps down into the garage, this is where both snakes have been. This area is where I have my spare freezer and the big glass door drinks fridge, we are all in and out of here all day long. At nighttime I don't usually bother with turning on the light. I will now though!
GJ has just left to go to the Seafood market. We are having a seafood feast on the deck tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be perfect. We are having prawns, oysters and chicken with lots of Champage. I will take lots of photos. Rob is bringing his latest "chickeebabe". We don't often get to meet his many girlfriends, they have to be extra special to get to meet his family/closest friends. I can't wait...

Singapore

I forgot to mention...
We are going to Singapore with GJ. YEAHHHHHHH "jumping up and down with cheering"
Company policy is that you are not allowed to cash in airfare to take family members with you. We thought about it and decided YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU! So we have booked it. We can just afford it, and yes we will be taking it out of the high school/ uni fund, but life experience is worth it. Company policy does allow us to share GJs room while he needs to be there, 6 nights, luckily. Poor old GJ is not allowed to travel business class while the four of us are in cattle class, so the company is saving an obscene amount of money of by only paying for an economy class ticket for GJ.
We have taken the girls with us on numerous business trips around Australia (poor old Benjamin has missed out since I gave up working), but they have never been out of Australia.
We are going to see what is like for a family of five in an Asian country.
Our passports have arrived and we have brought extra luggage so, so far we have spent $AU 800 and we haven't even left.
I have a digital card reader that will fit GJ's laptop, so I will be able to feed my Blog addiction with the added benefit of photos.
We have 24 days until we leave....
10 days in Singapore, GJ will be at work/conference for 4 of those days.
The list of to do things is already enormous

• Who will mind our darling Chooks?
• Pack all Summer clothes etc.....
• newspapers, mail

I don't need to continue, you all know the exhausting logistics of organizing a trip for a family of 5......

Leader of my clan**

For those of you that actually know me , you will understand...*
GJ and I are absolute equals! It can be clash of the alpha dominate males at our house. Rarely is there a winner-a finely worded, sanctioned, peace accord is drafted and a truce is called and a compromise is reached. For example it took 12 months of negotiation to compromise on a new lounge 10 years ago. Both parties must be happy or the parrying continues.
Which makes it very hard for me to say....
I can not make an announcement because GJ says so...
But I can say I have a VERY stiff neck and sore arms from spending the entire day on the internet....in between dealing with the bootilious Benjamin John Nicholas.......
I am so frustrated about the lack of info on the "hot topic"; But I have been inspired (ok it was GJ's idea) to do a search on blogs. Well, a lot of my research questions have been answered, I so love blogs and the nice people I meet.

*I am covered in cotton wool and have a core of iron, luckily/unfortunately, Georgia is exactly like me!
**The title of this post is what we call GJ when he is feeling down(trodden!!!), "Leader of my clan" is our funny way of saying "wo ai ni', pronounced "war eye knee", translated to "I love you" in Mandarin

The Lake House

In my 5 hours of solitude this week I played hookie.
I normally do all the things that are hard to do with a two year old on Wednesdays' while Ben is at Kindy.
I went to the movies by my self and saw this movie. I loved it, it was just what I look for in a movie. Light, fun, refreshing, no gore or excessive violence (although in saying that, I LOVED Kill Bill 1&2) and a proper ending.
I do not want to think deeply about my entertainment or have to create my own ending. I have no qualms about admitting that my taste in movies is very shallow.
I like to finish a movie and feel good. I have never watched the movie Titanic, shocking I know, but the boat sinks, he dies and she is sad. Why put myself through it?
Bridget Jones Diary is on TV this weekend and I will be watching as it is a feel good movie. Paradoxically, my taste in books is very different to this. Chick-Lit style books are not on my top 50 list at all.
I have canceled Gym today as I have some major research to do today, then I have to compose myself and then I will be able to post about it.
Stay tuned for a MAJOR NEWS FLASH....

More terror reports

Our neighbor rang yesterday afternoon to let me know that she saw a big snake crawling around the shed and chook pen, I then explained how my hero chased it out of the gargage on Sat.......Our neighbor has her adult son living with her at the moment and he is a LICENSED REPTILE KEEPER! he loves the horrible things. Which means he wants our very unwelcome house guest, he thinks that he already has got this ones children's.....(I can't bear to even think about that statement). So next time we have an intruder we just call and Ben will come over.....YEAH!!!!!!

GJ and I have also come to the conclusion that this snake spent the winter in our garage......This last weeks warm weather and my moving books and boxes around in the garage has disturbed him/her/IT and brought it out of hiding...
Which could also explain why the mice problem disappeared....
Our garage is next to my office and 2.5 m from Bens bedroom.......
This snake is causing me to wear out my fullstop key on my keyboard.......

Liang jie jie

I have used my mandarin to create the title of this post. Hopefully it says " 2 big sisters". As you scroll down these photos you will get an idea of what it is to be a little boy and have 2 older sisters....

Lovely Coral painted toes, matches the dirt!

I caught them before they (the girls) painted the insides of Bens ears with dark eyeshadow, like they did last time I let them get their makeup out........

Bens favorite colour is orange, so they chose this body
glitter, the girls also rouged his nipples with a
lovely strawberry glitter lip gloss

Won't Ben just love these photos when he is a teenager....

What will he do to the girls to get even, besides peeing near them in the bath which he thinks is hilarious.


Ben thinks that is great fun and sits in the bathroom for hours while they paint him up. Of couse there is now tiny flakes of glitter through out the house.

Horror at home

Yesterday, Today,Tomorrow

I had planned on writing about this beautiful plant today. It is the only thing that is flowering at the moment in our garden. I had a vase of it on the table for our alfresco luncheon last weekend. After the guests went home I brought the vase inside and we have enjoyed the heady perfume all week. It is similar to a jasmine/gardenia flower scent. The plant is awash with flowers as the biocycle has been positioned around it.

But then horror arrived.....

This Huge snake is next to MY car and in the bookcases I have been using in the last week!!!!

luckily MY HERO GJ was on hand to chase it out. I had to reverse my car out and then hop around squawking with the girls as OUR HERO chased this big thing out side. I was chanting KILL It, Oh My GOD KILL IT. Blasphemy and murder and blood lust in one sentence, in front of the girls... My only excuse is IT IS A BIG HUGE NASTY EVIL SNAKE and it is in my garage, next to my car.


After I took this shot it tried to climb the wheel arch AND GET IN MY CAR!!!!!
Here is the critter trying to get in a bookcase.. This one is GJ's ( his bookcases are for tools and junk, not books)



MY HERO's legs pushing the SNAKE out into the garden. It is illegal to kill snakes in Australia (obviously a man made that law!!).
Here is the SNAKE climbing 2 trees to get away from the evil broom, Hang on didn't I post pictures of the kids climbing trees a few days ago? Insert swear words....
The snake is so camouflaged in this tree that you could stand next to it and never even see it.....


After all this excitement I did the most obvious thing, I rang my mum and emailed her the photos. My mum understands all about my dislike of all things critterly.
The next thing was a nice glass of bubbles to fortify myself. MY HERO, Gj knows me so well, he said "well are you going to blog about it now?"
I am sitting here in my office with the wonderful view, and are surprised to see the 2 girls happily playing outside on the trampoline, as far as I am concerned, I am not going out side for weeks and my car is going to be inspected twice daily...

We are going over to Robbies house for drinks on the deck this afternoon, so we can see how the renovation are going. I have got some yummy horderves to test out his new oven with, and a nice bottle of champagne to share. Hopefully this will be enough to remove most of todays terror and get me back on an even keel......cross your fingers!

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nuffenegger

I have just finished this book.
This book is magnificent!!
It has become one of my all time favorites.

Don't let the title put you off, it is not at all like Dr Who/Star trek etc.

Fondue

I had all these lovely cheeses in the fridge left over from last weekend and did not want to throw it all away and waste it and so decided to try a fondue! The kids loved it! I had some indian naan bread and some par-cooked vegies and they had great fun dipping it in and dripping it all over the table. I had a recipe book and looked up different variations but in the end I just grated all the cheeses and put it a saucepan with a cup of wine and simmered very slowly for about 1/2 a hour. So simple and different!
GJ and I use to go regularly to a Swiss restaurant in North Sydney for a 3 course fondue. The 1st was the hot cheese with bread for dipping. The 2nd course was hot oil with meats and sauces for dipping and cooking, but the ultimate was the last course. Melted chocolate fondue....it was served with fruit and marshmallows. The was never enough marshmallows so we soon learnt to smuggle extra packets in our handbags.

United Nations Peace Agreement

The two little princesses have morphed into little horrors, but I have a plan….
The little darlings are in the end run of term 3 at school, only 3 more weeks until school holidays. This means that they are tired, cranky and obnoxious X 100.
If one pulls a face at the other the other returns it and adds a nasty comment, that is returned with a little accidental bump, that is returned into a whack and a shout, this escalates into warfare and ends in tears. I have introduced a zero tolerance policy and a punishment for all, not just for the naughtiest. This was only working averagely. Unfortunately for the girls, Daddy came home from work early on Tuesday night and entered the fray. Lets set the scene, Ben nude playing in the dirt happily, the girls still in their school uniforms playing in the dirt and throwing rocks at each other, and the chooks escaping out of their pen…. And me shouting like a banshee at the back door (we live on 1.5 acres so I am not creating too much noise pollution). The girls now have no computer access for a month and GJ has canceled Georgia’s Birthday! Chelsea’s was already canceled because of this. Now as I have mentioned in the past I think Birthdays and Christmas are off limits as far as punishment go, but GJ obviously didn’t listen. We both agree that parenting must be unanimous and so I have engineered a peace deal that the UN would sanction. The girls can earn back their Birthdays!!!! Today I am writing up a rewards chart for the next 30 days, in this time they must earn 100 gold stars. Stars will be given for doing chores with out being asked. All the girls have to do is :-

Chooks morning and night, WITHOUT BEING ASKED

Bring in the paper on Sat and Sun WITHOUT BEING ASKED

Make their beds and keep their rooms tidy WITHOUT BEING ASKED

Keep the toy room tidy WITHOUT BEING ASKED

Unpack the school bags when they get home WITHOUT BEING ASKED

No fighting, back chatting or cheekiness WITHOUT BEING ASKED

Eat their vegetables WITHOUT BEING ASKED

Hopefully having a big A3 chart on the fridge, with stickers being added at the end of the day will improve this warzone.
This was probably a bad time to be giving up Champagne! I have decided that my sanity saver bubbles were keeping a few too many kilos around my lower half and that I was developing a slight dependency on champagne to get through the witching hours of 4.30- 6.30pm week nights. So I have given up mid week drinking for a month or 2. I will reward my self on the weekends only. I have decided that Friday night is officially the weekend, so I am not too hardly done by.

Robbies back must be comfy as Georgia is just
about asleep. I rolled her off and took her
straight to bed after I took this cute shot.

Ben got some new undies last week and he
wanted to leave them out to show daddy.
This is how he tried them on!

The girls are teaching Ben how to climb trees.