What are the odds?

Three friends go for a walk....
have a quick stop at a dress shop...
all come out of the change room.....
In the same print, lol.
Two out of three brought a dress but not this shade.

Jen at the beach in Bali

Bali shock

We managed to get every one back to the beach and in the water.
This was very important as the children (and adults!) were all severely traumatized from the rip, pounding gigantic surf, rescue, resuscitation, and hospitalization of some of our group on Sunday.

But all has ended well with everybody healthy and happy and home at the villa.
I still can't bear to talk about the details.

Happy news to follow....

I love Bali

I don't need to leave our villa.......ever

Anza Ball, Jakarta 2008

The annual Anza ball was held last Saturday at the Ritz Carlton (20.09.08). We all had a wonderful night! It was a credit to the organizing committee.
These kids were from the New Zealand school and kicked of the show with an amazing Haka performance.

The entertainment was very diverse; Dr Harry Darsono performed and showcased his Haute Couture collection, the Batavia Dance Group were wonderful, as were the Salsa and Flamenco dancers. Opera singer, Christine Tambunan voice was breath taking, truly wonderful.

DJ Kate was wonderful, she played music that was perfect for the majority of guests...mostly over 30+ lol.

It was nice to be able to walk and dance at this ball, last year I was in a wheel chair with a broken ankle....We just made it home by 3am.

My very first uni result

I just received my first result (still waiting on 5 more) from university.

I am doing the happy dance, I got a high distinction!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is going to be a very costly result......the very 1st person (ok I told my BF at the same time LOL) I told, sent back an immediate reply of:You are trying to hard.

Now after this debacle, and now this comment there is some serious crawling to do.....
Pack mule aka Jackass is still in deep trouble.

But OMGoodness, I got a high distinction!!!!!!!!!

I have started a private (you need my permission to view- I will share) blog of all my uni work, called originally:

Bachelor of Education, Primary

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.

George Clooney's hair

I am going to have to practice just smiling and saying thank you.....I am over sharing this week.

The sun is shining through the pollution and putting a radiant glow on my head making my hair a halo of golden brilliance, or that is what people are saying to me.

I have shocked three different people this week by laughing out loud and telling them I am as grey as George Clooney and Herman (@ Entra a Mi Casa, JL Benda) is just a great hairdresser.

We tried out something new after brunch at the Ritz, ten pin bowling. Actually it should be Bubbles Bowling, because there had been a lot of sparkling wine action before hand.....
The joke is that now I have found my sport........Most of my friends are extremely fitness and sports minded. I could never be described in this way, ever.
I actually manged to knock over some pins!

As with lunch, the genders were segregated...

And the winners were:

The Ritz Carlton, Jakarta,

Sunday Brunch.

We had a great Australian Fathers day brunch last Sunday. As usual, the Ritz Carlton was wonderful! We were seated in a new location (I know, it sounds funny to have usual seats at the Ritz !) as they made my reservation under Jamie Wayne......This doesn't even remotely sound like my name!
For some reason all the guys decided to sit at one table, while the ladies at another. It actually turned out to be a great idea. We weren't offended by the guys jokes and we could talk uninterrupted...

Kids club was fun as always- nail polish, tattoos, face painting, music etc

There is a special middle eastern theme this month in the Airlangga. My camera couldn't capture how splendid these dancers were, the lady was dancing with a lit candelabra on her head.

I survived year four

I have just completed my first teacher practical experience.
I survived an entire week with year four (8-9 years old)- they were gorgeous, but tiring.
The teachers took me out for after-school drinks, we arrived at 2.30pm and left at 9.30pm.
What a grand way to finish a work week.....
I have even managed to finish my 5000 word epic assignment on the prac experience.

I am now studying two very interesting laws (sic)- Boyle's law {P=a/V} and Charles law {V=bT}....

Janny got lost....

I had a huge stress attack last week when TanTan (sister) rang and emailed me to let me know that Janny (my mum with Alzheimer) was missing.

It is all ok...but we both had an hour or two of sheer panic.

Janny left a message at Tan's office that she had had her handbag stolen........We did not know where she was, if she had money, a phone, or ?????????.
We figured out that she had got somewhere safe as she had found Tans work phone number (she can not remember phone numbers).

Janny moved into the retirement village last weekend, and the phone has still not been connected.

It turned out that she had dropped in at the her old home and left her handbag on the lounge and then just left......so she had her keys and went home to the village and asked them to call Tan.

We had the village staff looking for her, Tan in a mad panic to get home from the city and me.....sitting in Jakarta unable to do anything.

Tan found the handbag and has returned it. We have also taken some of the credit cards out of her purse...we are uncovering huge amounts of credit card debt.........Nothing we can't handle, but just another sign that the Alzheimer is getting progressively worse.

Since this happened, a few other mini crisis's have occurred.

I am so thankful for communication technology....
Tan and I can use our mobile phones to talk (landlines don't seem to work at my house.....)
I can also emphasize with Tan for hours on Skype FOR FREE!!!

Dapur Babah, Jakarta

We had a work dinner here on Friday night.
The decor was fabulous. I found the food only average, BUT, only because it was not to my tastes.
I would have liked to stay out later but due to being up before 4am to put the finishing touches on a 30 page (7200+word) teaching assignment I was a bit tired.........

Wii fit

The kids hardly got a turn...........I want the fit board........

I never play games, never!
But I do want to do all the wii fit stuff.