Underwater at Pulau Petondan

Chelsea celebrated her 9th Birthday in grand style...on a private island in the Thousand Islands.
I am in the final weeks of a uni semester...assignments are due and exams are imminent.

Hopefully I can get back to some blogging soon!

KidZania Jakarta a Fabulous Birthday Party

Georgia had her birthday party at KidZania this weekend. The kids had been before, but this was my first visit and I can see why this place is so popular, it is amazing. A city designed for kids, in scale, full of fun things to do and as a bonus, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Saturday mornings were not too crowded.The kids have photo drivers licenses, ATM cards and wads of cash (they earnt more kidzos, than they spent!), all which they can use on their next visit. We all had locked wrist bracelets that were programed with our details, which kept track of activities and whereabouts, no child can leave with out the adult that actually signed them in.

KIDZANIA is a unique EDUTAINMENT CENTER for children between 4 to 16 years old and their parents.

It is a kid-sized replica of a real city, with streets, buildings, retail and different vehicles going around the City.

Here, children play adult roles and they learn how to be a doctor, a pilot, a construction worker, a private detective, an archeologist, an F1 driver and over 100 other PROFESSIONS and OCCUPATIONS.

There is a replica of the most representative buildings in a city such as Hospital, Supermarket, Beauty Salon, Theatre, Industrial sites, and many more.

KIDZANIA is a SAFE, INTERACTIVE and HIGHLY EDUCATIONAL center where kids wear the uniform and perform the role they are playing. Led by our Zupervisor, they learn the complexities of the adult world, and learn the value of money, just as in real life.

In KIDZANIA, kids use our official currency KIDZOS. Here, children learn to appreciate the value of money, by performing over 100 professions and occupations and earn a salary. Their salaries earned, can then be used to buy goods and services available in KIDZANIA.

Kidzania’s history starts like all great stories do, with idealistic passion and an unwavering spirit that was stimulated by a communal desire to create something better. The kids decided to create a nation filled with abundant opportunities, where kids could assert themselves and be responsible. And this was a world where kids could think and act independently from adults.

What the kids envisioned was a real world made perfect which ultimately made it “the place” where kids wanted to be, KIDZANIA was born. Making the world a better place was a grand idea for sure, but the kids know it was also the road to self-empowering. It would free and empower them to exercise their rights.

To Be: the power to be self-determining, unique and free;

To Know: the capacity to be experimental when educating oneself

To Care: the responsibility to be supportive and proactive

To Play: the ability to be playful and participatory in life.

KIDZANIA is an indoor facility, located in 6th floor of Pacific Place Shopping Mall, Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav 52-53, SCBD Complex, Jakarta 12910

Georgia and friends

Making ice blocks

 

Riding the bus

 

Window cleaning

 

Wall climbing, all made it to the top, rang the bell and then abseiled down!

 

Street views

 

This is Georgia and Chelsea climbing the wall.

2 down, 2 to go!

It is October, or commonly know as party month in our house!

Georgia has turned 11, and is very VERY happy with her presents.

Ben has just turned 6, where has my baby gone ???????

We have Chelsea's and GJ's birthdays still to come.

Oktoberfest 2009, Jakarta Indonesia

We had a fantastic night at this years German Oktoberfest, the same band as last year was playing and managed the same great eclectic mix of music, very loudly (we were right next to a speaker- and an a/c machine!).

If we are still here next year I'm am getting a dirndl (traditional German dress) made!

The only down side was the smoke, everywhere public in Indonesia the air is full of cigarette smoke, but OMG, it was particularly bad in this ballroom.

Traditional Indonesian markets, the day before Idul Fitri 2009

Ocean Queen Pelabuhan Ratu

We had a few days this trip where the waves were suitable for the kids to have a swim. This stretch of coast is notorious for its dangerous surf and undertow, last time we were at Ocean Queen it was just  too dangerous to go in. It is a beautiful little beach with black sand and local small fishing boats pulled up above the high tide mark. The jungle comes right up to the edge of the beach, the bottom right shot shows two young guys surfing on a single board.

The kids spent days collecting wood for a bonfire and on the last night the dads lit it for them on the beach.

This is the main beach of the resort, the girls had fun playing badminton as the sun set.

Early morning Bullock exercise along the beach; every bungalow has its own beach cabana.

 

  I think the kids have been to too many 5star Brunches......this is how they set the table for last nights dinner!

 

Sunrise at Pelabuhan Ratu

National Batik Day in Indonesia

It is Batik day at school today, 2nd October 2009.

Why I'm too busy to blog

Jakarta Earthquake 2009

All is well here with the Qld family, just another unusual experience to be filed away in our memories! Depends which news you read but yesterdays Jakarta earthquake was between 7 and 7.5 scale earthquake...this is apparently pretty big!

As per usual, there was no immediate news online or on TV, but Twitter was instantly full of updates...as with the bombing here and in Mumbai it only takes seconds for the info to start rolling out. This morning I can find out more details; villages closer to the epicentre have been flattened and there was a landslide which killed people. There are no reliable details yet on the number of people killed or injured, Aljazeera has got good coverage with images and video here. It is tragic how much Indonesia suffers from natural disasters, my heart goes out to those who are suffering.

At 2.55pm the kids were still at school, finishing their after school activities. Georgia was on the sports field running and fell over, luckily no grazing just a shock. Chelsea was in the computer lab when all the screens started to jiggle! Ben was the worry for me, he was in the only 2 story class room, one that has a rickety steel stair case bolted to the only exit. A teacher ran up and got all the kids from Mad Science and then all were assembled on the field like a fire drill; good thing we did a fire drill practise last week at school! The driver and the nanny were one block away from collecting the kids and felt nothing as they were driving!

Georgia is still a little freaked out, she is now old enough to suffer from the “what if’ syndrome. She had trouble going to sleep last night in case there were aftershocks - which there weren't:- well that we know about or felt. Georgia had her new phone in the car and was able to ring me just as I went back inside after the earthquake. Poor thing was shook up (literally and figuratively).

The feeling was really strange...like sitting in an inner tube going over irregular waves. It was definitely not a rattle type of shake. I can see a roof top and a building out of my office window, both were swaying...but in different directions! That was freaky. I had no idea what was going on at first...Once I realised it was an earthquake I waited for it to stop, but oh my gosh it did not! The eerie thing is that the quake was silent…I expected to hear loud noise with so much movement. The glass was rattling in the window, but that was all.

My study is upstairs and standing in the door way (remember the old advice always stand in a door way-bollocks) was ridiculous. It never occurred to me to get under the desk; it seemed to start to slow down so I decided to get outside...the huge window over the stairs has always been a concern. We have discussed in the past with the kids that it is the weak point...the glass falling would be super dangerous. Of course as soon as I got under the window more waves came, I ran down those last steps! I met up with the staff and guards and the next-door neighbours in the street just as it stopped. Over 1.5 minutes of rocking and rolling! I was shaking so badly...but I did manage to plan cocktail party for next week with my neighbour (I am Martha Stewart to the bone). Only a week ago we discussed earthquakes with the kids, under my bed is our upstairs safe spot...it is so solid. There are more cracks in the house, but no damage. Only a few light things fell over, and the pictures are all crooked.

I was very pleased to find that the power stayed on but after an hour the internet went very slow, probably as everyone rushed on the get info.

So all is well...what an experience to talk about when we are all old and gray and in the retirement home!


Below is my stairway of potential doom, the cracks that have been around the window for the last 2 years and the view from my office window.

Book Week

I've started to do some painting for book week at school.
Can you recognise these famous childrens book characters?

I'm still working on a big yellow bus and a colourful elephant for next week!

Indonesian Independence day 2009

The street parade between Carita and Anyer, west coast of Java.

My baby welcomes the tooth fairy.....

Two days after this tooth fell out the one next to it became wobbly. Unfortunately it disappeared...it is either rolling the floor at a friends house or in the septic system lol.

TGIF

This was a TGIF moment, a week or two after the bombs. Rachael's toast was wonderful and poignant:

"here's to friends come and gone, here's to friends lost and found"