Alive and kicking (and screaming) in Jakarta

We haven't fallen off the side of the earth, I just have no internet at home and my laptop's battery has died so I can't even go searching for some wireless!

Since the start of June we have had major problems with connectivity.....last week the internet provider actually told me to sign up with a competitor while I wait for them to fix their problem.
WTF......

With FastNet there are no boundaries to the amount of data you wish to upload and download. FastNet subscribers have continuous internet connection with no interruptions 24-hours a day, 7 days a week and 4 weeks a month beginning from the minute your connection is activated, without having to dial-up each time you wish to connect.

Bollocks!!!!!!!!!!

I am nearly at the stage of needing to medicate myself to stop myself from screaming like a banshee and having a major tantrum........mmmm I think I am developing a pattern .

The idiots at the First Media tell me everyday to refresh my modem and restart the computer....hello this doesn't work....there is a problem......Of course I am still paying for the privilege of speaking to the customer service team twice a day and not having internet access...

My next scheduled rant will be about my 20 month old laptop and its completely dead battery...that is unavailable to purchase in Indonesia as it is too old...................annother WTF moment.

Bandung has turned us......

My friend and I pride ourselves on not being your typical expat wives.

We both work, shop, care for our kids and don't do the whole "gym-lunch-shop" thing day in and day out. Not that there is any thing wrong with that...LOL

My friend in particular hates to shop......I must admit I do like wandering around a mall now and again as well as a market or two, but do not have nearly enough time to do so.

I have managed to turn her.......this week we did retail therapy to get over my Australia stress.
Luckily it is sale time.......Pondok Indah mall got a work out.

The turning point was Bandung.

Bandung is a city about 2 hours from Jakarta and is famous for its factory outlets.

We did two separate days of shopping in one week...we even encouraged each other to purchase...wait for it....handbags.

I have mentioned before that I missed out on the handbag gene at birth. One purse and one handbag will last me a couple of years, same goes for my friend.

I felt just like Mary Tyler Moore tossing her hat in Minneapolis when I was surrounded by all these branded factory outlets LOL (NB I am definitely not old enough to have lived through watching the MTM show.....but I do remember my mum watching the re-runs when I was a VERY small child). We had so much fun rushing to one outlet to the next.

The kids got some great stuff and I think I have finished my sisters Christmas shopping. I only bought one thing for my self and nothing for poor old GJ.....next time.

Oh yes.... this is how far we have turned...we are already planning a next time. Even the 3 hour journey home through horrific Friday night traffic didn't turn us off.

We are going to catch the train up with the kids and make a weekend of it. Pool and cinema for the kids...shopping for the parents.

Sex and the City movie

OMG I loved it.

Tan and I went to see this movie and we laughed, cried and snorted all through it.

We then went straight out and purchased shoes......as you do!

I can not wait to get to the DVD shop this week and buy a copy so I can watch it again and again and again.......

The Harbour View Hotel

We had the most wonderful lunch at the Harbour View Hotel in the Rocks area of Sydney.

This place is amazing, it is under the Harbour bridge and the view is amazing.

The food and service was MAGNIFICENT!!!!!

I loved all the vintage bone china!

The management is thinking of starting up high tea on weekends.

That will be a must for us on our next visit!

I did suggest that the mounted deer over the fireplace would need a lovely floral straw hat to create high tea ambiance lol.

Bachelor of Education, Primary

I got into University!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I found an Australian uni that does an external degree in primary education and I start in August!

I hope to finish the degree with in three years; it is normally a 4 year full time degree.

I owe a big thank you to Dominic at Aussie in Indonesia for all his help and advise

We sacked our driver...

In March 2007, on Janny's and Tan Tans first visit to Jakarta I took them to Bogor to see the Botanical Gardens ( ok I made them do a quick walk through but it really was for them to buy some handbags LOL).

On the toll way up to Bogor our driver fell asleep...at the wheel....at over 100km/hour...with my mother, sister and my babies in the car.
Since this moment, I have not been relaxed in the car unless GJ or I am driving.
I always sit in the seat behind the driver and constantly watch his shoulders and face in the mirror for signs of tiredness.

Fast forward to 2008, the driver falls asleep at traffic lights, constantly.

The big clincher came when he fell asleep on the toll way to Sambolo doing 120km/hr again with the family inside.

In Australia you can't just sack someone. You have to follow a process of verbal warnings, written warnings and mediation.

I applied this practice here, the companies HR manager held meetings and explained the ramifications of what would happen if he fell asleep at the wheel again.

Well it happened again....on the way home from the airport. The fourth time.

He has been fired. Instant dismissal.

I didn't realise how worrying it was until now after he has gone.
18 months of stress.

I really don't care whether or not expats are good employers or bad ones. I know we personally treat people with respect and pay well. The bottom line is that my family's lives were placed at risk. That is not going to happen again.

The journey home

I had one of those trips home, the days that make you want to scream like a banshee and drop to the floor and have a full blown tantrum.
I probably would have but it was Jakarta International airport and dropping to the floor could of meant instant death from the pox......

I love books...I really LOVE books and always stock up on trips abroad. Bookshops are not that plentiful or well stocked in Jakarta and are very expensive.
Books are heavy, especially if you have over 10 big ones hidden in a back pack. I was trying to stand up straight so no one would notice and ask to weigh my bag, but this was getting very hard after 75 minutes in a queue to check in at Sydney airport. I can not imagine how much excess baggage fee I would of been charged for my stash!

After putting away half a bookstore and relieving my back of burning agony I was less than thrilled to be on an older plane filled to capacity, stuck behind an arsehole for 8 hours. The type of arsehole that reclines his seat before the plane even takes off. I think his seat might of gone back slightly more but only if both my knees were removed....The seat was so close to my face that I could not even see the TV screen, luckily I had quite a few books to keep me amused and non violent.
After my wine was spilled over me the second time I was incensed enough reach forward, tug his arm and loudly (but still politely and completely lady like) ask him to keep his seat upright until my lunch tray was removed. I then spent the rest of the flight wondering how much trouble I would get into tipping ice and drinks over his head as well as how much it would cost to bribe the hostesses to do the same......

After a pleasant 1 hour in Singapore airport (oh how I love thee Singapore...) it was time to face the madness of the flight to Jakarta. Luckily this was not so bad, but the airport was horrific.
I had my 16 kg backpack strapped on my back and made the frenzied dash to immigration and got through in great time to then have to wait for 1 hour for my luggage.
Of course there was no trolleys.....
After being knocked down, run over and shoved about a hundred million times I started to get a bit snarky.......when men pushed in front of me I would shove them back and tell them to apologize to me in my limited Bahasa Indonesian. The expression on their faces was very comical....

It is very hard to get use to a culture of no queuing....it is survival of the pushiest!

The kids and GJ were waiting just behind the door, in the heat and crowds for 1.5 hours nearly asleep on their feet.

I made it...at last!
It is good to be home.

Home in Jakarta

I have made it home after a very long trip and I am presently hibernating....

The Sydney trip went well, I accomplished everything I set out to.

Tan and I have found a wonderful apartment for mum in a great village; she will be moving in a few weeks.

We got mum in to see a physcogereatician....(I know what a mouthful--this is a specialist doctor that deals in older people with mental health issues) and she is now on the new medicine for Alzheimer patients that is supposed to be great.

I of course managed a little shopping at some wonderful shopping malls.

The weather was magnificent.....cool and crisp. It did take a week for the cold to penetrate my overheated bones though. I thought I would never be able to get rid of the accumulated Indonesian heat LOL.

I don't think I will be able to get out/tell all that happened on this trip...it was such a strange mixture of highs and lows.

I have come back to Jakarta and found some more highs and lows as well...more to follow.

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.

A boy centric party.....

We had a wonderful stress busting party on Sunday night. It was to be my last chance to catch up with our bloggy friends , Shannon, Dave and Co before they head off on their next posting to Germany.
As it was a school might for all the kids (and me!!!) we started and finished early.
It is a great feeling to go to bed and feel like you have had a long fun filled evening and find it is only 7.15pm.


The girls were in for a shock though....for the first time they were outnumbered!
There was 9 fun filled exuberant boys running around

And only 4 girls. This is the girls after too much exposure to boys...they locked themselves in the toy room for some time out. Look at the grumpy faces,
The girls have coined a new phrase for ALL boys-"Jack-Jack". This is from the Pixar movie The Incredibles. Jack Jack is the angelic looking baby that turns into a flaming demon.....the girls view on All boys.
I wonder how long they will think that for???????

GJ got the drill out

I have had a few things framed over the last six months and GJ finally had time to get them all hung. Most of this is in our bedroom, I have run out of wall space downstairs.
The batiks are old, sourced from around Indonesia by my regular dealer Pak Anis.
Anis attends most of the ladies bazaars around town and can do a private showing if needed.
The little acrylics are from a street vendor in Jogjakarta, I think I paid 14 000Rp each, around $1.55. They are exquisite and quite textured.
The little shelf is from ibu Sabine and is just perfect next to my desk.

Thin bookcases

I have had some bookcases made, and I am most impressed!
Roberts furniture made them for only slightly more than road side vendors quoted. They are made from aged teak and come with a guarantee.
I have made them the exact size for books and DVD's. No wasted space or dust collection areas.
The cases are only 20cm deep and shelves are 25cm apart for paperbacks and DVD's, 30cm for hard covers.

Short vowels

My focus for this school term has been short and long vowels.
We have been doing a variety of crafts to match the English sounds to short vowels.
This is my classroom....LOL it is a little sun room at the end of the library and I think it is the best spot in the whole school.

Sydney here I come....

I have just booked my flights for a trip home to Sydney. I will be gone 19 days...I don't think I have ever left my babies for that long! My sweetie friend has found me a nanny for the kids while I am away...(GJ has begged him to, so they can go out while I am away....).

My mum is not doing well mentally.

The dementia has hit a new level and she now doesn't recognize hunger. Breakfast is a deeply ingrained habit but lunch has now gone, as well as dinner if my sister is late home from work. Grooming and time frames (ie what day, what week, what month) went last month. We are moving in to winter in Sydney and we have the added worry of the gas heater........

My sister is stretched to breaking point.

Mum is a self funded retiree, ie no pension. This means accessing the governments program of aged care services is harder. We have to be assessed by a geriatrician Dr....who I booked in March and has canceled the appoint 3 times....... before we can even begin to get on the government programs.

Tanya is the sole carer of my mum and she works full time in the city......

I have also morphed into the boogie woman. As I am the one who has to be blunt about the dementia, who has to push the boundaries about aging and moving, I have been the scary change person.

Mum has now decided that there is nothing wrong with her and she is not moving into a retirement home....she decided this when she heard that I was coming again.

Change is scary when you have dementia, being forced along is even more scary. It is far easier to blame the person that is pushing rather than face reality.

Some of mums friends think the move might be too much for her; it will.
We know it will lead to the next stage of dementia.

We have no choice.

Tan needs a life.

She has no social life at the moment, she works full time and is a full time carer the rest of the time. We have looked at options of bringing mum over here to live with us, but logistically it is just not possible. She has friends and a boyfriend in Sydney and would be lost in such a different country.

So I am going home to help out and to deflect the defiance of a 4 year old trapped in my mums body. I am mean and cruel and forcing her to do things that she thinks she doesn't want but it is the right thing to do.
I know all my family in Heaven are looking down and nodding. It is the right thing to do, but it is so hard to be thought of as a pushy, ungrateful, mean, eldest daughter.
There is the grand total of three on my side of the family...Mum, Tan and I.
Every one else has died.
I want the best for my mum as well as my sister.

So this has been a very stressful last few weeks....
Most know when there is not much blog action it means I am stressed.
I have these 3 huge pimples on my face...I am 32+++++ whats going on...stress.

So some good points
With in a week I will have shops filled with cold champagne which actually have bubbles in them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( Duty free (bottle) shops are in an on off again prohibition style lock down here).
I will be freezing......oh my this is so exciting, I haven't been cold for nearly 3 years!!!!!!
Tonight we am having a party at home.....I love parties!