Tsumani in Jakarta

If you have seen the news recently- you've seen that a dam broke in a built up area in Jakarta and at least 77 people were killed in their sleep. I was under the impression that it was only the poor people who were affected, but I have heard some stories this morning (coffee with other expats while our kids playted futsal) that some expats had water damage and a couple of near misses. The 77 bodies are all poor people though. They don't have the luxury of sleeping upstairs or behind compound gates/fences. This is the reality of living in a third world country.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1104ap_as_indonesia_dam_bursts.html (I don't know how to do links yet).

What really surprised me was the that one of the fathers I was talking to donated 50 body bags that he had at the office. They also have 5 coffins, 3 gun licenses, $50K US, 3 glocks, 400 rounds of ammunition at their office AND a jet on contract to come at a moments notice. In the 1998 riots, he had 3 french soldiers (foreign legians?) guarding him as he stayed behind to represent the company. Type of industry he is in? Oil and Gas. Wow - that blew my mind.

What I have always trusted is that J's company will get us out in an emergency. They have an emergency plan and we would be evacuated in a riot, natural disaster or medical emergency. Are you thinking you have solved the riddle why noone wants to visit us? Come on - it's not like that all the time.

We have always thought we would batten down the hatches and stay at home in a crisis. When the floods were on in 2007 the only thing that affected us was our pool overflowed and we didn't have to go to school or work for a few days. We've also had a few mini earthquakes that we hadn't noticed. This house is built with the finest of Indonesian craftmanship, so it's definitely far from indestructible, but when you see the photos on the news of the houses in Indonesia, don't stress. We aren't suffering too much.

The furniture from our old house in Australia (minus the stuff in storage) fits upstairs. The kids ride their scooters around downstairs (as well as playing serious soccer dodgeball) because it's minimalist.

Visiting the Big Smoke

I have been really sick this week. Bacteria Infection of the intestines. Caused by contaminated food or water. Think I have located the source, so will deal with that when I can sit upright for 10 minutes (on trail now).

Being sick makes me a bit emotional, especially when I have watched "the Changling" and "secret life of Bees" today. But I think there's more to it than that.

On Sunday, I found out the kids had a new cousin. Where did we find this out? Facebook - where else do you receive family news? When I told hubs, he did know, he has been away since his birthday last week (10 days now), and for some reason he turned on his phone with the Aus sim card - there was a text message to tell him. So I guess we weren't left in the dark after all. But it sure felt like it.

Still, it reinforces how all of our experiences here have been in total isolation of everyone we have ever known while living in Australia.

Not one single friend or relative from Australia has made the trek over here to stay with us. And YES, there have been a few opportunities, although none taken. Yes, we have invited friends and family - but the invites aren't taken seriously. It's not like we don't have a spare room. It's not like I don't have time to show anyone around, my job is the most flexible it has ever been in my entire life. It's not like we wouldn't absolutely love it. In fact, we thought some people were coming and the kids had an itinerary of what they could do with them.

And yes - we seem to be alone with this. Other friends have their 75 year old "mum, dad, aunt, sister, brother etc, with all manner of health issues, from Sth Africa, Australia, US, England, Belgium etc"

It's just - no one we know wants to come here. Plain and simple.

The contract is up at the end of the year. We want to stay because we love it. But given the economic crisis, that may not be an option. So at the end of the year, if we have to move back to Aus, a whole 3 years would have passed and not one single relative or friend from the past will have any idea about any of it. Not a single clue.

Yes, we have made fantastic friends while we are here. But that's just it isn't it. We are surrounded by adventurous and socially (and charity active) active people here. Everyone here has taken a risk, gone out on a limb, made a massive change in their life and are taking opportunities whilst giving up some things at the same time. To be part of our future, surely people from our past have to know something about the little 3 years known as the "jakarta years".

Yes, as I said - feeling a bit emotional at the moment. But so what. This has been a life changing experience for us. Our kids will never be the typical - not ever. They are more world wise now at 5, 7 and 10 than what I was at 18 (or probably 30 for that manner).

Anyway, everyone needs to say what's on their mind sometimes, and this needed to be said.

Bali

Time to get this out of the way before we head to Victoria for a holiday. It had been filed under the "cone of silence", but our kids bring this up regularly and I don't want to explain this in person when we are with our relatives (plus it upsets me for days after talking about it, so I really don't want to go through this while on a holiday). It's not spoken about with hushed tones, it's more said as a fact and whatever point was being made is made without any argument from anyone.

It was also filed under the cone because I am aware that some people thought we were irresponsible to our childrens safety for bringing them to Indonesia, I didn't want to prove them right (this doesn't by the way, but it can be misconstrued).

We went to Bali for Idul Fitri. The holiday started on the last Sat in Sept. We flew in to Bali and went to our luxury villa. We were sharing the villa and in total there were 7 adults and 10 kids. There was more than enough bedding (in fact two rooms remained empty), there was a pool table, pool, library, 6 tvs (but only 1 used for the wii and the other for dvd's when kids needed to chill). It was nice, cozy, roomy and also great to catch up with a friend (JW) who had moved back to Aus the christmas before and her two kids.

Some of us were energetic. Some of us just wanted to chill. On the first afternoon the energetics went in search of the beach. We found it not long later, walked a bit and came home happy to have found surf, sand, shops and fresh air.

On the sunday afternoon we planned to go to the beach. It was 3 in the afternoon before we got ourselves organised. Dear Dad didn't really want to come. He wanted to stay on his computer and chill. Another parent wanted to stay home as well. As Dear Dad was travelling on business the next day (only for one night) I tried to guilt him to come and spend some time with his kids (he did have time to himself so don't defend him too much). 10 kids and 5 parents set off - Dear Dad came running down the road to catch up with us after we had left.

When we got to the beach, we stopped in the shade and applied sunscreen, took the clothes off and ran out to Seminyak Beach. We didn't look at anything, flags, signs, nothing - just ran straight out to our friends.

There were 3 dads and 3 mums. 1 mum of 2 kids, 1 dad of 3 kids, us and another couple with 2 kids. The single dad and my hubs decided very quickly to run out and join the surf - out the back. They didn't ask anyone - they just agreed and ran out (I am getting over that, truly I am). The surf out the back was wild, we wanted no part of it - we were happy with just going up to our knees/thighs.

I remember looking at the couple holding their two kids hands, I remember thinking - smart. I had my two youngest, one in each hand. The single mum JW had her youngest by the hand. 4 girls were off to the side and the youngest child of the single dad was safely playing on the sand. I remember looking out to sea and not being able to see either of the men's heads. I remember staring intently, looking for a head, not being able to see that much because of the glare and no sunnies (I was there to swim). Later we found out that the men, although experienced surfers/swimmers had gone out the back, realised it was huge and very dangerous and then struggled to get back to shore.

After a while? I remember seeing one head, then recognising his top, then turning to JW and saying - well, the breadwinner is alive, that's a relief, I was really worried. 4 girls to the left of my eye. I went over towards them, they were up to their thigh. I told my youngest two to go play on the sand with their friend.
Two girls had come in, I was on my way over to the other two (C girl and her friend G). When I was about 2 m away I yelled, "come on girls - come back"........"we can't" they said. Not that nervous, but a little scared. I went over to them. I held them by the arm to keep them from going out. We were all swept under and out.

I remember pulling them up, waves crashing, don't know how long for. I remember seeing G in, she had lost her top or her bottom, but I knew she was okay. Don't know how she got in.

We got sucked out so quickly. I remember being in really deep water, with waves crashing and being under the water and it being black. I remember going the wrong way, but my ears hurt, so I turned around. I felt C girl with my foot and went back and got her. I remember getting her up by her sunshirt, waves crashing, coming up, looking for her, diving under, holding her arm. Always looking for her, she was always behind me, being swept out, holding her arm. She was really calm, she didn't cling to my neck, she didn't cry. She asked how we were ever going to get in, the beach was a long way away. I told her that her father would come get us, she believed that, I did too. I remember waving to the shore. She was calm. I knew I could swim, I knew she could swim, we can swim for km's, we have done it in the pool. We were both swimming freestyle when the waves weren't crashing on us, but we were going backwards.

After a while I could see both of the "surfer" men coming out towards us. Her dad broke through the crashing waves , I remember seeing him just 10 meters in front of me (not sure I have ever been so happy to see him), she was behind me again, being sucked out further, I went back and got her again. He came, he took hold of her, got her on a massive wave. I remember her catching that wave to about 2 m from our other friend that had tried to come out. We were screaming his name, he turned, he saw her. He would get her in.

My lifesaver (husband) came back through the waves, held my arm while I could catch my breath. Then, the waves calmed down, they stopped crashing continually and we started to make our way in. I remember the life saver coming just as my feet touched the ground. That's when I saw my beautiful strong girl stagger onto the beach naked but very much alive, thanks to the efforts of her dad and our friend. No one on the beach seemed to know what was going on.

The lifesaver dragged me onto the board, I looked behind, looking for my man. As we hit the beach I could see that he was behind me. I remember being amazed that we had all made it out. He later told me that although he hadn't put a seconds thought into the fact that he was coming back out, he does remember thinking - Oh NO, I just exhausted myself getting into the beach, now I have to go back out.

I was on the beach, I could hear everything but I couldn't do anything. Shock. Luckily our german friend (the attentive father from the start) was calm and knew what to do (they had no idea anything was happening until it was finished). The ambulance officer kissed me on the forehead a few times on the way to hospital - I found out later that it was because so few people make it to the ambulance alive.

The next day a 25 year old French woman died on the same beach. She was the 70th person that year to have died on that beach (similar number for Kuta beach). It wasn't even October.

On the monday, my hero picks me up on a motorbike - was he kidding? He wasn't taking this seriously at all.

The whole incident had taken about 5 - 10 minutes. Our friend JW asked the next day why we decided to go swimming out the back - she had no idea that C girl and G had been swept out.

The rest of the holiday wasn't a total bust. We went back to that same beach. We walked 500m up the beach to where it said it was safe to swim. We taught the kids to look at the waves, was the tide going in, going out, how much undertow. If it's flat near the beach and massive at the back, don't even go in up to your toes. There is a reason why the surf is like that.

We were total idiots to have just gone in where we had, we practically had done everything wrong. We were over confident Aussie Yobos (Aussies die on the beach as well, even ones who have had a lot of experience (as I have)). We were so keen to go surfing/swimming that we put our kids lives at risk. Don't comment that, we know.

(She really is a tough as she looks)

What did we learn.

1. Swimming lessons save lives (I had had 1 hour lessons every week for the semester before and C girl has had 1 hour lessons for the last 5 years, both where 1km - 2km is regular). If she had panicked and clung to my neck - I would not be writing this.
2. Don't be too confident - the ocean is a massive place (and before you say we should have swum paralel to the beach - well we would have had to swim about 2km to actually have made a difference).
3. All available adults should be in the ocean while their kids are in the ocean - if I was watching from the shore line it would have been too late.
4. Don't ever rely on Life Savers in Bali (or probably any third world country) - they are there in name only, I tried to find the one who dragged me in, but I could only find people cleaning their motorbike watching the road (not the beach). Don't blame them, they have not been trained.
5. Read the warnings - they aren't just for tourists without swimming/beach experience (I grew up in a coastal town and went to the beach regularly). Google the area you are going to, I had no idea that so many people had died in Bali until after I got home.
6. Every day is a gift - make sure the people you love know that you love them.
7. Coming here didn't endanger their lives (we wouldn't be here if they were in danger), we did through 5 - 10 minutes of stupidity (which is worse).
8. Our kids know that when it comes to it, their Mum and Dad WILL do everything to save their lives.

Our family became closer due to this incident. She is still toxic to my sleep though. If I happen to be touching her while I fall asleep (like on an airplane trip for instance), I am transported back in time to when I almost lost her. We booked our holiday to Canada while we were still there. Life is too short.

Anyway, it's out there now. No photos - we have some, but I don't really want to see them.

February in Review

February has just finished and I've decided to try to wrap up a few things so that I can keep myself honest (exercise wise anyway). Probably boring for everyone except my Mum.

Exercise
Ran for 12 hours - 110km covered
Swam for 5 hours - 11.2km covered
2 games of Netball (one with just C girl and one with the entire family on my team).

Just a note about this. Munchkin is 5, Bear is 7. We play with a group from ANZA who are made up of parents/ male and female who are just there to have an hour of exercise. Their father was the only one annoyed by our lack of goals. Intend to play every week. Without the Man.

Social/Work
Worked for 12 1/2 days (four of those days were made of 1 hour here, 5 hours there etc until they totalled 36 hours).
Helped with reading at school twice
Had a one great brunch
Had a great dinner out at a new (to us) hotel
Our family went out with another family to the kids favorite resturant
Went over to friends house for relaxing afternoon with many kids playing.
Had a great evening out with ANZA
Volunteered at a PTA family function (last night) - and being treasurer also spent many hours afterwards sorting out the money.

Kids
Watched 9 soccer games and 2 practices of C girl,
Watched 2 soccer games of both Munchkin and Bear (Devoted Dad watched all of Bear's games).
Took the kids out for futsal and lunch
Took C girl shopping - she cleaned up (10 new items) - word of warning - just because you buy her something that looks neat and pretty in shop, when she wears it (last night), she still has a way of making it look untidy, sporty and totally unique (but why would I want it any other way)

Booked our holiday at easter and a long weekend.

Overall I feel like we had a pretty great Feb 09.

So what about you? Did you have a worthwhile Feb 09? Did you live to work or work to live? Make the most of your family, look after your body?

Holidays 2009

It is official, only some booked, xmas will be before Feb finished.

Holidays 2009

March - Long weekend in west Java

April - 1 1/2 weeks in Portland and Melbourne, Australia

May - Long weekend in west Java

June - Very long weekend KL (Malaysia) for C girls interschool sports (still has to make team)

July/Aug - 3 weeks in QLD / 1 week in Vic (skiing) - kids first skiing in Aus

Sep - 1 week in Vietnam (C girl has a friend to visit and this is new country for kids and I)

Oct/Nov - 1 weeks - Phillipines (dependent on Hubs conference (new country for kids and I)

Nov - long weekend - Phuket - C girls football

Dec - 3 weeks in Italy (new country for everyone)

There will be a few other long weekends when we go to various places around Java, but they are usually spur of the moment. Plus we are going to try a few new locations.

A very exciting year planned.

Think this might fit under the category of why I love living here.

Reasons to love or hate

There are many reasons to love or hate living in Jakarta.

First the love - here is a direct copy from a friends blog.

Explanation first - A bajai is a 3 wheeled taxi (like a Thai Tut tut) -high in pollution and rarely used by the expat community (unless really desperate and going a very short distance). Traffic in this area is very slow, usually bumper to bumper and never above 30km/hr.

"So after watching a really, really crappy band we decide to move on. We then had a brain wave to sort out who paid, ..............A competition!!!!!!!

Yes my competitive friend wanted to race Bajai's around the Kemang circuit. Yes that crazy expat thing. Well I had never done it, so, with a belly full of booze, it was "OK your on" sport. Trusting driver organised the suitable racing vehicles, and after a quick lesson on how to drive, change gears, stop and start we were off. I lagged behind mainly due to some "up the wrong side of the road" antics from the competition. But I had my revenge as I roared through the Macca's carpark, dodging the parking attendants and the drive through traffic, to snatch back the lead.I returned to EP to a huge cheer from all and sundry to claim the victor's spoils.

EP's 2009 Bajai Champion.

The competition was stunned on his arrival to see me being hailed the Champion.

And all this for 7 bucks Aussie."

This really sums up the freedom that we as expats have in Jakarta. I just wish I had been there (but our kids don't go to the same school and it was a school function........well it started as a school function).

Now the Hate / dislike.

Our electricity bills have been astronomical for the last 8 months ($800 a month). It was around $500, but in May it jumped up and it didn't matter if we were away for 2 weeks of the month, the bill was always that high. But that's not the complaint.

On arriving home from Canada, our bill for Dec was only $400. That is a bit more like it. The difference - the water pressure pump above our house had been turned off for the entire time (we discovered a week after returning home and having to have showers downstairs to get SOME pressure - not the complaint either).

Then we discovered it had been turned off because it runs 24/7 even though it is supposed to only turn on when someone turns on a tap. So we innocently asked the landlord to get his man to look at it. After hearing nothing I put a note up for our housekeeper to organise the guy to be here this morning to look at it with me (I leave for work before the housekeeper starts - communication via whiteboard is great). My very helpful nanny, on reading the note, informed me that the man had been the day before and the pump runs 24/7 because it is also connected to the security house.

Now - before you say - logical - let me explain. There are 3 houses in our complex. The security is for all 3, we pay extra for this and it is a communal cost, plus this is the first I was hearing about it.

She very knowingly nodded her head - it runs 24 hours a day because there is a FAMILY that live above the security post (in a 3m x 3m room) and they need water for like - WASHING!!! (please pronounce all capital letter words with extra emphasis, like I was an IDIOT).

Oh, so the family of 3 and one security guard use water 24/7 but our family of 5 and 4 staff don't use water all the time (even with 5 bathrooms and a pool)????? Now I understand, thanks, I feel better now.

Well, I text the landlord (that's what we do here, phone calls create language barriers, texting in english means you can understand accents), he then texts back that the pump is only 1.5% of the power bill, fridges run X watts, ac run Y watts,...........off he went with his statistics.

Only, I am much more pathetic in the maths department than he gives me credit. We are meeting on Tuesday to go through it - I will have a spreadsheet on what percentage the water pump uses. We turn off lights (and have energy efficient lights), AC, everything when we are not using them.

Now, what is my complaint you ask- it's that the landlord didn't say - hey, I just got sprung hooking up one of my costs to my tenants, I will replace the pump because it is broken and runs 24/7 before anything else is mentioned about my cost being zero (but still charging us for it). No, he wants to have a dispute that it isn't a big cost (since he's not paying, that's a great way to be I guess).

That pump should have been replaced before my text was even responded to. That's what bugs me - there are no rules here, it's just - do whatever you can get away with (see story of bajai above).

This also means you have to be on your toes ALL the time, which can be wear you out (and sometimes makes you paranoid). So, I love the freedom here, I hate the freedom other people have.....no, that's not it. I love the freedom I have, I love that the lessons I learn are not too expensive and that they will help me for further potential rip offs later on.

No, I wouldn't replace any of it for a quite suburban existence in Aus. At least here I know I am alive. I'm not tired from working too hard and having very little life.

Phuket Football

In the middle of November C girl went to Phuket to play football (soccer) with her school - interschool sports. As this was her first overseas trip with the school and her being in only Year 5, I tagged along.

I managed to get the same flights to and from and I kept a watchful eye (from a distance) to make sure she was being supervised - especially in KL airport - where we had a 3 hour stopover. Happy to report they were VERY under control, in fact they were BRILLIANT. Not just the kids (all the kids were great mates and got along great), but also the teachers. They had quizzes for when they were waiting in the gate lounges, they had games they played along the way, plus they gave them a little bit of responsibility, whilst still keeping a really good eye on them.


The kids were staying at the school boarding house in Phuket - I stayed in a nearby hotel in Phuket city (just in case she needed something during the night - you never know).

The next morning I hitched a ride on the back of motorcycle being driven by a Bangkok Mum (about 17 schools were in the competition). I helped direct her and we got there safely.

C girl was in the two team that our school sent. She was in Year 5 and both teams were Under 11 - with the majority of girls in the B team being in Year 4 and the majority of the girls in the A team being in Year 6 (the boys had U9 and U11 teams - so much easier). C girl and her two friends were the only ones from Year 5, so they were allowed to play in both teams - little did the other schools know that those 3 girls happen to be the best players.

The B team lost all 3 games in the first day (against girls that were in Year 6) - but they improved with each game. The A team won all the games in the first day.

The Saturday was the final rounds. The B team lost the first game - but won the 2nd game (C girl kicked 3 goals - as a midfielder) - they came 7th. The A team lost the first (not because they should have, it was just bad luck in the end). The final game was playing to get 3rd or 4th. It was a total nailbiter. Going to penalty time - then onto penalty kicks. Our girls finally came through when C girls best friend ended up as goalie (she hates being goalie but the other goalie had done a heartlidge (did I say that, I meant hurt her hand).

Afterwards I had to take C girl over to a big man, who had called her a dirty pusher (from the sideline) and I had told to stop now when the game was playing (I didn't get man - I just said "stop now". I took her over after the game and told her the BIG man had something to say to her (he was the father of the other girls best player). He apologised - but when I went back to our group - my name had been cemented. Scary Mum. That's my name now.

We ended up being delayed on the sunday in Phuket airport for 6 hours. A long time. I ended up getting to know the other parents pretty well. It ended up fine.

Best surprise - when C girl surprised me with a handbag that she had bought at the airport.

Biggest Find - 7 11 stores in Phuket sell red wine in a can - and it doesn't taste all that bad (wine in Jakarta is very expensive and is sometimes very hard to buy). Handy when you are waiting for a taxi after finishing a hard few hours at a night market.

Best parenting moment - I always insist on a lot of sunscreen and she has to have her hair out of her eyes. When she plays I put the fringe up into a spout (or off to the side) - 2nd day all the girls wanted their hair in a spout. Even on the first day the zinc cream ended up like war paint on all the girls (after they had put sunscreen on of course). What could have easily become a daggy thing you had to do to make your Mum happy ended up being something that was pretty cool. Phew. (just as well - it was going to happen regardless).

They are pretty great kids - all 36 of them.

Canada Part 7

We left Banff on the morning of the 30th. We were on a connecting bus to the airport - the bus broke down - but another was sent along in quick time. Funny thing with the bus change- we let everyone get off ahead of us (why hold everyone up with our kids) - when we got on the next bus - our seats had been taken and we ended up spread out throughout the bus (yes - even the 5 year old).

As we passed things backwards and forwards and had the obvious conversations you tend to have on a 1 1/2 hour trip - we did note that it was strange our rude people are in this "developed country". I was going to ask the nationality of the people who took our seats - I didn't want to stereotype anyone, my guess though was that they weren't canadian. Next time we have to do something, we will just hold everyone up because everyone is just out for themselves. Sorry - we just operate under a different code of ethics.

The flight from Calgary to Vancouver was great - quick and efficient. We couldn't get a van taxi to take us to our hotel - so we ended up with a stretch limo, which is a pretty cool way to rock up to the Sheraton.

The hotel room was great, service was better, location was excellent. One block from the resturants that the taxi had dropped us off for between bus and train trip. We had an EXCELLENT dinner at a cruisy little Italian resturant. Each booth was surrounded by books on art, history, war, travel etc. No DS's were needed for this dinner.

We had an excellent dinner (with a tonne of leftovers) and then went to watch the Calgary Giants play the redskins (ice hockey). It was a slaughter. Everytime the home team got a goal some men/boys would strip off their shirts and wave them around. We had to stop the two youngest from joining in.....it was a close call.

It was fun and the kids loved it. There is no way I am EVER letting my kids play - it was a fight fest - which was fun to watch, but I wouldn't want any of my babies being in it.The next day we got a rental car and drove out to the suburbs (BOO to Hertz too - as we picked up the car 1/2 hour early - so they charged us for a FULL extra day and didn't tell us - we could have dropped it at the airport 1/2 hour earlier if they had bothered to ask/tell etc - anyway - vote with your feet - don't go with Hertz).........ANYWAY, back to the story.

We had a friend who really wanted to know what Wallmart was like. So we went and saw. Double the size of Kmart, half the price. We lasted 20 minutes and were out of there - it's just a really big shop - and....... Hubs checked out a model train shop - we were back in the city in record time. We checked out the planetarium - it was 4 hours of excellent entertainment and education.

That night was New Years Eve - but in Aus it was our 15th wedding anniversary. So we celebrated that night in a Greek Restuarant. The kids have come a long way in a year in reference to sitting in restuarants - so it was actually pretty nice.

We didn't wake the kids up for midnight - we didn't even wake ourselves - there was no Eiffel Tower - it just didn't seem worth it.

We left the next day and had an excellent 17 hours of flying, arriving in Singapore on the 3rd (we lost a day). I got my new iphone (birthday present) the next day before happily getting home on the Sat. Very happy to be home - but so thrilled that we got to go on a truly fantastic holiday with the most amazing people in the world.

Canada in summary

I am just heading off to the printers to have this printed. It is a great idea for people who can't decide on just one photo.



I have one more blog to go on the Canada trip - then I will move on in reverse order to Phuket, Langkawi, Bali, Aus and NZ (that takes me back to July 08).

Canada Part 6

This photo is taken at many meters above sea level - it was beyond freezing. I have 6 layers in the top half of my body alone (and 5 are supposedly thermal - ha), 2 layers on the bottom half, 2 pairs of socks, 2 heaters in each foot, glove liners, gloves, 2 heaters per hand, hat liner, hat and 2 hoods. I was lucky to move, let alone ski. Not complaining - I didn't complain about it - in retrospect though it seems a tad extreme.

We woke on Christmas morning and spent the requisite time on presents (before skiing). Santa was both clever and stupid this year. Last year he spent all night looking for the kids and by the time he found them (in switzerland), he had already deposited the presents in Indonesia out of panic. This year, they told him where they would be. So he gave them a photo of what was waiting under the tree back in Jakarta. The two little ones carried these photos with them (and whispered to each other that they could not wait to get home). For C girl - he gave her a soccer t shirt and hat. She was so disappointed. As she said - I don't know how he got it so wrong - I don't even like that team. I like Arsinal. What an idiot - come on Santa - get your act together. Your letting the team down.

Christmas day was spent skiing Sunshine Valley. The kids were in ski school - but this was the explorers ski school. 3 mountains, 3 days, runs all over (we only saw them once per child over 3 days). So they started on xmas day and did Sunshine valley, then Lake Louise and finally Norquay.

On Christmas night we had a buffet in the hotel - very nice, with tonnes of ham (we live in a Muslim country - we appreciate pig). The next three days passed with skiing and showing off in the afternoon. It wasn't as cold - but it was still in the mid -20 degrees CELCIUS.

This was at Norquay after their final lessons. We went up to the top and skiied down (they insisted on doing the jumps). Norquay was the least fun of the three - but we ended up on the double black diamond run - so we didn't shirk in the face of an obstacle - and we survived. Great bonus.

This is on the last day in Sunshine Valley - where we chose to spend the last day (it was that or Lake Louise again). We just had a full day of family skiing. The fact that this is on top of a mountain is so cool. Only 1 year ago - the kids couldn't ski down so we could never have had a photo at the top. But now - no problem - they can all ski black runs at a pinch, blue is better (and speed up on the sides because it's a bit dull). Bear has overpassed Munchkin on skiing ability, C girl is miles ahead - but she is 3 years ahead. I need lessons to make sure I can keep up.

Please don't ask us to spend a xmas away from the snow. It is so much fun skiing and it is so much more fun than sitting around having a meal in the middle of the day. Plus there are no long lines - yippee. It is our family time and I love it.

Gong Xi Fah Cai and Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day and Happy Chinese New Year.

We spent yesterday afternoon having Brunch at the Ritz Carlton. We took 5 kids with us (C girl had two friends sleep over) - met up with some friends there. It was great. Had a loud English git to abuse (it was Australia Day and Chinese New Years). Kids ran amok, at 4:30 we were asked politely to leave (they finish at 3).

Today we chilled, having Bacon and scrambled eggs for dinner - is that Aussie?

What did you do for Invasion day?

Europe Xmas 2007

Yes this is out of sync with the Canada holiday (this was the christmas before). I just wasn't organised enough to post anything back then. This is the article I wrote for the ANZA magazine in Jakarta. It was heavily edited after I sent it in - don't worry - they have standards.

We were the lucky people who won 2 return flights from Singapore to Frankfurt at the ANZA ball. But we had a few challenges to contend with in winning this price. We have 3 kids aged 4,6 and 8 who did not want to be left at home with the Nanny and we knew we would miss them too much to have a good time without them. We had annual leave already booked for Christmas time but with no where to go, so the logical thing to do would be to take the kids and have a fantastic time together for our very first “white Christmas”.

Qantas at first were not happy with our timeframe - but when we said we would take the tickets in Feb or we would take them at christmas and purchase another 3 tickets - they got happy quickly.

So it was agreed - All five of us would go on holiday from 16th Dec – 7th Jan and tour selected cities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France together for 3 weeks (sound relaxing anyone?).

There were many things we wanted to achieve on this holiday:

Eat local food (in Indo, the kids and adults eat separate food, each to our liking);
Stay in the one hotel room/apartment (together time, not waste money);
No taxis (in Indo, door to door service, no responsibility for getting to destination – this meant we were totally self reliant (in German and French);
Buy a souvenir from every city (we have a habit of forgetting this);
Use trains to travel between major cities (our son LOVES trains);
Go to Disneyland (the oldest child went in July, was dying to go with other two asap);
Take the kids skiing (they had never seen snow);
Visit Dachau concentration camp (lifelong obsession with II world war).

The Itinerary:

17th – 19th Frankfurt
Arrived at 6am, shattered, hotel let us check in straight away (forever grateful) – kids asleep within the hour.. - Hotel room was really 2 bedroom apartment – double bonus. - Visited the Christmas markets from 2pm each day to early evening, finally it felt like Christmas time, with traditions we had no idea existed (but loved) – like hot wine, roasted nuts, turkey pieces as well as german traditions – pretzel bread, frankfurts….. - Christmas was everywhere – music, trees, decorations. - It was freezing – another pleasant change. - We spent the following days sleeping, exploring, eating and generally trying to shake the feeling that we had made a huge mistake (kids with jet lag are not very reasonable).

19th – 21st Munich

Arrived by ICE train –Efficient and clean train (up to 300km/hour), with magnificent scenery. We stayed at the Marriot, which was a bit of a hike out of town and they tried to stop us having 5 in the room (they should read fine print – I did before I booked it); Got to have a Jacuzzi and treadmill every morning (kids got to go swimming) Did a tour of Dachau, which was sobering and amazing, kids were excellent (5km walking x 5 hours); Dinner at THE beer hall in Munich, yes someone had sausages, great atmosphere (including the oompah band); Visited the Christmas markets, which meant lots of Gluhwein and chocolate crepes; watched the glockenspiel and local choir. The stalls for the markets and the local shops were beautifully decorated. Magic atmosphere for Christmas. Beautiful buildings, streets and shops – Christmas alive and well. Didn’t get to spend enough time here.

21st – 23rd Salzburg (Austria)

Arrived by train (but delayed on track for 2 hours) – late into town, But saw proper snow for the first time on our trip. found the hotel easily, great room (still a Marriott); Went to Christmas markets – too late for ice skating, again beautiful and lots of gluhwein; Went on tour of underground salt mine (2 giant slides, 2 train rides and an underground boat ride) – kids were very impressed to be 650m into a mountain. Went by bus to and from the mine – beautiful mountains, history of Nazi’s and Sound of Music. Amazing history surrounding the area. Didn’t get to spend enough time here either.

23rd – 29th Adelboden (Switzerland)

Would you believe our alarm didn’t work (it was set but it was set for work time, so it didn't work on a saturday) – missed the train by merely 3 minutes (didn’t we kick ourselves continually that day). This cost us 40 minutes delay in leaving, 2 extra train changes and an extra 2 ½ hours to journey – train missed at 6:22am, arrived in Adelboden at 5:30pm.

Chelsea’s birthday was on the 24th, declared the worst birthday of her entire life after we forced her on the bus to ski school. After ski school, that was recanted and it ended up being a pretty great birthday after all. Breakfast and 5 course dinner were included at hotel – also kids play area for meals…got to love that. Kids were the loudest children there, but they encouraged all the other kids to be loud to, so by the end you couldn’t pick out just our kids screams of delight. The skiing was breathtaking and unbelievable. We are going again (as often as we can). The kids picked up skiing fantastically….and loved it by the end of the week.

Modern day edit - please note the purple ski jackets. We bought them in 1994. It took us three days to notice that the Europeans were avoiding us because we looked so daggy - we have since replaced the jackets (and Jason's pants) - mine are navy - I will buy some more when I see a pair that jumps out at me (whilst avoiding shopping).

This portion of our trip was just the right amount of time. By the end it hadn’t snowed for 3 weeks and was starting to heat up. The ice on the footpaths melted on the day we left (and we had been pulling the kids on their skis on the ice each afternoon to get home – so we were very lucky).

29th – 5th Paris

Huge issues with trains to get there (all trains booked with Eurail passes for new years eve) Arrived at 11:30pm, tried to get a taxi – but failed (line was 200m long), 2 trains and a 1km walk got us to our hotel at 1am (no one complained – too happy to be in the “city of Disneyland”). Moved into 2 bedroom apartment on the Sunday morning – seriously close to Eiffel tower (200m from the Eiffel tower park). Tried to climb the Eiffel tower that day – but the lines were too massive. Went for a boat cruise instead - magnificent. Went to Disneyland on the Monday for part 1 (3 parts) – kids emerged into fairytale land….fabulous to be part of.

When in Paris C girl turned to me and said - Mum, if you were born here - you wouldn't wear such daggy clothes. She doesn't understand my gift - I could buy clothes that were up to the minute modern - when I put them on I would look like it was 5 years out of date - it's a gift - live with it (and hope you don't inherit it).

New Years Eve consisted of waking kids at 11:30pm and walking 200m to the Eiffel tower park, where we waited for 10 minutes, watched the flashing lights on Eiffel tower and saw the fireworks, then went home 10 minutes later and put them back in bed. Not sure that is everyones idea of a great new years eve….but we didn’t have tired children the next day and that was our aim.

We celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on the 1st with a day climbing the Eiffel tower, visiting Montre Marte, Arch of Victory and finishing with a romantic dinner for 5 in a local café. Definitely the most unique anniversary so far.
We ended up going to Disneyland on the Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Kids absolutely loved everything about it, the parents nicknamed it….how to pay a lot of money – and wait in a queue. BUT, it was Disneyland, it’s a place of magic and very well organized, so you just deal with it.

On the Saturday the 5th we went from Paris to Frankfurt via ICE train, had a relaxing dinner in Frankfurt before heading off for a 11:30pm.

On Sunday the 6th we landed at 6pm in Singapore, then spent the night in two separate hotel rooms (transit hotel in airport) – everyone was awake at 2am (which was 7pm Germany time) – no one went back to sleep again after that – crazy. Think we might have been excited about returning home (WHY?).

Best Place: Disneyland (voted by the kids)
Skiing in Switzerland (voted by parents)

Rudest Place: Salzburg – were told to leave the bus because the driver didn’t have time to talk to stupid people who didn’t know German (we asked him if the bus was going to the old city centre).

Biggest Challenge:
5 suitcases, 5 backpacks, 1 travel case and 2 useless (for luggage carrying) children. 22 trains/buses were caught with full luggage during the 3 weeks away…our worst connection – 7 minutes….but we made it.

We had a brilliant time, would love to work out how to permanently be on holidays with the whole family.
I would sincerely like to thank Qantas for donating the tickets. A fantastic surprise and I am glad we got to utilize them in such a positive way.

Unfortunately - these are the only proper photos we have of this holiday. All (and I'm talking over 1000) photos vanished when our computer had a meltdown. We have learnt the importance of backing up (in the saddest possible way). But bonus - Bear had been given a camera for xmas and he took some great shots - completely random (the usual 6 year old shots), but some really nice ones as well.

Canada Part 5

We got into Banff at lunchtime. Planned out the rest of the day and then basically ran (literally). But it was worth it - we did some pretty great things on her birthday.

We fit in Ice skating on her birthday as well. The two girls are naturals, but Bear struggles a bit. It was at Banff Springs (fairmont hotel) - very flash hotel. A bit out of town (and we walked there) - but we don't need to stay somewhere flash when we are on holidays - we live flash at home, it's nice to rough it sometimes (okay - not everyones definition of roughing it, but for us it was alright).

We fitted in a sleigh ride (absolutely the lamest thing we did on our holiday) - far too cold for a sleigh ride - and don't go thinking a sprint through a snow palace. It was a 30 seater, full to the brim, through a back paddock. I asked the driver to let me know when we were 10 minutes from stopping so I could call a taxi. Munchkin tried to sing christmas carols (since it was christmas eve) - but no one joined in - but it makes for a nice photo (we will definitely do it in Europe this christmas as theirs were smaller and more like what you think of when you sing jingle bells).



Note on the hat - I didn't realise it looked that lame when I bought it - I might give it to Munchkin (she's wearing my hat I got in NZ in August). I promise I will spend more than 1 minute looking next time.

The kids hate these jumpers. I got them for last christmas (in switzerland), but when they saw them they just refused to wear them. They have to wear them on Christmas Eve and Christmas night - those are the two dressed up occassions (skiing during the day for christmas, so it's a no brainer). Birthday cake (again) at The Keg - a great steak house (and that is something that you really miss in Jakarata).

Daddy's litle girl. Butter really wouldn't melt in her mouth.



I think her best birthday ever.

Canada Part 4

We left Jasper on C girls birthday. We had pancakes and french toast in the diner next door to the hotel for breakfast (yes, us adults only ate 1/2 the portions because they were huge, the kids ate them all, but then didn't eat lunch). We made sure we had candles and sang happy birthday. You never know where you are going to end up - best to make sure that the singing and candles are definitely included in the day.

We got the bus from Jasper to Banff with Sundog tours. On the way the bus stopped due to the boot (you know - where the luggage is stored) light came on. When we arrived in Banff - much to our dismay, one of our bags had disappeared into thin air.
The driver was casual -I'm sure it's back at another hotel, it must have been taken off earlier. We never did hear back from SUNDOG tours. We rang twice (which was as good as useless), they never rang us. We had 3 brand new helmets in that bag - at least CAD300 worth. So if going from Jasper to Banff - do not go with these guys - no interest at all was shown in our lost luggage - we are just grateful that it was new stuff we lost- stuff we hadn't grown attached to (and not the xmas presents).

We went past 80 icefields (not glaciers we were assured - as they move, these don't). Spectacular stuff - deadly though. I couldn't imagine being stranded with a flat tyre in this country.

We left Jasper on C girls birthday. We had pancakes and french toast in the diner next door to the hotel (yes, us adults only ate 1/2 the portions because they were huge, the kids ate them all, but then didn't eat lunch). We made sure we had candles and sang happy birthday. You never know where you are going to end up - best to make sure that the singing and candles are definitely included in the day.

We got the bus from Jasper to Banff with Sundog. On the way the bus stopped due to the boot (you know - where the luggage is stored) light came on. When we arrived in Banff - much to our dismay, one of our bags had disappeared into thin air.

The driver was casual -I'm sure it's back at another hotel, it must have been taken off earlier. We never did hear back from SUNDOG tours. We rang twice (which was as good as useless), they never rang us. We had 3 brand new helmets in that bag - at least CAD300 worth. So if going from Jasper to Banff - do not go with these guys - no interest at all was shown in our lost luggage - we are just grateful that it was new stuff we lost- stuff we hadn't grown attached to (and not the xmas presents).



Beautiful trip from Jasper to Banff. We went past 80 icefields

Twas the night before christmas and all through the hotel - not a family member was resting, not even the littlest one (okay lame, have you got better?).