December Musings

Assorted creatures

About a month ago, I noticed an increase in the number of roaches roaming our ground floor. There was almost always one skittering under the refrigerator (which sits in our living room, by the way!) or crawling behind the door in the TV room. One night, I saw about 8 of the buggers before skittishly heading to bed. Sure enough, there were more upstairs. Roaches comprise the number one item on my list of creatures I cannot abide in my house. I have managed to accept salamanders, tolerate ants and endure the occasional mouse or rat, but I still am unnerved by a dashing roach. The funny thing was, as this night wore on, I found myself ceasing to yelp with surprise and disgust each time one crossed my path, and instead I would calmly go get a hunk of tissue and try to catch the thing with my bare tissue-filled hand. I got at least five of them – the first EVER roaches I’ve caught without wielding one of Jared’s dress shoes for maximum protection. You, dear reader, may not appreciate my success story here, but this evening was one of the defining moments in my stay here in Jakarta. The next day we did have the exterminators come and my maids tell me that hundreds of roaches curled up and expired that day. Yuck.

As a follow up: we have seen far fewer of the little creatures as of late, but the other night I saw one skittering along the counter. I yelled for Sri and she came out, took one look at it and grabbed it with her BARE hand! Wow!!! She is my new hero and I gave her a big fat raise for that one! That is a fantastic skill to be able to put on a maid’s resume – “can catch running roaches with bare hands!”. The funny thing is, after the night of infestation, I had become so adept at killing them myself; yet after a week or so of seeing none, I became all jumpy again. Hmmm, to be infested or not to be…these are the questions I ponder…

We also had a small colony of roaches living in our downstairs bathroom. There was one hole in the corner, in which you could almost always see two little roach antennae poking out. Even now, Sam enters that room with caution, sweeping his eyes around for lurking creatures.

Shipment Arrives!

So the infestation night turned out to be good timing, as our shipment from Manila, which took a mere four days to get here, finally arrived after three months of living here. Yes, thanks to the endless layers of burocracy and bribes to be paid, one cannot accept a shipment until the work permit has been processed. This, of course, takes weeks and weeks, and then a few more…It landed us right in the middle of Ramadan (the month when Muslims starve themselves!), so my expectations of the crew of men unloading our container were low. However, they did surprise me. There were about five guys, and they did a great job in the late afternoon (they had to be sooo hungry!) unloading and lugging our stuff all over the house. So now, a few weeks later, I feel settled in…finally!

Upcoming Holiday

We are headed for Bali this Christmas and I am trying to get reservations somewhere without having to give out my credit card details…I am very jittery about releasing credit card numbers in Asia. Bad experiences abound…So I have been back and forth with dear Ryan, the nice Hindu man from the hotel, about how to prepare payment, etc. I just have to paste a part of an e-mail, because the language is precious. Herewith, a message from Ryan Tanjung:

Dear Margareth
Greetings from the Magic Island of The GOd, hope you and your beloved one is fine.
thank you for your email and all your calculation is right.

Ifi can suggest you its better to do it by the conventional ways it more safety and confertable and you just fax the tranfer recipe to 62-361-730518 after the process.

I will send you the invoices this afternoon trought email.

Should you need further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me at your connivance.

With very best personal regards
Ryan Tanjung

We’ll send word after our three week stay on the Island of GOD!

Local services leave much to be desired

The opulent, recently renovated home of a student from our school burnt almost to the ground on Thanksgiving night. We all saw the smoke as we drove to dinner and hoped it was not one of our own. Sadly, it was. They lost everything, from the Jim Thomspson silk curtains, to my student Natasha’s uniforms and text books, to the priceless works of art adorning the walls. And do you know how they deal with a burning house here? Once someone noticed that the house was on fire, the fire department was called. So far, so good. After a time, a total of nine fire trucks pulled up, NONE of which had water in them. There is no such thing as a fire hydrant here; all water is brought along with the trucks. So once it was confirmed that yes, there was a raging blaze, two trucks set off to get water. When they finally returned, it was time to pay each man a bit of incentive money, the equivalent of about $1 each man. They then set to work in an attempt to put out a roaring fire which by now consumed the entire upper floor.

Of course the trucks soon ran out of water and by the time they went to refill, the fire had burned itself out, along with the help of the owner of the house who was helplessly dragging buckets of water over from a neighboring house. At one point, Natasha tells me, she noticed the firemen spraying precious water reserves on a man’s house who lived next door. Turned out, he had paid a way higher amount (at least $10) to have his house sprayed with water as protection from the fire! As for recourse, it seems one could most likely sue the construction company or electrician who put in faulty wiring. A leak in the roof allowed water to drip through, which caused a spark which set the surrounding timbers alight. Here in Jakarta, however, it’s pretty much tough tiddlies for the family. Insurance, you ask. Probably not. Time to hit up on friends and family and start over again.

I read a story in the newspaper yesterday about how one deals if their car gets stolen. First you must pay about $2500 to the officials (a.k.a. police) to open the case. Then, if you actually want your car back, you must pay up to 25% of the value of the car! And this is WITH insurance!!! The day after, I read a hot denial of this by a group representing the police!

Trip to Singapore

To celebrate the end of Ramadan, we were given a week off of school. Our maids traveled home with Lebaran gifts, extra money from the Rodgers family and other assorted goodies. We fled to Singapore. We spent a delicious week on the equatorial island and enjoyed every moment. Some people may poo poo Singapore for being too clean and sterile, but that is precisely why we love it. Coming form Manila or Jakarta, it is so nice to go places and have services work, be able to use a credit card without wondering how many people have written down the number, and to actually be able to drink water out of the tap!!!!

All in all, it was a fairly hum drum vacation. We stayed with a British friend whom we met in Manila four years ago. Her son Tomas is now five and he and Sam got along fantastically. Sophia just tried to keep up and enjoyed watching the movie classic, Peter Pan about five times a day. Jared and I took the three kids to the Singapore Zoo, which is a fabulous attraction. Sophia had been yearning to ride a horsie for weeks, so we promised her a ride in Singapore. Unfortunately, it began to rain when it was time to line up for pony rides, so the only creature she got to ride that day was an elephant. In fact, my kids have been on two elephant rides in the past month, yet we struggle to find horses to ride. Such is life in Asia!

Another hilarious outing in Singapore was to a place called Snow City! Yes, you can actually pay money to ride a black inner tube down a small hill of manmade snow, indoors. We rented all the gear; boots, mittens, jacket and lined up with two hundred Asians, all clad in identical, smelly winter garb. We were the ONLY white people in the place. The doors opened and we swarmed in, grabbed inner tubes and made our way up the stairs to the top of the hill. There, we all lined up – about 10 people across, and at the count of three, the men up there would push everyone down the hill. Screams and swirls and bumps and …crash! You are at the bottom and it is time to collect your tube, find your small son and haul your asses up the hill again. Sam and I had a blast and Sophia and Jared took on the mountain as well. It was only as the crowd thinned out that we were able to get the four of us together and go down as a family. By that time, poor little Sophia’s mittens had come off and her hands were FREEZING!! That was the first time she experienced freezing temperatures. Sam is hooked and can’t wait to go skiing…someday!

Other than that, we spent our days riding bikes along the beautiful beach paths of the public parks, exploring the Science Center, shopping at Borders Books, and hopping from playground to playground. We look forward to our summer stopover for more clean air and neat pathways!

Thanksgiving and Beyond

After six years of less than satisfying Thanksgivings in Manila, I know what to expect in an Asian country. This year, however, the entire faculty (about 30 of us) got together and catered a dinner at a teacher’s house, all for the price of about $10 per head. We had all the fixins…sweet potatoes, veggies, mashed potatoes, turkey AND ham, pumpkin and apple pie for dessert. Prior to dinner, a famous Thanksgiving proclamation of Abe Lincoln’s was read aloud and later we all wrote down what we were most thankful for…and then they were read aloud…oops. I wrote that I was most thankful that I do not live in the same country where George Bush is president. It got a lot of laughs and some uncomfortable looks from the conservative right in the crowd. Oh well.

The kids sat at the kiddies’ table; each had a nanny to help make the mandatory Indian hat with feathers and cut the turkey. Not quite like the good old days when I was a kid and had to cut my own meat, but Sam and Sophia had a good time. Instead of preparing a Thanksgiving play after dinner like my cousins and I used to do, the kids at this festivity gathered round for a viewing of The Incredibles. Welcome to the new millennium!

So as I finish this up, Christmas is around the corner. As usual, when I am teaching full time, I have no time to think of Christmas cards or catch-up letter until AFTER grades are in, class parties are finished and the last of the tacky gifts have been thrust into my hands. Jared, Sam, Sophia and I have managed to set up our Christmas tree, replete with blinking lights and our ever-growing collection of ornaments. I made it to a local Christmas bazaar (yes, there are Christians here!) and bought some fantastic batik stockings!! Another Asian Christmas without the cold, snow and ice. YEAH! Jared admits to yearning for the traditional White Christmas, which we grew up with, but I have managed to make due with equatorial Christmases. Think of us, sipping tropical drinks, frolicking on the beach and wandering about in sundresses, as we head off to our backyard playground of BALI. I say this to try to entice any of you readers to think about heading this way!!! We are returning to Bali in mid-April and would love to have some company!!!! Heheheheheh

Selamat Hari Natal!!!