Christmas 2006

Their Eyes Were Watching God

I do not know if there is such a thing, but I think I have suffered from LDS (Light Deficiency Syndrome for years. Perhaps it is more like FAS (Frozen Ass syndrome), as it only seems to kick in in winter. Luckily, since we have been living near the Equator for nearly a decade, and missing out on winters, my syndrome been on hiatus for as long. We decided to come home for the holidays this year and landed in 70+ degree weather in Virginia a week before Christmas. By late the next day, it was getting cold. However, the first morning after arrival, I witnessed a scene which may have cured me of my malaise forever.

Sam and Sophia have spent their entire lives living and playing near the Equator and do not know what the word COLD really means. This morning, they got up, and, having experienced Nana’s house only in summer, wanted to go outside on the deck. Equipped with the first cup of hot chocolate they had ever held, out they went, dressed in sweaters and socks (They still cannot get used to wearing shoes!). After a few big breaths of cool air, Sam, undaunted, decided it was time to become “Explorer Boy”. He came inside to get a plastic bag, as he wanted to collect winter things. For the next hour, I watched my two young, innocent children romp around the yard, collecting dry leaves, pine needles, acorns, and pine cones, yelping with joy. I came inside and drank my own cup of hot chocolate and heard singing coming from the yard. There, sitting on the cold ground, was Sophia, collecting dead leaves in her bag, singing a made up song about how happy she was. Having observed this beautiful, naive display of pure joy of my children, I was reminded again that God is to be found in the little things.


The Highs…

It has been an amazing semester at school, sprinkled with highs and unbelievable lows. We began the job search, which is exciting as well as quite stressful, not to mention exceedingly time consuming. Stay tuned in February for an update on that front. For October break, we had the chance to travel to Hong Kong to see friends, who left NJIS at the end of last school year. It was a long trip, made longer as we had to overnight in an airport hotel in Hong Kong before we could take the ferry to Shekou, China, where they now live. The ferry was fun for the kids, but daunting for us, as we passed factory after belching factory. Indeed, the entire time we were in Shekou, we could taste the chemicals in the air. The Pearl River Delta has contributed to the mounting pollution levels in the Hong Kong area, and nowadays there is a constant haze over the city. We could barely make out the buildings only one block away.

After a fantastic visit with our friends in Shekou, we headed back to Hong Kong and made our way to Hong Kong Disneyland. What a hoot that place is; a mere fraction of the size of the U.S. Disney parks, it is a popular spot for locals and foreign tourists as well. Luckily, Sam and Sophia having never experienced the indulgence of a U.S. Disney park, did not know what they were missing, and they absolutely adored the place. We must have ridden the Buzz Lightyear ride over 40 times and Space Mountain enough to have traveled to Mars and back.



Upon return to Jakarta, it was back to the educational grind, broken by occasional jaunts out of Jakarta. We did a big house party weekend up in the Puncuk, which is a mountain just south of the city. We rented a big house with a pool, and Sam and Sophia spent the entire two days naked, romping in the pool and running around the house. We cooked sausages and marshmallows on the grill, slept with no aircon, and fed grasses to the neighborhood goats. All in all, it was the perfect recipe for a chill-out weekend.

….And Lows

As November reared its head, the rainy season began to dribble raindrops upon our welcoming heads. The stench outside our house had become unbearable; I had to hold my breath every time I approached or left the house. On a fairly normal day near the end of November, our lives were changed forever. We were about to start an all faculty meeting, when our beloved school director was struck down by a massive heart attack and perished before our very eyes. I will not go into details here, but it was a tragic, harrowing and unforgettable experience. I have never been so close to death, especially in the days that followed. As good friends of our director and his wife, we helped settle the affairs over the first few days. I know there must be lists on the internet of what to do when a loved one dies, but we did not even have time to look. Nine days after Buck’s passing, we were joined by friends from all over the region in a memorial service which celebrated, remembered, and honored his wonderful life as a stellar father, inspirational leader, and dear friend, not to mention a kick-ass golfer and hockey player! That evening, we all gathered at a friend’s house to celebrate our coming together, toast Buck, and tell stories. We were reminded of the circle of life, as Leah, our pregnant colleague, got her first birth pangs and set off for the hospital. Fifteen hours later, her son was born. It is truly amazing how life ebbs and flows.

Oh, did I mention that days after Buck passed away, Jared was scheduled to fly to Singapore and run his eighth marathon in as many years? Well, he was, and he did. I accompanied him for the first time in many years and was there at the finish line, to take a picture of a man who looked like he was taking a walk in the park! Seriously, I have infinite respect for this man, my darling husband, who can train in the cesspool we call Jakarta and run a marathon in one of the harshest marathon climates, right on top of the Equator in Singapore. He ran this one in four and a half hours, which was a great time. Two more marathons to go and one of Jared’s life goals will have been reached. Then it will be time to move to a Spanish speaking country, so he can work on goal number two: to become fluent in Spanish!

Back to the Banal

Going back in time a bit, I reflect upon the more ordinary, yet meaningful events over the course of the past six months. For this next image, how I wish you, dear reader, could actually see this in person! Lately, in the malls around town, hedonism seems to have become de rigueur in the form of massage machines. Foot massages, massage chairs, and the most entertaining device: a saddle-like contraption which quivers, vibrates, and shimmies while you sit atop, looking like a satisfied bucking bronco rider. Colorful advertisements featuring beautiful women riding these quivering, shuddering instruments take a backseat to the image of real girls, the Indonesian salesladies and even salesmen, who climb atop and peer down at curious bystanders, looking infinitely content.



A few months back, Sam, who is now six and in Grade 1, lost his first tooth. It became loose on a Thursday, and he wiggled it and wiggled it for about a day and a half until it came out with a tug by brave Daddy. He was so excited, especially when the Tooth Fairy came and left enough money to buy some candy at school the next day. Let’s hope he continues to brush regularly, in order to keep those adult teeth flourishing!



Speaking of teeth, I recently had a tooth go bad on me and had to have an emergency root canal. It was AWFUL, but when I wrote my dentist in the US about the experience, he conceded that emergency root canals the world round are nasty affairs. I returned the next week to have the first part of my crown put on; a scary prospect in any country. Finally, a week after that, I returned to have the final piece inserted. I had to stifle a laugh. I already have one crown, made in America, which set me back over $4000 last summer. This one, with the root canal, cost a mere $500, but as I run my tongue over it, there is really no comparison. The U.S. made crown feels like a normal tooth, whereas the Jakarta-issued molar is quite inferior. The happy news is that the tooth has been pain free for months now.

Back in mid-September, I took a two-day course to get certified to teach yoga to kids. It was hilarious, being with a group of adults, treating each other like 4 year-olds. “Let’s all jump like monkeys” and so forth. Now I am a bona fide yoga instructor of 4-14 year olds, with lots of fun filled moves in my back pocket, along with matching music and visual image stories to enrich each session. I tried out my new skills at a local yoga center with Sam and Sophia among the little yogis. They loved it!

Unfortunately, a few days after this intense course, I woke up one morning with an intensely sore throat. After a few days with an excruciating esophagus, I thought it time to take myself to a doctor of some sort. Jared recommended I try the emergency room at our local hospital. I strode in at 9:00 on a Saturday morning to find the emergency crew sitting and chatting at the desk while watching a bunch of workers clean out the air con units which were spread out all over the emergency area floor. I held my throat and said “Sakit” which is sick. They dropped everything and within 7 minutes I had my vitals taken and the head doctor had looked down my through with an Ace Hardware issued flashlight and declared my throat to be “red”. Three minutes later, I was staring at the medicines assigned my body on a receipt page. Out the door to the cashier – they punched in many buttons and out came the bill….approximately $17 for the visit and the medicines. Off I went to the pharmacy, where they had already ordered my meds. Four minutes later I was out the door. I could not help but compare this experience to the one I would have had in the U.S.. First, they may have laughed me out of town if I arrived in the emergency room with a sore throat. I would have waited for hours to be seen, and the medicines alone would have cost much more than my entire visit did in Jakarta. Anyway, for simple sicknesses like the one (I think) I had, I know that antibiotics will take care of it. For anything more complicated, I fear for the type of care I would get.

Every year, there is massive forest burning on the island of Sumatra. The last time it made the headlines was in 1998, when we still lived in Manila. This year, the bad fires came again. As far as I know, no airports were closed, but the pollution levels were so bad in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore that outdoor events had to be cancelled. In Jakarta, we also felt and breathed the affects. Sophia had a bad asthma attack and had to go to the hospital for emergency help. She was on a nebulizer for a week. “Nebulizer” is still a word underlined in red (not recognized by Microsoft application WORD), but give it a few more years and this machine may become a household word, given the number of children struck down with this awful breathing condition. After about a month of smoky air (added to the already disgustingly foul air in Jakarta), the fires abated and we were back to breathing a bit more freely.

A Dose of the Disgusting

I mentioned the stench outside our house. Each of my blog entries must delve into the day to day disgust I experience living in Kelapa Gading. Interestingly, there was a newspaper spread not so long ago about how Kelapa Gading could be compared to Singapore and is worthy of a visit; a stroll down the long, traffic free boulevards with canals gently flowing brings renewed energy to the soul, yadda, yadda, yadda. Clearly, that journalist was either on heavy hallucinatory drugs or else bribed up the wazoo to be encouraged to write such a tale. In reality, there is less traffic in our area than in downtown Jakarta. There are indeed “Boulevards” which look great on photo paper, but once you begin to walk anywhere, you need to attach the mask to you nose, in order to keep out the unbelievable stink of the waste, pollutants, and decaying matter which can be found filling those lovely canals. The other day, I was crossing one of the foul excuses for a waterway, and saw a local man fishing. Not only is it inconceivable that any living creature can survive in such a putrid environment as one of those canals, but that a human would endeavor to actually consume anything caught in such a place lends a new sense of urgency that we need to address POVERTY now!

Speaking of addressing issues, (did I mention it is 3:00 a.m. as I write this…jet lag has settled in as I sit in a cold, dark room in Virginia, having traveled halfway around the globe to be with family this Christmas season), I recently saw the movie “Inconvenient Truth”, the Al Gore rant about the coming demise of our Earth. I know he is right and it makes me sad. Being back in America, the land of the worst polluters on the planet also makes me sad. What will it take for the average Joe America to WAKE UP and stop consuming!? Thanks to media brainwashing and our insatiable desire to keep up with those elusive Joneses, I fear it will take much more than a simple compelling film which I keep calling “Inconceivable Truth”. Enough soap boxing, but if you are in America, reading this piece, please do your small part to conserve energy, and do not fall for the brain numbing sales hype of each and every unnecessary item you think you yearn for; we can be happy with a fraction of the junk we think we must acquire to be fulfilled. Okay…done. Merry Christmas!

Ah, yes, back to the stench. Have you ever leaned over your sink while brushing your teeth and inhaled strong rotten egg smell? That is my experience every time I rinse at my sink in Jakarta. It is amazing how that smell manages to permeate my bathroom which is filled with lovely soaps, fragrant deodorizers and incense, all battling against the beast that dwells within my pipes. When I shower, it smells like the green slime is pouring out of the aforementioned canals over my…. well, I think you get the idea…. Now it may sound like I am complaining (which I actually am), but we really do enjoy our lives here in lovely Kelapa Gading (remember, our boulevards are among the most lovely in Southeast Asia!). Without these extremes, I would really have nothing to write about. Also, I am in perfect shape to become a contestant on Fear Factor; rats, roaches, slimy waters….bring them on!

Here’s a good one: Sam and I were sitting out in front of our house one afternoon, holding our breath, of course, to avoid inhaling the foul odors of the gutter which runs in front of the house, when Sam saw a rat skitter by. “Oh”, he exclaimed, “Mom, that was a pretty small one!”. Indeed it WAS a fairly small critter, compared to the cat eating monster rats we usually see sauntering down the streets at all hours. I have taken to walking down the middle of the road, so as to avoid encounter with these city dwellers. Luckily, they have stayed away from our house for months now, or else have learned to tiptoe about, as I have not heard them dancing above my head in the ceiling for ages. I would love to say I miss the pitter patter of the rodents, but I do not…..

So now it is almost 4 a.m. and the micro brewed beer I have just consumed is making me sleepy, at last. I shall put this away for now and post my tales in the morning. I wish any and all readers a joyous holiday….remember, joy can be found in the smallest details… a “winter collection” of dried leaves and pine needles, the joy of brushing teeth over a stench-free sink, a simple cup of hot chocolate. Be thankful for what you have and for your loved ones. Enjoy; every moment you have is precious!