I’ve not heard anything from Jackson’s teacher or homeroom mom about Halloween festivities at school this year – no reminder to wear Halloween costumes and no request for candy. It turns out that Halloween is not celebrated at our school here. No costume parades or parties. Assuming that we would have a party at school, I stocked up on treat bags, bought treats, and made these cute little tags. Since I’m already prepared, I’ll just send in the little treats for the class to take home. Each pack has an American candy, a Halloween sticker, and a Halloween ‘punch’ balloon.
And fortunately, we have other opportunities to celebrate this very American holiday over the next few days…so lots more fun to look forward to!
We spent Saturday morning at the Jakarta History Museum. Jackson’s favorites were the prisons. One prison for the women and one for the men. The women’s prison was smaller, with no windows. The men’s prison was larger, and with barred windows.
My favorites were the furniture and textiles.
It was a fun morning and then we went to a local historic restaurant called Batavia. We cooled off in the air conditioning and had fresh squeezed orange juice and a fried noodle dish to share. It was delicious, but I was envious of those who ordered the almond croissants. They were huge and fluffy and looked fabulous! Some folks in our group ordered coconut water – in the coconuts!
It was Uniting Nations week at school. Everyone was asked to bring in a food item that represented their home country, to share with their classmates.
Tollhouse Chocolate chip cookies are my ‘go-to’, so after stumbling through the neighbor treats, I felt ready. We also had rice crispy treats, deviled eggs, and pumpkin muffins from the other Americans in his class.
In my attempt at learning Adobe Illustrator, I studied a lot of tutorials, downloaded some ‘assets’, and whipped up this map of the United States, with a few of Jackson’s favorite things. I think it turned out so cute. The cookies were a hit. And Jackson was so happy that I was able to join the potluck. It was a really nice day.
We got up and out the door early on a Saturday morning for Jackson to try out baseball. We found his group and he joined right in. Everything was in Bahasa (the local language), but he managed and actually made a friend. While they waited in line for their turn to run, catch, or throw, they fooled around – giving each other High Fives and such.
Baseball in Bahasa
After two hours in the heat and humidity and waiting for what seemed like forever for his turn, we finally headed out, unsure of whether we would return. We decided not to make a decision that day, as we were both feeling pretty worn out. We’ll go back one more time and decide if we are going to become a baseball family. Here, the sports go year-round. So, there is not a baseball season and then a soccer season. If we join, we are ‘all in’.
Hot and sweaty, we hopped into a taxi and went straight to a dumpling making class! (Well, Jackson sat in the other room playing video games while attended class.)
It was so much fun! We stuffed and rolled and folded each dumpling with loving care. We packaged ours to bring home and enjoyed the professionally made ones – hot out of the steamer. She had a variety of chicken, shrimp, and pork dumplings for us to sample – and lots of sauces too.
They lady giving the classes lived in the U.S. for a few years before returning to Indonesia. She was full of personality and shared her story of how she started and is now continuing to grow her business. We all left feeling good: with full tummies and the knowledge that we supported a female entrepreneur.
It has been around 90 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity almost every day. We have a few dehumidifiers at home that need to be emptied several times a day.
We are happy in our house, although it is still quite empty. Our shipments are not expected to arrive for weeks, if not months. I have a full-sized refrigerator as well as an upright freezer. I am thankful to have a full-sized oven, with a gas stove top. Jackson and I made chocolate chip cookies this weekend, to welcome new neighbors. It was a bit of a challenge without measuring cups, a mixer, or cookie sheets…but we managed – and the cookies came out delicious! (This was a service project for cub scouts)
Cookies to welcome our new neighbors
Many things here are ‘app-driven’ – from ordering a taxi to having groceries delivered, so I’ve been working to set up all the apps on my phone. I’ve even worked out how to transfer money so that I don’t have to carry so much cash with me. At the office, I scan a QR code with my phone and pay for coffee or lunch automatically. It’s pretty cool! I’ve even ordered Starbucks and McDonalds on the app, and they delivered right to my door – and the cups are sealed with plastic, so no drinks are spilled!
McDonalds Delivered!
The traffic really is as bad as they say it is – especially when it rains! It took 3 hours to travel 7 miles! Taxis were stuck in the traffic, so there were none available to pick me up. I ended up taking a tuk tuk to a local mall, hoping the taxis would be more plentiful. They were not. It was an experience that I do not wish to repeat any time soon! A few days later, I heard that children were stuck on the school bus for hours in the traffic. Luckily, Jackson was not one of them.
Tuk Tuk in the rain
Overall, things are going well. We are finding our way and starting to feel settled.
We’d just arrived in Indonesia and I jumped in a bit prematurely to join this hike. We needed to pack our lunch and provide negative Covid antigen test results before joining the group. For anyone else, that doesn’t seem too challenging, but our cupboards were bare, and I did not bring any antigen tests in our suitcases.
Well, I was able to download an app that would deliver some bread and fruit to the house so I could pack a lunch.
Finding the test kits proved to be a bit more challenging. I asked at work and they did not have extras for personal use. I asked the house helper to purchase them while I was at work. She advised that she could not purchase them without a passport. Time was running out and someone suggested using another app to order the test kits and to have them delivered to the house, or I could book a clinic to come to the house and test us. I could not get the app to work. I was out of energy and did not want to deal with trying to book a clinic to come to the house. I do not speak the local language, and it was about 7pm the night before the hike. I finally cried UNCLE and called to cancel our plans. I’m still not sure if I was lucky or unlucky, but the person organizing the hike had extra test kits and had her driver deliver them to me! We were back in the game!
Up and out the door at 5:30am on a Saturday morning, we met at the rendezvous point for a 6am departure. 2.5 hours later, we arrived at the other end, to meet our guides. We used the ‘toilet’…Jackson’s first experience with a ‘squatty potty’! We stretched, re-boarded the bus and made our way to the starting point. Water and walking sticks were distributed. There was a mention that there might be a McDonald’s at the end of the trail, so the kids were awake and ready to hike.
Over little bamboo bridges, up stony hills, past the Indonesian military doing their drills, an hour and a half later, we made it to the top of the mountain. The intrepid adventurers continued down the other side of the mountain and were rewarded with views of a lovely waterfall. (I was not one of them…and stayed on top of the mountain with the park ranger and the bees)
The pack leader led Jackson back up the mountain to me (apparently some of the bees stayed with him), and we headed back to the cars, while the others splashed around in the river for a bit.
It was just as challenging going down the slippery stones as it was climbing up. Jackson slipped and busted his knee while fighting off the bees. We encountered the Indonesian military hiding in the bushes at several junctions. I’m sure they had a good laugh as we poked our way out of their jungle.
Owie!Indonesian Military in the jungle with us
After the hike, the parents popped into a coffee shop for a boost to survive the 3-hour journey home. I stayed on the bus with a sleeping kid (not mine), but I’m told they had to pay to enter the coffee shop and there were familiar toilets available! I did get an iced coffee, and it was just like Starbucks!
We met up with our ‘escort’ that helped us navigate the horrendous traffic on the way back into Jakarta. It was still a three-hour journey and I can’t imagine what the trip would have been like without our escort!
This was really hard, but we did it!! (and in case you were wondering, there was NO McDonald’s on the mountain.)
Mount Salak (Indonesian: Gunung Salak, Sundanese: Gunung Salak) is an eroded volcano in West Java, Indonesia. It has several satellite cones on its southeast flank and the northern foot, along with two additional craters at the summit. Mount Salak has been evaluated for geothermal power development.[1] According to a popular belief, the name “Salak” is derived from salak, a tropical fruit with scaly skin; however, according to Sundanese tradition, the name was derived from the Sanskrit word Salaka which means “silver“. Mount Salak can be translated to “Silver Mountain” or “Mount Silver”.
Daddy turned 80 the week after Josh turned 30, so Mom and I organized a surprise virtual celebration.
We set up the link in Google Meets and tested a few times with Aunt Darlene before we had the invitations finalized.
We pulled out the old photos and picked a few and went to Etsy to create the invitation.
Birthday invitation
We then found a cool poster on Etsy from the same seller.
Party Poster
I then went to Staples.com and had the poster mounted on posterboard. (Unfortunately, there was not option to pick it up at the store.) Delivery was scheduled, but did not arrive in time for the celebration. I might not use them again, or would order farther in advance.
My oldest brother and I went in on a flower and balloon bouquet, so dad would have some decorations in the background of his virtual celebration. I ordered those online through the local florist, and scheduled delivery for his special day. I also put a bag of balloons in my suitcase, as I was likely going to be away for his actual birthday.
Mom and I picked up an apple pie at Sam’s Club and I ordered huge golden 80 candles from Amazon.
For his gift, I ordered a Storyworth subscription. For one year, he will receive weekly prompts to write about his life and memories, and at the end of the year, he will receive a hard bound book with all of his stories printed out.
For the actual event, I had just arrived in Indonesia. I pulled the balloons from my suitcase and inflated them before I called (on Google Meets!) to wish my dad a Happy Birthday. We were chatting away when the other guests started to pop onto the screen! He was so surprised. Everyone chatted and mom pulled out the apple pie and lit the candles. It really was a huge success, and my dad was so happy to be able to celebrate his special day, even with everyone so far away.
Josh turned 30 this year. I decided to make him a ‘this is your life’ video for his birthday.
This was no easy task for someone as technologically challenged as I am.
I rounded up all of my SIM cards and imported them to the computer.
I went through all of my printed photos and scanned about 100 of them. Unfortunately, I did not do a good job at putting dates on the photos…so I did my best to guess the correct order!
I photographed photos that were already pasted into scrapbooks.
Attempting to use the mini dvds from a Sony Handycam, I found that they would not play on the computer. I even ordered an external DVD reader, but I ended up having to download something called VLC Media Player, which was only able to read about half of my discs.
I recently heard of a service called LegacyBox and decided to give them a try. You mail in your old video tapes/reel to reel videos, and they digitize them. I placed my order online, and they sent me a box to put my media into with bar code labels to help keep track of everything sent. I mailed off (from Vilnius) a box of 17 miniature video cassettes, and within a few weeks, I received the digital files. (and a few weeks later, I received my tapes back.)
I shared a few of the files with family. A video of Josh and Jerry when they were around 3-5 years old making (and decorating!) a cake for their great grandma, who is no longer with us, had us laughing and crying!
I had to laugh while watching Josh open a Brittany Spears CASSETTE TAPE, that was in his Easter basket. He was so excited to receive it! (I don’t know that kids these days know what those are!)
And then while watching him at Christmas, I heard the FILM rewind in a 35mm camera that was being used. I can’t remember when I last heard that sound!
After gathering all of my resources, I then had to learn how to use Adobe Premiere Pro to string everything together into a video! I worked on this for over four months, and it was really challenging, but I got it finished in time for his birthday. And it brought him to tears.
Mission accomplished!
Happy 30th Birthday Josh!
photo of a scrapbook pageScreenshot of a video: Baking a cake for Great Grandmaa scanned photo of Josh at Disneyworld!at the Grand CanyonRafting in NepalSkiing in ItalyPremiere Pro! (learning this was HARD – but I did it!)
