PEL Olympics

Pattimura Elementary School (PEL) is holding PEL Olympics this week. From Grade 1 to 5, each grade is assigned a color - red, green blue, black and yellow. Grade 3 is red. Kindergarteners are assigned to wear white. At the opening ceremony on Monday, kids formed 5 rings, representing the 5 colors of the Olympics flag. Kindergarteners carried a huge Olympics flag. Unfortunately, Blogspot.com has problems uploading pictures so I'm not able to share pictures with everyone. But it was a really nice ceremony with class parade, athelet pledge, torch relay, music, etc.

The third graders had their events yesterday and I was a parent volunteer to keep scores. I was really proud that Elizabeth was the only girl in her class to jump over 0.80 m. in high jump, although she is the 2nd shortest. She also had the highest long jump score among the girls, and ranked 2nd in 800 meters. Kindergarteners won't have their own events, and I'm not sure how Eddy will react by end of this week. At least, he'll have swimming class this afternoon.

Homework, Extracurriculum Activities, etc.

Homework starts to kick in. Elizabeth brings home every Friday a letter to us, telling us what she did during the week. We're supposed to write a letter back so she can read on Monday. Eddy made a book, titled "When I Was A Baby". So I was scrambling to find his baby pictures - our desktop that has all the pictures will be delivered tomorrow. Here're a few that I found from other sources.

There're a lot of after-school activities, but it seems that our kids are only interested in swimming. The school offers free music and string classes, but Elizabeth shows no interest in them. I'm wondering where she got that gene from.

Finally, I got kids accepted to Blue Dolphin, a parent-run swimming school on JIS Pattimura Campus. Both kids are in the intermediate class. Their first lesson is August 28. I'll take some pictures and upload them. These swimming classes are an addition to what is required by the school for PE class, which has a swimming component. I can't see our kids will become starts like Michael Phelps, but at least they'll learn styles.

More School & Kids Pictures

The Campus
Ball Field
Ball Field & Playground
Elizabeth can't wait to go to school.
Eddy feels empowered and ready to make a great shot at school.

First Day at School

August 7 was the kids' first day at school. At 5:45am, Eddy was all changed and wanted to get going. I had no idea when they woke up that day. From Eddy's dark eyebags, I figured they probably got up at 5:30am. At 6:15am, the kids put on their schoolbags, although the school bus wouldn't come until 7:05am. They were really excited about going to school, particularly after visiting the campus the day before.

Although the school is 100 yards away, it took the schoolbus 15 minutes to arrive. Ted and I walked over and waited them at the gate. Eddy was surprised that how we could arrived ahead of the bus. He didn't seem to remember how to get to his classroom, so we walked him over. Elizabeth took off immediately.

Later that day, Elizabeth sent me an email, claiming that she had lots of fun at school. Apparently, her classroom is equipped with the ONLY comfy couch in the entire school. Her teacher, Mr. Kerr, is a very popular teacher. He brings cookies for kids every Friday. Eddy told me the day was too long and he wanted to sleep. If I get up at 5:30am, I would want a nap at 2pm, too.

The kids would have several special classes. Elizabeth has art, PE, music, library research, Bahasa Indonesia and computer. Eddy has the same special classes except Bahasa. But he will start Bahasa next school year as a First Grader. Go, kids, go!

the school

We just came back from an open house at JIS Pattimura campus, which is literally steps away from our house. PTA volunteers gave us a tour to the campus and we met with Elizabeth's teacher, Mr. Kerr. He is a really fun and energetic teacher, and he assured Elizabeth that she'll have the best year ever in his class. Eddy will be in Mrs. Sunny's kindergartener class.

Both kids loved the campus, and were very excited to visit all the special classrooms, and the facilities. There's a theater, an large indoor gym, an outdoor 6-lane swimming pool, a bright cafeteria, a huge grassy playground, a music room for grades 1-5, an art room (G1-5), a library with good selection of books, and a computer lab. The school also offers language/speech therapy, psychological assistance and ESL services to students whose first language is not English. Eddy will have his art and music classes in his classroom. Kindergarteners also have their OWN playground at the back of their classrooms. As part of the PE curriculum, all students are required to take swimming class unless they're sick. This is the best news for our kids! As they can already swim, there're extra-curriculum swimming classes for them to take.

I should especially mention how well the kids behaved during the open house. They have been so bored at home this summer. This morning was such an eye-opening and exciting 'field trip' for them. Elizabeth kept saying, "I'm so excited. This is really awesome." Eddy just wanted to jump in the pool right away. Tomorrow is the first day of school. We'll see how the kids will do in their new school.

friends from afar

Last week, Hailey and Ashley came to visit. They now live in Japan. Elizabeth and Hailey spent their first 2 years in Korea together, and just saw each other once after we left Korea. It seems that they picked up their friendship where they left, and they clicked as soon as Hailey stepped in. The girls staged a fashion show and a talent show -- see Hailey and Ashley in Elizabeth's clothes :) Eddy didn't want to be left out so he followed Ashley's instruction to change his clothes and wear a pair of sunglasses. Hailey is the perfect organizer and she got EVERYONE in the house to watch their shows. It's amazing how long the kids could entertain us, even with repeated programs. The big girls made up wrote songs themselves (yeah, lyrics and music), and Eddy did, "Ninja, Ninja, why can you fight" (he also wrote the lyrics). Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to make video from my Nikon D40x so there're only still pictures.

Oh, mango, mango

After our discovery of the mango tree, my parents couldn't sit tight for 10 minutes at a time. They kept opening the backdoor to check out the tree, hoping that mangos will parachute one night (see the mango pictures above). In order to prevent unforseeable neck injury from looking up the tall mango tree, yesterday I asked Ibu Tinah to plant some papaya seeds in the backyard so my parents can watch them grow from the GROUND. When Ibu Tinah was digging in the backyard, a gardener saw her and took over the mission. He planted the papaya seeds in 4 different spots and told me that the seeds will germinate in 2 weeks, and the tree will bear fruit in 3 months!!! Of course, I only understood the dua minggu (2 weeks) and tiga bulan (3 months) part. He also said that I could ask him to plant anything I want because it's my backyard. Well, not really mine forever, but for the next 3 years.

What's surprising me was that Ibu Tinah walked in 15 minutes later with 6 beautiful mangos from the tree (see the 3rd picture above, minus the sweet potatoes in the back). The gardener climbed up the tree and picked them for my parents so I don't have to pay hospital bills for their potential neck injury. To thank the gardener, I asked Ibu Tinah to buy some cigarette and coffee for the gardener. Well, the real intention is that I have bigger projects in mind since the gardener said I could ask him to help any time. I want to have the pebble stones removed from my front yard and grow some herbs. Those pebble stones are there because the previous occupant of the house that we live in wanted those compound cats (cats with no owners) to have a decent place to release themselves, hence adding stones and sand. Can't blame him since those cats are really cute. But since we could barely feed ourselves during the first week in Jakarta, those cats no longer hang around our house, and probably have found a better 'bathroom' with more sand. I think it's time to remove their previous 'bathroom'. Don't know if they have left plenty organic fertilizer in our front yard. We will know the answer after we have some seeds planted.

On a separate note, Eddy has become such a good swimmer that he wants to show off his skill of holding breath in the bathtub. He has also developed a new hobby - photography. He couldn't wait to take pictures of me. Of course, I can't let my age show in his photos so I edited it before posting. Hope he'll become a good photographer soon.

The Compound

These are a few pictures of our house exterior (front), the playground and some beautiful tropical flowers. All houses in the compound look like ours. There's almost no backyard except space for compressers for air conditioners and gas canisters for cooking. But it's well landscaped. Every two houses share a car port and a gate. The compound is relatively quiet but we can hear some traffic at night, and people praying at 4:30am from a nearby mosque.

I just discovered today that the huge tree in our tiny backyard is mango tree!!! It's about 30 meters tall, towering above our house. I claimed there were 2 mangos up there. My parents looked at it and said that my eyes must have some problem. They found tons of mangos hanging above. I'll upload some pictures tomorrow to show that they are right!

Our House

We're currently in our temporary house. Since it's 'temporary', no make-ready was done. However, we found it much more livable than the permanent house we first got in India, or at least, the house was clean. Despite that there was no rain for a whole month, the floor is always clean. Believe me, if it's dirty, everyone's feet would tell you that since all houses in Indonesia are shoe-less houses.

The pictures above pretty much show what it looks like on the first floor. there's also a half bath near the foyer, and a maid's quarters and another full bath for live-in maid on the first floor. On the second floor, there're 4 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms. We don't have a live-in maid so there's extra space for storage.

Since we don't know when our permanent house will be ready, we might choose to stay here for the next 3 years. The location of our current house is perfect - close to the school, shopping areas, and work. The only down side is that there're no kids of Elizabeth's age so it'll be a little tough for her. Eddy's got a few 5-year-old boys to play with in this compound so we barely see him during the day.

Got the call

I received the call on Wednesday to join the State Department Junior Officer training class in September. Previously, I was planning to enter the program on a later date because I need several months to help the kids settle in completely, finish the move to our permanent house (sometime in October/November), and help USAID mission in Jakarta with a couple of projects. With the new development, everything needs to be changed. I've started to tell the kids about my travel plans and it doesn't seem to bother them that I'll be away for months.

I've decided to accept the offer, because not only this timing would be my best bet to get posted back here with Ted next summer, but also a dream finally came true. Soon after I was naturalized, I started to prepare myself for the test. After several failures of written test and one oral assessment, I finally passed both tests this year. It would be pretty insane to let go the opportunity. However, the timing of the class isn't ideal so I didn't fall off the chair like many other candidates when I received the invitation. One thing I can think positively is that we have a really nice pembantu, Ibu Tinah. I feel that I can totally trust her to take care of the kids and manage the house while I'm away.

So, if all goes according to the plan, I'll see many of you back in DC in September!!!

Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

On our 5th day in Jakarta, we went to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Beautiful Mini Indonesia Park) that was open to the public in 1975 with $26 million of investment. The park is about 15 km from Jakarta, and it took us a little over 40 minutes. The Lonely Planet book says that Ibu Tien Soeharto conceived the idea of building the miniature park with a full-size house from each province. But I was told that a few students of architecture major came up with this idea first. Since I'm not a historian, I'll leave this for history buffs to debate.

Our friends Cathy and John generously offered their car and driver to us while they were on vacation, so I thought it's a good idea to see the miniature Indonesia before I make travel plans for the next 3 years. The park is huge - 100 hectares. I was trying to walk through the park, but Pak Datong, the driver, persuaded me to give up the idea. Well, if it were just Ted and I, we could have walked through the park. But with my parents and the kids, Pak Datong's suggestion made more sense. What surprised me most was the Chinese archway that is still under construction (see the last photo above). Once upon a time, ethic Chinese were not allowed to learn Chinese language and keep their Chinese names. And now, a symbol of the Chinese culture is under construction in this park. I also saw quite a few billboards of Chinese language schools in south Jakarta.

In the park, there is also a monument (first picture) commemorating the Non-Aligned Movement as the late Indonesian President Sukarno was one of the founding leaders of the movement, together with Jawaharlal Nehru of India, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia (from Wikipedia).

I'll try to make as many day trips as possible before school starts on August 7. Tomorrow, Elizabeth will take a placement test at the International School. We'll see how it goes. Eddy's test is scheduled for next week.

Learning Bahasa Indonesia

On our second day in Jakarta, I got a few names of Indonesian tutors from HR and started to call them. I was very lucky to get a really good tutor from REALIA, Pak Iskander. I was planning in the beginning to take 12 hours of language class with him, but soon found out that it was too ambitious. So, I cut it back to 6 hours a week. Pak Iskander comes to my house to teach me 4 times a week.

As everyone told me, Bahasa Indonesia is not very difficult. But when it comes to usage of formal and informal words, it does get complicated. I'm supposed to use proper words depending on who I'm speaking with. But I guess since Indonesians can tell immediately that Saya bukan Orang Indonesia (I'm not an Indonesian), they'll forgive me if I don't use the proper format. Several pembantus in the compound were very surprised last week when I started to speak to them in Bahasa Indonesia, and claimed that Bahasa Indonesia saya bagus (My Indonesian is good).

Pak Iskander planned to take me to a nearby mosque tomorrow to interview 5 people. I successfully negotiated it down to tiga orang (3 people). Bargaining is essential here, even with my tutor.

Terima kasih & Sampai jumpa!

Arrived in Jakarta

After spending 3 wonderful days in Hong Kong - eating, shopping, sightseeing, and seeing a typhoon come and go, we arrived in Jakarta on June 26. Our sponsor, Kristie, picked us up from the airport. Our temporary house is a 2-level townhouse with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2 living rooms and a sizable dining room and a kitchen. There's also a maid's quarter but we don't have a live-in maid.

The first thing I did after dropping off luggage was grocery shopping. There are a couple of Giant-type supermarkets as well as upscale shopping malls within walking distance from our residence. During the past 2 weeks, my parents, who never walked to a store by themselves in the U.S., have founded several short-cuts from our house to Grandlucky, a large supermarket where we can find just about everything we need. They also found a traditional local market in a neighborhood close to us. One day, they went out, exchanged $20 near Grandlucky (I couldn't figure out how they communicated with people), and came home with sweet potatoes and such. Truly adventureous - more so than they were in the States.

It seems that local people spend more money as a proportion of their salary on grocery than us. Our pembantu (maid), Ibu Tinah, spends about 500,000 Rupiah monthly on food and her daughter's schooling. Public school is free here so I guess she meant anything other than tuition. That is a third of her salary. But rent is relatively cheap. She spends 350,000 rupiah on rent for the first floor of a house, including a living room, a small kitchen and a small bath, and a large bedroom. The owner of the house lives on the second floor. Unfortunately, Ibu Tinah's place was flooded twice in the past 5 years and many of her limited belongings were washed away.

We get spoiled quickly -- Ibu Tinah cooks, cleans, washes and irons and sometimes shops for us at local markets. She is a very sweet and quiet lady and we all like her.

Our air shipment has been here for more than 2 weeks but we can't get it. There is a lengthy process here to clear our shipment. However, I am (trying to be) optimistic that we can get it delivered in the next 3 weeks. So now, we've living on bare minimum. We'll have friends in town next week but we can't have them stay with us - there aren't any beddings and bed for them. What a shame!

But all in all, we really like living in Jakarta. Eddy and Elizabeth love the pool. They dive tirelessly each time we're at the club. There're a lot of good restaurants we can walk to. Most restaurants in shopping malls are Chinese and Japanese, but the most crowded ones are Wendys and McDonalds. Go figure.