NEW DIGS, AND A RUDE AWAKENING

Dearest Friends,

Sometime in October of '75, when we'd been in our little beach bungalow about four months, John came home with some surprising news.  It's kinda funny when I think about it now, but almost every day since we got married, I have greeted John with a question like "What's new at work?", or asked him to tell me about his day.  When we are living stateside, getting a response from him is like pulling teeth.  And, even if he does respond, it's rarely anything of great import to me.  When you live overseas, however, on a company compound, it's a whole different ball of wax.  Almost every decision made ends up affecting your life in one way or another.  So, from that point on, whenever John walked through the door saying "You won't believe what happened today!", I couldn't help but hold my breath, until I discovered whether it was to be a good thing, or not.

 

This time, thank goodness, the news was very good.  B&R had finally managed to lease a block of townhouses in Cilegon, as well as a few larger, freestanding homes, from one of the other companies that was doing business in the area, and we were to get one of the townhouses!  I was going to miss being right on the beach, but at least we could still drive out to Anyer on John's day off if we wished, and I was sooooo ready to live in a real house, with a real kitchen, and more than one room!

The little atrium in the center of our townhouse, and Miss Becky in the kitchen.

Best of all, my social circle would be expanding dramatically.  Not only would B&R be bringing in more families now, we would also get to meet people who worked for other companies in the area.  We could go to Bingo Night with the Brits, who served mince pies as refreshments, and called out funny things like "Lucky Legs Eleven!"  I would even be invited to join a ladies' card group, where we were served a proper tea while we played a game called Whist, but where we always ended the afternoon with a wee drop of Sherry.  Yep, things were definitely looking up!

Three of the Brits.

One day I was visiting with several of the Brits and a couple of ladies from Louisiana.  We were discussing one lady's cute Cajun accent, when somehow the subject turned to my accent.  "What accent?  I don't have an accent."  Dead silence.  "Do I?"  "Bwa ha ha ha ha!", they all burst out in unison.