OUR BAGS ARE PACKED, BUT ARE WE READY TO GO?

Dearest Friends,

The last of our straggling birthday and Christmas packages from the states finally arrived in early February.  A good thing, since that's when we received a telex from the office in Bahrain.  They had a position for John, and they wanted him there by April 1st.  What is more, they wanted us to go ahead and take our annual month-long home leave before we got there.  I did the math in my head, and when I realized that meant we only had three or four weeks left in Indonesia, I almost collapsed.  Yes, I was excited about possibly going back to work, meeting new people, and furnishing our first real home, but was I really ready to leave this place, and these people, forever?  I'd only been here eight months, and there was so much I'd yet to see and do!  Though John had been there once, before we got married, I'd still never been to Bali!  Imagine living in Indonesia, and never even going to Bali.  Heck, I never even made it out of Cilegon!

I. Plays Host

The next few weeks were a mad blur of taking inventory (how did we ever accumulate so much, in such a short period of time?), cleaning out trunks, and in deciding what needed to be sent ahead in our air freight shipment (I ask you, which is more important, cooking equipment or electronics?), what needed to be bought in Singapore and sent by sea, what we would need to pack in our suitcases in order to get by during our month of travel, and what could be given away.  If only I'd known how many times I'd have to go through this throughout our marriage, would we have bought so much stuff? (my hubby would give a resounding "Yes!") Would we have let ourselves get that close to people, that fast? (less and less with every move)  Oh yes, and there were parties to be attended!  Lots and lots of parties!

Kicking back with I & I, after an amazing good-bye dinner.

The movers came to pack up our air shipment (we never could agree, so we sent a little of each) on the 19th.  On the 24th Miss F. had a big luncheon for all the women, as a going away for me, and a welcoming for Miss P., who'd just finally returned.  On the 25th there was a pizza dinner at Young S's house, and on the 27th we went to an unbelievable dinner at the home of I&I.  If I'd known what an amazing cook she was, I would have been hanging out at her place every day, to see what I could learn! Ere then, I had no clue that some people actually heated their dinner plates in the oven, before placing the food on them, and chilled their salad plates!  And that dessert!  I remember it to this day: multiple thin layers of crunchy-sweet meringue, with pillows of whipped cream and syrupy fruit sandwiched between!  Oh, and the soundtrack I still hear from this? It's definitely Gloria Gaynor.  I & I were mad for Gloria Gaynor.  On the 28th one of the bachelors, Infamous A., actually cooked dinner for us (equally impressive in its own way) then had the entire community over for a party afterwards.

The next day the packers came to get the rest of our stuff, and I went to card club for the very last time.  They had a special prize for me, even though I didn't win that day -- a small brass paperweight, shaped like one of the little green lizards that watched over my bed that very first night in Indonesia, and which I'd eventually grown rather fond of.

 The following morning we were delighted to find that I. had sent his air conditioned car and driver to take us all the way to Jakarta, where we would then catch a plane to Singapore.  Much better than being on one of those VW busses, I assure you, but hard to appreciate when I was so distracted by thoughts of what I was leaving behind.  What if I never saw any of these people again?  What if I never, ever lived anyplace near as beautiful as this again?  Had I made the most of my time while I was here?  For three hours, I listen to the soundtrack in my head - Gloria Gaynor singing Never Can Say Good-Bye...