A CHRISTMAS CARD, AND THE PINEWOOD LESSON

Cards must be ordered rather early when you live halfway 'round the world,
so I had to use a photo from the previous year.

From our 12/93 Christmas Card:

Dear George & Theda,

Only 12 more days! If you get a mystery package delivered from Spiegel, it's from us. Lex and I made a really neat gingerbread house with see-through candy windows, that you place a candle behind. Austin and John are making a pinewood derby car for Cub Scouts. I finally finished quilting my beautiful new tree skirt, then promptly covered it up with a mound of presents! (what was I thinking?) Found a cook and decided to give it a try, just for the fun of it -- she starts tomorrow. Tuesday night is the kid's big Christmas party with Santa -- Lex finally gets to be one of the elves! School lets out Friday at noon, and we are having 16 for dinner, Poker (for the guys) and Bunco (for the gals) that night.

This very happy elf-girl is holding a somewhat faded elf doll that my family always put out each Christmas when I was a kid,
and whose outfit was almost identical to hers!

Love,
Becky

About that Pinewood Derby. Well, this was the first one we'd ever participated in, and we are firm believers in being there to answer questions and assist with the hazardous parts of our kids' projects, but never directing or outright doing it for them. So John let Austin design and paint his own car, which had a shape that resembled the modern, sleeker version of a VW bug. He was over the moon about it. John and I both started getting nervous as soon as we walked through the door, and discovered that every other car there was shaped like a simple flat wedge of cheese. If you are a parent, then you know what it was like to watch Austin being deflated like a pricked balloon, and having to work harder and harder to fight back the tears and quivering lip with each successive race. Ahhh, life's lessons can really suck sometimes!

PERTH WITH PALS: THE FESTIVAL

Dearest Friends,

Shortly after arriving in Perth, we discovered that we'd got there just in time for the Fremantle Festival -- Australia's longest running festival (2012 will be its 107th year!). The festival is named for Fremantle Harbour, "port of Perth", and the Fremantle area is a tourist mecca known for its art, culture, cafes and of course, shopping -- just what we had come for!

What a great way to begin our Aussie adventure!

LETTERS HOME: W. SUMATRA WRAP-UP

25th November, 1993

Dear Folks,

Just have time for a quick note since I want to hand this off to someone who is leaving for the states in the morning. Mom, would you please share yours with the Dallas gang and pass the photos around? Seems like I've been gone most of November, and although I really enjoyed Bukit Tinggi and Perth, it's awfully good to be home -- especially since I can officially start decorating for Christmas tomorrow! Bukit Tinggi was so fascinating. Believe it or not, it's actually quite clean up there! And cool, too, since it's up in the hills. Each little village has its own special craft, so we visited one where they all weave beautiful cloth with gold threads, another where they are all silver smiths, another where they craft brass irons and musical instruments, etc. The flowers were unbelievable. Every house, no matter how poor, had gorgeous gardens and window boxes. The most unusual thing about it was that the Minangkebau people are a matrilineal society. Everything, including the family name, is passed from mother to daughter, and the men don't own a thing! Brilliant, no? I'm not sure how they reconcile that with being Muslim, though. Our area of Indonesia is the antithesis of everything we saw in W. Sumatra. It is the most fanatically Muslim area in all of Indonesia, and for some reason, that seems to discourage beauty and creativity. (Note: all photos here are from W. Sumatra. Perth photos will follow.)

One of the underground tunnels left by the Japanese in WWII

When I returned from the trip on Saturday evening, John was pretty frazzled. The kids from the Medan school were up here for an exchange week-end, and they had assigned four little Malaysian girls to stay at our house! Luckily, we still had our temporary cook then, because they all had to have special diets. I was only home for six days before we headed off to Australia. Perth was wonderful, but one week in Australia just isn't nearly enough! I'm afraid we concentrated on all the typical touristy things, including a good bit of time at K-Mart and Target! While I was there, though, I did pick up a book about home-stays in eastern Australia. It includes everything from B&Bs to sheep stations in the outback. I just hope we get a chance to go back some day.

I'm really sorry that everyone has had such a hard time getting through on the phone. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about it though. Mom, thanks so much for getting that book for me to instruct Alexis on communion with. We will start after Christmas. How much do I owe you for the book and postage? Is Dad's knee any better? We nearly died laughing at one of your answers on my "Christmas Memories" questionnaire. Modie's special Christmas dishes were dates and prune whip? Well, no wonder Dad had to teach himself to cook at such an early age!

Theda, how was your Thanksgiving with Betty, and the trip to Roswell? Hope you had a good time. Has Taz tried to pull down the Christmas tree yet?

Laura and Ruth got pulled on stage to participate in a cultural performance we attended. The native dancers are all barefoot. Wonder how often they get their toes stomped by clumsy tourists?

Prisi, how was Steve's wedding? Did everyone wear black and orange? When you described Megan's first visit home from college, it reminded me of a Donna Reed episode I once saw, where Shelly Fabares did exactly the same thing!

Guess that's all for now. We're about out of Kool-Aid here, and I couldn't find any in Singapore, so if anyone would stick one little package of the pre-sweetened variety (any flavor) in their next letter, we would be eternally grateful!

ARTISANAL

Dearest Friends,

To reach Bukittinggi by road was a 90 km trip, with a gradual climb to about 930 meters above sea level. It lies near Mount Marapi, which was formed by a still-active volcano. After leaving Singapore during WWII, the Japanese made this their headquarters, and left behind quite a network of underground bunkers and tunnels. The town had its origins in five villages that served as the basis for a marketplace, which might account for the many artists and craftsmen in the area. These are just a few of those we visited.

Here you are probably seeing the seeds of what was to become this blogging obsession of mine, for I seem to remember that while all my friends were busy collecting souvenirs, I was more concerned with collecting memories -- taking photos and trying to remember as much as I could, so that I could share it all in my letters home. Kind of funny when you think about it, seeing as I probably have just about the only hubby in the world who is actually disappointed, if not down-right irritated, when I come home from a shopping excursion empty-handed!

WEST SUMATRA: FIRST LEG

Dearest Friends,

In order to reach W. Sumatra, we had to first take the company plane to Medan, and from there we took a commercial flight to Padang. My friend Jane, who is British, brought "sticky buns" for the journey, Carol brought rugelach, and of course, we all brought our Shanghai bags -- little purses holding the coins we used to play our favorite card game.

Being the capital city of the province, Padang was fairly cosmopolitan, and our hotel surprisingly luxurious. Have I ever mentioned how much I adore hotels with open-air lobbies in tropical surroundings?

They should have called us The Belly Bag Gang!

I'm guessing the hotel gave us those pretty drinks upon our arrival, for the odds are slim that everyone would have ordered the exact same thing.

Here we are, ready for a rousing game of Shanghai, all wearing the matching nightshirts that our wonderful tour organizer had made for us. Did the hotel provide those beverages as well, or did someone bring along wine? Can't remember. I do remember two girls lugging a big ol' desk down the hallway in their nighties though -- one of the highlights of the trip! Hey, when it comes to playing Shanghai, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

We spent a couple of days there, and then it was time to load up into a motorcoach and head for the W. Sumatran Highlands, where we'd heard that each village has it's own specialty or craft, and that time-honored techniques and secrets of the trade have been passed down from one generation to the next.

LETTERS HOME: OUR LAST INDO-HALLOWEEN

The Coneheads/Three Stooges host a pre-carnival gathering at our place.

November 1, 1993

Dear Mom & Dad,

Can't believe it's November again already. Fall is passing so fast, with all the activities going on this year. In fact, everyone around here is about sick to death of functions and parties. I'd like to have a nice quiet weekend for once, nothing to do, nowhere to go. We leave for Perth, Australia on Nov. 12, and will be gone one week. We're really looking forward to the trip. Since it's late spring for them, we're hoping the weather will be pretty nice. Speaking of weather, it's been raining a lot here lately. We've had some real downpours this last week!

Heading down to the carnival with the coneheads and Robocop

The costume parade -- Austin used the clothes from his Headless Horseman costume of the previous year, then added a creepy mask, bandana, and earring to create a Zombie Pirate. I think this was pre-Pirates of the Caribbean, so they must've stolen the idea from him!

Looks like Lexie won a prize for her costume. Should've gone to the seamstress.

The kids had their Halloween Carnival this past weekend. Both of them brought home gold fish they had won. Sunday I went out and bought a couple of more fish along with a couple of fish bowls. Unfortunately, this morning we found one of Austin's swimming upside down. Guess that one isn't going to make it. Not really sure what happened -- if it was the rocks we bought to put in the bottom clouding up the water, or if maybe Austin overfed his. I'll probably have to go out and buy a replacement. Not too bad, as they only cost about 75 cents each.

Lex found this costume in Jane Asher's Costume Book, and pestered me for weeks to make it. I finally caved in, but vetoed the buns in the blouse.

See any resemblance between her skirt in the photo above, and this sofa? One of our lace curtain panels gave up it's life for this costume as well. She was one happy girl!

Dig that gorgeous backdrop! Probably painted by the same carpenter who did their bedroom murals. Is that pirate carrying a light saber?

Becky went off on another trip this week with the ladies. They went up to some place near Lake Toba and will be gone a week. She's been having a lot of fun on these trips. Not really sure what is up there, as far as crafts and all. Guess we'll find out when she gets back.

Hope Mike got that computer stuff sent off. If so, I'll be getting it in a few weeks. There are several people scheduled to be heading this way in November. I forgot to mention to him and to you, if you ever want to send a package over here, the best way is to send it via DHL. They are like United Parcel, etc. DHL makes deliveries in this area and, apparently, has a fairly good system of working with the Indonesian customs agents. I don't know if they have an office in the Midland/Odessa area or not, but there is a chance they do. I think you would use the same address as you would on a letter. The local DHL branch knows this place fairly well.

How are you both feeling these days? I didn't realize Mom went into the hospital. No one told us a thing. I wasn't really too clear from our conversation, but I take it the vertigo is more stress related than anything else. Is that right? I had a little bit of that several years ago, but nothing to the extent you have been suffering. How is the new help working out? I'm sure it helps a lot to have the live-in help. As Mike said, just let us know if we can pitch in towards that. It's really no problem.

How are Milton and Lucille doing these days? They weren't doing too good when we left last summer. Nub and Winona were doing fairly well -- maybe he is a little more deaf. Becky hasn't heard from Paula lately and is getting pretty concerned. She has always been good about writing in the past.

Well, guess that's about it for now. I imagine Becky will add something after she gets back from her trip.

Love,
John

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

Dearest Friends,

I think Melody, Rich and their two kids were the first of our close friends to transfer out of Sumatra. Fortunately, they only went as far as Jakarta, so it wasn't too bad. We could actually go visit them if we really wanted to. When friend Patti found out that she, Brad, and their three littles would soon be heading to the States, she started to panic over whether she had seen everything she needed to see, and bought everything she needed to buy.

There was a whole lot of stuff you could buy in Jakarta that we never even saw out in the middle of the jungle, so that's exactly what she did -- she went to visit Mel! And, being such a good friend and all, I offered to go along -- just for moral support of course.

If there was anything left in Jakarta when we finished there, it certainly wasn't for lack of trying!

Once Patti and her family departed, it was as if someone had left the stopper out of the drain, for there seemed to be a slow but steady exodus from that point on.

LETTERS HOME: ANOTHER SIDE OF JOHN

Thursday, October 14th, 1993

Dear Gang,

Well, I knew that new red wig I bought this summer would really knock 'em dead, but I never guessed that John would be the one wearing it! Last Friday Carol Silverman had a 50th birthday party for her husband, and she got John to come "in drag" for entertainment. Coming so close on the heels of his dropping to the floor and performing the 'Gator at a recent dance, well, people are finally getting to see the real John -- the crazy, fun-loving guy that only his closest friends get to see. Guys he works with have been coming up to me all week, wanting to know what we did to "force" him into doing this. They just don't believe me when I say "not a dang thing!" I must admit, it was kind of fun dressing him up. I dug through our dress-up trunk and found an old slinky black jersey one-shouldered mini dress of mine, and he wore it with thigh high stockings and lots of jewels. Of course, his bushy red beard went great with the curly red wig!

Check out those gorgeous gams!

The kids and I have thoroughly enjoyed our batik workshop with Azziz this week, although I doubt if my "masterpiece" will ever be hung. It's such a fascinating art, but it involves so many complicated (and somewhat caustic) chemical processes, that I doubt if it would be very practical as a hobby. We were forced to take the whole week off from quilting because this was so time consuming, and I can hardly wait to get back to it. I want to get this first sampler quilt out of the way so I can start on my Christmas fabrics that I brought back from Singapore.

Alexis has been on many school trips and exchanges since moving here, but today it was finally Austin's turn. Mr. and Mrs. Zavala flew up to Medan with all the 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders for just a one day exchange with the Medan International School and the Medan Japanese School. He was so excited last night that he just couldn't get to sleep. I thought I would be dragging him out of bed by his toenails this morning (they had to be at the school by 6:15) but he had me walking down there in the dark and we arrived by 6:00! They get back this evening around 6:00, and I bet he will be one pooped puppy.

These kids look Indonesian to me, but it's the only school-visit photo of Austin I could find.

This week was probably the best in two years, as far as mail goes. The Southern Living magazine that I asked Theda for, and the three lace doilies that I asked Carolyn for, all made it here safe and sound. It's just amazing how much little things like that mean to us. I was on cloud nine all week! I enjoyed the magazine so much that I went ahead and subscribed. A full year's overseas subscription is only $26.95, and since Theda spends close to that every time she sends a little packet of magazines and computer junk, I figure that even if only half of them make it here, we'll still come out ahead. Another big hit that came in the mail was an article, from Kathy and Bud, about the recent sightings of some Blue Footed Boobies in Texas. For those of you who don't know, that is the silly secret "magic word" that I have used with the kids since they were tiny, but until they saw this article, I don't think they ever actually believed me when I told them that there really was such a bird!

Guess that's all for now, and as always, PLEASE WRITE!!!

LETTERS HOME: BACK TO SCHOOL

Lex and friends perform the candle dance at Open House

5th October, 1993

Greetings All,

Well, it's October again, my favorite month. That means the holiday season has officially begun, as far as I'm concerned. I played a few Christmas carols the other day, just to help John get into his holiday mode (as in "Bah, Humbug!"). It worked.

I am loving this quilting class I'm taking -- taught by friend Teri, who also leads our early morning water aerobics sessions down at the pool (where she taught me to add some fresh lime to my diet colas, to cut that awful metal aftertaste). The quilting is almost addictive! Of course, so far, all we have done is machine-piece a bunch of blocks to go in a sampler quilt. That goes so quickly that you really feel like you're making progress. When we get to the tedious hand sewing part, I may get bogged down. The bad part is that you tend to get compulsive about buying fabrics and my shelves are filling up fast. In fact, Teri says they have a saying -- "She who dies with the most fabric wins!" I had to take Alexis out to the orthodontist in Singapore last weekend, and without any conspiracy on our parts, three other quilters were there as well. We spent hours at a neat quilting shop, and I got some gorgeous Christmas fabrics to make either a quilted tree skirt or a table runner.

Austin is now in Mrs. Zavala's class (the wife of his teacher last year) with four of his best buddies.

I thought things would slow down once we got all of these going away parties behind us. What a joke! By the way, we had a pretty crazy one last week. The Ellisons have been transferred to Nigeria, so as their send-off to "the dark continent", their going-away party was held totally in the dark! We all had to wear black and bring flashlights. We also had to bring something to go in a "Nigerian Survival Kit". Those parties are behind us, but I'm still doing my quilting class twice a week, and co-teaching a craft class for the kids. (I volunteered before I knew it would be on Wednesdays, which means no Shanghai until Christmas. It's killing me!) I've also been asked to help with a play the K-2nd graders are putting on at the end of the month, which means I have to meet with them three mornings a week. 

Lex gets ready for school, wearing new duds brought back from the States.

Next week a wonderful batik artist from Medan is coming here to do some workshops at the school, and he's agreed to do some for the moms as well. I'm really excited about that, but I hope I don't fall in love with it. I think it could be very time consuming and expensive, and one of those kinds of hobbies is quite enough! In addition to these little projects, we're beginning to crank up on the Halloween carnival, and of course, there's my big 40th birthday bash. Luckily, that doesn't require any work on my part. John has enlisted two of my buddies to help him, and they even went so far as to book me in at the salon for "the works" on the afternoon of the party, to get me out of the way. Should be interesting!

If you will compare my second grader's size with his buddies the guards, who are full-grown men, you will understand why we had to bring all our clothes from the States!

A couple of weeks ago was Open House at the school, and we were really proud of both kids. The older ones had to learn a very intricate Indonesian dance where they hold lighted candles on the palm of each hand, and spin them all around. Alexis did really well, and looked fabulous in her elaborate costume. Austin was chosen to be narrator for a little shadow puppet play, and everyone was totally amazed. He read more smoothly in Indonesian than most kids his age can read in English!

Her only problem was keeping the headdress from sliding down and blocking her vision!

Alexis' big adventure trip to Lake Toba seems to have gone quite well. I'm not sure if she would classify it as "fun", but I know she will remember it for the rest of her life. They all kept journals, and I want to make sure that she keeps hers to show her kids someday. They are pretty funny. After they made the half day trek up to the top of the volcano, they went in some hot sulfur springs to ease their muscles. Lex didn't care much for the smell of "stinking eggs." They did a lot of shopping and the teachers all said Lex was the best "bargainer." Some of the rooms they stayed in only cost $4.00 a night, and they had to order all their own meals (lots of rice) and make sure they didn't spend over $7.50 a day for all three. It was definitely a learning experience!

Guess that's all for now. Take care, and keep those letters coming!