SAYONARA: THE LAST GREAT BIRTHDAY PARTY

I expect the mask was mostly to blame. Well, that and the fertilizer factory. You see, some Japanese company had plopped a fertilizer plant and company compound down in the middle of the jungle there on Sumatra, not too far from our own compound. And, just like ours, their compound included a company restaurant. It was probably quite run-of-the-mill to them, but was anything but to us, so we occasionally made the trek over there to dine on special occasions. 

As you should know by now, my daughter loves any old excuse to dress up in a costume. When she received a set of Victorian party masks for Christmas, it included one that resembled a Japanese Geisha Girl, and Lex took to wearing it around the house with her pink satin Chinese gown (a bit of creative license).

So, when it came time to plan her 11th birthday party, just a few weeks after Christmas, she immediately thought "Japanese!"

I'm afraid it was one of the last, truly great birthday parties.

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!

LAKE MANINJAU, SEEN THROUGH NEW EYES

To market, to market...

Dearest Friends,

Here is what I love most about blogging: it allows you to enjoy one adventure over and over again, each time with new eyes! Take this trip to W. Sumatra. Tucked into the pile of photos I have from this trip were many of a large lake -- a lake I don't much recall.

I remember this photo. This was one of the more "rustic" hotels we stayed in on this trip, and, hard as that was to believe, I remember everyone charging into our room wanting to see it, because it was so much more luxurious than the others! Perhaps we got the bridal suite? That, however, is just about all I remember of this leg of the journey -- nothing about the lake, not even its name. So, I had to do some research. I am now fairly certain this must be Lake Maninjau, the largest in the area.

Drying Fish

In the process, I discovered a lot of stuff which probably went in one ear and out the other of my forty-year-old self (who knew less than nothing about permaculture or local food systems) but which just delights my fifty-eight-year-old self no end! I read about how the lake not only provides hydroelectric power to the area, but is also an entire food system in and of itself! They practice aquaculture in the lake, using floating net cages. There are rice fields on the lower swampy areas. Then there are forest-like tree gardens on the slopes above, where they grow fruit (durian, jackfruit, rambutan, etc.), spices (cinnamon, coffee, nutmeg, cardamum) and timber.

The School Bus

Is that awesome, or what?

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

OUR POOR, DEPRIVED KIDS

 Dearest Friends,

In case you are worried that our kids were missing out on too much -- being torn from the wonderful U.S. schools, with all the enrichment and socialization they had to offer, and hauled off to this tiny little school out in the middle of a jungle -- here is just a sampling of what was going on in their lives those first few weeks of fall:

• there was the annual family beach party, where letting your friends bury you was a favorite activity
• Austin had after-school-sports Mon. and Wed., and both had swimming class every Friday
• there was family sports night every Wed. evening
• Lex had craft club on Wed. afternoons, which I taught

• they had an all school skating party, and a trip out to the elephant farm

• Austin had baking club
• they had Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts
• there were school trips to a rice mill and a coffee mill
• Lex had her school trip to Lake Toba, and Austin had his trip to Medan
• there was Batik Week, with its guest artist, a bake sale, and an art show

• we celebrated Austin's eighth birthday, and they both attended friend's parties
• they both hosted and attended numerous sleepovers
• Austin and I made costumes, attended play rehearsals, and practiced lines

Meanwhile, in the background, Mom and Dad had also joined the school carnival committee, Dad was on the school board, and Mom was teaching Sunday School again. And all of this was just in the first quarter -- a mere six weeks or so!

Were they deprived in any way? Not hardly. I think they were just about the luckiest kids in the world!

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!!!

BOTH THE BEST, AND THE WORST, OF GROWING UP OVERSEAS

Back to School Open House

Dearest Friends,

Know what I love about this picture? Check out the two boys center front. Look at the way little Travis, one of the youngest kids in the school, has his arm draped over older boy Jamie's, as if they were brothers. In a community this small, our kids made friends with everyone, and they soon learned that friends were not a disposable commodity. If you ditched your friends whenever they pissed you off, you'd end up very, very lonely, so they learned how to compromise. They learned that they could have friends of all ages and nationalities, and of both sexes -- kids whose interests and beliefs weren't necessarily the same as theirs, and who wouldn't always agree with them on every little thing. They learned that people could like them just as they were, even if they didn't have the "in" toys and clothes. Heck, they no longer had any way of knowing what was in! They learned that it's actually far better to have a teacher who makes you work hard, but stimulates your imagination, than it is to coast along in utter boredom. They also learned that it was important to balance that hard work with plenty of physical activity and creative opportunities. They thrived on being able to move about the classroom, and interact with the other students, including those in different grades. Most importantly, they learned that the universe was a very, very big place, and they were not the center of it -- that our way of doing things was not the only way, or even necessarily the right way. All this was the best thing about growing up overseas -- and it was the worst thing too, for it was going to make it very, very difficult to go back to the old way of doing things, and all but impossible to go back to the old way of seeing things!

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!

CAMPING INDO-STYLE

Dearest Friends,

I have a very vague memory of Miss Laura and I needing to take our little scout troop camping, in order for them to earn a particular badge. I remember making those sit-upons the girls are holding in the picture above; I remember setting up tents behind one of the houses up on the hill, though why any of us would have brought tents or camping equipment to Sumatra, I haven't a clue; and I remember a gully-washer storm that came in the middle of the night, threatening to sweep our tents right off that hill! The rest is a blur.

Since my memories were so hazy, I sent word out to the rest of the Indo Crowd, asking if anyone could fill in some of the blanks for me. This response came from friend AnneMarie:

"The campout was just outside our backyard. It started to pour so we moved the campout into our sunscreen. This worked well at first, then it also started to leak and make some of the sleeping bags wet. We then moved further into the house and used all the sofa's, plus a few of the girls ended up in a bed. Not really a camp out, but l think we gave them their badge for this anyway. We did make situpons while hiding from the rain in our garage, or at least l think we did. I also recall our driver starting to dig a big hole in the nice grass area so we could make a fire. Fortunately someone was thinking and put a stop to that before Bruce Jones fired my husband! The girls loved the s'mores. That's about all l can recall."

Ahhh, it's beginning to come back to me now.  Thanks AnneMarie!