A NEW YEAR'S LETTER HOME

4th January, 1994

Greetings Everyone,

Hope you all had a good holiday. As usual, I'm in my "Post-Christmas-Blues" phase -- which always starts at least a week before Christmas. I just can't stand for it all to be over with for another whole year! To cheer myself up, and because I was such a good girl and didn't even go on the ladies Christmas shopping trip this year, I'm taking Alexis out to Singapore just for the fun of it this weekend. We hope to take in a good movie and eat at T.G.I.Friday's. A new Chili's restaurant is supposed to be opening soon, but I don't know when.

Christmas day at the Tates' house.

Things were fairly quiet around here compared to Christmases past, but there was still plenty going on. Only trouble is, instead of having to see the same bunch of people over and over again at every party, you now have to see the same itty-bitty bunch of people over and over again. John and I sometimes stand there watching them, and wonder what on earth they could possibly have to talk about after all this time. (Answer? Each other!) The most fun party of the season, if I do say so myself, was the Bunco/dinner party for 8 couples that John and I threw. Also, another girl and I did a cookie exchange for the older kids, and that was fun too. I would have loved to make your new chocolate trifle recipe Mom, but we can't get Heath bars here, so I had to take my old traditional version to our annual Christmas day get-together with the Reehs and the Tates. The really exciting news this year is that, for once, our driver Yusuf and his family did not come for their usual two hours of just sitting and staring at us on Christmas day! For Christmas Alexis got about 99 different craft projects, including a candle-dipping set, a lap loom, a paper-making kit, etc. Unfortunately, by the end of the first week of vacation she'd done them all, and she was B-O-R-E-D! The second week was somewhat tedious.

We were a little shocked when we discovered that Kathy and Bud had sent 15 videos for the Silverman's son to bring us. I had led him to believe that there would only be a couple. Apart from the fact that he didn't have a lot of luggage space, there is the problem that videos are contraband here and can be confiscated by customs, so you have to hide them. He did manage to sneak in five, though, and we have really savored them. They are also in high demand around the compound. We shared our episodes of Seinfeld with the Silvermans, who are from New York, and they went wild over them. I'm sure they will put pressure on their son to squeeze in a few more tapes when he comes back in March. Can't wait!

Alexis' big excitement is that she may get to have an article published in a magazine! Prisi gave her a subscription to American Girl magazine, and apparently sent in a little information about her as well, when she saw that they were hoping to do an article about American girls who are living abroad. Anyway, this week she got this big, special delivery "urgent" envelope containing a questionnaire for her to fill out, and asking for photos as well. She is so excited! Unfortunately, a lot of other little girls received that same questionnaire, so let's hope her story makes it into the magazine.

The new cook is working out fairly well. I guess. It's great not having to make three meals a day from scratch, day in and day out -- especially when you consider how little I have to work with over here. But, I absolutely hate the fact that she's gradually rearranging my kitchen to suit herself, and now I can't find anything. Also, the kitchen has always been my home base, kinda like my hangout. Now Era keeps the door closed most of the time, to keep the smells in I suppose, and I find myself sort of drifting aimlessly about the house, not sure exactly where to settle!

P.T. Arun took away everyone's company cars as of the first, so we're back to being a one car family. Also, we know that they are pulling a few work permits in March, but the only one that we know of for sure is our next door neighbors, the Lyons. They are none too happy, since he was hoping to hang on another two or three years, until he can retire. Not sure if he will be able to find something else at age 57, or not. It's going to drive us crazy, not knowing what's coming, but there's nothing John can do but wait for his boss to find something in the job postings he gets, that might be suitable for us. In the meantime, we're trying to make plans for our summer home leave, and haven't a clue what to do! Should we travel home and back together, so we can get round-the-world tickets and stop in Denmark to see Eric on the way home, and in Hawaii on the way back, or should we wait and do Denmark and London next Christmas? Will we even be here still next Christmas? Should the kids and I stay all summer, so they can go to camps, etc., and just forget about stopping somewhere with John? But what if it's our last chance to ever see any of these places? The one thing John really wants to do is try and manage a trip up to Colorado to see Patti and Brad, who moved to Cortez when they left here, and maybe go to Creede while there. But should he take his vacation in June, July or August? If any of you have answers to all these questions, please feel free to share, so we can get this show on the road! In the meantime, I'll be right here, fretting. Take care, and write soon.

Oh yeah, Theda -- John really enjoyed the book and cologne you sent him, and the kids were ecstatic about their $40. We gave it to them in Indonesian money, which came to 80,000 rupiah each. They feel like millionaires!

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!

YOU KNOW YOU'RE BEGINNING TO ADJUST WHEN...

7th April, 1993

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry it's been so long since my last letter, but I was just way too busy having fun, with visiting sister Kathy, to stop and sit at the computer! We really had a blast, but I guess you could say her agenda ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. We started off by picking her up in Singapore and going straight to Penang. We stayed at the same place we went to last year -- the one with all sorts of organized activities for the kids, the great rock slide into the pool, massages on the beach, little flags to raise when you wanted another drink, etc. (you get the picture!) Then we took her to Lake Toba back in Sumatra. Carolyn is the only one who can fully appreciate what you have to go through to get there, for she has now "experienced" travel in Indonesia!

Sister Kathy, a.k.a. Gus

First we had a one hour flight back to Medan -- not too bad, although you might not recognize any of the foods they serve on board. The Medan airport itself is the real adventure. No air-conditioning, lots of clove-scented smoke, millions of little porters in yellow jumpsuits who scramble for your bags, whether you want them to or not, and then head off in ten different directions, etc. Then there are the mobs of people, none of whom believe in queuing up for anything! Assertiveness goes first so, of course, we are always last.

We were met there by a very nice driver with a van who, unfortunately, spoke not one word of English.  (sad to say, our Indonesian isn't so hot either) He took us to lunch at Pizza Hut, and to the grocery store to stock up on "survival food." Then we embarked on the four hour trip up to Lake Toba, and this is where words fail me. All I can say is, thank heaven I had on my motion sickness patch, and was able to sit in back with my eyes closed the entire trip. I thought I had developed nerves of steel with regards to the local driving habits, but this was a true test! It was worth it though (easier to say, now that I've come out alive) for the lake truly is amazing. The island in the middle of it is larger than Singapore (so imagine the size of the lake itself!) and was originally the home of the Batak tribe, who were cannibals (we got to see some of their ancient stone tables, chairs and execution blocks) and they managed to withstand the influence of the Moslems by isolating themselves on the island and eating any strangers who ventured in. At least one intrepid missionary must have managed to infiltrate the island without being eaten, for now they are all Christians. They really love music and singing, and you see "Batak Singers" listed as entertainment at clubs all over Asia.  We stayed in some really neat cottages that resembled Batak houses, with roofs that are pointed on each end -- no A.C., but you don't really need it since it's nice and cool up in the mountains. Oh yeah, did I mention that this lake was formed in an ancient volcano crater?

After spending a few days here, we had to do the whole tedious trip in reverse. Unfortunately, I had used up my last patch, so I was green most of the trip. We were convinced of our driver's excellence when he managed to find us a little minit mart type place to stop at on the way home that actually had a clean bathroom. No, the toilet was not western style, but at that point, we really didn't care. Hey! That reminds me! A friend in Jakarta found this in her book on culture shock:

You know you are beginning to adjust to Indonesia when...

• you spend the night on the toilet, and don't bother mentioning it the next morning
• you sleep through the 4:30 A.M. call to prayer from the mosque's loudspeaker
• you don't flinch when faced with squatting over an Asian-style toilet
• you are positive cars in American movies are driving on the wrong side of the road
• you go on home leave, and try to bargain in the department store

I guess you could say we are very well-adjusted now!

Poor Kathy thought she was going to end her vacation by spending the week here at our house being waited on by our staff, lounging around the pool, and having facials and manicures at the salon. Unfortunately, she arrived right at the end of Ramadan (I swear I didn't know this when Bud bought her ticket last summer), which meant the help was on vacation the whole week, and the salon was closed. She's convinced I planned it that way so that I would have her help doing all those dishes by hand, and having to hang laundry out on the clothesline, since the dryer quit working the day she arrived! We still managed to have lots of fun and sun, then had a great couple of days in Singapore (hey Gus, remember eating Boober Cha Cha for tea at the Raffles, and almost wetting our pants, we got to giggling so hard?) before she had to head home. All in all, this has been a fantastic year for me, but next year will be rough. We are fairly certain we won't be having any more visitors from home, and the longer we are here, the more homesick we get. Also, the older Alexis gets, the harder it will be on her at school, since there will be less and less kids near her age.

Tonight is the dress rehearsal for John's play. He's done nothing but moan and groan about it from day one, so I was really shocked when I finally saw a rehearsal and discovered that he was great! The director says he is the most improved of all the cast members. His only problem is that he has trouble keeping a straight face when he says something funny, but I think the audience will love it all the more if he actually loses it during a performance! He swears he will never do this again, but maybe it will be like having babies, and he will forget about the agony after a while.

Not much else to tell, except to update you on our plans for the summer. Looks like we will be arriving in Cincinnati around 6:00am Sat., May 22, then in Dallas Sat., May 29, around 10:00 am. John will probably drive on out to Odessa the next day, but the kids and I will wait and fly out a week later. Luckily, we will be there to keep George company so that Theda can fly up to see Megan graduate from high school June 10th. Around June 28th we plan to head for the hills! (Texas Hill Country, that is) We hope to stop in and see the Reeh's ranch in Doss, meet up with the Sanfords in Fredericksburg, maybe take in Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, and finally end up by dropping Alexis off at camp in San Marcos on July 4th. We've discovered what appears to be a great one at Southwest Texas State University's Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center. It's called Aquatic Studies Summer Camp, and they combine learning about pond, river and aquifer life with doing fun things every afternoon like tubing, rafting, and going to Schlitterbahn, Aquarena Springs, Seaworld and Natural Bridge Caverns. She's really excited, and it looks like her friends Lizzie and Jennifer Newsome will be going too (same one she went to Scout camp with last year).

Anyway, as soon as we drop her off we will head up to Dallas, since John has to fly out late on July 8th. Then I will have to turn around and go back to get Alexis the next weekend. Anyone care to go along for the ride?  It looks like July 16th will be the best weekend for our family trip to New Orleans, to celebrate Mom and Dad's 50th anniversary. May 1st is the actual day, but they are sneaking away on a cruise by themselves, and waiting until we get home this summer for the family celebration.

That covers just about everything, except for a 3 or 4 week orgy of malls, movies and restaurants, before the kids and I head back home around August 11th. Y'all take care, and let me know if anyone hears of any great activities for Mr. Austin to participate in this summer. We can't wait to see you all, and are counting the days until we head in that direction -- 43 to be exact!

P.S. I've got lots of pictures I'll be posting over the next few days. In fact, we took so many on these trips that I will have to sort through them first, and just pick out the best of the best!

GOOD LUCK FOLLOWS ME AROUND THE GLOBE

Dearest Friends,

I have always been rather lucky when it comes to contests. You'd be shocked at how many  prizes I have won, considering how few contests I have bothered to enter. In Sumatra I shocked even myself, however, by winning the grand prize in a contest I didn't enter!

Almost everyone on the compound had ordered at least a few pieces of teak or rattan from the furniture-makers in Medan, but only a few had ordered from this one fellow in Singapore (Or was it Jakarta? I really can't remember.) I had been with friends when they ordered from this guy, and his stuff was indeed beautiful, but it was just way too expensive for this frugal frau. Then, however, Danny and Peggy invited John and I over to admire their new fold-out bar when it arrived, and that was all it took. My hubby just had to have one! We knew we couldn't take our full-sized patio bar home with us -- there just wouldn't be room for it in most houses. But this? This would fit in most any house! Eventually, I caved in.

A few weeks after I placed the order, I got a letter from the furniture-maker. I expected it to say the usual "Oops, so sorry! Delivery will be much later than we told you." That is not what it said. Instead I found out that, unbeknownst to me, there had been a drawing for several pieces of furniture, and they had entered the name of every single person who had ever placed an order with them. Guess who won, not just any old prize, but the muy grande prize of a Fold Out Bar? Yep, little ol' me. They gave me a choice: apply the prize credit towards the bar we had already ordered, or use it to order something else. Sooo, we ended up ordering this...

and then we couldn't resist ordering this as well...

and, oh yeah, there was also a cute little curio cabinet to hang on the wall. So, yeah, as you can see, winning that contest ended up costing me a bundle. I should have know better than to let John go to the showroom with me! But, here it is, almost 20 years later, we're still using all those pieces, and they are still gorgeous, so...maybe it was all for the best, huh?

LETTERS HOME: A LULL BETWEEN VISITS

25th January, 1993

Dear Folks,

What's new in the U.S.of A.? Hope everyone survived the holidays o.k. I'm trying to make the most of this short lull we are having, after Carolyn's visit and Lexie's birthday, and before Kathy's visit. I think Alexis loved her party this year. She chose a 50's theme, since we already had those poodle skirts I had made, and I had found some cute decorations at Party Warehouse last summer. We fixed the patio room up like a soda fountain and served floats and cherry cokes and such, played old 50's music, and had hoola hoop and bubble gum blowing contests. The guy who painted my Christmas decorations for the yard did a pink convertible to go out front and they all had their pictures taken in it. Oh yeah, and two of the older girls came dressed as car hops on roller skates to serve everyone. It was great, if I do say so myself!

What can I say? When they outlawed candy cigarettes in the States, they must've shipped them all to Indonesia. You will be happy to know, however, that neither of my kids has ever smoked, so I guess it didn't do too much harm.

I'm almost afraid to commit this to paper, 'cause sure as I do it will all change, but here's our tentative schedule for this summer. Leave here on May 21st to go with John to a week long school in Cincinnati, and to visit with Mike and Prisi. On the 29th or 30th John will fly to Odessa, and the kids and I will come to Dallas. If Carolyn is able to work something out with Stephanie and Darcy to watch the kids the following weekend, perhaps John can meet us all down in New Orleans to celebrate Mom and Dad's 50th. We could fly back to Dallas on Sunday, collect the kids and the car, and drive out to Odessa for about 3 weeks. Then sometime around June 25th we would drive back to Dallas so John could have a few days there, before he has to head back to Indonesia on the 30th. The kids and I would probably stay another 4-6 weeks in Dallas, then head home.

I can't believe it! I didn't even get this letter printed before the plans above got changed! I just talked to Kathy and she said she and Bud will be in Virginia that weekend, so I guess we could fly straight to Odessa from Cincinnati, and do New Orleans at the end of John's month, or we can wait and do it after he leaves. What about everyone else? What are your schedules like? As soon as we get Kathy's visit here mapped out (we changed our mind about Bali when we found out that plane fare alone was over $500 a person -- just to go somewhere right here in Indonesia!), we will start making definite plans for the summer. Mom, Poo, and Theda, if you get anything in the mail about scouts, camps, or summer activities, let me know. Alexis does want to go back to Girl Scout Camp, and we'd like to find something for Austin as well. I may take him down to College Station to do a baseball camp or something at A&M with Chase, if I can work it out.

Guess that's about all for now. John's been feeling kinda antsy because he hasn't been to Singapore since we came back from the States, so he and Austin are going this weekend for a "men's getaway!" That should be a hoot. Lexie and I have a Girl Scout thing Saturday (cleaning up the beach, and cooking lunch on camp stoves that we made out of tin cans), but we are sending a loooong grocery list with the boys.

Putting together one of many Gundam (Japanese anime robot) models hauled back from Singapore.  John even let Austin help out, now and then.

Well, everyone take care, and write soon!

TWO WOMEN ABROAD

Wow! I do not miss the styles of the early 90s -- especially belly bags and craftily adorned tee-shirt sets.

Dearest Friends,

After Carolyn had spent about a week with us there on the company compound, she and I headed off on our big adventure. We took the company plane to Singapore first, and I introduced her to a few of my favorite places.

Soaking in the atmosphere on the verandah of the Raffles Hotel

Afternoon tea at the Raffles

I believe this was inside the Singapore airport.

From there we were off to Hong Kong, where it was Carolyn's turn to act as tour guide, since she had been there once before. Well, come to think of it, I guess I had to, as John and I stopped there on our honeymoon. Her visit, however, was much more recent, and of a longer duration!

We dined at one of the famous floating restaurants, and ate Salt & Pepper Prawns that made me moan out loud!

An Indoor Market

Riding the Kowloon Ferry

A gorgeous stall in the fabric market -- too bad the photo sucks.

There are places in both Singapore and Hong Kong where little old men gather  each morning beneath thousands of birds in ornate bamboo cages. We each bought one of those cages, which Carolyn had to hand-carry all the way back to the states.  Guess what they were selling at every Pier I Imports, by the time I moved home?

Dim Sum

It was a fabulous adventure to be shared with my big sister, and we felt ever so intrepid, for it was the first time either of has had explored a foreign country without being part of a tour group, or at least having our hubbies along for protection!

LETTERS HOME: HE SAID/SHE SAID

May 12, 1992

Dear Mom & Dad,

It was good talking to both of you this last Sunday. I hope I didn't take Dad away from his breakfast for too long. When I called up to the hospital, I got switched around to several floors before finally getting the right one. The operator was real good though, knowing I was calling from overseas, and she hung on until I finally got through to someone. I didn't mean to have Dad rushed out of breakfast, but it's been real hard getting lines out lately, and I didn't want to have to call back. Anyway, Dad, it sure was good hearing your voice on the phone. I hope you work with the therapists real hard so that when I come home I can take you out for some trips around town. I'm still looking forward to spending some time with you.

We will be moving into another house this summer. Even though we just spent some money on this one, fixing it up, the house we are moving into is slightly bigger and a little better floor plan. One thing about it is the location. It's right across from the school and in an area where most of the other kids live. That's the real reason for our deciding to go ahead and move. We'll give you the new phone extension when it's time. The mailing address will remain the same. In fact, sometime in July a new mail service will be initiated. You will be able to mail a letter to Dallas, then once a week mail is expressed over to Jakarta. From there it will be put on the company plane and flown down to the plant. It might save a few days on delivery, and will be cheaper for you. Not quite sure what all can be sent that way. No packages, I'm afraid. We'll let you know when that is in operation.

The kids are finishing up the school year. It will be over in just about 2 weeks. It's hard to believe that this year has passed so quickly -- at least for us! I think Austin has really started to like school, and he's going to like first grade even more. He's not too crazy about all the arts and crafts activities they do in kindergarten. Alexis has done pretty well, but still has some problems concentrating. She is being tutored in math right now, but only because she won't take directions from her parents. For some reason it's easier coming from some other adult.

I think Becky is beginning to get really excited about her trip home. All the reservations have been made and the tickets should be arriving soon. We sent Kathy some money to buy Becky a 35mm camera that I think Mother would like too. It fits into your shirt pocket but has quite a few features, including automatic film speed setting and focusing. You can take a look at it when we come home. We didn't buy it in Singapore because, unlike the good ol' days, it's now cheaper to buy those kinds of things in the U.S. Nothing is cheap in Singapore anymore, especially cameras and electronics!

Work over here has its pluses and minuses. The main plus is the money. I've got about 20% of my base pay going into the company savings plan, plus all the savings bonds and other things we have money going into. We set a goal of how much we wanted to save each year, and I think we are coming pretty close to that. A few years of this will give us a pretty good cushion. The nicest thing is that when we do come home, we won't have to furnish a house from scratch like last time. We already have all the furniture and appliances, so we won't have to lay out that huge chunk of money just to set up our household. That's why I want you to know that, if you need any financial help, all you have to do is ask. Save your money and let me help out now while I'm in such a good position to do so. We can easily spare some money now, so be thinking about it and we'll talk about it when I get home. Take care and I'll be seeing you soon.

Love your son,

John

11th May, 1992

Dear George and Theda,

Just wanted to get one more letter off to everyone, before it's time to head off on vacation. I can't believe we leave for Disney World in only 18 days! We're all awfully excited (well, except for poor John, of course). Kathy bought some guide books and did a lot of research, so she has an itinerary all mapped out for us. At first she agreed to go with us just so I wouldn't have to do it alone, but now I think she is more excited than anyone! We just got a real long letter from Mike and Prisi. Sounds like they are both really happy with their new jobs. I know it must be good for Mike's ego to finally be appreciated again, and I'm sure you are pleased to have that worry behind you. Now that all your kiddos are settled and happy, you have nothing to worry about except George getting well enough to enjoy the "invasion of the kiddles!" They sure are looking forward to seeing you all again.

Did we tell you that we will be moving into a different house later this summer? When we first got here there were no class 2 houses available, so they had to put us in a class 3 house. Now though, several families are leaving, and they have offered us a chance to move into a larger house. It's a tough decision. We never really expected this to happen, or we wouldn't have put so much into our current house. But, we are located on a small cul de sac which will be totally empty except for us by this summer. Also, it is the farthest street that has any expats on it, and it's a pretty good walk for the kids to get to school or to any of their friends houses. Consequently, they always make our driver Usuf take them! The new house practically backs up to the school, and will be so convenient if the kids feel like shooting baskets or going to the playground. Also, we will be smack dab in the middle of two streets full of kids. Oh well, at least having to start from scratch on painting and decorating will keep me busy for another year! The bad thing is, with so much more room, we might get the urge to buy more furniture!

Guess that's all for now. Take care, and we will see you before you know it!

THE MISERABLE LES MISERABLES

Dearest Friends,

My Indo-bud Mel moved back to Jakarta not long ago.  I keep track of her via facebook, and she recently posted something there about taking her college-aged kids on a sentimental journey back to Singapore over the holidays, the place where her son was born.  When she mentioned an excursion out to Sentosa Island, I quickly typed a reply, saying something like "Ooh!  We spent a whole weekend there with the kids once.  Had a blast!"  It wasn't until much later, as I sat sifting through memories from that weekend, that I dredged up one that wasn't really fun at all. In fact, it was pretty much a nightmare, and if it had happened anyplace other than Singapore, the least "seedy" city I've ever been to... well, I don't even want to go there.

It all started when I was flipping through one of those "what's going on" magazines that had been left in our hotel room, and discovered that the broadway hit Les Miserables -- the musical I had heard so much about but never seen -- was playing in Singapore that very weekend.  Oh how I longed to see it, but tickets would be expensive, if we could get them at all, the kids were too young to appreciate it, transportation from the island would be a problem, etc.  My reasons for not going were numerous, but one by one, John shot them down, securing tickets, suggesting pizza delivery and a hotel sitter for the kids (my friends used them all the time, though I never had), and even placing a request for a taxi to come out to the island (via a causeway) to pick us up.  So off we went.

It was fabulous.  It was magical.  It was everything I had imagined, and more -- until about 3/4 of the way through the play, when it started to rain.  And thunder.  The rain turned into a roaring deluge that went on and on, drowning out the singers' voices, and making us extremely nervous over the odds of our taxi driver's having come back just to fetch us, as we had requested.  We were right to have worried, for as in any huge city where few people own cars, the harder it rains, the more scarce the taxis become. By the time we made our way out of the the theatre, there wasn't a one to be had.

We wandered the streets for a good long while, doing our best not to get lost, hoping we'd find a stray taxi once we got away from the crowd at the music hall.  No such luck.  Of course, we had no cell phones back then, so we couldn't call for one, or even call our sitter to warn her that we might be late.  Very, very late.  Eventually we managed to find a bus that was still running, despite the hour, and it got us a lot closer to the start of the causeway, but then we had to cross it on foot -- a rather risky thing to do even at the best of times, but especially in blackest night, during a thunder storm!  Our only saving grace was the lack of traffic at that hour.  It was probably only a mile or two across, but without umbrellas or raincoats, wearing high heels, and worrying with the sound of each approaching car whether we might get clipped, well, it felt more like fifty. We eventually made it safely across, but then had to hike up a long, climbing driveway to reach the hotel.  It must have been well after 2:00 a.m. before we finally made it back to our room, looking like drowned rats.  The sitter looked ready to burst into tears when she saw us.  No telling what she'd been imagining.  Knowing my hubby, I'm sure he made it worth her while, and got the concierge to order a taxi for her trip home.  As for our kids?  Well, they had konked out shortly after we departed (they'd had a very busy day!), and woke up a few hours after our return, as cheerful as could be and rarin' to go, completely oblivious to their parents' mad escapade.

You know, most of our misadventures have made for the very best, most humorous stories in years to come.  But this one?  This one still just gives me the creeps.

COMING DOWN TO EARTH

Dearest Friends,

The Singapore airport is one of the most beautiful, easily navigated airports in the world, and Singapore Airlines has always been the epitome of luxury to me, with it's serenely exotic attendants clad in full-length batik sarongs with fitted tops.  However, from that point on, each leg of our journey brought our kids just a bit further down from the stratosphere.  The closer we got to our final destination, the wider their eyes, and the more serious their expressions.  I knew exactly how they felt!

image from tokyoworklife.com

It's all a bit hazy now, but I'm pretty sure we landed in Medan, the largest city on the island of Sumatra, and had to clear customs there.  The airport there is nothing like the one in Singapore!  I remember a large cavernous building, old and none too clean; sweltering heat; a small kiosk selling newspapers, candy, some bottled Fanta sodas, etc.; and the smell of those clove-scented cigarettes.  You know how I said the scent of Tiger Balm whisks me straight back to Singapore?  Well, it's clove-scented cigarettes that take me to Indonesia!  

As soon we had cleared customs, a swarm of little men in bright yellow or orange jumpsuits descended upon us and began grabbing our bags. They each insisted that they should be the one to help us, and that we should follow them, then they all headed off in different directions!  You always ended up having to tip five or six different people just to get them all back.  It was very disconcerting, and I never quite got the hang of keeping things under control.  My friend Crys always referred to them as "the bumblebees."  Of course, I should add that, in all that time, we never actually lost anything, and the total of what we paid those five or six was still probably less than what you would tip a single porter here in the states.  So, as they say, it's all relative.  It was pretty overwhelming to the kids though, especially since they were both very blonde when they were young, which made all the Indonesians want to touch their hair.

Since the company plane wouldn't be leaving for several more hours, we'd been instructed to take a cab to Mobil Oil's guest house, where we sat in a daze, along with several other Mobil employees, until it was time to head back to the airport.  At least it had A.C.!

The next leg of the journey was the part I'd been dreading the most.  Thanks to my propensity for motion-sickness, I was very leery of small planes.  Thankfully though, the company plane (or co-plane, as everyone called it) was a small jet with a very smooth ride, and I am happy to report that I never once got sick on it!  The planes were primarily for moving cargo to and from the plant sight, and the number of passengers allowed on depended upon how many rows of seats had to be removed to make room for all the cargo.  There was usually a huge pile of it, strapped down and covered with a net, right there in the cabin with us!  Finally, we took off.

ARE WE THERE YET?

Dearest Friends,

I thought those backpacks were a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself, and they did, in fact, keep the kids quite entertained.  For an hour or two.  Then we only had to put up with another 18 or 20 hours of "Are we there yet?"  You think long car trips with small kids are tough?  Try being cooped up on a plane for two days, with no way to "pull over" and let them run off some of that pent up energy!  In Alexis' own words, "The plane trip was exciting at first, with our new backpacks full of goodies that I couldn't wait to take out and play with, but it got pretty tedious, pretty quick.  I couldn't seem to sleep on the plane, and the food was really nasty!" (she ate nothing but rolls the entire flight, and most every flight for the next three years)

In order to break up some of that flying time, and to ease them into Indonesia gradually, as he had done with me that first time, John arranged for us to stop in Singapore for a few days, on the way over.  Woohoo!  Have I ever mentioned how much I looooooove Singapore?  Here's what Lex had to say about it: "Singapore was amazing.  I remember us taking a cab to our hotel in the middle of the night, and just staring out the window the entire time.  The next day, I saw that it was green everywhere, even though we were in the middle of a huge city.  I couldn't get over how different everything was!"

We made many trips to Singapore over the next three years, so it's hard for the kids to pinpoint which memories are from which visit.  Also, Austin wasn't quite six yet, so his memories are a bit more hazy than Alexis', and, as with all siblings, their memories of the same events can be vastly different!  I asked if either of them remembered our trip to Tiger Balm Gardens, one of three mythological theme parks in Asia that were created by the Aw family, to promote their line of analgesic salves, Tiger Balm.  Asians think it's almost a miracle salve.  The ads say "It works where it hurts!", and they believe it.  They don't just put it on sore muscles, they put it on everything.  If you have a migraine, just dab some on your temples!

image from www.gamasutra.com

Alexis replied to that question with, "Was Tiger Balm Gardens the place with the boat ride showing all the levels of hell, and that horrible stage show about the spirits of the four elements?", while Austin remembered it as the cool place "with the really funny stage show, where they pulled a guy out of the audience and made him pretend to climb something, then squashed him down into a squatting position, then made him try to climb up, then squashed him down again, over and over until the poor guy was about to collapse."  I don't remember a boat ride (she may be confusing that with another place that came later) but I do remember some pretty disturbing statues and dioramas, including the Ten Courts of Hell, which was set into the 60 meter tail of that huge dragon.

image from www.panoramio.com

What John and I remember most about the trip, while the kids barely remember this at all, is hooking up with old friends SS and SM, from our first stint in Indonesia, who just happened to be living in Singapore at the time.  SS was now married to a lovely woman (German or Dutch?) who was quite happy to spend her life hopping from one place to another, and they had just adopted a baby girl (from Romania, if I remember correctly).  SM and his auburn-haired beauty now had two sons who were around the same age as our kids, so they invited us to leave the kids with their housekeeper/babysitter, ordered pizza for them all, then the three couples went to one of the open-air seafood restaurants that overlook the ocean, gorged on chili crab and pepper crab, and caught up on all the news of friends from back in the good ol' days.  A magical evening for us, but all Austin remembers is "playing Samicon (the Japanese version of Nintendo) and watching a Stephen King movie (Yikes!) called Stand By Me, or something like that." (The Stand?)

The one place where all our memories are in sync, is on the upper floors of a building called Shaw Centre.  Shaw Centre was one of those ubiquitous Asian shopping centers that looks more like a tall office building than a mall.  In the basement was a Japanese supermarket and a food court (which sold foods our kids had never seen before), then there were several stories filled with shops, mostly selling electronics and video games.  One day we decided to keep going on the escalator, just for the fun of it, to see what was on the uppermost floors.  They were primarily filled with offices, with a few masseuses, acupuncturists, and clinics mixed in.  Several of the clinics had their windows plastered with photographs, a way to advertise the various problems they could relieve you of.  The kids ran over to take a closer look, and John and I couldn't help but follow.  The photo of someone's behind?  Someone with the worst case of hemorrhoids ever?  That is a memory we all share quite clearly, as much as we'd like to forget it!

As I was surfing the internet for info about Tiger Balm Gardens, I suddenly had the urge to go rummaging around in our medicine cabinet.  You'll never guess what I found!

A jar of Tiger Balm!  It has to be at least 20 years old, and neither of us ever uses it anymore.  So why have we never thrown it away?  Well, probably because, each time we remove the lid and take a sniff, as I did just now, it whisks us straight back to Singapore!

PAINFUL GOODBYES AND CRITICAL CROSSROADS

Dearest Friends,

It was mid-June when John came home next, and Paula and Tim had already packed up their house and moved into a hotel.  We had them, and Nellie and Dave, over for one last dinner party.  The next day John spent the whole afternoon printing up some photos he had taken of them, then we went to their hotel to give them the photos and say our goodbyes.  We found them completely discombobulated, for they had received a surprising call from one of the B&R VP's, who just happened to be the brother-in-law of one of Tim's best buddies.   I'm going to let Paula tell you about that in her own words:

"The night we were to fly home, all of our things were already headed to the states on a ship.  Tim got a call from Tony, his friend that was a vp in the marine division.  He said there was a job in Labuan, an island off the coast of Singapore, where Tim would be the safety guy and I would be the teacher for all of the grades. When we asked if we could stop by there on the way home we were told no. Then when we met with the guy that was in Singapore, he was a total ass.  It was hard to wrap your mind around going home and then change overnight and not be sure where you would work or who with, and I knew I could not teach the high school kids!  So we thought and thought, and decided to not take it. Now, if we had been able to go visit and had loved it, our whole lives might have been different !!!!"

All I can say is, I'm awfully glad they didn't, for their own lives weren't the only ones that could have been drastically different.  If not for them being in Houston with us when I had my third miscarriage in a row, and knowing someone who knew someone who'd gone through something similar and found this certain doctor who had figured out what was going on, John and I might still be childless!

Anyhoo, they ended up catching their plane to Houston,  John caught his boat for what would turn out to be his longest stretch ever offshore, and I geared up for my final week of working at Beaute'.

HOW DO I LOVE THEE SINGAPORE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS!

Some of the rattan furniture we ordered in Singapore.

Dearest Friends,

Before we headed home to Texas, John had arranged for a most wonderful treat--three days in Singapore!  I was absolutely giddy with excitement.

We caught the 3:00 flight out of Jakarta, checked into the Singapore Hilton, then headed straight for the Harbour Grill restaurant there in the hotel.  I'd been salivating for some of their buttery lobster, and Caesar salad prepared table-side, ever since John told me where we were headed.  Afterwards we went down to the club "Le Bistro" to listen to a bit of music (so glamorous compared to the only bar in Cilegon!) before turning in for the night.

The next morning John had to go into the B&R office to take care of some paperwork, but we met for lunch at the outdoor cafe on the roof of our hotel.  Next it was furniture shopping!  Or, to be more precise, furniture ordering.  There was one company that specialized in rattan furniture, and so many of the B&R families had ordered from them that they knew all the ins and outs of getting it added to our sea shipment when it stopped there in Singapore, to be combined with others that were heading for Bahrain.  We just sat there flipping through photo albums, saying "We'll take one of these, and one of these.  Ooh!  And what about one of these?"  And, of course, it was all dirt cheap compared to what it would've cost us back in the states -- especially since John's company was shipping it for us.  After that I went to a beauty salon (for the first time in months!), then we had dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, The Bamboo House.  How embarrassing to glance over at the table next to ours, and realize that we had ordered twice as many dishes as that family of four!  We couldn't help it though.  It had been so long since we had eaten anything like this, and everything on the menu sounded sooo good.  We finished off the evening at a disco called "Barbarella", of all things!

The next day, we had another exciting mission.  After we got engaged, I sent John some pictures of the china, crystal, pewter and stainless that I was thinking about registering for.  When he saw that most of my china choices were from Noritake, he told me not to register for that.  He said he knew of a special place in Singapore where we could get it really cheap, and this way we would get more of the other things we needed.  When he said that the Noritake place was "special", he wasn't kidding.  It was like no other store I had ever experienced.  In fact, it was more like going on a treasure hunt...in some grandma's attic...with boxes and crates and loose dishes stacked everywhere...to the ceiling!  Right away I fell in love with this sort of 60's flower child pattern with, of course, lots of color on it (I have a thing for color, you know) but it took us several hours before we managed to scrounge together place settings for twelve and all the serving pieces, and arranged for it to be packed and shipped.  What an adventure!  John was so worn out afterwards, he had to go get a massage.  That evening we returned to Harbour Grill and Le Bistro, where we ran into some people John knew.  They then took us to an authentic Chinese dance hall.  Two adventures in one day!

Friday was our last day there, and while John went back to the office for a few hours, I decided I would get my first (and as it turns out, my last) massage.  For one thing, I thought it hurt like hell, and I couldn't understand how anyone found that relaxing.  For another, I have never been all that comfortable being nude with strangers.  Last, but not least, my little shrimp of a masseuse was working on the back of my thighs when she suddenly says "Oooh!  Mrs. has very tiny waist, but veeeerrrry big 'ties'!"  Well.  Thank you for pointing that out.  We have a plane to catch, so I think I'll be going now.

After a final lunch at the rooftop cafe, we boarded our flight for the states.  Twenty seven hours later, at 3:00 AM their time, we came stumbling into the Dallas airport.