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!

RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Dearest Friends,

There had been lots of opportunities for travel since we had arrived in Indonesia. Groups of women were always going somewhere -- especially those who were there without children and didn't have much to do. Mostly I had declined their invitations, thinking my kids were too young to be left, we needed to save our money, there'd be plenty of time for that later, etc. However, as I slowly came to realize that this might well be our last year in Sumatra, a sense of panic set in. There was so much I still hadn't seen or done! What if I never got the chance to visit this part of the world again? It was right around then that one of my friends (I think it was Carol) announced that she was organizing a ladies' trip to West Sumatra. Traveling to such remote places without my hubby involved stepping waaaaay outside my comfort zone, but hey, it was now, or never. I took the leap. Oh my, my, am I ever so glad I did.

The Rumah Gadang, or big house, wit pointed roof tips resembling water buffalo horns.

West Sumatra is home to the Minangkabau people, a matrilineal culture where property and land passes down from mother to daughter. Men don't have much say in village activities, concerning themselves mostly with religious and political affairs. Padang, the capital and largest city of W. Sumatra province, was to be our first destination. It is a common transit point for surfers traveling to nearby islands, and for tourists, such as ourselves, headed for the W. Sumatran Highlands, including Bukittinggi (High Hill) and Lake Maninjau. I knew next to nothing about any of the places we were headed, but one thing I knew for sure -- I was headed for a grand adventure!

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: 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!

LAKE TOBA

We just happened to arrive in Lake Toba on market day, which I thought was extremely fortunate. I'm not sure my sister agreed with me. I think the sights and smells were a bit much for her (that durian will get you every time). Even I, an hold pro by that time, was a bit disturbed by the stall where they were tossing live chickens into something akin to the spin cycle of an old washing machine, in order to kill and de-feather them in one fell swoop. Somewhat ingenious though, no? 

(click photos to enlarge)

The market area, seen from a distance.

Traditional Batak houses, with their peaked roofs.

Our hotel.

Hiking up to the ruins.

Hearing about the "good ol' days", when they still boiled intruders like us for dinner!

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!