BAD JU-JU IN JAKARTA

Dearest Friends,

When my oldest sister lived in Saudi Arabia for five years, she got into the habit of bringing really nice gifts home to everyone in the family, each time she came to the States.  As our first home-leave grew ever closer, it suddenly occurred to me that my relatives were probably expecting the same from me.  Well, shee-yutt!!  That was not a happy realization, for 1) unlike my sister, who loved/lived to shop, I pretty much hated it, and 2) even if I didn't, where was I supposed to find all these treasures?  We were living on a company compound, in the middle of the jungle!

So, when my friend Peggy, the most organized, efficient person I know, invited me to go shopping in Jakarta with her, and said she even had a friend we could stay with, who would loan us her car and driver for the day, how could I say no?  To tell you the truth, I don't remember much of anything about our time in Jakarta, or what we bought while there.  I do, however, have vivid memories of the trip home.  I bet Peggy does too.

You see, we had to get up around 4:00 a.m. that last day, in order to get to the airport and catch the co-plane back to Lhok Seumawe.  There was no time to eat breakfast before we left, but I did remember to take one of the pills I had just been prescribed (I non't remember what for).  John had picked them up for me on his way home from work Friday, and thrust them into my hand as I headed off to the airport.  Anyhoo, on Sunday morning as we stood on the porch, saying goodbye to our dear hostess, I suddenly caught a whiff of dog-poo from somewhere in the garden, and that was all she wrote.  A wave of nausea hit me so hard, it almost knocked me over!  I ran around the corner of the house and barfed.  My two friends were very concerned, and tried to usher me back into the house.  "No, no.  I'm fine.  I always get a little queasy if I don't eat breakfast.  It was just the smell.  Besides, we've got a plane to catch!"

The traffic in Jakarta is just what you'd imagine it to be in most ginormous, third world cities.  There is a lot of speeding up for a few seconds, only to slam on the brakes again, with continual whipping back and forth between lanes.  In no time at all I was pretty sure I was going be sick again, but there was no way for our driver to pull off the road.  Lucky for us all, the ever-prepared Miss Peggy whipped a giant zip-lock baggie out of her purse.  By the time we reached the airport, I had filled it up.

Once inside, Peggy took care of checking us in, and I headed straight to the restroom, such as it was.  Every time I'd think it was safe to come out, the nausea would hit me again.  Peggy came to check on me, asking if I was certain I didn't want to return to her friend's house.  "No!  I just want to go home.  Leave me here until they start boarding the plane, then come get me."  By then there was nothing left for me to hurl, except maybe my intestines, and I was so exhausted that I just passed out on the plane, barf-bag clutched tightly in my hands.

When I finally made it to my house, I stumbled past my family and fell into bed.  The next morning I felt much, much better, though I looked as if I had been in a bar-room brawl.  Apparently, all that heaving had caused some blood vessels in my eyes to rupture, and the whites were now ruby-red.  As I was telling John what I had been through, he began to get a very strange look on his face.  "Uh, Beck? You didn't, by any chance, take one of those pills on an empty stomach, did you?"  "Why yes, I did.  Right before we left the house.  Why do you ask?"  "Well, I guess maybe I forgot to tell you what they said, about how important it was to only take them on a full stomach, huh?"  I probably didn't speak to him for a week.

LETTERS HOME: DISNEY WORLD!!!

20th February, 1992

Dear George and Theda,

Greetings from beautiful Lhok Seumawe!  I'm so sorry that we were late in making George's birthday call.  John was just sick about it.  The kids sure did enjoy the Valentine cards you sent.  As for those catalogs, I would love it if you sent the Spiegel and the Hearth Song (if they're not too big), but the rest can wait.  We're still trying to get things straightened out for home leave and our first trip to Disney World.  I don't know who's more excited, the kids or the parents!  We thought we would have to fly from Singapore to Tokyo to Dallas to Orlando, but the travel agent found a direct flight from Tokyo to Orlando, which will put us in around 9:00 p.m. Saturday the 30th.  We will leave there on June 6 and go to Dallas (provided this fits in with Mike and Prisi's plans -- we still haven't checked dates with them).  John will stay for just a few days, then drive our car on out to Odessa to see you guys, and the kids and I will probably fly out the next Sunday evening, the 14th.  We should be there about two weeks.

There are several doctors we need to see while there, and I would really appreciate it if you could line up a few appointments for us.  I guess the kids both need to see their pedodontist in Midland (Walter Taylor) and John and I need to see our dentist, Vincent Bash.  Also, I would like to get a mammogram, since I've never had one.  Wherever you get yours would be fine.  I will probably need to go see a dermatologist as well.  I was doing fine in nice, dry west Texas, but something about Indonesia has set me off.  Imagine, getting zits again at almost 40! (Note from the future: turns out it wasn't really zits, but some kind of creepy infection!)

I guess all of us will drive back to Dallas around Friday, June 26th.  John has to leave for Indonesia on July 1st, but the kids and I will stay in Dallas for that whole month.  Hopefully Alexis will be able to go to Girl Scout camp during that time, and we can get Austin signed up for something too.  Mom's checking to see what the Science Place and Children's Museum have to offer.  I may even send him back to Midland if Karen and Linda sign their boys up for baseball camp or something.  On July 31st the kids and I hope to meet you two down in Houston for the Lane family reunion.  Then, if you wouldn't mind, I thought I would let the kids fly back to Odessa with you, but that I would try to stay in Houston two or three days longer, so I could try and meet up with Paula and Charlene.  I will go on to Odessa Tuesday or Wednesday, the kids and I will fly back to Dallas on the 7th, then we head back to Indonesia August 12th.  Whew!  All this is very tentative though -- who knows what will actually happen!

I went with Peggy Reeh on a lightening quick trip to Jakarta this week.  Basically, we only had one day there, so we started out at 8:00 a.m. and didn't get to eat dinner until 10:00 p.m.  Fun, but tiring!  Found lots of good Christmas and birthday presents to bring home for everyone in the States.  John doesn't want to go anywhere over spring break.  He can't stand to use up any vacation days that could be used on Home Leave, and I don't blame him!  Next month I'm supposed to go with 3 other ladies to spend 3 or 4 days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I don't know much about it, but they say it's kind of like Singapore 10 or 20 years ago, before they tore everything down to build high-rises, and much cheaper.

I finally got my nerve up and made a trip out to the golf course.  Much to my surprise, I actually had a pretty good time.  Of course, I had no idea what I was doing, and the girl who was trying to show me how wasn't much better.  If we could just find a really good teacher, who knows?  I might finally learn to like a sport (don't faint!).  I'm sure I hit less than 100, though we didn't keep score.  Of course, we only played four holes.  You'd love the naked little boys that dive for your balls when they land in water, then sell them back to you!

Tomorrow night one of the girls here is having eight couples for dinner and Bunco.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Did I tell you about meeting Julie Underriner, the one having the party?  I was just chatting with her one day, and discovered that her sister lives in Midland, and is good friends with my old boss Barb!  We used to cater stuff for her all the time, but I never had a clue she had a sister in Indonesia.  It really is a small world, isn't it?

Next weekend the 3rd through 8th graders get to fly to Medan for an exchange weekend with the International School there.  Alexis is so excited about getting to go off by herself with all the big kids!  It should be a great adventure for her.  They are even taking them out to visit some kind of Orangutan Preserve.  They held auditions for the spring play this week.  This one is just for the older kids.  They're doing Pinnochio, but we are almost hoping that Alexis doesn't get much of a part.  She has enough trouble keeping up with all the homework they pile on her as it is, without having to memorize a million lines as well!

Not much else to tell.  I was certainly startled to see the town of Bogata, Texas in the headlines  today, for having six cases of AIDS in their itty bitty high school.  That's where my uncle's ranch is, and where all my cousins went to high school.  Good thing they've already graduated!  Well, take care, and write soon.

MUST BE THE SEASON OF THE PISSED

Dearest Friends,

Although the temps in Indonesia stay the same year-round, we most definitely had seasons on our Sumatran compound.  And, though I wasn't aware of it at the time, we were heading into the "stormy" season.

Even our easy-going Mr. Austin got his grump on this time of year -- especially when momma was forced to take away game privileges.

I suppose it is inevitable, when you take a disparate group of people, toss them into an enclosure (no matter how luxurious) and lock the gate on them, that, sooner or later, nerves are gonna fray.  Add to this that you have mixed together people from different countries, with different beliefs and customs; that we had no one else to socialize with other than the same people we worked with everyday, so it was impossible to get away from shop talk and rumors; that the teachers and doctor had no choice but to fraternize with their students' families and their patients, so they were never off duty; that gossip spread faster than the slash-and-burn fires which the farmers set, up on the hillsides above us, and that there was always lots going on to gossip about, and, well, it's easy to see how stress could build up after seven or eight months, and tempers would be lost.

On top of all that, we were all very homesick by then, and desperately looking forward to taking our annual home-leave as soon as school was out, but sad because we knew that some of the families would not be returning, and our kids might well end up in a class the following year with no one even close to their own age.  Most stressful of all was trying to work out the details of one's home-leave, and making all the arrangements.  In fact, as you will see in upcoming letters home, it was a bit of a nightmare!

Though we had nothing to compare it to at the time, our first spring on the compound was even more stressful than usual.  It turns out that the new school principal had actually be brought on board that year to "clean house"-- to make sure that the school received the desired accreditations -- and word had just leaked out that two of the current teaching couples (they hired only married couples) were to be let go at the end of the school year, and be replaced over the summer.  People who were good buddies with these teachers were livid at the news, and declared war on the principal and his wife.

I did my best to stay neutral, but was actually reduced to tears on one occasion.  I had planned a nice spring luncheon for everyone, before I even knew what was going on, and it turned into a major fiasco.  Half my guests refused to come if certain others were going to be there, and those who did come ended up arguing with one another.  By the time it was all over with, I was ready to be rid of the lot of them, and home leave couldn't possibly get there fast enough for me!

What I didn't know at the time was that this happened every year, and that after two or three months of me and my kids schlepping from one relative's house to another, trying not to overstay our welcome or get on their nerves; my trying to get the kids enrolled in camps and activities that they couldn't get overseas, and then having to figure out how to get them there; trying to shop for all the clothes, gifts, household items, etc. that we would need for the entire year, while staying within budget, and then managing to fit it all in our luggage; and trying to see everybody we needed to see, while balancing the amount of time we spent with each, so that no one got their feelings hurt, why, by August, I 'd be feeling pretty much the same way about all my kin folks as I had about my Indo-friends before we left, and I'd be running back to that compound with open arms!

LETTERS HOME: A TRIP TO SINGAPORE

11th February, 1992

Dear George and Theda,

How is everything in Odessa?  The kids and I just got back from Singapore Sunday evening, and John comes back tonight (Tuesday).  It's pretty grueling to try and do everything you need to do in one weekend, because you don't get there until 8:00 p.m. Friday, and we had the orthodontist appointment Sunday morning, then left at 1:00.  But we still managed to get a lot of shopping done and eat at all of our favorite restaurants (Hard Rock Cafe, and a Mexican place)!  You can tell what everyone's priorities are by what we each chose to buy in Singapore -- John came back with a fancy new camera, Alexis got clothes and make-up, Austin got Nintendo games, and I got 20 boxes of cereal and paperback books!

Believe it or not, this giant waterfall was actually inside our hotel.  Unfortunately, I can't remember which hotel that was.

We just happened to hit Singapore on the tail end of their Chinese New Year celebration, and it was really something to behold.  I think it even exceeds the Christmas frenzy in the states, and it lasts for 15 days!  They had a big parade Saturday night that went right by our hotel, and the kids really enjoyed the dragon dancers, but it made it almost impossible to go anywhere, since they started closing off the streets two hours early, making it impossible to take a taxi anywhere.  We got really excited when we discovered that the new movie Hook was playing, and ran 30 minutes through the rain and the parade crowds to get there, only to discover that the tickets were sold out.  Talk about a disappointment!  Come to find out, they sell reserved seat tickets in advance for their movies here, just like we do for live theatre performances.

Austin and his new friend Trent.

A new Mobil family was staying at our hotel, and we were able to show them around a bit and assist them on the trip back to Lhok Seumawe.  You could tell they were just in a state of total shock.  I'm glad we're not the new people anymore!  They have a little boy who's five, and will be in Austin's class at school, so they had a great time together.  He arrived just in time, since Austin's only other friend close to his age will be moving back to Alaska in June.  The only bad part of the trip was finding out that the orthodontist doesn't need to see Alexis again for four more months! (I was hoping for frequent trips to Singapore.)

Not much else to tell right now.  I'm busy preparing for a Valentines dinner party that I'm giving for six couples this Friday.  Since John got me a pasta machine for Christmas, I thought it might be fun to have everyone come help cook a big pasta dinner together.  The only problem will be fitting them all into my minuscule kitchen!  Oh, by the way, did I tell you about the Chili Cook-Off/Superbowl party they had a couple of weeks ago?  John's chili placed 3rd out of 16!  He was really thrilled.  His friend Danny Reeh won 1st place.  The kids sure have enjoyed the books you sent, and Alexis just adores the dangle earrings and rings.  The folding table and chairs you gave us are probably the most useful things we brought with us.  The only trouble is, people are always wanting to borrow them!  Guess that's about it.  Take care, and write soon.

LETTERS FROM SUMATRA: LEXIE'S BIRTHDAY BASH

20th January, 1992

Howdy there folks at home,

Is everybody freezing their little tushes off?  I spent all afternoon Sunday on my big purple float that has  little holes for your drink in the armrests.  I deserved it, after all I went through putting on Alexis' 9th birthday extravaganza.  I hope my friends there are duly appreciative of being able to let McDonalds or the roller rink do all the work for you.  I guess it wouldn't have been so bad if Santa Claus hadn't brought her this stupid book full of party ideas.  She chose the "Enchanted Garden" theme, which meant we were getting all the twinkle lights back out to string in the trees, hanging wind chimes, cutting out a bazillion little gold moons and stars to hang from the ceiling, baking fairy ring cakes and pixie pizzas, and trying to figure out how to make a wishing well from a trash can.  Then of course, it rained the entire day, so we had to move everything indoors (18 little girls, and one little brother, dressed up as fairies, pixies and leprechauns, bouncing off my walls!).  I guess it was all worth it though -- at least the kids had a great time.

Smartest thing I ever did?  Putting the older kids in charge of entertainment!

A lull in the rain allowed them to try out the bubble wands.

We're starting up a new session of after school activities this week.  Instead of teaching cooking to toddlers again, I decided to try teaching a craft/sewing class to 2nd through 6th grade girls.  I think it will be fun.  Alexis signed up to take tennis from another mom who is supposed to be really good.  She had her first lesson today, and seemed to have a great time.  If she gets good enough, maybe she can teach me!  Austin will be taking "Fun with Bikes".  Hopefully, it will include some bike safety lessons. He makes me really nervous!  I still haven't got around to trying out my golf clubs -- I seem to be putting it off.

Not much else to tell right now.  We've been invited to one of those "How to Host a Murder" parties next weekend, by a couple that's pretty zany, so it's sure to be interesting.  Also, we're having an exchange with the international school in Medan.  About 30 of their kids are coming down here for a fun-filled weekend, and we will have a 3rd grade boy staying with us.  Guess that's about it.  Take care, and write soon.

Love,
Becky, John, Austin and Alexis

P.S.  Theda, Lex loved the books about Molly McGuire that you sent her.  Did you know that they are part of the American Girl Doll Collection?  We gave her the "Samantha" doll and books for her birthday.  The next time you are at Sam's, check their book department and see if they still have some of the American Girl calendars, diaries, activity sets, etc.  Those would all be great things to put back until next summer, for her birthday and Christmas.  There are also all kinds of clothes and accessories that you can order from their catalog, to go with the doll, but they are outrageously expensive, so I thought I would see if the tailors here could make some matching dresses for Lex and her doll, if I show them some pictures from the catalog. (Her doll is dressed in the styles of 1904 -- sort of Victorian, with pinafores, etc.)  Also, I might be able to get some wicker furniture made to fit the doll.  Can you tell I'm having as much (or more) fun with this as Alexis?

Oh yeah.  Did you send some books to Austin as well?  If so, I'm sure they will be there when we go to Singapore of Feb. 7th. (we're finally taking the kids to the orthodontist -- the dentist here thought Austin should to as well.  He thinks if they start "expanding" his jaw early, maybe they could avoid pulling a bunch of teeth.)  The kids both thought the Kids Discover magazine you sent was really cool, and would love to get more of them!  Well, take care.

AZIZ: BATIK GENIUS

Dearest Friends,

On Christmas Eve we went to an open house given by our next-door neighbors, Bob and Judy.  We were pretty worn out from all the partying by then, but I spotted something there that perked me right up -- some pictures kinda like these:

They had the lights dimmed for the party, and until I got right up close, and could see all the little crackle lines, I assumed they were water color paintings or pastels.  They were absolutely nothing like any batiks I had ever seen before -- the mass-produced sort in garish colors that appeal to tourists -- so I immediately went to find my hostess, to pump her for information.  I found out that they were done by an artist in Medan, by the name of Aziz.  We paid him a visit, first chance we got.

For some reason my favorite art has always been of ordinary people, doing ordinary things, whether it be selling veggies at the market...

harvesting cacao beans...

or shopping for fabric.

What I loved most about this artist's work was that, though he may have created hundreds of these fabric stall scenes over his lifetime, each one was unique, differing in hue, texture, pattern and expression.

I don't remember how much we paid for them, maybe two or three hundred each?  Then we had to pay that much again to have them properly framed and matted in Singapore.  Anyhoo, it was an exorbitant amount to me at the time, and the most extravagant purchase I had ever made -- which is why we only bought three for ourselves, over the next three years, plus one smaller one as a gift for my artist mother-in-law.  Whatever they cost, they are worth twenty times that to me now.

During our last year in Indonesia, my friend Teri somehow managed to convince Aziz to come to our compound and teach a two day workshop at our school, for all the kids.  I volunteered to help out, and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Miss Melody, our Austin, and little Emily learn how to block out certain areas on their batiks with wax, before dipping them into various dye baths.

I wish I could tell you more about this gentleman, but since most Indonesians only have one name -- a name that thousands of other Indonesians share -- I had no luck at all when I tried to "google" him.  All I can tell you is that he was ageless, he worked from his small home surrounded by children and grandchildren, the formula for his special dyes were his great secret, and that they were so caustic that they had eaten away all his fingernails, as he refused to wear gloves when he worked.  Oh, and one more thing -- that I am very blessed to have met him, to have seen a true artist at work, and to have these examples of his genius in my possession, even if the rest of the world is now oblivious to his existence.

LETTERS FROM SUMATRA: JOHN WRITES ON CHRISTMAS

December 24, 1991

Dear Mom and Dad,

We will probably have talked to you before this gets mailed, but I thought I'd start a letter anyway.  We got Dad's long letter and sure enjoyed reading it.  Your package with the magazines showed up this week.  I don't think we will do that again, at least not for a while.  Customs went through all the catalogs wanting to know what the value of each was.  I had a hard time convincing them that they were free.  After about 30 minutes or so, they finally charged me about $1 and let me go.  Not really worth the effort, considering what was in it.

We went to a real nice Christmas party last Saturday at the restaurant.  We had dinner and then the kids got a visit from Santa.  All the parents had brought gifts up earlier, so Santa would have something to give to each of the children.  It was a lot of fun, particularly for the kids.  They can hardly wait for tomorrow.  We will let them open one present tonight, but save the rest for in the morning.  There have been quite a few new faces around here the last couple of weeks, as many people have relatives in for the holidays.  If you are seriously thinking of coming over, this would probably be a good time to do it.  Nothing like floating around the pool on Christmas Day!

Speaking of trips, it looks like I will attend an ASME conference in Cologne, Germany June 1 - 4, so that will put us back home sometime around the 6th.  There's an outside chance I may have to spend the first 3 days in Dallas working on a committee, but this will just extend my home leave by that many days.  We will work out the details later on.  I'll be coming back to Indonesia around the first of July, but Becky and the kids will probably be staying through until mid-August, so there'll be plenty of opportunities to put the kids on the plane and send them down to you for several days.  I may come on down to Odessa right at first, then have the family follow a few days later.  Just don't know what the plans will be right now, but we'll get the kids to you as soon as possible.  You might even think about coming up to Dallas when we get there, if you want.

Word coming out of Midland is not too good.  I know it was hard on you for us to move away, but apparently it was announced that Mobil would reduce its workforce by 1/3.  That's quite a few layoffs.  They don't have anywhere near enough people nearing retirement that they can minimize the impact by using early retirement packages.  Mobil is selling a lot of properties as well.  It looks like next year will be a really bad year to be in the domestic groups, so it may have been a good move on my part, taking this job and getting out of the country for a while until things settle down.  I just can't understand Bush ignoring the domestic economy.  I read every day in the papers about other companies laying off people.  I wish our politicians would quit fooling around and do something constructive for once.  I would like to be able to come home some day!

Well, I guess you two are pretty happy now that Dallas has made it to the playoffs.  This was a funny year.  Houston and new Orleans finally won a Divisional Title, and Texas has a new coach.  At least Makovich isn't an old UT player.  I think it was high time to get someone in who has a different point of view.  I'll close for now and will add some later, after Christmas.

Dec.26

Well, it was good talking to you yesterday.  I hope your Christmas wasn't too quiet.  Ours turned out pretty nice.  I think the kids really enjoyed it.  They seemed pretty happy with everything they got.  We did miss all the family though.  I hope you two really do think about coming over next year.  I think you'd have a good time.  There are a lot of activities going on during December.  Anyway, we had a nice Christmas dinner.  Danny and Peggy Reeh came over, along with Allen Mobbs, whose family is in the US now.  We had a whole lot more food than we needed.  We were both pretty tired by 10 that night, and had no problems going to sleep.  Especially since Alexis had woken us up at 1:30 that morning.  Sound familiar?  Don't know what got into her and Austin, who came in at 5:30.  Usually it's Becky waking them up on Christmas!  Well, here we go, on into the next year.

My promotion and raise came as quite a surprise.  I had not anticipated that for at least a couple of more years.  I was led to believe they were going to be pretty tight about promoting people into the Tier II level.  I guess it helps to have Jim Wingate in charge of all the engineers in Mobil.  He was the one that approved my move over here.  I'm really sorry I didn't get to see him before he left Indonesia and went back to Fairfax, Va.  Anyway, the promotion is really nice, plus a sizable raise.  With all the extra bonuses added in, it amounts to another $900 or so a month.  Gee, I'm making so much money, I just don't know what to do with it all!  Sometime after the first of the year, when things settle down a little, I'll have to evaluate what my finances are and make a few decisions on what to do with some of this money.

Well, guess I'll close for now.  Take care, and we will be seeing you both before too much longer.

Love,  John

(a postscript from Miss Becky -- you have already seen the photos she refers to in previous posts)

P.S. Here are some photos that John took around the house during the holidays.  The furniture out on the porch belongs to P.T. Arun, but I had it recovered in fabric I brought with me.  The furniture in the living room is our new stuff that we ordered in Medan.  It got here just in the nick of time for the home tour!  I'll write more later.