A New World

Wow,  I just discovered an unpublished blog.  I must have written it in our first 6 months here in Jakarta back in early 2012.  The crazy thing is... life is now so different again!  Changes happen, we're rolling with the punches :)

And now, it's only a few short months till we return to Australia!  Life will, once again, change rather drastically but I'm ready and excited for what the future holds.

As things stand now, Daniel is in Grade 10 at the American "High School", Joel is in grade 8 at the "Middle School" and Ruby is at a different campus in grade 2, "Elementary School".  Caroline is Boarding in Australia and is in grade 9.

At Home in Jakarta

 

At home in Jakarta

Of to see a movie

Off to a Murder Mystery Party

Releasing Turtles - Lombok

Caroline in Australia

The children have all been accepted in to their respective schools for when we return, thank goodness :)

I'm enthusiastic about getting back to our little piece of "Land" and working hard!

Tony seems to mosey along as always and is also keen to be living back in our own little piece of paradise on the Sunny Coast.

Until then..... Feel free to read this old blog below if you wish.

Liss  :)


Old post:  I was just looking back at the first blog I posted before we left Australia.  I included some pics of our family doing things we used to do in Australia.  Swimming, visiting with friends and family, jumping on the trampoline, swinging, spending time in the back yard......  I can't believe how different our life is now!

We still keep quite busy, but the types of activities we do are very different.  Most people here go to shopping malls or indoor play centres for entertainment.  The big kids have discovered a water park that was great fun so we'll probably head back there during school holidays.

We still spend a fair amount of time traveling on the weekends for sport, the difference is that the distance we travel is very small but the time it takes in the traffic is long.  We don't drive ourselves, we have a driver so we spend the time in the car chatting amongst ourselves, practicing our Indonesian with the driver or reading (or playing on iPad's etc).

The Children all go to school of course but, once again, it's very different from Aus.  Daniel and Caroline are in middle school which is run more like a high school in Aus.  They move around to different classrooms for different subjects and they have a "Home Room".  They don't pack their lunch but eat at a cafeteria.  They pay for their lunch using an electronic wristband that they top up at a machine regularly.  They attend various after school activities including sport and "clubs".  I don't have a lot to do with the school (except via electronic means, so many emails and bulletins to read!!!) because the children catch a bus.  The bus picks up Caroline and Daniel at 6:25am inside our gate and brings them home again anywhere between 4pm and 7pm depending on what activities they are involved in after school.  Yes, life has changed for all of us but the children are all settling in well.

Joel also travels to school by bus, leaving at 6:50am to a different campus.  Joel is in elementary school until August when he will join the others at Middle school.  For now, he is in an environment similar to primary school in Aus.  He is also participating in sport and after school activities, he's in a basketball team and is starting Tae Kwan Do this week.  I think Joel misses his mates back home more than anyone.  He has made some new friends though and is doing well.

Ruby is going to a preschool very close to our home.  I drop her off each day at 8:30 and pick her up again at 12:30.  If I'm busy, our "pembantu" (helper) picks her up, sometimes on a motorbike which she really enjoys!  I spend most afternoons at home with Ruby as she too will be moving to elementary school in August and she will have longer days and leave on the bus like the bigger children.  Wow, I think it will feel very strange to put my youngest on a bus to school although they do have a chaperone for the younger children.  Ruby has settled into our new life very quickly and is her usual happy self.  She has become firm friends with our two helpers, Atun and Tini (Cook and Cleaner/child minder) and our security guards as well.  She plays basketball outside with the guards and is learning some indonesian songs from Tini and Atun.

Tony has been quite busy with work and finds it challenging but fun.  He has travelled to Bali, Kuala Lumpur, Dili, Brunei and Singapore, some of these places more than once already.  I am planning to join him for 2 nights in Bali later this month.

Outdoor Bathroom

Thousand Islands

We've also had a couple of interesting trips away.  I'll include pictures that will speak for me or you'd all be here reading all night!  I will say, we have been to Bandung by train, to Singapore by plane and we are heading up in to the mountains not far outside Jakarta next weekend to celebrate Ruby's 5th Birthday with a visit to a Safari Park.

Puncak - mountains outside Jakarta

@ Pulau Seribu - Thousand Islands

I miss being able to take the kids to the beach, there's no beaches here.  I know that might sound strange considering we are living in an archipelago but Jakarta itself has no beaches, at least none you'd swim in.  We also don't have much time after school for playing as the children get home quite late and have to do homework and get to bed early for their early starts.  Most of all, we miss our friends and family.

Like I said, life is very different.  There are some difficulties and some benefits but all in all we are enjoying life as usual.  We hope to see some of our friends and family here during our posting to share our experiences.

Penang - Malaysia

Couple of Rabits... Temple in Penang

hehe

Farewells.

We have been in Jakarta for over a month now!  How fast the time has passed.

Some of our family and friends came to see us the day before we left (as well as the week before) and it was great for the kids to say goodbye to some of their special friends!  (and us!)

Sadly we also had to say farewell to our friend, Dooley.  He has moved to Melbourne to be loved by some wonderful family members.

We started out on Sunday morning, 4th of December, at 5am from our apartment at Cotton Tree on the beautiful Sunny Coast.  The first thing the kids got excited about was the brand new Cherokee Voyager that we travelled to the airport in.  They were provided with a wireless headset each and movies and drinks, and even a little finger puppet to play with and take with them.  They thought it was all pretty cool!

My Mum and sister were hiding inside the door at the airport to farewell us and we were lucky enough to have time for a cuppa together before going through customs.  They were quite amused by the amount of luggage we had as were the airline check in staff.  :)  Although we had farewelled them the day before, they just couldn't help themselves.  It was lovely to see their smiling faces, thank you xo.

 
After passing through Customs, we made our way to the Singapore airlines business class lounge. Once again, the kids were pretty excited by all the luxury. They sat in the lounge chairs and helped themselves to the breakfast bar. Free food is always a hit with the boys in particular!!!

After a short wait our flight was called and we boarded the plane. MORE excitement of course due to the comfy chairs, toys and socks provided and all the movies and games you could possibly need for one hour flight!

















The Children are all settling in well and I'm very proud of the way they've taken it all in their stride.  We must have briefed them pretty well before hand because very little has caused a stir.  Neither the extravagent shopping malls (within which one can easily become lost), or the heart breaking scenes of abstract poverty.

I promise to post my next update with more about our time settling in here in much less time than it's taken me to post this!!

 
  

Farewell!!  xoxo

Change

Change, something we all have to deal with throughout our lives and certainly something I’ve had my fair share of.  Not that I’m complaining...  I have always embraced the new chapters in my life, it’s all part of the adventure!  Although my family has been living in the same house for more than 6 years now, life has not been dull.  

We are however, about to take things up a notch and make a move to a Country we are quite familiar with.  Indonesia.  Yes, we have lived there before but that doesn’t make it any less exciting this time around.  The Children are all so much bigger now and will be able to share the memories with us.  They are all excited to be going and are handling the idea of such a huge adjustment very well.

It will be sad, for all of us, to leave the wonderful friends we’ve made here on the Sunshine Coast but we will be back.  

The challenge of preparing for an international move has kept me rather busy over the past month, but who doesn’t enjoy a Challenge!? ;)  

We’ve all been jabbed a few times already, filled out countless forms, made applications for school (quite involved) and passports, cleared out the house, tidied up the yard (for renting our home) and had medical and dental checks done.   We still need to sell our cars, find a home for our trailer and our dog and I’m sure other things will pop up over the next two months.

So, as my family and I prepare for this new and exciting part of our lives, I thought a blog may be a good idea.  It seems to be an easy way to share some of our experiences and keep in touch with our friends and loved ones.

It is a little over two months till we depart.  For now, I'll leave you with some recent pics of our family doing typical things that families do, when living in Australia.  :)