Sports and such

Wow, wasn't the Olympics fantastic this year?! So many amazing athletes and exciting races, so many great events. The summer Olympics are my favorite because gymnastics is by far my favorite event, plus the swimming, diving, and track and field events are so good too. I just spent hours in front of the tv because it was just so exciting.

Oh wait! No, that wasn't me. I must have been dreaming about seeing the Olympics. Because, even though I am just one time zone away, even though I could have watched the Olympics in real time, I didn't see any of it. Not one single event. Not one flip, not one relay race, not one breathtakingly close finish. Why you may ask? Because Indonesian cable did not carry the Olympics this year - too expensive is the reason I heard. So while you were all glued to your tv sets watching the US of A take home the most medals of the Olympics (although China took home the most gold) I was here languishing in my pathetic pity party wishing that I too was enjoying the sacred Olympics. So alas, I will have to wait another 4 years before I get my fill of Olympic fever (winter Olympics doesn't do it for me nearly as much). Boo hoo hoo!

NBC has exclusive broadcasting rights in America to the Olympic games and pays dearly for this right - 600 million dollars! This amount makes up 40% of the total Olympic committee's budget. I'm not exactly sure what Indonesia would have had to pay, but I think it's about 1 million US$. Definitely not pocket change, but you'd think they would be able to make it up in advertising, especially considering Indonesia's favorite sports are represented in the summer games.

On to some little tidbits of sports trivia. Indonesia took home 5 medals this year. Two of these medals (both bronze) were in weightlifting. The other 3 (a trifecta - gold, silver and bronze) were in badminton. Had no idea, did you? Indeed, Indonesians are brilliant badminton players. They have won a gold medal in badminton ever since the sport became an official event in the 1992 Olympics. They also regularly win championships in badminton around the world, such as the All England Open Badminton Championships, the Thomas Cup, and the Uber Cup. I have yet to see a game here, but hopefully I will before we leave.

Indonesians also love soccer and it is the most popular sport. The Indonesian team has always qualified for the Asian Cup but has had only limited success. I don't think the Indonesian soccer team has ever made it into the Olympics. They also play Australia Rules Football here, although only in Australian clubs. No Indonesian team has ever played in the Australian Football International Cup.

And evidently they are good at weightlifting - that was news to me. There are a few stables around Jakarta and I know there's a polo team so equestrian sports is somewhat popular. When we went to Bandung a few weeks ago we saw a bunch of cyclists riding up the mountain, so I think cycling is somewhat popular here as well. Then of course there's golf. There are tons of golf courses in and around Jakarta, and really all over Indonesia. It's a popular sport, although I don't know how popular it is with Indonesians. The courses are pretty cheap too, so if you're a golfer this is a good place to come!

Course at Bali Golf and Country Club, rated one of Asia's 5 best courses in Fortune magazine

USA visit - first half

I think I just have to catapult myself into this daunting task of writing about our enormous trip. And it really was enormous, in every sense of the word... From the long, oh so very long flights over and back, the feelings of exhaustion, the number of people with whom we visited, the number of activities, the amount of fun we had, and did I mention the exhaustion? It really was an enormously fun trip, but we definitely won't do this more than once/year.

The trip sort of got off to a bad start. We took a night flight from Jakarta to Tokyo, but no one slept well so by the time we arrived in Tokyo (8 hours later) we were all already exhausted. Our layover in Tokyo was 6 hours - far too long and in the wee hours of the morning. J and I were able to take a shower in Tokyo though so that helped to revive us bleary eyed parents. The flight from Jakarta to Dallas (12 hours) would have gone fine except that the kids slept at completely different times, so we never really got a break from the kids. One of us always had to be "on", and the other one who should sleep couldn't really sleep. After a few hour layover in Dallas, where we had to go through immigration and where J got pulled aside (he's such a criminal you know) for having been to Indonesia, Philippines, and New Zealand all in one year (a certain red flag evidently), we were off on yet another plane to Minneapolis (2 hours). By the time we arrived in Mnps, we were beyond exhaustion. My poor father, who drove 2 hours to pick us up and who was excited to tears to see us all, had to wade through unintelligible conversation in the airport and a completely passed out family of 4 on the whole drive to Eau Claire (LC never woke up from when he fell asleep on the airplane, C made it about 3 minutes into the drive before he fell asleep, and J and I made it about 5 minutes...pathetic).


And this whole trip was in business or first class. I know, I know. Totally and completely spoiled, I KNOW! And yet it was still quite miserable! I can't imagine how much worse it would have been in coach. And no, we're not able to afford first class tickets to/from Asia. J racked up a ton of miles for his job and first class actually isn't much more than business class, and yet it's soooo much nicer: 5 course meals on real china, ice cream sundays that they make by your seat, Bose headphones, real quilted blankets, and of course chairs that fold completely flat to make a pretty comfortable bed. It was so awesome. This will probably never happen again, and it was almost glorious. "Almost" glorious because the damn kids ruin things every time! :)

C enjoying his first class seat

The kids and I stayed in Wisconsin with my mom for over 2 weeks, but J had to go to NC for 1.5 weeks of work (but his ticket was paid for so we couldn't complain too much). J stayed long enough in Wisconsin to get over the worst part of the jet lag and to help me get the kids over the toughest parts. He also stayed long enough to celebrate LC's first birthday party. My little love is a one year old already, I can't believe it! We had a very nice party for him and my dad and mom and cousins and second cousins and aunts and a friend from Peace Corps all came to help us celebrate. C seemed to have a good time playing with his second cousins (is that what you call them - they're my cousin's kids...?) and we had such a nice time catching up with family. My father's side of the family lives mostly in Wisconsin and I try to see them every time I go "home" to Eau Claire. They are a really incredible group of people and I always enjoy spending time with them.


LC blowing out his bday candles with a little help from his big brother

The weather was perfect the entire time we were in Wisconsin. It rained only once and otherwise it was sunny skies and in the 70's/80's. I couldn't have asked for better weather. We were quite busy during our 2 week stay. I thought we would do a lot of relaxing and this would be our "down" time, but instead we had a lot of people to visit with and there were a lot of activities we wanted to do.

Once we took a couple days to rest after our flight, we went to the farmer's market. I really miss farmer's markets. This has been surprising because in every other developing country I've visited or lived in, going to open air markets/farmer's markets is a part of life. I fully expected that we would be buying all of our produce from open air markets here. Instead, we get everything from the super market. I also did a lot of indoor shopping during our visit. Every time the kids took a nap and some evenings after they went to bed, I'd race around town trying to get some shopping done. We can actually get just about everything in Jakarta, but not in one place and not always for a good price. Plus, we can't get American medication in Jakarta and most of the clothes are made for tiny Indonesians. It's a bit cruel to go shopping here and find you're an XL, when you're really a S or M! So, instead of spending days driving through horrible traffic in Jakarta to get some of the items on my list, I saved it up for our visit to the US. And although this was still time consuming and ate into my relaxation time, it was a lot of fun. I went to Target like 10 times, it was awesome. I'd practically give my right arm to have a Target in Jakarta.

Before J left for NC we were able to take in a Cavaliers baseball game, the Eau Claire home team. The games are very quiet and hometown, and perfect for 2 small kids. C enjoyed running around the stadium and playing with the new camera his Peepa had just given him, and LC had fun "walking" up and down the stairs and charming the other attendees. And they even watched the game once in a while... C also got to go to his first circus! We had a great time watching all the performances, eating cotton candy and slushies, and going on pony rides. C's favorite performances were the acrobats and the motorcycle show. I thought he might be a little scared of the whole thing, but he was instead enraptured.

A main activity during our stay in Eau Claire was to spend as much time as we could outside. This included many walks around my mom's beautiful neighborhood and several visits to playgrounds. One of the things we hate most about Jakarta is the lack of green space in the city. Neighborhoods do not have community parks and playgrounds like many communities in the US do, nor do streets have sidewalks or any public green spaces. And with 2 young kids and 2 parents who really enjoy walking around outside, this is a problem. Fortunately we live in an area of Jakarta that has 2 outdoor playgrounds and 2 indoor playgrounds within a 5-10 minute drive of our house. The downside is that we have to pay to use them, but at least they're really nice (the outdoor playgrounds have water features like slides and sprinkler type equipment). But still, I really miss just being able to take a long walk in a quiet, peaceful, and nice smelling area (Jakarta does not smell good), and then to stop at the free playground on the way home. Therefore, while we were in Eau Claire we made sure to take a lot of walks and to visit the wonderful and free playgrounds that dot the city.


As part of our quest to be outdoors, we also went to a few outdoor concerts. This was among my very favorite activities during our visit to WI. The university puts on free concerts every weekday at noon during the summer, and again a couple times in the evening during the week. So we would walk over (my mom lives a block from the university) and plop down on a blanket, listen to some good music, and let the kids run around. Another venue, Phoenix Park, opened up a few years ago and they also hold evening concerts during the week in the summer. These free concerts are very well attended and there are a lot of families there. Many of the young kids go down to the area just in front of the band and dance and play with bubbles, etc. And C, being the Leo that he is, joined them in the fun. He's a pretty good dancer too! There is nothing even remotely like this in Jakarta...

C enjoying an outdoor concert with Peepa

We also spent a day at our friend's house on a small quiet lake about 45 minutes north of Eau Claire. The lake doesn't allow motorboats so it is so wonderfully quiet and peaceful. We took a canoe out onto the lake and looked for frogs on the lillypads, and just enjoyed the beautifully fresh air and peacefulness. I've grown up most of my life knowing these friends of my mom's, and they are among my absolute favorites. It was a glorious day to spend all day with them relaxing by their lake.


We also spent a lot of time visiting with a few of my friends from high school who either still live in the area or came home for a visit. It's amazing to think we've been friends for 20-25 years, and that we still enjoy eachother's company so much. And speaking of long friendships, I also got to see friends of my family who I've known since I was about 7 or 8. I love meeting new people and making new friends, to learn about their experiences and their lives, but there is something so special in being able to maintain friendships for so long and to have such history with people. I value these relationships so much and feel so lucky to have these people in my life, and that they're willing to make the effort to maintain a friendship with me despite my seeming desire to live so far away! And of course, it was wonderful to spend so much time with my parents and for them to see their grandsons as much as possible. We had a fabulous time together. And my brother even flew out from Washington state for a weekend. C and I hadn't seen him since C was 4 months old, so that was a very special weekend. The most important reason for this whole visit was to reconnect with our loved ones, and I'm so glad we did. It took an amazing amount of effort, but it was well worth it.

I still have to write a post about the second half of our visit when we went to Baltimore and DC. Who knows when that will happen, but hopefully it won't take me over a month like it took me to write this one!

Happy Independence Day Indo!

Yesterday, August 17, was Independence Day here in Indonesia. This date marks the declaration of Indonesia's independence from the Netherlands in 1945. The Indonesian National Revolution lasted for 4 years between Indonesia and the Netherlands, as well as some internal conflict. Fighting during this time was sporadic but violent and was one of the largest revolutions of the 20th century. The Dutch military was able to prevail in the urban areas of Java and Sumatra, but unable to do so in the rural areas throughout the country. Outside forces also influenced Indonesia's eventual success. The Netherlands was crippled by losses during the second world war and were therefore unable to pour a great deal of resources into their fight to hold on to Indonesia. In addition, the United Nations and the United States both supported Indonesia in their quest for independence. The revolution came to an end in 1949 when The Netherlands officially recognized Indonesia as a sovereign nation. If you're really interested in this topic, you can go here for a lot more information.


Indonesians take a great deal of pride in their independence and there are flags and banners all over Jakarta. Indonesians celebrate with food and family like Americans do, but grilling out is definitely not a part of the tradition. Most of the neighborhoods (and I suspect villages) in Jakarta organize their own small celebrations, and have many games for the kids to play (like potato sack races, water bobbing, etc) and have music and parties. You can also hear kids lighting fireworks throughout the night, but I don't think there's a large fireworks display hosted by the city or national government.


For us it's been a quiet and relatively lazy long weekend. Saturday we took C to see the movie Wall E, which he seemed to enjoy quite a bit. He got upset whenever Wall E was in trouble, but for the most part he laughed a lot. Saturday night J and I spent the evening saying goodbye to our very good friends in Jakarta who are moving to Oman. We're extremely sad to see them go as they're amongst a very small handful of friends who we really enjoy and can relate to, and who we really like all members of the family. Sunday we took the kids to Ancol, where Seaworld is, and had fun going through the tunnel (where you're surrounded on 3 sides by water with fish, manta rays, sharks, tortoises, etc - LC especially loved this!) and then taking a gondola ride over the beach and amusement park. And today is a lazy day (both boys are taking a nap, how wonderful!) and later today some friends will come over for a bbq. All in all, a good weekend.

A bit more on LC

LC forgot to show you some more new skills - here he demonstrates riding a bobby car and saying his favorite word, ball. (And by the way, why does a mother's voice get so annoyingly high when she's talking to her child, especially on video?! Actually, I know it has to do with babies being able to hear higher pitched sounds better, which is mother nature's cool way of helping babies to learn sounds, but you'd think by 1 year of age that might stop... sorry about that.)

We also had some studio portraits taken, and while they turned out alright, they would have been better had LC wanted to stay in one spot for more than 2 seconds. However, things went better once we discovered some balls. I'll be shocked if this kid doesn't grow up loving sports...

LC's new skills

I'm almost 13.5 months old and I can do lots of things! My biggest accomplishment is walking. I've been taking my own steps since I was in America in June, right around the time I turned 1. But, I haven't had the confidence to walk all the time on my own until just about 1 week ago. But once I started I don't want to do anything but walk and I rarely want any help and I almost never fall down. I was just waiting until I was really good at it before I decided to walk all the time. You can see me walk right here!

I can also say some words, sort of. I can still say my first word, "mumum" but I don't say it very often anymore. I also still say "up", which was one of my first words, and "mama" too. My favorite word is "ba" for ball. I say it all the time because I LOVE balls! They're my favorite toys! I also say "bu" for book, and "boo" for shoe. I love shoes and socks. But I say "boo" for just about everything. My mom even calls me "boo boo" sometimes cuz I say "boo" for just about any word I don't know. But I definitely say "boo" for shoe. Oh, and I say "this", and I like to point to things and say "this". That's about all I can say, but I'm understanding a lot of things!

I'm also a good little pitcher like my brother. My parents say I have a great arm, and I think they secretly hope that one of us will become a major league pitcher. Well, probably more my dad than my mom, but they both think it sometimes. I like to splash in the water a lot too and I like to go swimming. Mostly I like to try to do all the things my big brother does. I know I can't yet, and that makes me frustrated, but I still try!

I have definite opinions about things. Like when my mom or dad tries to feed me something I don't like, I scrunch up my face and shake my head from side to side and spit it out. YUCK! And I get very upset when I don't get what I want. I even throw fits and my parents laugh about it, but they try to hide that they're laughing. That doesn't make me happy either. I take my mom or dad's hand to take them somewhere when I want to go somewhere, like outside. And I won't let them read me a book that I don't want to read. I have revolving favorite books, and they have to read those books to me or else I won't let them read. I push anything away that I don't want! My favorite books right now is an animal sounds book with lots of different animals and the sounds they make, and a picture/word book of lots of different objects. My mom says it was one of my brother's favorite books too.

So now that I'm 13 months old I can do lots of different things! I'm a toddler now!

C turns FOUR!

My first gorgeous son turned four years old today. I can hardly believe it. We've had a wonderful day and I'm just so proud and amazed at the incredible boy he is and is becoming. He continues to be sweet and gentle and smart, just like he has been for so long. His creativity and imagination is expanding and he especially loves to hear his nana tell him made-up stories. Additionally, for the past several months his questions have become more abundant and more challenging, as the "why" enters into the picture. For example, a couple months ago we were talking about J and I before we had him, and he asked where he was if he wasn't in my belly or born yet. Although I am nonreligious, I have to say the heaven and angels explanation for what is before there is life came in very handy! I mean, I sure wasn't expecting the "what is there before life" question from a 3 year old! Today I also told him the story of his birth, which he made me retell several times. He then asked about the day I was born and the day J was born. He is starting to grasp more complex ideas and put more and more together. Over the last few months his drawing ability has become much more interesting as well now that he can draw (for the most part) a house or a person or an animal. Yesterday he drew a picture of my head complete with eyes, ears, nose, lips and teeth. And there was also a house and a rat in the picture. Awesome. We still battle with discipline, but it feels that things have really turned around the last couple weeks. At least I don't feel like I am getting as frustrated with him as much as I was.


His birthday started off with the opening of far too many presents. I always feel we end up going overboard at holidays and his birthday. But I suppose that happens to the best of us. As you can see in the photo, he's very into superheros at the moment. He also really likes dinosaurs, which I'm pretty happy about (they're so interesting!). He still likes cars, etc. but they aren't the main focus any longer, thank goodness. I was getting so bored of cars!


For the rest of the morning he played with his new toys and then we went to the water park. We had a blast, as we have the other 2 times we've been. It was just him and me and I loved the time to have him to myself.


And when we got home our driver gave him a ride on his motorcycle, which C asked for when I asked what he wanted to do today. It was just around our housing complex, but he had fun.



And tomorrow we're off to Bandung, which is about a 2 hour drive from Jakarta. C has been asking for several months to see a volcano, and so we thought it would be a good thing to do for his birthday. So tomorrow morning we will leave for Bandung and plan to have a relaxing afternoon at the hotel or in the area. Sunday morning we will go to the volcano and take some walks around and maybe check out the hot springs.

The following weekend C's birthday extravaganza continues with his birthday party. Many of his friends are still returning from long summer trips home, so we chose to postpone his party by a week so more of his friends would be here. He also starts back at school on Monday so he is a very busy boy!

Happy Birthday sweet darling C!