A mixed bag

It is a funny ride, this roller coaster of moving. Every day seems to reach new emotional highs and lows, new loves and hates, new levels of excitement and distress. We have known for months that we would be leaving Indonesia. We haven't always known where we were going, but we knew it was time for us to say selamat jalan to the country we have called home for 4.5 years. It wasn't an easy decision, but we always knew it would be one we would make eventually. Almost 5 years is long enough to live abroad, at least in a challenging city like Jakarta and so far from our real home.

A few months ago this city and this country were driving me nuts. Everything about it was wrong, nothing worked, it was all frustrating and stupid, it was dirty and smelly, etc. Fortunately at the time I recognized this for what it was - my brain's way of detaching myself emotionally from a place and from people I have loved. If you accept the approaching departure, you must look forward instead of dwelling on everything that has been and everything that is wonderful. And in order to do that, it seems to me that many people going through a major move deal with it by hating the place they have to leave. It makes sense to me, and is probably (hopefully!) a very healthy process. And I got to the other side of it - I still love it here, I still recognize the wonderful things about this place, I know I will miss it immensely. But I also recognize all that is horrible and all the things I am looking forward to bidding a fond farewell!

In this light, a review of what I find lovely about living in Jakarta and Indonesia, and all that I'm looking forward to in America.

What I will miss...
- Indonesians are incredibly kind and gentle
- There is never a dull day here
- The challenges of living in a foreign country push you continuously
- All the color and richness of this place that make it unique and interesting (for example, I have never tired of seeing the carts on the side of the road selling food or house essentials, or of people wearing batik clothing, etc)
- Hearing foreign languages all the time
- Always seeing people who look different from us, it's not a sea of white
- My lifestyle here has been luxurious, in so many ways
- Financial comfort
- Our house staff who takes care of us almost every day
- My free time
- Our ability to have our nanny work almost any night we ask, with short notice
- The spas!!! (massages, facials, reflexology, manis and pedis, etc)
- The relatively cheap and easy travel around Asia
- Tropical islands, adventure travel
- Swimming pool in our backyard
- Our wonderful, safe complex which has loads of kids and playgrounds
- Our good friends
- So much time to get to hang out with friends
- Jakarta International School
- Premier movie theaters (lazy boy recliner, blankets, meal service)
- Nice indoor playcenters
- Great Asian food
- Bali is only a 90 minute flight away

What I will not miss about Jakarta/Indonesia...
- The traffic! The motorcycles!
- The pollution!
- Too many people, everywhere
- Constantly getting sick, weird diseases
- The threat of Dengue fever
- Not being able to return things to stores
- Being surrounded by people who don't use critical thinking skills
- Lack of nice parks and places to go outside within Jakarta
- Having nice parks and beaches within 60 miles but that take hours to get to due to traffic
- The feeling that this life is not normal
- Being so far away physically from family and friends back home
- 12 hour time difference between here and home
- The 35 hours it takes to get home in the US
- The constant challenges - nothing is ever easy
- Rotating stock outs in the stores - you never know how long something will be available
- Having to go to several stores to find what you need
- Having to go to duty free stores for affordable wine and liquor, but these stores aren't always open and there is always a limit on how much you can buy

What I am looking forward to...
- Fresh air!
- Change of seasons
- The ease of living in the US
- No real traffic in Chapel Hill!
- You can find everything you need in just one store (OMG - Greatland Target I love you!)
- Seeing my family often, talking to them any time of day
- Road trips
- Staying in one place - making friends who most likely won't be moving away
- Owning a house and making it ours
- Driving. Driving on big wide roads without food carts, motorcycles, and too many cars crowding them
- Bike rides
- Hikes, camping

I thought I would write a list of what I'm not looking forward to about America, but I think I should end on a high note! Plus what I love about living here is pretty much the antithesis of what I don't like about the US.

We are one day into packing up our house. The house is more than half boxed and reality has set in with a huge shove forward! Definitely no turning back now!