Indonesian Christmas
Ok...I realize that it took me coming all the way over to Indonesia to write a new blog...but whatever...
Here's the short version of how my sister Jamie and I got here and what we've done in the past few days with my mom-or as short as I can make it.
Jamie and I met up in LA on Saturday, Dec. 16th. We flew out that night on our 14+ hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. Surprisingly, the trip was not unbearable. We had "on demand" movies, some random music and TV and video games. Plus, we slept as much as we could. All in all, not a bad plane ride.
We landed in Taipei at 5am (Taipei time that is) on Monday, Dec. 18th. We spent a few hours there wondering the halls of the airport feeling farther and farther from home. Although there were Christmas decorations, english music and signs in english, I think of the 4 hours we were there I only heard one other person speak english...fluently.
We boarded our final flight into Jakarta, Indonesia around 9am. It was about a 5 hour flight and again, not too bad. When we landed in Jakarta it was HOT and MUGGY to say the least. The airport was like none I'd ever seen. It was so simple and pretty but not like an airport at all. Jamie and I headed to the bathroom and discovered that out of the 4 stalls only 2 were "sit down" toilets. The others were built into the floor and apparently you kinda stand/squat to use it. Needless to say we both opted for the ole familiar "sit down".
We waited in line to get out tourist visa and quickly discovered that the Indonesian people not only have a very tiny personal space bubble but they will take advantage of any open space in front of you in line. We made it through and finally got our bags and started searching for Mom. I looked over at a group of people, all of whom were obviously waiting for their friends and family to get off the plane, to see a tall, blonde, fair skinned woman amidst a sea of small, dark haired, dark skinned faces. It was of course my sweet mom. When we finally made it to her she was crying a little...half from the excitement of seeing us and half from worry. It had been an hour since our plane had landed and she was feeling nervous for us. But we had finally made it!
We no sooner turned around to find Mom's driver Tarsono than he popped out of no where to greet us with a smile and handshake. He took Jamie's rickety bag and began to roll it to the car. I jumped in the front seat (did you expect any different?) which also happened to be the drivers side in American cars. Here in Indo the driver sits on the right and front seat passengers on the left. That has taken some getting used to. I also had to get used to all the gila (crazy that is) driving. Mom had told us about it and I quickly discovered that all her outlandish stories were no exaggeration. Quite literally if there was a foot or even an inch of space between, behind or in front of someone was going to take it. There are thousands, and I mean thousands, of motorbike weaving in and out of cars. Some held just the driver, most a driver and passenger or two. There were even family's all riding one bike...mom, dad and a few kids (and I mean kids under 5). It's truly a sight to behold. But to Tarsono's credit I have yet to feel nervous in the car. Now that is saying something!
We got to Mom's apartment building and when we walked in the door Yoyo was here just a workin' away. She is so sweet and to tiny! I was so glad to finally meet her. She has been so good to my mom these past few years and now I can see why Mom loves her so much.
That first day/evening was mostly trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was actually here, on the other side of the world, visiting my mom. Yoyo made us dinner (a popular dinner called Soto Ayam, kind of chicken/potato soup...kinda). It was good but I was BEAT! We put our PJ's on (at least I did) around 6:30pm and started watching TV. I was fighting sleep and finally at 7 gave in. Right before I fell asleep Mom gave me half a sleeping pill so that I would sleep through the night and not wake up at 2am for 4 hours. Well that mixed with jet lag carried me all the way to 6:30am the next morning. At that point I was feeling much better!
That morning the three of us just lazed around and about 8am we went to my mom's school building. It's a beautiful building and also happens to have two swimming pools. We went swimming and it was so fun. Did I mention that it was beautiful?
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the grocery store and the mall. Again, lots of english but still very different. That night we went into Jakarta (about 1 1/2 hours from the city Mom lives in...Lippo Karawaci). She has some American friends who live there and we went for dinner. They have a HUGE house that is just beautiful. We had a great dinner and they were very sweet people.
This morning, Wednesday, we woke up early and Tarsono met us around 7:30 to head to Taman Safari. It was a couple of hours away but so fun. There were lots of animals and most of them came up to the car to eat. People were selling carrots outside of the Safari for us to feed the animals with. It was crazy! One zebra even bit and broke a little part of Mom's car! This particular lama just looked crazy to me so I took a quick pic...
After that we went to Puncak Pass which is like a mountain/area. We drove up and up passing tea fields. It was so pretty. We ate at a beautiful restaurant at the top and had lots of fun. We drove home and watched a movie. I'm about to fall asleep so I must go but I will try to update every few days. If not I will tell you all about it and show you all the pictures when I get home.
Until next time...
Here's the short version of how my sister Jamie and I got here and what we've done in the past few days with my mom-or as short as I can make it.
Jamie and I met up in LA on Saturday, Dec. 16th. We flew out that night on our 14+ hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. Surprisingly, the trip was not unbearable. We had "on demand" movies, some random music and TV and video games. Plus, we slept as much as we could. All in all, not a bad plane ride.
We landed in Taipei at 5am (Taipei time that is) on Monday, Dec. 18th. We spent a few hours there wondering the halls of the airport feeling farther and farther from home. Although there were Christmas decorations, english music and signs in english, I think of the 4 hours we were there I only heard one other person speak english...fluently.
We boarded our final flight into Jakarta, Indonesia around 9am. It was about a 5 hour flight and again, not too bad. When we landed in Jakarta it was HOT and MUGGY to say the least. The airport was like none I'd ever seen. It was so simple and pretty but not like an airport at all. Jamie and I headed to the bathroom and discovered that out of the 4 stalls only 2 were "sit down" toilets. The others were built into the floor and apparently you kinda stand/squat to use it. Needless to say we both opted for the ole familiar "sit down".
We waited in line to get out tourist visa and quickly discovered that the Indonesian people not only have a very tiny personal space bubble but they will take advantage of any open space in front of you in line. We made it through and finally got our bags and started searching for Mom. I looked over at a group of people, all of whom were obviously waiting for their friends and family to get off the plane, to see a tall, blonde, fair skinned woman amidst a sea of small, dark haired, dark skinned faces. It was of course my sweet mom. When we finally made it to her she was crying a little...half from the excitement of seeing us and half from worry. It had been an hour since our plane had landed and she was feeling nervous for us. But we had finally made it!
We no sooner turned around to find Mom's driver Tarsono than he popped out of no where to greet us with a smile and handshake. He took Jamie's rickety bag and began to roll it to the car. I jumped in the front seat (did you expect any different?) which also happened to be the drivers side in American cars. Here in Indo the driver sits on the right and front seat passengers on the left. That has taken some getting used to. I also had to get used to all the gila (crazy that is) driving. Mom had told us about it and I quickly discovered that all her outlandish stories were no exaggeration. Quite literally if there was a foot or even an inch of space between, behind or in front of someone was going to take it. There are thousands, and I mean thousands, of motorbike weaving in and out of cars. Some held just the driver, most a driver and passenger or two. There were even family's all riding one bike...mom, dad and a few kids (and I mean kids under 5). It's truly a sight to behold. But to Tarsono's credit I have yet to feel nervous in the car. Now that is saying something!
We got to Mom's apartment building and when we walked in the door Yoyo was here just a workin' away. She is so sweet and to tiny! I was so glad to finally meet her. She has been so good to my mom these past few years and now I can see why Mom loves her so much.
That first day/evening was mostly trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was actually here, on the other side of the world, visiting my mom. Yoyo made us dinner (a popular dinner called Soto Ayam, kind of chicken/potato soup...kinda). It was good but I was BEAT! We put our PJ's on (at least I did) around 6:30pm and started watching TV. I was fighting sleep and finally at 7 gave in. Right before I fell asleep Mom gave me half a sleeping pill so that I would sleep through the night and not wake up at 2am for 4 hours. Well that mixed with jet lag carried me all the way to 6:30am the next morning. At that point I was feeling much better!
That morning the three of us just lazed around and about 8am we went to my mom's school building. It's a beautiful building and also happens to have two swimming pools. We went swimming and it was so fun. Did I mention that it was beautiful?
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the grocery store and the mall. Again, lots of english but still very different. That night we went into Jakarta (about 1 1/2 hours from the city Mom lives in...Lippo Karawaci). She has some American friends who live there and we went for dinner. They have a HUGE house that is just beautiful. We had a great dinner and they were very sweet people.
This morning, Wednesday, we woke up early and Tarsono met us around 7:30 to head to Taman Safari. It was a couple of hours away but so fun. There were lots of animals and most of them came up to the car to eat. People were selling carrots outside of the Safari for us to feed the animals with. It was crazy! One zebra even bit and broke a little part of Mom's car! This particular lama just looked crazy to me so I took a quick pic...
After that we went to Puncak Pass which is like a mountain/area. We drove up and up passing tea fields. It was so pretty. We ate at a beautiful restaurant at the top and had lots of fun. We drove home and watched a movie. I'm about to fall asleep so I must go but I will try to update every few days. If not I will tell you all about it and show you all the pictures when I get home.
Until next time...
posted by adrienne | 8:04 AM
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7 Comments
