Ramadan in Indonesia

Marhaban Ya Ramadhan. Introducing our new#RamadhanCup. Taken from Islamic Arts and architecture from around the world 💕💕

Available during The Ramadhan Month#StabucksIndonesia

Love celebrating Ramadan (the Muslim holy month of fasting) in Indonesia, they have these cups to mark the month, so cool!

Neglect

Once again I'm neglecting this blog, terrible of me. I have to say that the lure of short attention span twitter and facebook has attracted me as well..is that the future of the human race, short attention spans??

Just went on vacation to Thailand, Phuket. It was lovely, beautiful beaches, so warm. I did try to enjoy the ocean and swim a bit but I couldn't help but think in the back of my mind, to keep aware of any tsunamis, crazy, no? I made escape plans and how fast could I run and where too and how to save the kids. I'm sure the likelihood of another tsunami in that area happening is like 1 in 100 but the images from the 2004 disaster is still vivid in my mind.

Some days I want to just sit in bed and read all day - anyone else?

I'm so in love with my children, I like to watch their videos while at work, mind you I live with them, so its just missing their cuteness in the middle of the day. aye.

Fly By Night Travel

Back in the day, if you remember from many many posts ago (see 2003-2006) when I was a traveling fiend! Someone asked me, could I still do that type of travel.

I don't think I could do my fly-by-night trips anymore, old age has caught up with me. That was when I was young and carefree, working for the airlines. I remember for a few months (when I was infatuated with a boy) I would do weekend trips to London, leaving on Friday night, getting there Saturday morning and leaving Sunday morning back to the USA - crazy! But I made great, fond memories and got to see the world. Now, I've transitioned from quick world trips to wanting to live for extended periods in a location, I suppose its  a progression as I grow up - yet continuing to feed my gypsy/nomad/world-exploring bug.

Culture of Late

Yesterday I went on a field trip with my daughter, using up valuable annual leave, but I thought it was important because she missed the last field trip because we had just come back from vacation and couldn't plan for it, and she is a sweet child, didn't want her to be left out again.

First off, the school doesn't take the kids to the location, its up to the parent to get the child to the location (what kind of field trip is that?!), and than we have to stay for the field trip. I understand this is a group of 4-5 year olds, but why do a field trip if the parent has to do all the work? I could just take the child myself, no?

The field trip doesn't start until 9:30, already an hour and a half into my work day; at least if it started earlier I could finish early but this was not the case. Daughter and I get there and the event starts late, parents are made to sit downstairs while kids get to take the tour and go upstairs, again not clear why parents were needed, besides as taxi services?

My other child, the 2 - year old meanwhile is at pre-school, regular day for him. The nanny is expecting my daughter and I to be done by 11am, so she and the driver and my daughter can go to pick up the 2 year old at school (he has to be picked up promptly at noon or we get dinged). When does the field trip end....11:20, she doesn't hear from us and leaves at 11:30 via cab. We get home by 11:45, but now the nanny is gone, so of course I have to stick around, can't leave my 5 year old by herself. Traffic at that time of day in Jakarta, terrible. Nanny doesn't get home till 12:45, I don't get to work till after 1pm; thankfully my boss will let me only use 4 hours of annual leave and make up the rest of the time by working through lunch.

What is the point of all this rambling...the fact that it seems here in Indonesia, no one has any sense of urgency, I work for the US government, we don't run that way. But Indonesia, doesn't matter if someone is waiting, you take your time, traffic is so slow because of this, there is no sense of urgency, no "I gotta get there" more like "we will get there when we get there," which is fine if you are on a Sunday stroll but not when one has to get to work. What I can't understand is that no one seems to care, I told the nanny to hurry but I'm sure she was still chatting with her nanny friends before leaving the pre-school. I find it very frustrating, but I suppose such is life living abroad, aye!

Saving Money

I'm trying to save money, this summer we want to take the kids to Disneyland, a not cheap proposal at all! Every time I do my budget, it seems I'm doing well, but come the end of the month and I've only saved $50 or so. How does this happen...I know very well, I sit at a desk all day, during the off time, I surf the Internet and that involves e-shopping.

Nothing seems easier then e-shopping, I have to make a very strong effort to NOT shop online, not only do you get that rush of shopping but an additional rush when the package comes in (especially here at the Embassy as its like Christmas, since it can take packages weeks to get here). I find the best way to solve that package rush is when I go home for vacation, I make a bunch of packages and mail them back to Indonesia, so I have something to look forward too.

As for e-shopping, I've found the best way to dissuade me, is I put a post-it note of my credit card card balances on my computer monitor, seeing those numbers makes me weary to increase them.

Losing Weight (not!)

Rainy season is over in Jakarta and now it is hot, hot, hot!! Its pool weather for sure, walking from the cafeteria back to the office, I could picture myself jumping into the pool easily instead of what I had to do, go back and sit in front of my computer for another 3 hours. Joy.

Which leads me to my next point, still on the weight loss program here at work and sad to say, my plan of eating less but not exercising is, surprise surprise, not working. Aye! They weigh me here in KG, so I did the conversion to LB's today, seems I need to lose about 7 pounds. This can be done, I must start exercising. My first plan was to swim, take the kids in the pool but those lucky ducks usually swim when they get home from school, so not sure if they would want to go in again and that too, if its good for their little skin to be in the pool so much. I'll have to figure something out, thinking maybe even just getting up from desk every hour and walking around for 5 minutes, its not much but it at least will get me moving, no?

On a totally unrelated note, so happy to hear Bernie Sanders won Wisconsin today (well last night in America, which is roughly 12 hours behind Indonesia). Not sure if he will win the nomination but I'm rooting for him. He is the only candidate that interests me, but either way, whoever wins the Democratic nomination will get my vote.

Weight Loss Program

I'm participating in the Embassy weight loss program, its 16 weeks and I'm suppose to lose something like 10% of my weight, there are cash prizes.

I've been doing fairly well, though not losing much, like portions of a kg, not even one kg yet (since they weight us in kg, not lb's). Today, I went in and I had gained weight! I was so made at myself, I know this is my fault, this week I did not stick to the diet or exercise, but still I thought I could counter that with two days of fasting and some tough walking for one hour one day. Guess not. I must buckle down and get serious, especially if I want to win the money!

For me the weight loss is more because I hate that I have clothes in my closet that I can't wear anymore and that here in Indonesia, when I clothes shop, they immediately start me at large or XL, what the heck?!

God, I miss my teen days when I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. I envy my 5 year old daughter this morning I left for work while she ate Girl Scout cookies, Thin Mints for breakfast. Yum!