BWA Gala

Just a week after the Dutch ball, the BWA hosted their gala at the Mandarin Oriental.  It was not the huge dinner show with 400-500 people, but it was a really fun cocktail night for about 125 lucky enough to get tickets before they sold out.

We finally got to enjoy some kind of ball with the McCulloughs! They missed out on so much fun because of covid.

The photo props were endless fun.  The theme was the Queen's Jubilee and I don't think she's ever had such a wild night!

I packed my handbag so well for this night.  Mask (boo), raffle tickets, and an extra pair of shoes so I could take off my heels this time for the dancing!

Dinner was light and not a sit-down meal, so we were all happy to move next door and rest up for a few minutes before the dancing started.  Naturally, I had to bring the guest of honor with us.

You can always count on a BWA event to have a fun dance floor.

The queen is such a saucy lady!

As luck would have it, both Matt and Erik had just arrived on Friday from Europe, so when the party shut down after midnight, they were both ready to go to Bats and keep dancing! Jet lag worked in our favor for once! Jenny and I were not about to say no and we were still all smiles at 2am. Another night to remember and record late nights two weeks in a row!

Dutch Oranjeball

Finally, after Idul Fitri and Mudik (when people travel home for the holidays) when covid cases didn't spike in Jakarta, we finally got to have some expat fun like the old days! The Dutch ball was first up with an absolutely amazing Roaring 20's night at Cafe Batavia.

Jenny hosted the party car on the way to the event and we were already having a lot of fun on the road.  Since several husbands were traveling, we made this a girls night and our group kept growing.  We finally ended up with two tables to accommodate our 16 lovely ladies.

Cafe Batavia is one of the original Dutch colonial buildings in Kota Tua (Old Town).  It's been around since the 1830's and I was so excited to finally visit.  It was the perfect place for our night.

Our wonderful group of fun ladies!

Dinner was served upstairs and it was impressive.  We ate for hours!

The tables were gorgeous but maybe a bit hard to talk across??

We had a silent and live auction, raffle prizes, and fun at the photo booth, then the party moved back downstairs for us to dance off all the food we ate!

It has been 2 years since we had anything even close to this!  A dance floor full of people letting loose and enjoying the moment.  

When our tired feet couldn't dance any more, we finally walked back out to the car and naturally had to stop so Alice could pet the cat she found.

These streets were packed when we arrived but clearly there is still some sort of curfew because it was scary empty when we left. We still managed to attract attention as we navigated the cobblestones in high heels.

The survivors! I can't remember the last time I got home past 1am...it was a much-needed fun night out on the town and a step back towards normalcy.

Our 16-year Old!

It doesn't seem possible, but our firstborn is 16! Sadly, no trip to the DPS just yet for his driver's license, but it didn't stop him from celebrating all weekend.

First up, a tomahawk steak dinner at Le Quartier.

Scary how short I'm getting in my own family!

On Saturday, we had cake and gifts because Matt had to fly to London that evening. Ben got some new x-box remotes and a new ipad, to be delivered when we arrive in Texas in June.

On the big day, we had a big bacon breakfast and he had a few friends over to hang out.

Amazing gifts from friends who have access to Amazon!!

 Ben, Pierre, Tate, and Noa

And one more cake for good measure! Our friend Amanda made him an awesome cake, complete with Chevy truck.

Every year, it's tough to believe this is the same tiny baby we held.  It's amazing to watch him grow and mature and turn into this funny, polite, thoughtful, and talkative young man. Ben is such a blessing to our family!

The Longest Goodbye

Pam and I were pretty inseparable before Covid.  We said goodbye to our third musketeer Andrea and started making plans to reinvent life here without her, then we both evacuated when the pandemic hit.  Due to many different circumstances, her family stayed in Canada for two years and never returned, even though their house and belongings were still here.  It always gave me some hope that she would come back and we could enjoy life here together again!

It wasn't meant to work out for us to live here together again, but at least Pam and her family are moving to Houston where I'll be able to see her regularly! And I was super excited that she was able to come back for a few days to pack up her house.  We had a big list of lasts for her to finally say goodbye to her life in Jakarta.

First, a walk, a coffee, and a picture outside of Andrea's old house.

The all-important pork buns at GIOI, which was closed for over a year and I actually hadn't had one since the last time Pam and I were there together!

I was so excited to golf with Pam!  She was incredibly patient to put up with me while I was learning and it was so much more fun to play when I could actually hit the ball. Alice joined us as well for a fun morning.

Can you tell who spent the last two years in Canada and just left the snow?

Naturally, there were a few trips to the spa and one last cream bath at Jamu.

The best buffalo chicken wings in the world at the American Club.

One more Sunday brunch...

...and one last chocolate martini at the Dharmawangsa! Even the ladies that had never met Pam or only met her once turned out to wish her the best and share some laughs together.

I made my peace a long time ago that Pam wasn't coming back, but I'm so thankful for the bonus days to reminisce, laugh, and make a few more memories here together.  Now a reunion in Houston is just around the corner!

We also got to say farewell to Julie Washburn, a friend I've known for years here but only recently spent a lot of time together.  She is on her way to Manila, which happens to be where a few of my other friends are headed soon.  Looks like we may hopefully get to have a reunion in the Philippines one day as well!

 The goodbyes are tough, and we're not done yet for this season of leavers.  But every one makes me so thankful for the people we meet here whose paths cross with ours for months or years. That's what makes the expat life so special.

Margaret River Pro Surf

We had planned this trip before we realized the dates might coincide with the World Surf League Championship competition in Margaret River.  I had actually already booked the best possible house in terms of view and proximity, so Matt was thrilled to see his first pro surf meet.  We were mostly lucky in terms of the timing, because the surfers are usually in place for two weeks or so and they pick the best days of swell for the competition.  It could have all finished before we arrived, but the men had only competed in the first two rounds of heats and there was a lot of competition left.  The women were mostly finished and we were unlikely to see any of them.

Even better, on the days when they didn't compete, there was no crowd and many of the surfers were still out there for several hours having a great time and we could watch, talk to them, and take pictures. It was a really unique experience.

The first day we saw was chilly and rainy but the waves were great and the surfers were excited.

The people watching was probably just as entertaining to me.  The bowl cut mullet was a pretty popular hair style for the local crowd.

I really had no idea what to expect for a pro surf meet but it wasn't a huge setup and didn't get terribly crowded while we were there.  No tickets or admission, just come find a spot to watch and enjoy among the tents and coffee carts.

We could go down the stairs and watch from the beach as well.  The loud speakers didn't reach down there, so I didn't always know what was going on, but it was a different perspective.

Pretty cool to be able to talk to our favorite surfer, Kelly Slater, who sadly lost a really tough heat and was out at this point.

Lots of kids were getting autographs.  I sent Ben to get Callum Robson's autograph, because he was an Aussie.  Ben came back with someone else's signature and not Callum's. He said everyone else was asking that guy so he must be famous, right?  Turns out it was Taj Burrow, a pretty legendary Aussie surfer who retired a few years ago. So once he went back for Callum's autograph, I got a pretty cool hat!

The actual surfing was really amazing. These guys are incredibly talented and they surfed some pretty scary waves.  There were locals surfing the next break one morning and the difference between the hobbyists and the pros was huge.

These two had a great time taking photos...

The favorite shot of the trip!  Kelly was ripping, as the announcers would have said.

We had to leave before the finals to get to Perth and our anniversary dinner, but we did get to see the local boy Jack Robinson (Jack Robbo if you're speaking Australian) win his way into the quarterfinals and we were so happy for him to win the whole thing in front of his home crowd. It was so much fun getting to be a part of the experience!