Farewell, Thompsons

The very best part of being an expat is the relationships.  By far, my favorite part of living in Jakarta is the wonderful friends I've met because we celebrate the good things together and carry each other through the hard days.  That's why the very worst part of expat life is having to say goodbye when one of those friends has to move on.

The four of us have been through thick and thin this year and we knew it would be Hope's last year, but we were all pretty heartbroken when we found out she was leaving early.  We've been spending her final days here celebrating all of our favorite things and enjoying the "lasts", like our last spa day at Jamu...

and our last tennis lesson together.

There was a lovely lunch at Briettney's to say goodbye to friends she's gathered over the years through all her different activities.  You can tell that Hope is widely loved!

And we had a wonderful dinner party with the husbands to say goodbye.  These flower signs are a traditional way to share wishes here, so of course we had to get them one.

We will sure miss these faces!  This one hurts because they were the rare family that matched up perfectly with ours...it's not often that the husbands, wives, and kids are all friends.

What a wonderful group of friends! 

We had a fantastic night together talking, laughing, and playing games.  It's easy to have a great party in Jakarta because we were able to hire Mongolian barbecue guys to come cook for us, so there was no work on our part.  Then we realized it would be nice to get massages while we played games, so we called in a go-massage for $7 an hour.  She was fantastic!


Plus, in Jakarta, you can even hire a bartender for just another $7 an hour so Pak Suwarto took care of us all night.  He was so much fun!

We had a really wonderful time celebrating the Thompsons and are so thankful for the memories we've made with them here.  We wish them all the best and can't wait to see them stateside this summer!

Sekolah Alam

I got to chaperone probably my last field trip ever (sniff, sniff) to Sekolah Alam, Natural School.  It's a private school for local kids to learn more about sustainable living along with their regular education.  They welcomed the JIS 5th graders and introduced the tour guides.

A big group picture before we headed out to learn about the school.

One of their recycling initiatives is a second hand shop that the students run.

These two sweet 10-year olds were our guides and taught our small group so much about their school.  They spoke excellent English.

The students here bring in recycling and earn credits all year, then actually get paid at the end of the year for their contributions.

They have classrooms with lots of natural light and no AC.  They use minimal electricity.

Their assembly stage has a great view!

Their gardens are full of recycled products as well and the kids grow plants to sell to consumers.

They have rabbits, goats, and even maggots to use in their compost.

After the tour, the kids met with one of the 5th grade classes to play some games and have lunch together.  It was a really interesting experience and exciting to see how a new generation here is learning how to preserve their resources.

Bali Weekend

Chinese New Year gave us a 4-day weekend, so we jumped at the chance to jet over to Bali for a few days. No complaints about a 5am wakeup for a 7:30am flight.

We decided to try out Hotel Indigo in Seminyak this time, mostly because Matt and I won free massages and brunch a few months back and didn't want to waste them.

In no time at all, we were relaxing by the pool while the kids played in the "hot" tub.  No one really does hot tubs here but the bubbly jacuzzi was nice.

Our first evening was nice but the sunset wasn't all that spectacular.

The walk along the beach was interesting with lots of little bars and clubs.

Ben gave the hotel 5 stars the next morning when he saw the massive pile of bacon.  That's his only requirement.  And yes, he was the only person at breakfast wearing a flannel shirt on a tropical island.

We had rooms on the ground floor and pretty comfy porches.

The view out our windows was pretty but not exactly private.

We had to keep reminding the kids to shut their curtains!

Seminyak beach was nice and pretty much just the same as Kuta, since it's really just the same long beach.

All of the guys were really excited to get out and catch some waves!

Playing in the sand still hasn't lost its appeal, though.

This kid really knows how to relax at a resort.  He's all about the robe and slippers after a shower.

The tree bar at the hotel was pretty interesting as well.

The next evening, we walked up the beach to the Anantara for a beautiful dinner on the beach.

This was the sunset we'd been waiting for!

It was spectacular.

(I know you can't see us, but we're all smiling about this perfect evening)

Back at it with our new friend Wayan.  The kids were more interested in boogie boarding but Matt was happy to surf every day.

After some late night rain, we got a great view of some of the volcanoes on the north side of the island...

 

Ahhh....just what we needed.  A little sun and sand and rest and play.

We had lunch in Bali and got home by 5pm, so it was a pretty perfect weekend!