The land of Laos

Six months ago, my sister-Sar announced she was coming to visit! Whilst discussing her vacation time, she proposed an idea - "Why don't we go backpacking along the Mekong in Laos?!" At the time - flights, schedules and decisiveness synchronised happily - but then six months went by.

The day Sar arrived we all regretfully agreed that our busy schedules deterred any thought of trip preparation & planning. Thus, the morning of departure was a busy one that included a frenzy of google-searching, money exchanging, last-minute buying and unsure packing.

Luckily for us, the pre-trip chaos swiftly turned to fun and excitement as we began travelling through this landlocked country. With picture postcard glory on every turn, the freshness of food and Lao-coffee was a sweet treat; and this time was personally declared a surprising gem!

In sweeping retrospect, this adventure was a perfect end to our summer-break; and a refreshing time full of laughter and much-needed sisterly bonding (with many thoughts going out to our other sister-Bec).

Although we did not live like gibbons like originally thought :) Be introduced to the beauty of Laos .....

Happy holidays!

So its four weeks down, & two to go! Where oh Dorothy ... has it gone?! It has been so oh dreamy, and celestially refreshing ... with no thought of school nor Saturday planning. We feel very thankful for holidays like these with simply nothing to do but to think up something to do! :)

So having waved good-bye to our first family guests, we now set sail for our next holiday adventure to Laos together with my visiting sister-Sarah. But before we go forth, I thought I'd spare a quick Sunday-night-minute to send you all through a pic or two of our break-time so far. It has included Indonesian artistry & the visitation of a famous Hindu temple ... plus a sneaky visit to our favorite beach-island getaway. For those who care, here's where we're at.

The making of Indonesian Batik

Borobudur temple
(& the practicing language students)

The gorgeous waters of Lombok Island

 

And how can I not mention the most important of them all - Happy 9th year of marriage to my most special friend .... who loves, lives and gives so freely.

I love you ..... so much!

Back in Bali ... on our 9th!

Love me xo

The end of the beginning

Our beginning year of teaching has come to an end! We have waved good-bye to our students; dusted off our classroom cupboards; and driven into the holiday-sunset with a triumphant smile and sigh.

This year has presented a kaleidoscope of stories and experiences both of which have occurred as much in the classroom as outside of it. Although not in any way considered an expatriate veteran - we have started feeling more at home and at comfort; and on celebrating our first year of teaching abroad, we too celebrate a big year of learning.

Sometimes few words say more. So 'acrostically', I present to you OUR FIRST YEAR abroad (followed by an eclectic mix of pictures).

O ver

U tterly Challenging

R elationship Building

 

 

F orever grateful to my Mum & Dad

I nteresting conversations

R isk Taking

S hort holidays

T ransitional

 

 

Y eshua

E arly mornings - Early nights

A lways learning - Never boring

R ichness of Experience

 

 

 

Love me xx



M-Cafe

Ice cream lovers .... grab onto your seats. It's the ultimate Magnum royal treatment; and although we here in Indo don't pride ourselves on our selection of Magnum bars (well, in comparison to Australia anyway) ... we instead bring a cafe which is so much greater.

Located on the 5th floor of the Grand Indonesia mall, resides a place that Jarkatans will waste one hour of their lives waiting in a line for a magnificent Magnum creation.

This is me at the end of the
waiting game

People can either experience the ambiance of creating their very own signature ‘Belgium-covered-chocolate-ice cream-dish’ ... OR ... they can gaze & select from a wide array of creations including that of the Waffle de Aristocrat.

This piece of art includes a stack of crispy Belgium caramel filled waffle, topped with a roasted caramelised banana, a sweet wafer, and two sticks of Magnum ice cream. If Nath was writing this I'm sure he'd concur that the caramel waffle had a subtle crunch to every bite with a sweetness that happily balanced the creamy ice cream, caramel and chocolate sauce (Sound Matt Preston enough?). Although a portion to share .... he happily demolished singly.

Can you see the second hiding
magnum bar?

Myself being a 'last-meal-on-this-earth-and-choosing-ice-cream' kinda' girl was in earthly-heaven. I enjoyed the Deconstructed cheesecake which was as the name suggests. I gleefully poured it down with a slurp, burp and brain freeze.

My Dad enjoyed a melting moment fondue package which was all too extravagant and overly satisfying. I was quick to assist him in the clean up of that sweet-runny choc.

But what's better than any of this .... is that this place is shockingly cheap! Creations like this range from a conservative 3 to 5 Aussie bucks. It makes the experience oh so much better when you're handed a cheap bill coupled with an Indonesian smile :)

So .... if you have managed to drool, I do not at all apologise. That was totally my intention and please know, these visual don't even begin to encapsulate the taste!

xo

A note from Missy

I’m not one for words. I’d prefer to talk with my ears and my tail. But I think it’s about time you hear on here about how life has been for me.

I won't lie, it's been tough but I don’t tend to think about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. I prefer to live in the now. So despite what's happened, I don’t really care because as long as I’m with my two-legged, elongated Mum and Dad, I’m doin just fine.

So to start, the trip over was not a highlight. I think I'd prefer to delete it from my black-bushy brain-box. I didn't know what was going on. It was dark ..... cold ..... and really really noisy. I was determined to hold on to my contents ... but it was just all too much, and far too long {please don't judge me}. Since then, that blue cage that I spent all day and all night in, has reappeared on regular occasions. Nowadays, I’m always given something of the food variety post entering, so the association with that expedition has been mostly erased.

On arrival to this new place, I was initially shocked by the thick, humid air that I was forced to breathe in. It was so different to what I knew. I soon worked out that most of my days here would be spent on the inside – so I was pretty pumped with that. I actually think I’ve got it better over here.  I wake my Dad and Mum up every single morning before the sun rises and they take me on a run. These runs tend to exhaust me to the point of sleeping all day.
 

My skin has done weird things since being here. I started feeling itchy all over at one point. Then, a weird tiny creature clung to my skin. It was 'sorta' hard to show my Mum so I just went with it and didn’t complain. My saving grace came when my Mum and Dad rocked up at their usual evening time slot with a gasp and a cry. I wasn’t sure what was going on. All I knew was that my face was really hard to carry. I felt like it was bigger than usual. Anyway, my paranoid Mum held my head still for a while, picked at something under my mouth that they called a tick and within minutes, my swollen head felt light again. Needless to say, I started getting regular bath time again much to my dismay.
 

Anyway, the itchy skin thing was really annoying. I have a history of allergies however it has now completely subsided since I started eating this new food that they give me. It’s pretty yummy. I eat brown rice, egg, broccoli and chicken heart. It keeps my tail wagging and I tend to revolve my day around it. Oh and I got these super sniffable and tasty biccys at Christmas. Thanks to my far away Nanna-Lea :) The red Christmas neck-tie was not a massive high point but thanks for thinking of me team-Meinel!

 

 

The other part of my day is waiting for my family to return. It goes really quickly. It 'kinda' feels like the moment they leave, they return. Works well for me.

I miss being patted and pampered by complete strangers. Over here, I get attention still but of a different variety. I’m not quite sure why everyone is scared of me but they get out of my way with a sharpness which suits me just fine. I mostly miss my friends. I want to send out a big roof to Leia, Lucus, Frankie, Mustard, Buster, Jazzie and the dog who gave me conjunctivitis at the dog park. I miss sniffing your bums and chasing each other in a circular motion. But I’m happier being where my family is, and although the choice to come was not of mine – I’m content where I’m at.

I know I bring a great joy and strength to my Mum and Dad; and I’m proud to welcome them home everyday to the place I now call home. Sometimes I wish I could walk along the beautiful manicured garden paths or run with the sea breeze on my face; but my job role now has changed. I’m here to comfort, love and bring joy to my family on days I sense have been tough! I’m happy to give all of me because that’s what I do best and that’s .... how I was created!

On that note, I better get back to my sleeping – this has exhausted me.

Here’s a big lick and sniff to you all from me Missy B