The sequel tale of the many helpers

It was only a matter of time before the prequel deserved a sequel. If you’re not familiar with the original comical hunt for a helper, you should go ahead and visit this blog. 

 

It was certainly an unexpected story that took us on a very memorable adventure. In last review of this tale, I concluded with Tri - who, at the time, seemed quite the catch.  But this sequel would not be necessary if there wasn’t forthcoming detail worthy to be shared. So, I funnily enough feel the urge to present to you the sequential tale that continues to lead us on in this incessant and treacherous fight for a home-helper!

Here it is.

Helper No 4: Tri. I think I described her as “ ... the young yet capable”. She certainly hung around for a while - a while defined in this context as 8 or so months. She was a passionate lass who was eager to learn from us clay faces. But then one fateful evening, the lasagne fiasco changed everything! Her desire to learn more about western food teamed her up with Mums-helper Sumi, who taught her through written and practical note, the art of lasagna making and baking. We watched the exchange of information from a distance and noted a particularly casual approach to learning coming from Tri. We were convinced that she had not paid attention; however, she confidently declared she was ready to cook the layering master piece for us. Let’s just say the meat-mince was significantly missing the tomato based sauce, and therefore becoming burnt beefy-gravel in addition to the blackened crispy pasta sheets. Nath managed to somewhat rescue the endevour but Tri’s confidence plummeted. So on one eventful morning, Tri declared herself incapacitated and practically bed ridden from a “minor” cold. This then lead to urgent attention involving a must-needed trip home to her nursing mother which in helper-code means a one way trip with no return. So we despondently waved her good bye, and moved ourselves on!

Helper No 5: Shella. She came to us through a friend of a friend of a friend. After marrying her man, she was looking for daily work; and although not fond of wet-nosed-black-furry-pugs, she accepted the 5 day a week job with us. With experience and age as her backbone, she presently still works for us. Coming and going at her leisure, Shella gets the job done! Her efficiency has earned our respect and we are content and appreciative to her for her skillful work ethic. But although this story takes us to the present day, there are still helpers along the track who are surely still worth a mention.  So let’s wind it back a bit.

Helper No. 6: Fera. Fera came to us through a neighbouring helper who delights in nothing more than to walk and dress her white woolly poodle in shoes and frilly dresses (I kid you not). Having asked her if she knew someone, she declared she did ... and on the arrival of Fera, we felt delighted. She was not just a dog-walking lover, she was also a self-proclaimed ‘Christian’ who requested Sunday nights off to go to church. However, this is where it became complicated. Fera went from new kid on the block to the talk of town in one short week. From flirting with the security guards resulting in lewd rumours around the district; to cat-fighting with her friends on the street - and an unexplained husband announcement and disappearance - we thought things should come to an end. So after two weeks, they did! The decision was mutual.

Helper No. 7: Jenny. Jenny who had an unexplained Indonesian name was pleasant enough. She rocked up at our door step declaring (between giggles) that she was going to run away from her current employee simply because she wanted to learn English. We were not quite sure what to make of it so we offered for her to come again for a more formal chat. I’d like to suggest at this point, after such a long helper-hunting-journey, you start to work out straight away if someone is right for the job ... and we just knew ... she wasn’t right for the job.

So, now we’re back to the transient Shella who happily keeps the house sparkling; the clothes crisply ironed; and our watermelon freshly cut. She was a part of training up these girls whilst working for our neighbouring American friends; and was humble and happy to return in between failed helpers. And still, with a few helpers still knockin at the door, we’ve decided to wait until we move into the big smoke next year to find a “more practiced” helper who is the right fit for us. 

Although this adventure has seen my Indonesian language pushed to new limits, we continue to enjoy the good work of Shella during the week, but on the weekend, we appreciate the reliable influence of Sumi (Mum’s trusty helper). With a high skill set in cooking, baking and English speaking – Sumi’s determination sees her juggle full time work and study in tourism. We are great admirers of this.

Shella

Sumi

It’s funny how far emotionally this journey has taken me. I used to take it all too personal when things helper-related just didn’t work out. But now, I just smile, laugh, and sketch it down in the memo for the next instalment of the tale of the helpers!!!

Thanks for listening.

Nomes

Water come! Water Go!

Hiya folks! Yes it has been a long time between drinks. Three months has passed and we’ve been on blog-drought-land! I’d hope that our eventful excuse of vacating to Malaysia; tripping to Australia; & distributing baby-bump news, would indeed suffice ;)

But enough about that self-indulgent stuff, here is something most of us can relate to. Whilst our home-town of Adelaide was reaching rave reviews for being the hottest place in the world ... we in Jak-city conversely watched up to 39,000 homes affected by a steady down-flow of rain. So at the same time you guys were sweating out the fluid, we were mopping it up. It astounds me that two countries in relatively close proximity to each other can be so vastly dissimilar.

It makes me think about how easy it is to serve up the ‘greener on the other side’ commentary when things get tough. Over here, we're all praying for a break from the water; whereas, all you fellow Ozzies rejoice when that same water comes. And without dismissing anyone’s right to feel frustration at the rain that causes damaging floods in Jakarta, or the newly planted greens that shrivel up in the baking Australian sun, my personal goal is to try to look on the brighter side of things - where the “the grass is always greener where it’s watered”. Because what I'm starting to notice, is that despite the grey clouds that seems to press us down, God can still use it to make something beautiful!

A view from Nath's classroom

Nomes xo

Memory or Scar (A note from Nath)

Hey Friends.

I have only shouldered the load of this blog once and so I thought it was about time that I expressed myself in this way.

  Life moves on here at a rapid pace. The weeks seem to fly past and we now realise that Christmas is approaching. This signals our chance to return back to Australia and once again enjoy hot chips with extra chicken salt, and BBQ meat. It's funny the things we look forward to.     

Occasionally we miss places. For example, walking Missy on the Brown Hill Creek loop walk ending up in Carrick Hill for a coffee. This is a genuinely a beautiful way to spend 4 hours. The ever changing scenery; the wild flowers at this time of the year; and of course stunning views of Adelaide - make this something that we miss.    

Occasionally we miss people. Family and friends are missed at times. Events such as birthdays and special occasions are when we notice the distance. Technology is a great improvement to the lives of people living and working away from their usual support systems. Text message apps allow solid ongoing communication and we find ourselves texting mundane useless information to people just like we did when we were living in the same city. We find that this sort of technology minimises the feeling of distance. Our American and Canadian friends whose loved ones are living a full day behind Indonesia, feel the distance more than us Aussies who are living only a couple of hours behind Australian time zones.

Always we miss food! Does that mean I love chicken-in-a-biscuit and semi-sun-dried tomatoes more than my Mum?! No, but getting a quick text from Mum feels like she is around the corner where as no amount of texts or images can make up for those numb lips that come from the salt overload after punishing a box of Nabisco’s finest.

Anyway, I wanna' share with you a funny little Indonesian experience that occurred recently. These are the differences that create memories daily for us living over here. Admittedly, this may be more a scar than a memory ;)

A week or so ago, we took our grade 5 and 6 students into ‘Old Jakarta’ to visit many of the original Dutch buildings built in the early 17^th century. The history is interesting and Jakarta was designed and built as a mini Venice. The canal network was structured in such a way that boats, barges etc., could move from the ocean straight into the canals to distribute tradeable goods easily. See some of my pics below:

So we are visiting these sites and buildings and the students stick their head over a fence - and there thirty metres away from our group of fifty students - is a man, balanced precariously on a length of bamboo, squatting down, facing away from us, depositing a fully digested load of last night’s Nasi Goreng into the canal below. Our students spotted him immediately and began frantically pointing and giggling. The poor guy had the self control to finish what he had started, splash the area clean with some canal water below and stride confidently away from his open air latrine. He was a truly proud Indonesian and this brings a new richness to our goal of holistic education, hehe.

Ahhh Indonesia. Memory or Scar? I’ll let you decide.

From Nath B

Our home abroad

I have a confession to make: I’m a wonderful consumer! I … really … enjoy ….  buying …. stuff. It’s of course not something I should be proudly declaring to the world - but I am and have chosen to for two reasons.

The first reason is to visibly showcase the final touches to my new home abroad. One that started with only four suitcases and one guitar; to one that is now “slightly” fuller (I say with head down and shameful expression). The second is to uplift my non-materialistic and down-to-earth husband who so graciously allowed me to go out and execute my generational-y-spending-spirit, in hope for a nice little dwelling.

So I want to invite you into our little home which is nestled within leafy trees amongst a utopian neighborhood. This area is crawling with Korean walking mums; dog walking helpers; BMX riding students; and a smattering of Indonesian security guards sleeping at their posts. The blooming trees generally have an abundance of fruit; and the balmy nights make an early evening walk in this suburb very inviting.

But our home has become a very pleasant one away from our home-land; and with our final (note final) big and small additions, it now feels complete! So we welcome you into number 98 on Dago Raya. Come inside and have a look.

The lounding area



The dining area



Our bedroom

The guest room

Thanks for coming!

xx

The attitude of gratitude!

Last Saturday evening, our bald-headed pastor reminded us of a simple but often lapsed thought ... the attitude of gratitude! It was a precious humble hint that was perfectly timed.

I love the illustration in Luke's story of the ten lepers. An encounter with Jesus brings these ten outcasts total healing and restoration to society ... yet only one came back to say thank you. The irony of the one who came back is a story beyond my capability to effectively explain. Still, I love that this story so brilliantly reminds us of how humanly-minded it is to adopt the ease of oblivion; and honestly speaking, sometimes in my case, an attitude of an ingratitude.

So in keeping to my promise ... I want to declare the blessings of this year; and thank my Jesus who so graciously forgives me even when I forget.

So, here is what we're thankful for,

• Good health.
• A much improved house and home.
• A family-friendly neighbourhood.
• Fantastic new work colleagues.
• Our sweet and fun-loving students.
• A two minute walk to school.
• A second home in Pondok Indah.
• A great church community.
• Our precious four-legged family member.
• The support of far-away family and friends.
• Freshly made juices every morning.
• A helping hand around home.
• A much improved work-life balance.
• A newly-appointed, highly-competent head of school.
• and Nick and Robyn Combes!

To these things and more, we are truly thankful!

xx

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