Next steps

So, we are now in the US again, though only briefly. We are currently in a temporary hotel and will move into a short term apartment in another week soon.

Jet lag recovery continues.

We have a rental car for each of us. Here's mine.

Here is B's.

B is quickly, happily driving himself all over. I am taking it a little slower.

For those who doubted we could remember certain household chores, we have done laundry! We kept in practice the last few years! Cooking is next once we move to the apartment.

I am hoping the myth of the woolly caterpillar holds true: this wide lighter brown band would suggest a mild winter. That would be great as I am cold all of the time even now. I am not looking forward to an entire winter at all. Remember, I am now a hot house flower and I am used to a temperature range +- 95 degrees all year long.

Leaving "home"

It's been more than a month since our last posts—and a LOT has changed. Just days before we were to fly to the US for our niece's wedding (Sept 28), B got a call. He was asked to return to the US for 5-6 months to run his former plant.Sort of a company emergency. "Oh, boy!" We already had our FR visas, our tickets to FR and were planning our sea shipment of our stuff. I think this deserves another, "Oh, boy!" We went ahead and traveled to the US for the wedding (one week only) and then we returned to figure it all out. We have been told our FR visas can be canceled since we didn't actually travel to FR (we will have to start the process over again early next year), tax implications were explored, our sea shipment was changed to an air shipment- these are just a few of the details. B's new FR boss would wait for him until the spring. We had tickets to FR on October 15 but still managed to fly out on that same day flying instead to the US. So... we are back in the US for 5-6 months and will be moving again to FR early next spring. Note - This says nothing about typhoon Hagibis which hit Tokyo three days before we were to fly out. I am sure you can imagine the extra stress this added. Our flights took us through Tokyo airport! 

We both are having a difficult time with this transition. The new plant was B's baby! He did the impossible. He had also mentored so many staff members. There were lots of tears on his departure and lots of requests for photos with him.  One of the gifts B received was this very large photo that was cut into puzzle pieces and assembled and framed.  This is the plant!

I was very involved with the American Women's Association and my stitching/knitting/quilting group for most of the 5 years here. I will miss the working relationships and my friends, though many of  my friends had already moved on to new locations.  I now have friends living all over the world. There were lots of tears at my goodbye events as well. It is always difficult when you relocate a lot. You have a choice, be independent and not form bonds so you don't have to go through the the tough stuff when you leave, or go ahead and form those bonds. Life here really required the bonds, so no other choice really. I received a gorgeous king size quilt in shades of blue and white batiks and two "mini" quilts as mementos. From my stitching friends?A mini-quilt about 18X18 inches:

From my AWA friends: 

Packing days- October 9,10 Ibu Tin, Pak Rapiudin and Oky helped out!

Wardrobes are self created and dependent on need (size) and number (amount of stuff). "Doors" can be any shape. 

We had to say goodbye to our driver Pak Oky and Ibu Tin (both with us the full 5 years) and also Pak Rapiudin (with us since February, 2018). This was incredibly difficult and we both continue to think about them and wonder how they are doing. Ibu Tin cried every time I looked at her during the last few days. We became a family and we were breaking up the family. They all have new positions and we provided large bonuses for them but it's only money. We said goodbye to Pak Rapiudin after he drove us to dinner on October 14. I wrote him a letter  (in Bahasa) apologizing for my poor ability to speak Bahasa but explaining we really appreciated his excellent driving and attitude. He is a very nice, gentle and helpful man. He requested a photo when we returned to the apartment. Sorry, slightly blurry. 

Tin asked to go with us to the airport. Only problem? We left for the airport at 3 am. She was happy to stay at the apartment the night before so she could go with us. More tears at the airport. It was really hard. B, Ibu Tin and I shot this group selfie on October 14 as well.

 We weren't able to get a group shot with Pak Oky, but here is a photo taken from 2014.

Final Observations- Out and About

It is not an easy place to live, but after 5 years, this place has become our "home."  We tried to visit a few of our favorite hangouts before leaving town.
Cappuccinos with stenciled art in English!

B's favorite place to get an iced tea! Chatime. Who know there are 7 steps to creating your perfect iced tea! size, level of sweetener, level of ice, toppings, yes or no, if yes, which ones, and oh yeah, the drink itself...  

Our final green drinks! Sour apple. One with black pearls, one without.

We took the opportunity to visit a restaurant specializing in local dishes like gado gado, rendang and satay. Yum!

I had my final haircut with Hisato on October 12. I just had to take a selfie while 2 people dried my hair at the same time. They did this during most of my appointments over the 5 years, but I never took a photo. Hisato on the left, helper  the right. They each do half, then Hisato finishes it up. Note: I was already not sleeping so I was not looking too great on this day.

I found myself trying to memorize sights, sounds, scenes in the street in the final days.

The national flag opposite our lobby.

Our building as seen from a distance.

Miscellaneous photos.

A small park- note- not a live elephant but a statue.

 One of my favorite meeting spots with friends.

We will not miss the bad air days. Most of 2019 has looked like this or worse.

Final observations- Construction

I took a one last chance to document ongoing construction projects around our apartment just prior to our departure.

Here's a shot of both the control building visible from the living room and the Elysee building across the street from our bedroom. The control building was getting really tall!

The Elysee building is looking even closer to being completed.

 However, these round wire cages are a curiosity. Private table areas? I still think the nearly complete circle  at far left is a bar.

This is the biggest night light I've ever seen. If we didn't seal the window with a blackout curtain, it would illuminate our entire bedroom and we were on the 23rd floor. And this is without the upper floor full of patrons with even more lights and, most likely, very loud music. This is an issue other apartment buildings have faced. We are very glad we will not be there to experience it.

The rebuilding was moving quickly on the buildings in the middle of this photo.

One More Post

Here is a quick bunch of items of note in recent weeks. 

My "new" car.

I switched cars in mid-July from a CRV to this Nissan Serena so this has been my "ride" for a couple of months.

What is B's name?

He is always looking to see what name gets entered when B orders a coffee or iced tea. We have shared several of them in the past. Here we have Mr. Brate and also Brain. 

Pipe Work

Our building did some pipe work one day with no water for many hours. When it was finally turned on, this is what we had!  I cleaned out all of the faucet screens in the middle of running all of them. One faucet wouldn't even flow there was so much sand/sediment in the faucet screen.  By the next day, back to normal. Still not potable, but good enough for showering, etc., just like usual. 

Construction projects 

Project 1

Recent photo. This night club/restaurant venue is probably going to be completed soon. The exterior building lights ( facing our bedroom) are now on nightly and they have added the name for the building which also lights up. No photo of that yet. I took this photo at 2 am. A crew was using chainsaws to remove most of the limbs of trees that line the road (facing our bedroom).  Yep, they were doing tree trimming in the dark with flashlights. I am also not sure why they had to remove these limbs. We believe it has something to do with all of the closed circuit cameras they are installing to ticket folks. The system is working somewhat.  I think I read they mailed out something like 12,000 tickets over a few months. It sounds like about 900 have been paid. Step one- send out the tickets seems to be working, but step 2 and beyond seems to be an issue.

Project 2, July 22

This is the "control building" project. Not sure what the "control building" is, but we look down on this from the living room.

 Project 2, August 29

Project 4. A building inside the police compound was suddenly knocked down over a short period of time. Immediately, another building was started in the same spot.

Sometime earlier this year

July 22

August 29

Project 5

They appear to be constructing footpaths through a small lot I can see from my office window. Some of the vegetation has been left but most was cleared. Now I see what looks like stone walkways meandering through it. However, the construction headquarters for the control building sits inside the area so right now it doesn't look all that appealing. It might be a nice lunch spot for nearby office workers eventually. 

A Sunday morning parade. 

On a recent Sunday morning at about 7 am, we thought we heard a marching band outside. Yes, that's what it was- a marching band, possibly from one of the expat high schools. The parade consisted of hundreds of people walking behind the band. They went by our place out to an intersection road, made a u-turn, passed our place again and disappeared. We haven't been able to figure out what that was all about. First time we've seen it.

Crafty stuff

My little bit of free time has been spent trying to finish my highly embroidered quilt topper. I am really proud of this little blue carpenter bee I added to this block. I don't remember seeing one in Australia, but it is a a real bee and can be found there. The quilt topper is done, and it is basted up with batting and the back and is ready for quilting.

Food and drink

A display rack of chocolate at my market. And if you are wondering what a choco-pie is, it is sort of like a moon pie.

 We had a huge breakfast one day- way too much for one! Had to get a to go bag.

This was a lychee and grapefruit drink. Doesn't it look like a face?

 Another green drink. A green monster: pineapple, green apple and matcha tea.

This will probably be our last post from here as we are moving to France in just a few weeks!
We will miss the people, the fruit, the green drinks and so much more! We won't miss the traffic!

Stay tuned as the blog will continue once we land in our new digs!