A day in the life of ...

Our day usually begins with Mia or Sara waking me up around 6:30am. On school days, I will then spend five or ten minutes trying to wake Katie up. Yes, she is slowly morphing into a teenager. Breakfast usually consists of home-made bread and peanut butter, for the girls, or cinnamon buns, for me. Occasionally we will have instant noodles, but Lori doesn't approve of the MSG in them. I, on the other hand, am a big fan of MSG, and any other spice that makes food taste great. Apparently, Lori likes her food boring and bland. But that is a different post.

On school days, the oldest two girls have to be ready to leave the house by 7:30. The girls have to wear school uniforms. The regular uniform is a crested blue polo shirt with either beige pants or skirt. However, the P.E. uniform is a red T-shirt with blue shorts, so at 7:15 we are running around trying to figure out whether this is a P.E. day and where the appropriate clothes are. The girls don't take a lunch. An Indonesian woman who lives near the school has set up a service where she offers lunches for students. The menu is a mix of Indonesian and other kinds of dishes, including spaghetti and hot dogs. However, the girls do need to take along drinks and snacks, so at 7:25 we are running around trying to get hair combed, bottles filled with water, and snacks that make everyone happy. The early part of our mornings tends to involve a fair amount of running around.

We share school-driving duties with a neighbour family who have a boy and girl also attending the International school. Some days I drive the kids to school, other days I pick them up. The other MCC family in Jogja have a girl also attending the school, so we pick her up on the way. We arrive at school, then, with five kids, which is quite a sight given that the school doesn't have more than fifty students.

(I will try and encourage Katie and Mia to write something about their day at school.)

If I am driving the kids to school, I tend to get back home shortly after 8am. I usually aim to be in my office by 9am, so I have to leave the house by 8:30. To this point, all my classes have been in the morning, starting around 9:30. Classes tend to be about 2 hours long. The undergraduate course was in a different building in a classroom with no air conditioning or fans. It was hot. I told the other professor that I would never teach another course in that building unless the classroom had A/C or a fan. I was joking. But not really. Fortunately, my other class was in a room with A/C, in the same building as my office. I tend to work in my office till noon and then walk home.

(I will try and encourage Lori to post something about her work.)

Lunch in our home is starting to become regular now. The menu includes fried rice, soup with rice and noodles, rice with peanut sauce and toppings that include potato, bean sprouts, and egg. We also have hamburgers and french fries, baked potato, and tortillas. Recently we added a mixed curry salad. Every meal has fresh fruit, including pineapple, watermelon, or papaya, and vegetables, including carrots, cucumbers. We have also started to enjoy a vegetable that is here called bengkuang, but is apparently also called Jicama. Occasionally we will have corn on the cob.

Our afternoons don't have a routine. If it is my turn to pick the kids up from school, that needs to be done at 2pm. I rarely go to my office but try to work at home. The girls will do their homework and then play with friends or watch videos. This is also the time we try to do shopping or run errands.

Supper tends to be around 5 or 5:30. This meal is almost always leftovers from lunch.

After supper, it is time for baths. Indonesians tend to bathe twice a day, first thing in the morning and then in the late afternoon. After baths, the girls will watch videos or we will read books together. We try to have them in bed by 8pm, though they are allowed to read or play quietly in bed.

Lori and I will then watch videos. We have worked our way through all the seasons of the TV shows 'Monk', 'The Unit', and the U.S. version of 'The Office'. Occasionally we will watch a movie but usually we don't have enough time.

Our days tend to be full but not busy. We have developed a comfortable daily routine that has allowed us to enjoy life here in Indonesia.