School starts on Monday (Lori)

School starts on Monday. It’s been a long break. Throughout the summer, I did my best to give the girls a bit of a schedule. I bought spelling and math workbooks, so they could have something to exercise their minds. I tried to take them swimming every once in a while. We tried out 3 indoor playgrounds in 3 different shopping malls, (outdoor playgrounds are very, very rare) and decided we like the one at Saphir Square best. Whenever I had the chance, I would take them shopping with me (usually against their will!) We tried to set up playdates whenever our schedules allowed. In spite of all this, the TV has been getting a lot of use, and on several occasions I’ve had to wrestle kids to the ground for a chance on my computer.

Before school finished in June, I was asking around about summer camps, swimming /voice/gymnastics activities that would possibly be held during the break. Jogja is a city of many universities and I was hoping that at least one of them would have programs in place. But when I asked Indonesians if they knew of any summer programs for kids, I almost always got a surprised look, followed by “Do you mean just for the holiday?” responses. After talking to a few people I realized that Indonesian kids are really only away from school for about 2 weeks, before they start the next grade. So that idea was quashed.

We had understood that we would need to go to Singapore to renew visas this summer. There was a possibility that we would have to go in July, but the paperwork for our visa was sent to the wrong office and we ended up getting just another temporary stay. This meant we would surely have to leave in 30 days. And then, after making various plans and reservations, Phil’s university was able to get another unprecedented 30 day extension the day before our visas expired on August 20! This alone was a bit disappointing, but we had also been planning a trip to Bali around the Singapore trip, and for various reasons we needed to cancel them, and then re-book and cancel again. So as I think back over what has happened in the past 10 weeks, nothing significant stands out – except for the nothing part.

School starts on Monday, and I am glad.

Lori