6th Grader, and Rats

She's in middle school!

BA and the principal.

The school held a "Moving On Ceremony" for the fifth graders.  It was a little like a graduation.  It was fun.  They all got to dress up and the school made them feel really special.  BA even got her dress made!  They had a whole program planned.  There were poems and songs, and then they read everyone's names.  At they end, they showed a video.

After the video, the kids walked around the courtyard in kind of a 'march' fashion.  There were also snacks.

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Crammed in a taxi.

After the ceremony, we decided to take all the kids out for lunch.  Sort of an end of school celebration.  There is a Chili's here.  We've been there a couple of times.  It's not convenient, but since everyone was out of school, and Nate was off of work, we decided to make the trek.  We like the all-you-can-eat chips and salsa, and bottomless drinks.  It's very American.

This trip to Chili's was especially exciting.  We had a "Jakarta moment"...

The meal was pretty normal.  Below average food, but the chips, salsa, and Coke were great!  Nate was paying the waiter, and I was rounding the kids up for one last trip to the bathroom before our long ride home.  As I was waiting for the kids to pile out, I glanced over at the booth next to us where about 6 women were seated.  Mostly westerners from what I could tell.  All of the sudden I see a little creature crawling out from under their table.  It was a rat.  A young, slow one.  He just kind of creeped out to see what was going on.  My first words were, "Oh man."  That got the kids' attention, and they were equally grossed out, but not making a scene.  And one by one the women at the table started to notice too.  And then the rat noticed people noticing him, so he decided to go back to where he came from.  So he started crawling under the table again.  The women were clearly uncomfortable, but they weren't making a scene either.  Then they started lifting their feet up.  I think that's when the waiter noticed.  He comes over and one of the women point out the rat.

Here comes the best part...

Without even thinking, he steps on it!  Squishes it like you would a bug!  Unfortunately that didn't take care of it.  The poor thing was squirming and flopping.  All the while my kids, all five of them, were witnessing the incident.  They held it together though.  I was proud.  I think they were too shocked and horrified to say much.  The waiter threw a napkin over the rat, picked it up, and took it away.  And that was that.  We were able to do our bathroom duties without any more troubles.  Except for a slightly sick stomach.

When we came back the women were talking to the manager.  They got a free meal.  We probably could have gotten ours free too, but we already paid and it wasn't worth the hassle.  

The problem with this story is, it's not just Chili's.  Rats are everywhere.  I know they are in most restaurants.  For a while, I will only be able to eat at restaurants that are on the third floor or higher.  In my mind, rats don't go up too high.

But I'm sure I'll eat at Chili's again.

Cranberry

Photo op at the bagel shop.

I can get pork bacon (yes, there are other kinds) on my bagel sandwich here.  It's delightful.

End of the Year

BA and her cuneiform project.

 At the end of the school year, they had student-led conferences.  Basically you go to your kid's classroom and they show you what they have done all year.  I loved it.  I felt super rushed, but it was still cool.  They gave me appointment times that were spaced every half hour.  But that wasn't enough time.  And I could only stay a couple of minutes in the art, music, computer, and PE rooms.  I don't think they get many parents who have 4 students at the same school!  Mads wanted to read me every book he wrote.  I felt bad because I had to hurry him.  It's okay though, we just finished at home.

Rhon and her rainforest project.  It was complete with a diorama, presentation, and a dance.  It was entertaining to say the least.  Many hours went into this project.  She did awesome.

The kids showing me their music skills.

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Later that day, we had Rhon's birthday party.  We made our way to the mall for some Fatburger, and then we went to see the Avengers.  She only invited her two best friends.  And her sisters, of course.

Now, 10

Rhon had a birthday too!  Ten.  Now I have 2 in double digits!  I brought her cookies at school too.  And I took this picture.  I'm so glad that we have M.  She is such a great friend for Rhon.  She's nice, polite, has great values, and she lives close!

We celebrated that night.  We had pasta for dinner.  She requested lasagna, but lasagna is more of a Saturday meal, so we postponed.  (She didn't get lasagna until about a month later.  Ugh.)  We had chocolate chocolate mint-chip cookies.  It was kind of a funny night during present opening.  We planned on getting her an iPod too, but then we heard her friend (pictured above) was getting her one.  A better one.  She was anticipating getting one that night.  She asked for it, and since BA got one, she expected it.  So we had to tell her that we bought her one, but that they didn't have the color she wanted.  BUT we also had to tell her to not tell anyone about it so that her friend wouldn't get confused and give something away.  It was a weird situation.  But luckily it only went on for 2 days because her party was scheduled.  Of course, she played along without complaint.  She's awesome.

Rhon loves to watch movies.  She loves playing with her friends and playing outside.  She's an awesome tennis player.  She is such an awesome person to just hang around, and her sense of humor is the coolest.

If You're Going to SF...

I hate this picture - I look sleepy.  But I wanted to talk about how I almost always have a flower in my hair.  Anytime either one of my boys goes outside, they find a flower for me to put in my hair.  It is immensely sweet.  Usually they are the little white or pink ones that fall from the trees around our neighborhood.  This lily was a special one.  I think G might have picked it.  Oops!

This is the view from the other side of the table we were sitting at.  We were at Amigos.  The Mexican restaurant near our house.  G and I would go there sometimes to break up the day.

Wheelin'

Dare had a little gymnastics exhibition at the end of the term.

She was excellent.  (Of course!)

She's all signed up for gymnastics again next year.  She loves it.  Nice work!

May 12, 2012

We have lived in Jakarta for one year!

We celebrated by eating a very American-style, pork laden dinner.  We called it 'irony'.

It's been a crazy year!  I wish I was better at writing down all the stuff we've experienced in the last year, but for now, this blog will have to do.

Voice Activated

BA's birthday party

BA had a few kids over for her birthday.  They swam first, and then had dinner.  BA requested nachos for dinner, and all the girls loved it.  And then we had ice cream sundaes for dessert.  Again, not cheap here.  I'm going to start taking the food budget out of their present budget!  Then they watched a movie and ate popcorn.  It was a good time.

Game

The boys started tennis too.  Does tennis seem weird?  I know they would never have played in the U.S., but it's just so convenient here.  And cheap.  And I can play with them.  And I also think it's the kind of sport they'll be able to play no matter where we live.  So I like it.  And they like it.  So we'll stick to it for the time being.

Sports Day

I managed to get to the school for the kids' sports day (thanks Chelisa!).  It was awesome.  I'm so glad I made it.  I have difficulty getting up the motivation to venture out too far from my house.  It has everything to do with traffic and difficulty, and nothing to do with not wanting to participate in my kids' lives.  And because I'm not a great planner, I didn't realize that the younger grades did their activities first, and the older grades after.  So I missed Dare and Mads.  But I got to see this...

 And I got to eat lunch with Mads.  The school provided hot dogs for everyone.  They also had ice pops.

 And I got to see BA in the tug-of-war.  She sure looks tiny next to her classmates.

 They won!  She had some pretty tough girls on her team.

 Besties...

I would have loved to see Dare in action.  She rocks at stuff like that.  Next year!

Bajai

This is our view while riding in a bajai.

Since we don't have a car, G and I sometimes take a bajai ride to go out to lunch or do some shopping.  I hate them, but he loves them.  I sometimes look for this one with the Disney characters on it because the driver has been nice to us.  Some of them aren't.

A bajai is a three-wheeled vehicle that runs on a motor that is probably the size of a lawn mower motor.  They are stinky and hot, but terribly convenient.  Especially when they sit right outside my complex and I usually don't want to go very far.  I would walk, but G's endurance for walking is way too short.

Oldest of Each

I gained a new urge to catch up on my blog.  So we are going way back.  Over 3 months.  Shame on me.

In April, Mads had a birthday.  He's 6 now.  We just hung out in the morning, and then went to KFC for lunch.  He likes the playground there.  He requested pasta for dinner, and chocolate AND vanilla cupcakes.  So we made chocolate ones, vanilla ones, and some combos.

I really missed hanging out with him since he started going to kindergarten. I definitely didn't have enough time with him.  He is a great kid just to hang out with.  He has been pretty much perfect since the day he was born.  But recently he has been trying out the "annoying brother" role.  Only to the girls.  He's still perfect with G.  I think he likes annoying them.  And it makes me laugh most of the time.  Mostly because it reminds me of my brother.  :)  He definitely has a boyish sense of humor.  He still loves to play games, draw, and ride his bike.  He's pretty awesome on the skateboard too.  His prayers are so sweet, and he want to do what Heavenly Father wants him to do.  Even though he would always choose not to actually go to church if it was up to him. :) 

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BA had a birthday in April too.  Eleven.  Crazy.  She had school that day and I brought no-bake cookies to her class.  We had pasta puttanesca for dinner.  And she wanted pudding for dessert.  Those things would have been super cheap in America, but I spent way too much money on olives and cherry pie filling!

She got her first iPod for a gift.  She was thrilled!  She really loves music.  She also still loves reading, and she's gotten to be a great tennis player.  She always (well, almost always) loves to laugh.  Nate can get her going like no other.  She is a joy, even though I am sensing communication problems occurring between us in the near future. :)