picture overload. :D

Well, hello, wonderful people. :) It's been a while since y'all have seen me...sorry about that.

Anyway, we're home. School's started. Life's back.

But....we never really finished posting about our trip, right? And all those pictures? Believe me, you haven't seen the half. So I put together a slideshow for y'all...it's only like 3 minutes long but it probably has a couple hundred of the pictures. :D

Comment and tell me which pic is your favorite!! ;) We had a reallly good time!! (hahaha, you'll get it in a minute. :P)

(i don't know if blogger will let you play it on here right now, so you may have to push the title up top and watch it on youtube instead. :)

 Love,

Olivia

Home at laaaaast

Wondering why we've been so inexplicably quiet?

Well, apparently, jet lag affects everyone differently. Let's just say that, while some of us have been like this,

others of us have been affected thusly:

....but one week later, I'm finally back in my own head enough to give you all a little documentation of our airplane-flight-experience (read: random thoughts that were flying through my sleep-deprived head while we were zooming over the world at 500 mph).

(Don't worry; this is the very last of my I'm-too-impatient-to-write-a-coherent blog posts. 

Just make it through this one, and then we're gonna try to put up a couple pictures eventually.)

Oh, and another warning-- This is probably the random-est of my posts so far, and *that* is sayin' something.

50. I almost wish our plane would crash down in the middle of the ocean--for bragging rights and just fo' the fun of it. (note my Amelia Earhart reference there)

51. Why are there so few female pilots? I wanna be one just so all the passengers can hear my female voice coming over the intercom: "This is your Captain speaking..."

52. My little bro just got a huge lunch with 3 cookies and 3 mentos to top if off.
The rest of us got none.

Come on, really?

What happened to "justice for all"?

If I put on a skinny 3-yr-old impersonation, can I have sugar too?

53. Had to force the airplane-coffee down so I wouldn't get a caffeine headache.
I still don't get why our pilot wouldn't agree to a pit stop at Starbucks.

56. Flew to Hong Kong,
Called a taxi,
Got stuck in traffic,
Walked the rest of the way....

Got to mass in time for the sign of peace.

#Assumption #HolyDayOfObligation #CatholicSwag

(oh, you've never heard of such a thing as "catholic swag"? Take a look:

Told ya so... )

57. Chinese is definitely the weirdest language.
I saw a sign that said "slow" with 2 Chinese characters beneath it. How does that work?
Is one "SL" and the other "OW"?
Or is the first "drive" and the second "slow"?
Or maybe it's "not" and "fast"...

I'll think more on that.... get back to you later.

58. Leaving at 9:20am for our 16-hour flight to New York and should get there around 1pm the same day.
It's called *time travel*--better known as, *jet lag*.

59. Being Home means....

Liv: "A nice shower, my bed, my laptop, the brown couch, extra clothes, our bathroom, our pool"

Mom: "Being a face in the crowd, not being the only blonde"

Brayden: "Cold milk and the brown couch"

Juliette: "familiar food"

Me: "Studying, practicing flute, working out"

Eliza: "Playing with my doll, seeing my friends"

(Dad was asleep)

60. Never again will I take English-speaking people for granted; remind me of that next week when I start complaining about all the rude drivers.

62. How to handle a 36-hour day:
Guzzle caffeine, and hope no one notices your shaky hands or dilated pupils. Try not to overreact to hallucinations.

Ohh, it's good to be home and sleepin' in my own bed. Summer went by so quickly, and tomorrow's our first day of school. Not sure I'm ready for it.


I'll see you all later...

Marina Grace C. J. S.--over and out

Fountain of Youth, Surabaya, Hong Kong, then Home

This is my last post for this trip (August). I think the girls think that my posts are too serious. The girls and Martha are much more witty than I am. Sorry, we did not have an internet connection for the last couple of days and therefore could not post anything. So here's our update.

My brother asked me about my mother. She has been staying with her aunt ("Tante Lien" to her but "Oma Lien" to me) who is like a sister to her. Therefore, she has had her own set of activities, including visitors galore at Tante Lien's house. She had a chance to spend some time with her brother, Tiang Kwee and his son's family, Robert and his wife Jen. She also has been attending many of these restaurant "parties."

During her stay, she had a chance to see a Chinese herbalist who promised to make her look younger - just kidding. See pictures below to see if you think she looks 20 years younger.

Not bad for 81 years old!

I'll have to bring some of these Chinese herbs back to the States for my practice (Ancient Chinese Secret)!

Restaurants All Over Indonesia

The last 3 days in Indonesia were quite busy with more restaurant parties. My relatives tell me that this is a way to honor people in Indonesia. It is more special to take people out to a nice restaurant rather than hosting a dinner at their home. Instead of chronological order, I will just show some more pictures of some of the "parties." You will notice that some of these people are suspiciously in some of the same parties. Maybe we can play Where's "Sioe Waldo"?

Oom Freddy and Tante Jane's party at Indonesian Restaurant "Ria Galleria" 

Oom Sioe Pik, Tante Lanny treat us to a hip Chinese restaurant called "Stingray." This restaurant was partly owned by their son-in-law.

Looking at flavors of gelato. The Durian(Smelly Fruit) flavor was authentic and delicious!

Tante Sioe Hwa and Oom Tjing Ham treating us to an Italian restaurant called "Pisa Cafe and Resto."

My cousin Robert and his wife Jen treating us to a Chinese restaurant in West Surabaya called "Ming Garden."

On Sunday August 12th, Cousin Eri, his wife Lenny and son Alfred took us on a tour of Surabaya on a trolley bus sponsored by the cigarette manufacturer "Sampoerna" (which was purchased by Phillip Morris a few years ago).  During this trip, we witnessed a traditional Javanese dance. Ask the girls how much they liked this one! I think that they actually liked this one better than the "Kecak Dance" in Bali.

Tourists aboard the Sampoerna Trolley Bus

Javanese dancers

Eri, Lenny and Alfred also took us to a "Becak" Park that evening which Brayden especially enjoyed. At first, he did not know what to think about the trampoline. But after a few minutes, he loved it!

Becak driver "Pak Brayden"

It's dangerous to let him steer.

Who's having more fun on the bumper cars?

Joyful jumping

Monday August 13th was our last day in Surabaya. I really wanted to visit my childhood home and school. Ngah(Aunt) Lucy was available to show us these places. Unfortunately, my childhood home has been razed. It now has a storefront there. I was able to visit my elementary school and orphanage, "Don Bosco." She also showed us my uncle Oom Djien's beautiful watercolor paintings. Since he had a stroke, he has amazingly painted watercolors with only his left hand.

Don Bosco elementary school and orphanage

We were sad to leave our relatives in Surabaya on the morning of Tuesday, August 14th. Our uncle Oom Sioe Thoen, Eri, Oom Tjing Ham, Ngah Lucy and Oom Djien accompanied us to the airport very early in the morning. Some had to wake up at 4:15 am to help transport us! Wow, what sacrifice! Oom Sioe Thoen and Tante Ing have been very gracious hosts to us. Can you imagine having a family of 7 invading your house for almost 2 weeks! 

We are on our way home! Hong Kong here we come! I picked a hotel with harbor views of Hong Kong overlooking Victoria Harbour. It was a spectacular view from our rooms.

View from our rooms

View from rooftop pool at the Harbour Grand Hotel

"Symphony of Lights" show of Hong Kong at 8 pm each night.

We only had one day to tour Hong Kong, so we took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour, then went up to the top of Victoria Peak via the Tram. My mom was quite a "trooper" despite much walking. (Martha here:  "Trooper" is an understatement.  I fear she's going to remember this visit to HK as "the day Tjioe and Martha nearly killed her by walking her to death"!) She hasn't had that much exercise in years! I think we took almost every form of transportation in Hong Kong- ferry boat, tram, buses, metro rail, taxis and airplane. Brayden loved it!

Aboard the Star Ferry crossing Victoria Harbour 

Aboard the Peak Tram

Views from the Peak Tram of Hong Kong and Kowloon

"Underwater" photos from side of hotel pool

R & R at the hotel pool after a long day of walking

Everyone was really excited to finally go home. After a long day, we arrived home safely last night at around 10 pm. It was really nice to be in our own beds!

Some funny quotes from the kids upon returning to The States:

"I'm so tired I'm not even going to turn my computer on when I get home." (You know your teen is tired when she says this!)

"Ahhhh, Virginia smells so good!"  

"I'm so used to not wearing a seat belt, I almost didn't remember to put it on!"

"I keep forgetting that other people can understand us when we speak now."

A conversation this morning with a very jet-lagged Brayden before going out to the store:
me (Martha):  "Let's go , Bray. You can play with the walkie-talkies when we get home."
Brayden:  "Which home?"  

Thank you for all of our relatives in Indonesia to make our trip so special and memorable. (There were so many people and places to see, we still have more to write about! More posts coming soon.....after a good, long sleep!) We definitely won't wait another 18 years to visit again.

Turning 50 - Indonesian Style!

Yesterday, after a great bus tour around the city of Surabaya, we had a birthday lunch at a Japanese restaurant with about 20 of August's relatives.  I've decided that, next to the honking, the second most frequent activity here is eating.  This restaurant had a huge buffet of all kinds (and I mean ALL kinds) of uncooked meats which you could go through and choose for yourself. It was called "Yaki Niku".

There's the squid I decided to forego.

Then you go back to your table where you cook it yourself on a little gas grill sunken in the middle of the table.  So, using chopsticks, you dip your meat into a sauce akin to teriyaki sauce, grill, dip again, then eat; all the time using the same set of chopsticks. 8-)

All those little bowls are dipping sauce.  I lost track of which sauce was the before-cooking and after-cooking dipping bowl so I through caution to the wind, shoved aside all thoughts of cross-contamination, and thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience.  You can pray I make it back to American soil alive.  :)

Apparently, not feeling that they had fed us enough, his family had THREE birthday cakes to choose from. Here are two of them.

When it came time to light the candles, the restaurant started piping in their own version of "Happy Birthday to You" in various different languages through the overhead speakers.  It was at this point, I decided a video was worth more than any description I could ever write.  Enjoy!

Then August and Kongha began cutting the cakes.  Notice the difference in the portion sizes they cut? The big joke was that August was cutting American portion sizes.  :)

It was a really fun day and I think August felt very loved!

Our Trip to Bali

We've been so busy that we have gotten behind on the blog posting. Here's my update(August's) for those who are interested.

Monday, August 6

We thought that the next day was "free." Of course not! Eri, his wife Lenny and their son Alfred offered to take us to see the "Golden Gate Bridge" of Surabaya. It was recently completed and connects  Surabaya to the island of Madura. Surabaya is located on the north coast of the island of Java.

We also went to a Buddhist temple. We saw people praying there and offering incense. It was quite interesting.

On the way back to Surabaya, there were shouts of joy when Eri and Lenny announced that they were taking us to a Pizza Hut.

Eri, Lenny, and Alfred treat us to Pizza Hut

We went home for a few minutes, then visited my Oma Lien(Great Aunt who is very close to my mom. She is staying with her). We had a nice visit and came home for a few minutes before our next invitation to dinner.

Our family visiting my mom and Oma Lien(my mother's aunt who is like a sister to her)

This next invitation was with my mom's brother and his son's family. They took us to his very nice Italian restaurant. They correctly thought that we might be somewhat exhausted by the onslaught of Asian cooking. Although we all enjoy it, Martha and the kids are not used to eating it 24/7. Of course for me it is a delight. It was really a nice time with my uncle, his son and his family. I really have not had a chance previously to get to know them in the past.

My mother's brother(on the front left), and his son's family on the right at the Italian restaurant

Tuesday, August 7

This is the day that we would travel to Bali. However, Brayden woke up with a fever of 102 F axillary. He also vomited. He had no other signs except later that day he would have several episodes of diarrhea. He was very lethargic the entire day and did not eat for the entire day. We were very concerned. He was held by Martha or was in bed the entire day. We decided not to do any activities that evening. I was the pizza delivery man for the crew that night. It was really tough that night as Brayden woke up several times during the night with abdominal crampy pains and diarrhea.

Brayden in his "hospital bed" in our hotel

The following morning, he was much better, but not completely. As the day progressed, he became stronger and his appetite started to come back. No more vomiting, the fever was better, but he continued with diarrhea.

Just another note of sacrifice and love from my family. Albert, my cousin, was going to meet us at the airport to help us. He was going to Jakarta anyway at about the same time. However, he also had a febrile illness. But he insisted on coming despite my suggestion that he stay at home. It was so helpful. We were afraid of glitches since we did not buy the tickets. Fortunately, he made things run quite smoothly. We were on our way to Bali.

Airplane shots taken by Marina over South East Java

Three volcanoes, Mt Bromo, Mt Semeru, and Mt.Tengger

Our hotel in Bali is located in Sanur Beach. It is a lovely small town on the east coast of Bali. It is where the "old Bali" with older hotels are located. I chose this hotel so that we would have a somewhat authentic Bali experience. We are staying at the Bali Hyatt Hotel. We were greeted by friendly hotel staff and given leis. The service there was superb.

 It has not disappointed. Our entire family loves this hotel. It is "ginormous" and beautiful. It is a city unto itself. The landscaping is some of the most beautiful that I have ever seen. It is on a beautiful stretch of beach as well and within walking distance to the local stores(toko) and warungs(small roadside eateries). Pictures below:

The girls room

Wednesday, August 8

We woke up with a wonderful multicultural breakfast at the hotel. You can have American waffles, toast, croissants, pancakes as well as Indonesian fare and even German food. It was part of a bed and breakfast package; I splurged and it was well worth it according to my family. We had hired a driver  with a van to pick us up at the airport as well throughout our Bali trip. This was arranged by Kongah Thjiang. It was well worth it(only about $30/day). We took a trip to Ubud, the cultural center of Bali with many art stores, markets, and rice terraces. It is in the middle of Bali. The highlight of the trip was the "Monkey Forrest." We entered this very public forest with monkeys of all sizes everywhere. They are so used to tourists that they are not afraid. There are hundreds or thousands of them roaming around. One tried to pickpocket some pieces of paper in my pocket. Apparently, they have gotten wallets and cameras from people. You can feed them bananas or  other foods like corn. Of course theres is a lady out from selling "pisang" (bananas). Brayden loved the monkeys.

You have to even pay the monkey to go to the toilet.

Monkeys everywhere.

We then proceeded toward the local city market to shop for souvenirs. This is where we have to bargain for everything. Since I can speak a little Indonesian, I can fake it some and try to get a better price. I bargained for a metal "becak" sculpture down from 350,000 rupiah(about $37) to 150,000 rupiah($16).  They really try to start high if they know you are a tourist. I try to pretend like an Indonesian person(orang Indonesian), but its hard with a blond wife and Asian American kids tugging nearby. (Although "blond wife" did very well bargaining on her own!) 

We then proceeded to the hills to look at some of the rice paddies/terraces. It was beautiful. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to see Gunung(mountain) Barut with a nearby lake. This is an active volcano with spewing lava and smoke at times. The rest of the day was spent at the hotel.

We walked down the beach and ate at a beachside cafe called Sanur Bay Restaurant. The menu was international, but I was surprised that Marina picked the sate and Olivia picked the Bakmie Goreng, both Indonesian dishes. Maybe Indonesia is rubbing off on them.

Thursday, August 9

This morning, I decided to let the family rest at the pool. We have been on a whirlwind and they needed some R & R. Of course, my preference would be to see more of the island. (Definitely a case of opposites attract!)

Martha here:  I inserted a few comments of my own in italics.  

I had to give in or there might have been a mutiny. At 4 pm, our driver took us to the south of Bali to a place called Ulu Watu. Here, there is a sacred Hindu temple on high cliffs overlooking the west coast of Bali. We went at 4 pm in order to see the sunset from there. They also have a traditional Balinese dance called the "Kecak Dance"(Monkey Dance). This was performed in a small amphitheater high on the hills overlooking the Indian Ocean. You could see the dance as the sun sets. It was quite spectacular. I don't think that Brayden appreciated the dance too much, it was "cici"(His way of saying "scary"). I don't think that the girls appreciated the dance as much as I did either.

Sunset over the cliffs of Ulu Watu 

"CiCi" Monkey Dance

After the monkey dance and on the way back  to our hotel in Sanur beach, we ate seafood at Jimbaran Bay. This place is known as "the place to eat seafood." You can also eat on tables right on the beach. I didn't realize what an experience this would be. In the front of the restaurant there are aquariums of live lobsters as well as fish, prawns, squids, on display. You just tell them which ones you want and how many kilos of each. I've never ordered this way. I chose on large 1.4 kilo red snapper and two orders of prawns(40 total). They barbecue it in their own style using coconut milk and spices and it is served with rice, vegetables and sauces. It was surprisingly good.

Choosing your meal 

Es Degan(Young coconut drink)

Marina enjoying a BBQ prawn

Beachside dining at the Menega Cafe in Jimbaran Bay

Friday, August 10

This morning we just relaxed at the hotel and on the way to the airport, the request for lunch was Kentucky Fried Chicken. The driver spotted one and it was "Finger lickin' good!" Interestingly, there was no cole slaw. Of course, we could get rice there.

After our arrival in Surabaya, we had a dinner date with more relatives. This time it was Tante Jane and Oom Freddy treating us all. We again had the entire back of the restaurant with 30-40 people invited. I think that my family likes to have dinner parties! It was delicious Indonesian/Chinese cuisine. We  were quite tired and slept well that night.

That's all for now.