Gem Market

Today I went with some friends to Pasar Rawanening, more commonly known as the gem market.  There was so much there it was rather overwhelming. It also smelled heavily of smoke despite the no smoking signs everywhere.  I’m not really a jewelry kind of girl so I just went along to see what it was all about.  They had all sorts of things…pearls, fossils, semi-precious stones,etc.  You can buy both polished and raw stones.  There were lots and lots of vendors crammed together.  You can get vastly different price quotes from different vendors.  I had one guy quote me 200,000 IDR for a fossil pendant that I got at another shop for 35,000 IDR.  My friend and I were saying we wish we knew how to say in Bahasa that we are not as dumb or gullible as we might look…lol.
At another vendor, a different friend asked about the price of a beautiful smoky topaz pendant.  The first quote was 795,000 IDR.  She probably could have gotten it for around 500,000 IDR.  She didn’t want to bargain since she wasn’t sure she was ready to buy.    The take home message is definitely ask around and don’t be afraid to bargain. 
I got a hole drilled in my fossil pendant for 10,000 IDR. There is an area for polishing and drilling holes.  I am not sure what kind of clasp I want for my pendant, but at least I have the hole.  The gem market was definitely worth a look. I don’t know that I would need or want to go back.  The traffic getting there and back was pretty bad.  We probably spent 1.5 hours at the market and 3-4 hours getting to and from the market.  It was a fun adventure though. 
  

Wet Market

We have lived in Jakarta for almost 3 years and I have never been to a wet market.  Some of my friends were going this morning so I tagged along. One of my friends said the wet market at Mayestik is probably one of the cleanest ones around.  The market was on the bottom floor of the big white building.  There is a little shop inside that sells pork but no one was there today. There has been a lot of rain lately and many areas around the city are flooded.  It has been difficult for some people to get to work. Anyways, I bought some fish, shrimp, and beef. The prices were much cheaper than at the grocery stores and the quality looked good.  I think I will likely go back at some point.

Swim meet and Raingutter Regatta

Today was a very busy day.  We started out by attending a practice swim meet for Audrey at the Australian International School.  It was an opportunity for the participants to try out competing in a swim meet.  Audrey did well placing 1st in two events and 2nd in a third event.  After it was over, she said that she had fun but wasn't keen to do more competition.  At least she enjoyed it and is a proficient swimmer.

After that, we made our way to the main Jakarta International School campus for Joseph's pack meeting.  The main event was the raingutter regatta which is a sail boat race where the boys build a boat from a kit and race them by blowing in the sail.  The boys had a blast and it was well attended.

As if that was not enough, we then made our way to attend the ward Christmas party.  We didn't have time to run home to make the mashed potatoes we were signed up for (due to traffic, of course), so we bought some potatoes and invaded the kitchen of a friend from the ward who lives in the same compound as the party.  We made it to the party with steaming hot mashed potatoes and had a great time doing skits and singing Christman carols after eating a Thanksgiving sized feast.

What a day!  We left the house at 8:00 am and didn't return until 9:30 pm.  Most people only do one activity a day due to the traffic, but we are gluttons for punishment, so we made three things happen.  Needless to say the kids were asleep as soon as they hit their pillows.

Air purifier - Round 2

It has been a few months since the previous air purifier died.  We recently noticed that Julia and I have developed a cough, and we suspect it is due to the declining air quality in our apartment.  So we bit the bullet again today and bought a new air purifier at Ace Hardware.  It is a significant upgrade from the other one as it made by Honeywell and is the most powerful one they had. 

After we unpackaged it, everyone wants to get their room's air cleaned!  We even felt extra ambitious and cleaned out the filters in our A/C units in each room in the apartment.  Not sure the last time that was done...  I certainly hope all this effort and expense helps out our lungs, won't be too difficult to get air purifier filters, and that the new machine lasts for more than a year...

Cub Scouts

Now that Joseph has turned eight a few months ago, we thought it was time to get him involved in scouting.  We had looking into it before, but the logistics seemed too much to make it happen.  Luckily, this time when we looked into it, they had a BSA cub scout pack that met at the American Club on Saturday afternoons which seemed doable.  So we signed him up and met the other boys and parents involved. 

Once the current leader of the Bear Den learned that I had been a scout as a youth and a scout leader before, he quickly passed the baton to me, so now I am the Den Leader.  I must admit that the logistics of coordinating cub scouts is exponentially more headache in Jakarta than it was in Houston.  However, Joseph is very excited to participate in the scouting program which as been a family favorite for four generations now. 

I attached some pictures of Joseph's uniform.  It is a mix of official BSA gear imported from the US and locally sourced content.  I continued the tradition of my father and sewed on the patches myself by hand.  Hopefully, he will have many positive memories of scouting as I did growing up.

 

 

 

Arundel Castle

After completing the first week of training for work, I wanted to get out of Gatwick for Saturday.  I thought about going into London, but I generally don't go into big cities for recreation.  As I was reading my Lonely Planet book and internet sites, I came across Arundel castle.  The castle itself was started in 1067 and is still occupied by the Duke of Norfolk. 

I always have been a fan of castles and have visited a couple castles in Norway and France previously.  It was only an hour away by train and looked promising.  So after a late breakfast, I boarded the train for Arundel.

I was impressed by how well the castle was upkept and throughly enjoyed the day roaming the town.  There was also an ancient gothic style catherdal in town as well.  It even had gargoyles...  I topped off the day with a quick dinner of fish 'n chips and headed by to Gatwick.

Arriving in England

I arrived in England yesterday for a 2 week training course.  I have looked forward to coming this country as a number of my ancestors emigrated from here to the US generations ago and I have wondered what it would be like to come to the lands of my forefathers.  I never have felt much of a connection to the UK and only a mild connection with Germany (which is where the other side of my family emigrated generations ago), so I really wasn't sure what I'd think of it.

Anyway, my initial impressions are that the UK is much like other parts of Europe that I have visited such as France and Norway.  Everything is clean and in good working order.  I must admit it is refreshing to take a break from the chaos of Jakarta. Of course, England does offer its own uniqueness as well.

Yesterday, I took a long stroll down some country roads near the Gatwick airport.  I enjoyed walking along quiet roads lined with hedges and taking glimpses of classic cottages that are covered by vines.  I even saw a small group of deer as I walked along. 

I must say that my favorite part of the UK is its people.  They have such a gift of language and love to put words together in humorous ways.  At church today, I was invited to have dinner with some of the members and we had a great time.  We ate too much delicious food, and had some great laughs.

I even spent a couple hours tracting the streets of Crawley with some of the LDS missionaries serving here.  We met some interesting people, and I couldn't help but reflect on how my great-great grandfather (I think) had served his mission here in the 1890's and wondered if my ancestors had walked down these same streets in the distant past.  It was definitely an experience I shall treasure for a long time. 

Here are some pictures I took from my walking about: