Photostory Friday - The World On His Head

My biggest complaint about Aaron is that he is a very poor sleeper and has been from the start. Apart from being extremely difficult to put to sleep when he was an infant, he is also an incredibly light sleeper.

Apart from the obvious things like flushing the toilet or making too much noise when closing a door, he has also been woken up by the neighbor sneezing and my father stirring his Milo a little too enthusiastically downstairs.

After two and a half years of practice, he's getting better. There are bad days and good days. On a bad day, he'll wake up if you put the slightest amount of pressure on his mattress. On a good day, amazing things like this happen:

The entire world map had come unstuck and flopped down on him!



He was still in the same position that I left him in. AND, he went on to sleep another hour. I couldn't believe it!!!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thursday Thirteen - Questions for Iwan

Our driver (Iwan) will be getting married some time in February. He has always appeared stressed by the various burdens in his life but is having an even harder time now. Anyway, here is a compilation of the questions I have asked him over the past week.

Iwan is 31 years old and his fiance is ten years younger than him. He lives with his mother who has been a widow for roughly 25 years. The fiance works in a beauty parlour.

1) How did you meet your fiance?
She "harassed me" (his words, not mine) until I went out with her. It was two years ago and we were both working at a booth selling phone cards.

2) How often do you go on dates?
Not very often. Maybe once in 2 weeks. Its too expensive to take a girl out because you have to pay for petrol, food and maybe even buy some small trinket that she might get captivated by while strolling the shops.

3) You mentioned that you were going to get married in the middle of last year. Why did the wedding get postponed?
My sister thought she would get married last year. In Indonesia, it is customary to only have one wedding per year so, since she is older than me, she had first choice. In the end, she didn't get married but it was too late in the year for me to arrange anything so .. thats why its going to be in February.

4) How did you pick the date?
Both our families got together last week so that we could formally inform everyone of our intention to get married. Our parents then 'negotiated' on some probable dates. My fiance's family was pushing for January but I needed more time to get things together.

5) And, you took a day off yesterday for some preparations. What exactly did you need to do?
Buy the ring, take the wedding photos, go to the bank to borrow the money required to pay for the whole thing.

6) Are there any other ceremonies between now and the actual wedding day?
Yes, there is the formal proposal and confirmation of the wedding date. This usually takes place within two weeks of the proposed wedding date that is discussed between the families.

7) What happens there?
It is where the guy formally asks for permission to marry the girl. He has to bring along a sum of money, toiletries (things like shampoo, soap, toothpaste etc) and some groceries (basics like rice and oil). The girl's family then assesses if this is sufficient before they give their blessing. (I think the process is to show that he will be able to 'look after' their daughter)

8) How much do you think that will cost?
Roughly 2 Million Ruppiahs (US$ 183).

9) What sort of expenses are involved for the actual wedding day?
Of course there is the catering and renting of the tents and chairs. Then I need to hire the traditional wedding furniture. There are lots of other miscellaneous items that are going to really burn a hole in my pocket. Things like make up artists, cameramen, gifts for the guests and all sorts of other small items that my bride will need. I think the whole process of me getting married is going to cost me 10 Million Ruppiahs (USD $915). (This may sound cheap but it is roughly 10 months wages for Iwan.)

10) Do people in Indonesia give wedding presents or money (like the Chinese Red Packet)?
They usually give a little money. Nothing substantial though. Most people only give about 20 thousand Ruppiah (US$ 1.83)

11) Personal question, have you got the money saved up? I know that you're pretty tight from month to month.
Definitely not. After paying the loan for my bike and giving some money to my mother, I have very little left each month. My mother has helped me to get a loan from the bank for IDR 6 Million. I'm trying to sell anything that I don't need, like my old cell phone, but its not going to amount to much. I'm considering selling my bike but then I'd have to pay for public transport to get to work. Maybe I'll take on a second job on my day off from driving or at night.

12) Where will you live after you get married?
The first month will be at my fiance's house and then afterwards, I hope to be able to rent a place for ourselves. But, with the debt I've gotten myself in just to pay for the wedding, it is likely that we will live at my mother's place.

13) Ah, so you'll have to be able to manage your wife AND your mother?
Yes. But I am fair. Absolutely fair.

He answers the last question really emphatically. Almost as if he's telling himself that things will probably be hard but he is going to be fair. But then, he adds:
"But, if I really really reeeeealy had to choose, I'm going to pick my mother"

Golf in Palembang

Desperation drives people to do all sorts of things. This year, I'm desperate to get out there and do something. Learn something new. Get outdoors in Palembang more.

I have always declared that the sport that I most hate watching on TV is golf. Obviously, I don't understand the lure of the game. What is so exciting about hitting a tiny white ball with a variety of sticks, walking after it and then finally pushing it into a hole in the ground? If I wanted to sink balls, pool would be my game of choice.

Anyhow, Palembang may not have a single park but it does have a golf course. I think its around US$18.25 for the 18 holes and you don't need to be a member of the club. This is the only outdoor activity that I have identified for now. I'm sure the game is not as slow as it appears to be.

We went there on the weekend to find out about lessons. The pricing seems reasonable. I should have jotted it down but I think lessons are US$9 for an hour. You also pay US$2 for 100 balls at the driving range. And, the teacher also mentioned another US$2 for the caddy. At the driving range??? He said it was for the guy to put the little white ball down for you and to also go pick them all up after the lesson. Small matter, creates employment I suppose.

I have no idea how good or bad the teachers are or what it will mean to my long term technique if I pick up bad habits now. We're still thinking about it. In the mean time, here are some "interesting" photos from around the clubhouse.

Apart from the obvious typos, I found the listing of unacceptable attire amusing....tight and short shorts tee hee hee :)



On the one hand, its not right to laugh since English is not the language used around these parts. But on the other hand, if they insist on putting up English signs (I feel that its to appear posh), they should at least look up the dictionary, double check whatever gets printed or maybe consult an English teacher. Otherwise, they are fair game for the laughs that we had to let out as we walked around.



This one is my favorite...

Don't forget, little kids scare easily!

I was about 8 years old and my brother 6 when our family stayed over at a priest's house. The priest thought he would keep the relatively young kids entertained by putting on "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark". This was on a night where we had to spend the night alone in a strange room in a huge, old, house. The place used to be a seminary so it has LOTS of rooms and dark corridors....basically a scary place when you're under 10. Oh and the other thing, my brother and I were the only ones on the first floor. Our parents got a room downstairs.

Anyway, that movie left us "traumatized" for weeks. I will forever have that image of the guy's face melting and his eyes falling out of their sockets burnt into my brain. My brother has the same scary memories of the time. At the time, the priest obviously didn't realize that it would cause such problems for us.

I found myself making a similar mistake to the priest today.

Aaron and I were watching one of the Thomas and Friends episodes when he suddenly exclaimed that he no longer wanted to watch. It surprised me and I teased him a little. It was at a part where one of the trains needed to cross a "dangerous, rickety, old bridge". I didn't pay any attention at first and the train made it across the first time.

Aaron settled down but then another train had to make the crossing. This time Aaron came to sit on my lap and I had my hand rested on his chest. I noticed that the soundtrack added to some tension build up and the narrator's voice sounded more urgent. All this while, I could feel Aaron's little heartbeat getting faster.

So when he cried out again that he could not watch it anymore, I turned it off. The poor boy was genuinely disturbed by it. I could really feel his heart pounding by then. Shame on me for doubting him in the first place.

Its so easy for adults to overlook these little things that young children may experience. I feel so insensitive for calling Aaron "silly" the first time. Its actually perfectly understandable that he'd find the "suspense" and potential disaster disconcerting since his life so far has been shielded from any sorts of fears and uncertainties.

I guess we both have more to learn here. Aaron will need to deal with these types of emotions eventually. And I should be more sensitive and remember that he's still so little.

I See Loads

Palembang is probably the first place that I've lived where I really enjoy the view from the car. There are always interesting things to look at. Even traffic jams can sometimes be fun (except when Aaron decides he's had enough of the car).

Here are a few pictures from my morning. The types of loads the people here try to haul always amazes me and is definitely the thing that catches my eye most frequently.







The last photo is of a truck collecting used cardboard boxes. People here collect everything from used plastic containers, drink bottles, cans, plastic bags, newspaper, bits of metal, whatever. On a side note, apart from the food scraps, everything in our trash seems to be of use to somebody. We frequently wake up in the morning to find that somebody has gone through our trash in the night, picked out what they wanted and left a big mess in front of the front gate. Its a pain but I guess somebody was really desperate and needs to feed their family!

407,295 Blog Posts today as of 11.19AM my time

Mike leaves frequent reminders about doing "numbers posts" and I have been meaning to do one for a long time but hadn't come across anything interesting until this morning. Here's a simple website with "real time" world statistics.

Worldometers has a page of simple to read statistics for the worlds population, government and economics, society and media, environment, food, water, energy and health.

The figures are "real time" based on an algorithm that processes the data (available from supposedly "prestigious" sources) and extrapolates the current number based on the time of YOUR computer clock.

In the time that it took me to type the title of this post and the three short paragraphs above, the number of blog posts has already risen to 414,651. Probably more since it took me awhile to type the previous sentence and type that number. That would mean that there were 7356 other people blogging at the same time as me.

Each of the numbers alone don't mean anything because there are no stories to go with this website. However, when you look at just how large some of these numbers are and spend a moment to think of, for example, the 1.3 Billion people in the world with no access to safe drinking water, you find yourself spending a lot more time on this website.

OK, lets have one final check for the number of blog posts as of NOW - 428,475.

New Friends, "New" Eyes, New Bulbs but Old Laptop

This new year has been great so far. We have new friends. Here's another one of those great fringe benefits you get from blogging. Apart from real letters and postcards from Bilbo, blogging has actually led me to meeting people in Palembang. This time, its a lovely couple from Singapore with a 9 month old baby. They live only a street away and have been there for almost as long as we've been in Palembang. We've even admired the old VW Ambulance they have on several occasions but would never have gotten to know them if the guy hadn't stumbled upon my blog. Yay!

Before I talk about the light bulbs, I've got to tell you about my "new" eyes. Some time in November, I forgot to put on my glasses when going out. AND, I didn't notice this for nearly 3hrs. My prescription isn't very high but in the past, I've always still needed my glasses if I wanted to avoid a headache. The 3hrs surprised me and I thought maybe there is a chance that things are somehow on the mend. I started doing daily eye exercises and also taking additional vitamins. Guess what?! After about a month, I started going full days without my glasses. No need for lasik!

Since coming back to Palembang, I have felt a little eye strain though. BUT, I'm sure this is because the lights here are much dimmer that I've gotten used to in Australia. When I asked those around me if they thought the lights were ok for them, I got blank stares. I could read their minds "What are you talking about? Its bright!" I don't know if its because people are trying to save on the electricity bill or what but they use really low wattage bulbs. I had the bulbs in our house changed last year but they seemed to have dimmed so I got them changed again yesterday. No more eyestrain. I wasn't just imagining it!

So thats it for the "new" things. Now the old. My laptop. Its going on 5 years OLD this coming March. The hard disk crashed a couple of months ago and we got a new one. Then, since we got back, it only started up when it felt like it. We got the hard disk reformatted yesterday and its back for now I guess. All I want is for it to be able to do very basic things (like allow me to blog) for another couple of years. Do you think laptops make it to 7 years old?