A Year in Review

It's been one year since we started our adventure halfway across the world - and WOW - what a year it has been! While some days have felt like a lifetime, at other times, I can't believe how fast it has gone by. We have had the amazing opportunity to see another part of the world, meet some wonderful people, and learn so, so much.

In the past year, we have:

• Explored six new countries:
• Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand,  Vietnam; Cambodia
• Travelled via:
• Car, Airplane, Boat, Inflatable Raft, Canoe, Bamboo Raft, Bus, Subway, Taxi, Monorail,   Elephant, Oxcart, Cambodian Tuk-Tuk (not to be confused with a...), Thailand Tuk-Tuk, Cable Car, Sky Ride, Tram, Speedboat, Becak; Zip-line

• Made new friends from countless places including (but not limited to):
• Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand,  Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Korea, China,  Australia, California, Arizona, Florida, Texas,  Sweden, Norway, Canada, Brazil, Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Hungary; Tawain
• Learned to play the Gamelan and the Angklung

• Dustin flew on his first airplane - and his second, and his third, and his fourth, and his fifth, and his sixth, and his (I've honestly lost count)...
  

• Hiked our first active volcano

• Hugged our first Tiger.

• Visited our first:
• Sultan's Palace, Safari, Ancient Temple, Floating Village, Hindu Temple; Monk Chat

In the past year, I have learned:

• Exactly where Indonesia is on the map.
• A little about 5 new religions: Islam, Balinese, Buddhism, Hinduism; Baha'i
• I can live without a dishwasher, but I really, REALLY miss my garbage disposal.
• A tuk-tuk is a fun way to explore a new country.

• How to distinctly identify the smell of a durian.
• I should have paid more attention to Metric Conversions in math class.
• Kids are able to play and become friends - even without speaking the same language.
• I'm not a big fan of traveling via oxcart.

• How quickly a family of four can get into the habit of taking their shoes off as soon as they get inside a building.
• Learning a new language is a lot of work.
• The inventor of Skype/FaceTime deserves a raise.

• "It's a Dry Heat" means absolutely nothing. I'll take this humidity over Arizona's dry heat any day!
• Cooking rice is a true art form (I'm talking real rice - not minute rice!)
• "Personal Space" means different things in different countries.
• Traditional Vietnamese music is...indescribable!

• Showing tolerance and understanding for different cultures will garner you the same respect in return.
• It's best to look for a blue taxi in Indonesia and a red taxi in Thailand.
• The ability to laugh at yourself is one of the greatest lessons you can learn.

• I've developed "itchy feet." I'm constantly planning what part of the world we will be exploring next (if you ever want to join us, let me know and I will give you a rundown of what's in the works!)
• Having a refrigerator roughly the same size as my four year old means daily trips to the grocery store.

• Things are not always black and white.  
• Grab it while you can...just because you see something here today, does not mean it will still be here tomorrow (nor will it be available anywhere for the next 6 months)
• Expect the unexpected - You never know when a giant Orangutan is going to fling a pile of poop at you.

• Patience is the key to living in any foreign country.
• Target is a WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL place!
• No matter how much I love Asian food, American food will always be my comfort food.

• Living in a hotel is not as glamorous (nor as horrible) as it sounds.
• Never go to the grocery store without at least two back-up plans for dinner. Typically, our dinner consists of one out of three planned meals depending on what ingredients are available at the store on that particular day.
• It's a small world - You're bound to run into someone you know in the oddest of places.
• My kids are much more resilient and open to adventure than I ever could have hoped.

• Someone calling everyday at 5:00PM to make sure we don't need housekeeping is strangely comforting (even though we have said no every time they have called for the past year).
• Just because it's 1.6 Kilometers away (1 mile), does not mean it will take you less than half an hour to get there.
• It's all about your attitude - After several months of hating the way we are constantly stared at, Emilie turned to me and said, "You know what Mom? They're always going to stare at us, so I've decided to stop being annoyed. I'm just going to smile at them and take it as a compliment."

• There are many differences between the cultures of the world - As well as many, many similarities
• Learning to say thank you in a country's native tongue goes a long way with the locals.
• The world is filled with truly wonderful, diverse people.

• I can't wait to see where the world takes us this year!

Singapore, Singapore, and more Singapore...

Due to our ever changing immigration status, we have been to Singapore a half dozen times or so. We usually stay for less then 24 hours (and typically it's just me and the kids), but we still try to make the most of being out of Jakarta and exploring a new city. Here are a few pictures from our last few trips to Singapore including the one trip we were able to make with Chris, Debi, and Andy.

Singapore!

Due to circumstances beyond our control, we needed to take a little trip out of the country.  As a result, we were given airline tickets to Singapore and decided to take advantage of the trip by making a long weekend out of it!  It was a very spontaneous trip.  We took Emilie out of school early and gave her about 30 minutes to pack a bag.  The hour and a half flight felt like nothing compared to the days it took us to get to Indonesia from Phoenix!  Before we knew it, we had another stamp in our passports and were ready to explore a new country.

As luck would have it, we were there during F1 Race weekend and because our trip was so last minute, we were a little limited in where we could stay.  We ended up in a very touristy part of Singapore called Sentosa Island.  It worked out well for our first trip to Singapore, but next time we will try to stay closer to downtown in order to try some different things.

We started off the trip by taking the cable car off Sentosa Island.  What a view we had!  Singapore is BEAUTIFUL!  It is lush; green; clean; everyone speaks English and it is VERY expensive!

 
  

From the cable car we headed to a part of Singapore called Clarke Quay and took a boat tour along the river.  We had a great time on the boat tour and it was a great way to see some of the cool Singapore attractions from afar.

 

 
 

From the boat tour, we headed to the rooftop view at the Marina Bay Sands.  The view was beautiful, but one of my favorite things to see was the bird's eye view of the new Gardens by the Bay.  This is one attraction I can't wait to visit next time.

After the breath taking view at Marina Bay Sands, we took the subway back to the cable car to complete the round trip back to Sentosa Island.  While on the cable car, a nice thunder storm started!  There is nothing quite like dangling by a cable, a couple hundred feet in the air, while being surrounded by rain, lightning, and thunder.

By the time we made it back to the hotel, the storm subsided and we got to hang-out at the pool!

As some of you know, when Chris was first approached with this new job opportunity, we were told we would be living in Singapore (Not Indonesia).  The night we told Emilie we were moving to (what we thought at the time would be) Singapore, we ate at Chili's before telling her the big news.  We thought it was only appropriate that we eat at Chili's when we came across one in Singapore!  After dinner, we enjoyed a little dessert by the bay while watching a and song and light show.

The next morning, we started off at the Aquarium. We really enjoyed the dolphin show and the underwater shark tunnel.  We even found some interesting creatures in the shark tunnel!

We took the tram from the aquarium to the Hard Rock Cafe Singapore for lunch!  Then we took the monorail back to the hotel for a little beach time and a nap.  Chris had to head back to Indonesia to work Saturday evening so the kids and I were on our own for the rest of the trip.  We took a trip up the Tiger Sky Tower and got to see another great view of Singapore at night!

Sunday morning we spent more time at the beach.  It was a little different from the California beaches we are use to (for one thing there are no waves - plus the sand is much more coarse and the water is warm), but we had a great time!

Next we headed to another Sentosa Island attraction - the Skyline luge.  This was a cross between an alpine slide and go-karts.  Dustin and I raced Emilie down the track and FINALLY beat her on the last of our four races!

We were disappointed that our trip to Singapore had to come to an end, but Emilie was more then happy to grab some dinner at the airport on the way home.  Her biggest decision of the trip came when she had to decide between Quiznos and Subway...Two places that we do not have in Indonesia.

We really enjoyed exploring Singapore.  By the time we got home we had managed to take a car, bus, airplane, taxi, cable car, boat, subway, tram, and monorail all in the course of 4 days!  Dustin was thrilled with all of the different modes of transportation!  We can't wait for our next trip.  There is still so much to explore!!