Another long time

Once again time has escaped me and I have been ignoring my duty to keep you all informed of our life over here. Several wonderful developments have happened recently.

We have officially passed our half-way point of being here. At this time next year we will be preparing for our triumphant return home. Then we will have to spend a tremendous amount of money to buy all the things that we sold off before leaving. Entire wardrobes will need to be purchased as both Marni and I are about svelte and buff and the kids are about eight inches taller then when we left.

Caden cut his head for about 20 stitches some time ago. He fell in the playground and cut himself so deep that the doctor said he was close to reaching skull. This being the second set of stitches received by a Kindy made one think that possibly there was some areas in the playground that weren't safe. Caden has been much happier, though as now that several new students have arrived in his class that have so many problems he has gone from being 'Public Enemy #1' to 'Normal four-year old boy'. He has been surrounded by 'The Screamer', 'The Prince', two Arab 'Escape Artists' and 'The Shitter'. From the sounds of it, he was normal all along.

The rainy season has been just that. There are some interesting little diseases that creep up in a school as the little bugs get to incubate. We have a couple of cases of 'Hand, foot and mouth', 'Dengue', 'Typhoid', 'Lice' and any range of flu coughs. I have recently learned that Indonesians don't get 'colds'. They get 'fevers'. Why would they get a cold?

Caden had a play date, today. I was surprised to see the little boy's Nanny in Caden's room as I got out of bed wearing my t-shirt and underwear. I am certain she was surprised, too. Apparently, the little boy goes nowhere without his nanny. It was strange to have her hang around and play with the boys. It was also strange to see the boy wait at the bottom of the stairs so she could pick him up because he 'couldn't or wouldn't do it himself. But, I guess he is only four. What do I expect? Realize, this is a boy from Caden's school who Marni and I see everyday. It is not like we are strangers.

Some interesting developments with labour laws in Indonesia. Apparently, the rules are changing regarding how many Indonesians should be employed by a school. What tends to happen- and it is fair- is that for every expat employed, they want to have an Indonesian 'shadow' to learn the ropes. Our school does an excellent job doing that however, some of the larger schools do not employ a lot of Indos. Unfortunately, the Principal of the school needs to hold a Master's degree. Fine, except for the fact that our Principal holds every other credential equivalent to a Master's- except for a Master's. What I have suggested is that Marni or I get to be the Principal and Chris gets to be a 'Consultant'. Maybe we can pad our resume a bit more. We will see how that all plays out. Regulations get changed like underwear around here.