Christmas Day

Our Christmas Tree

We had a wonderful Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had fondue and lots of white wine. We opened presents from family that we would usually spend Christmas Eve with, the Fosters and Ritualos. The boys had a great time. Later in the evening, we set cookies out for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. In the morning, they were gone and stockings were filled and Santa left presents for Aidan and Leo. They must have been very, very good. On Christmas morning the boys woke up around 7:30am--a respectable hour--and ran downstairs to see if Santa had come. He did!!! Leo got a RC Jumbo Jet and Aidan got a Nintendo DS. After Aidan opened his DS game Oma asked, "Did you ask Santa for any games?" Aidan's face went long and serious and he sadly said, "no." No matter because his family came through for him and Grandpa Russ and Grandma Joan and Pa and Crow got him some new games so he was set.

Aidan and Jason playing the DS

Leo was very excited opening presents. Every time he opened a toy he had to take time to open it and play with it. The first toy he opened was Mater the Greater from Grandpa Russ and Grandma Joan--which required lots of assembly--but he loves playing with it. Uncle Marc kept teasing the boys that they were going to get underwear and socks. When Aidan finally opened the underwear that crow got him he couldn't believe it and he yelled "Uncle Marc, look I got underwear!" When Leo opened his underwear (Thomas the Train) he threw them down and said he hated underwear! Little do they know that getting underwear from Pa and Crow is a tradition!

Aunt Cindy looking a her new cookbook and Bramwell sniffing around for something exciting.

After we opened presents from the Holmas we took a bit of a break to have Cinnamon Rolls and pumpkin bread. We make Cinnamon Rolls because Grandma Joan always made Cinnamon Rolls for us in the morning. Oma loved the house sign mom found at the Puyallup fair that says, "Oma and Opa's house"-they couldn't believe you found it and look forward to putting it up on their house. I got a new camera which was exciting and these pictures are from my new camera. I still have a lot to learn about using it. On a side note, the users manual comes on a CD and not in paper which means I am much less likely to learn how to use it! The camera was one of the last presents I opened which is why I have so few pictures of opening presents! I also got an Edward and Bella "New Moon" fuzzy blanket. Good one mom! Aidan hates it!

Christmas Dinner at the grown up table: Jandan (our neighbor), A. Cindy, U. Marc, Oma, Jason and Opa

We had a wonderful dinner of spiral honey ham, Aunt Pam's yummy potatoes, Unyun's Green Bean surprise and salad. We had good music, good food, and good company. We had a lovely Christmas. I missed so much the rest of our family. The boys really, really loved opening your presents and I wish you ALL could be here to watch them open them and see the excitement. We are so lucky to have such a large and loving family. Thank you so much!! We are forever grateful for your love and kindness.

Christmas dinner at the kids tables!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone has a wonderful, happy Christmas. Enjoy the next two days. Drink and be Merry!

We have had a great couple of days. Oma and Opa were here over the weekend and they left on Monday to head back to Richmond after the big snow storm. We have been making cookies for Santa and will frost them tonight. We finished all of our shopping and shopped for all of the food for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We will have fondue tonight and Ham and Aunt Pam Cooney's famous potatoes.

The other night Leo and Aidan were going to bed in Aidan's bed and Aidan fell asleep immediately. Leo was tossing and turning because he took a late nap. He was being very good and trying very hard to sleep. Finally, I asked him if we wanted to lay by me and he said "yes". I was sitting at the edge of Aidan's bed reading my book (Eclipse, the third in the Twilight series). Leo looks up at my thoughtfully and said, "Is Santa going to land on our roof?" I said, "yes, he is going to land his sleigh on our roof." He then asked me, "do we need to make a present for Santa?" I said, "we don't make him a present but we will make him cookies and leave carrots for his reindeer." He then thoughtfully asked me if we would leave the cookies and carrots outside. I told him we would leave them by the fireplace because Santa would come down the chimney. Leo said, "okay" and fell asleep.

Last night we talked with Pa and Crow they said that we could open a present this Christmas Eve morning. Leo told Pa and Crow "no, not until Santa comes!" He was very adamant about not opening any presents until Santa came. We all convinced him that we should open one of Pa and Crow's presents. He finally agreed and said, "that sounds fine to me." This morning we each opened a present. I got a really cute Georgetown sweatshirt, Jason got two bath towels (ha!), Leo got a batman car, and Aidan got a star wars lego set. Leo ran around saying, "I love it, I love it, I love it!" He said he was going "play with it all day!"

I had to work half a day today so I left home at around 7:45am and the boys came down to work at lunch and we had lunch together with Sarah, Kevin and Liam (great friends from work). Liam is about 6 months and completely and utterly adorable with his soft, smooth skin and beautiful big blue eyes and fuzzy hair. After work we went to the botanical gardens to see the train display. They always have an amazing train display and beautiful poinsettias.

Barb, Dennis, Marc, Cindy and Bramwell are all heading up to our house now. Aidan and Jason are putting together Aidan bazillion piece lego star wars ship and Leo just woke up from a nap and is playing with his batman car.

On our way home from work we were reminiscing about Christmas Eve days. It is interesting that when I think back to Christmas Eve days I remember memories from long ago and not recent memories. I think of working at Foster Office Equipment and the employee party we used to have with Mom's chili, Auntie Mickey's deviled eggs and family and friends stopping by to say Merry Christmas. We would get off work early and get ready to go to Auntie Pam's house were we would eat good food and laugh until our stomachs hurt. After that we would walk across the street to Dad and Joan's and celebrate the way only the Ritualo family knows how to celebrate...lots of good food, desserts really since we came so late (Uncle Fred!), good drinks, lots of presents, and lots of laughs. I wonder what memories Aidan and Leo will have when they are 36 like me.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas filled with lots of fun and laughs.

We are sad that we are not with you. Miss you all!

Snow Update

Well it looks like we now have about 20 inches!

Snow, Snow, and More and More and More Snow

Yahowza! It is snowing so much! The snow started at about 9pm last night and has not really let up. It is supposed to continue through tomorrow morning. Right now (on Saturday, at 2:05pm) we have about 15 inches. They say we should get 14-20 inches! They have been talking about this snow storm for the last couple of days. They said, "it's a record breaker!" By "they" I mean the weather people on the news. Now, I love, love, love the snow. It is so beautiful, lights up the sky, and there is nothing more fun than playing in the snow.

Aidan laying in the snow. The boys liked laying in the snow. They also liked to purposefully fall down in the snow.

Last night was our 10th Anniversary. Yes. I said, "10th Anniversary!" (I am getting to the snow story). Oma and Opa are here so Jason and I went out to dinner. We went to the Blue Duck Tavern in the Park Hyatt Hotel. It was a delicious meal and wonderful dining experience. Jason had the braised beef short rib and I had the crab cakes. For dessert, we both had ice cream. Jason had vanilla with homemade caramel sauce and I had the mascarpone fig ice cream. It was superb! Thanks to Cha for the recommendation! Oh and no big deal but the restaurant is also where the Obama's celebrated their anniversary. Back to the snow...in one second. I have the best husband in whole entire world. I couldn't be more happy with our marriage. I feel so lucky that Jason picked me to spend the rest of his life with. Okay SNOW...after dinner around 9pm it started to snow and we decided to go the shopping mall to pick a few last minute things without the boys. We stayed for about an hour and when we left, already the ground and the main roads where covered in snow. The big red car did not do so well in the snow. The tires were spinning and spinning up the hill and we were barely moving. I was a little worried that we would not make it home. But we did, thank you big red car.



Jason is doing the hand measurement on the back of the car.

Today the boys went out in the snow. They must have stayed out there for 1.5 hours. In some places the snow was up to Leo's knees. They threw snowballs at Jason and went sledding. Jason went down with Leo and I went down we Aidan. We laughed the whole way down. The sledding hill was about a 20 degree decline and then had about 75 degree decline between two trees ending in front of the tennis court fence. After the first run Leo declared that he wanted to go by himself. I said, "no" because it's too steep and he could run into a tree or the fence but he kept begging to go so I finally gave in. He and Aidan did it all by themselves! It was hilarious. They can be fearless sometimes.

Snow on the back porch at about 2pm.

Oma and Opa were planning to go back down to Richmond tomorrow. I don't think they will make it. Let's see what Monday looks like!

Yeah...SNOW!!!

Spelling Tests

Aidan's first grade class started weekly spelling tests. The tests are on Friday! He had his first one on December 11. He practiced all week long. His teacher sends a weekly packet which include daily assignments to practices like alphabetizing the words and practice tests (on Thursdays).

He got a 100 on his first test! He did so good and they were a little tricky like including "their" and "there" - on his first test! We are so proud of him. It has been a learning process for his parents as well. We learned that Aidan is a bit of a perfectionist. When he practices and he misspells a word he gets very frustrated and says, "I just want to get it right!" Gosh, where in the world does he get that from? It's a mystery.

It's also been a new challenge in parenting because we want to encourage him and tell him to study hard and do great but then we don't want him to feel too disappointed if he does end up getting one (or (gasp!) two) wrong. On his second spelling test this week he also said he got all of them right. He has done really, really great and we are super proud of him!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

It is snowing here! It snowed pretty much all day. It was a very wet snow but it started to stick to the ground and the roads after about an hour or two. At about 4pm DC time it stopped snowing and now it is very wet and slightly rainy. Even still the boys played in the snow and had a snow ball fight and after, some hot chocolate.

We also as you can see from Leo's picture below painted the bathroom. Leo rubbed up against the wet paint and got paint in his hair and on his sleeve. The boys are great painters and good workers. Jason had to work today--in this crazy weather.

Also Leo wanted to take a picture of the blue toilet water. Who doesn't want a picture of blue toilet water really? It is rather artistic! Enjoy!

Pink Glove Dance

I thought this video was great. It is for Breast Cancer Awareness and was put together by Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, Oregon.

Thanks Joan for sharing!

Busy Week

We have had a busy week and a half with Crow here. The boys have been having a great time with Crow or as Leo calls her "Tow". Crow has been teaching Aidan how to play Lego Indiana Jones or wait, maybe Aidan has been teaching Crow. They have been playing Candy Land, cards, dominoes, Legos, ball, reading books and they worked outside raking leaves. Most importantly, we had a super great Thanksgiving dinner. I forgot how much I love a really good turkey dinner.

On Friday, we went to the Aquarium which was great fun! When we first moved to the DC area, Jason and I were never really impressed with the B'more aquarium. We thought it was way overpriced and overrated. But we have changed our mind. They have added a number of new exhibits including a jellyfish exhibit, Dolphin show and Australian exhibit and it is fun and impressive. Crow even liked it.

Crow has done some serious Christmas shopping which has been great for me as well because I have gotten a lot of my Christmas done as well! I still need to make a list but I don't think I have much left to buy. How great is that?!

Today we ate a delicious lunch at Mario's (don't be jealous Pa and Sarah!). Crow and I split a "Lefty's special" and the boys had pizza. For dinner, Crow made us chili which we now have frozen for dinners later in the year. And today we put up a lot of Christmas decorations. We put up just about everything but the Christmas tree. It was great! Crow, Leo and I put the decorations up outside and Leo had a great time. He is really getting in the Christmas spirit and excited. Leo made us go to the other side of the street and admire our handy work!

Tonight we are going to play Wii. I'm going to show Crow how tight rope walking is really done!

Tomorrow is a very sad day in the Holma Family household. Crow is leaving tomorrow in the evening. We will all be so sad but will be awaiting her return in April (& Grandma Jackie!)

Happy Thanksgiving

What were thankful for:
Amy: I am thankful for the good health of my family and friends
Jason: I am thankful for two great kids
Crow: I am thankful for being here with the Amy, Jason, Aidan and Leo
Aidan: I am thankful for me and Wii
Leo: I am thankful for thanksgiving so we can put up our Christmas tree and the plane game

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bugs and Bats

So I am ready to go back to Jakarta to the comforts of the Grand Hyatt. I am constantly tired, dirty, sweaty, sun burned, puzzled by the toilet situation, sick of bugs and thirsty. Yesterday was the day to end all of days we were constantly on the go talking to people here and there through an interpreter. It was exhausting. We ended our day with dinner at a restaurant on the sea which would ordinarily be beautiful and a lovely experience but instead the restaurant was covered in stink bugs.

They were miniature versions of the stink bugs we have in DC but there were thousands of them. They were landing on our clothes, in our hair, smacking in our face, and landing in our food and on our table. It just got exhausting. At that point I was done with Aceh and ready to leave. As wonderful as the lime and pineapple juice was, and the fresh shrimp and fish and of course the company, the dinner was not pleasant because of the contant bug attack. They are harmless bugs but incredibly annoying. I don't do bugs well.

Alternatively, yesterday I had a fruit called rambutan (check it out Aidan and Leo it has a fun outter cover) which was delicious though the shells were a bit covered with ants which was annoying. Also I had my first fresh coconut, cut directly from a tree and opened with a machete. It was good, surprisingly tart, and it seemed like it had a bubble like a weak seltzer. I also had this delicious and amazing honey bread which melted in my mouth.

Also Aidan and Leo I saw a Fruit Bat today, actually I saw lots of them flying in the sky. They are huge and look to be the size of a crow. I took a picture but in the picture they look only like a speck. There must have been 10 of them flying around. I couldn't believe I saw it. Remember Aidan when we were looking in your bat book and we saw the fruit bat and I made you quickly turn the page because it was so ugly and big? That was it!!!

Today we have more meetings, visit one more school, and then we head to the airport to go back to jakarta.

I had some pictures but I am down in the breakfast area and they are up in my room. I will share them with you soon. It's too hot already at 7am to want to go back up to my room.

Aidan and Leo: your last surprise before I get home is somewhere in the house. I will give you one hint: it is upstairs in mommy and daddy's room. You can search all over our room to find it! I hope you love it and I can't wait to see you in a few days.

I'm missing you so much. Love you all day! Love you to the fartherest star in the sky and back.

Mommy

Banda Ache

A view from the top of a barge that landed about 2 miles aways from the water.

A beautiful Mosque in the center of the city.

I don't have a lot of time because my computer is running out of power but just wanted to let everyone know that I am now in Banda Aceh. We made it safely yesterday (it's a 2.5 hour flight from Jakarta), went to our hotel, went shopping a bit, and then had meetings all afternoon. After work some one from the Save the Children Office took us around to see some of the wreckage and impact from the Tsunami that occured the day after Christmas in 2004. There are no words to decribe what we see here today. It is unbelievable the impact the Tsunami had here (it was the closest place to the epicenter) and yet people from here speak about how amazed they were with all of the help that came to this area after the Tsunami. It's hard to imagine the toll that it has taken on people mentally. The person taking us around said that it was still hard to see it all.

The area is beautiful. There are big mountains, some 10,000-12,000 feet, right on the water, and with lots of palm trees. It is not covered in cheap tourist stores like Bali and it is has a busy, vibrant downtown.

A veiw of homes that were destroyed by the Tsunami that were never

claimed or never rebuilt.

A large ship that landed on tops of homes. The Mayor bought this land and is turning it into a memorial or museum.

The other half of the ship on top of a home.

We leave here tomorrow to return to Jakarta. It feels like we have been here for months rather than a week and a half. I am definately ready to go home.

Love you all!

Bali and Happy Halloween

Sunset view from the hotel bar "sunset bar" at about 6pm


View of the beach from the hotel (10am)

View from my balcony

We went to the airport on Friday for our flight to Bali leaving at 6:15pm. The flight was delayed by about two hours which totally stunk because Bali is also 1 hour ahead of Jakarta time and 12 hours ahead of DC time. So, I didn't end up getting to the hotel until after 11pm. We had some issues with the taxi but in the end didn't fight the $7 extra cab far. It was too late to bargain or fight. Friday was an exhausting day. We spent all day at two centers that work with children (street children and children at high risk of working in exploitive labor). We meet the center staff, parents and students. It was inspiring, fun, interesting, totally hot and utterly exhausting. You can imagine how annoyed, tired, and dirty I was when I arrived.

Children in a center for street children singing and playing guitar

However, once the taxi (finally) dropped me off I was in completely beautiful surroundings. My hotel is fabulous. When I got to the front desk they offered me a refreshing lime drink, the offered me a lower price than I had expected, and they upgrade me to a better room. Now I have the room one down from the presidential suite. Not bad! Plus they gave me free laundry service for 5 pieces which I was totally excited about (sad but true).

Breakfast area

My room is great. I have two bathrooms, a nice king bed, a living room and a dining area. I have an enormous balcony and wish my family were here so we could stay in Bali forever. I showered and slept well and got up on Saturday morning at about 8am. I went to breakfast and had an amazing breakfast with the best Mango, loads of other fruit and guava juice. Some of the fruit I had never scene before and it was quiet fun! After breakfast, I went to the beach and sat on the beach for a few hours and swam in the Indian Ocean. I never thought I would swim in the Indian Ocean. After hanging out on the beach I went to the hotel pool and stayed for a couple more hours, had some lunch and a dip in the pool. The sun is so hot here. I got burned. I have to stay out of the sun tomorrow. After the pool I went to the spa and had coconut scub, flower bath, and balinese massage. It was so fantastic. I went to my room and just vegged out on my bed so relaxed and calm.

Swimming pool

Another sunset view

Not wanting to miss the sunset I forced myself out of bed (at 5pm) and went to the sunset bar. I had a Bintang Beer and watched the sunset. It was quiet romantic, missing Jason and the boys but absolutely beautiful. When I asked for a table the waiter said, "Are you alone?" like what's wrong with you. I proudly said "yes" and we talked for a bit. I finished my beer and now I am sitting in the hotel's cafe that has free wireless and watching soccer on ESPN. I am debating going shopping this evening but to be perfectly honest I think I am just going to go back to my room, lay in bed, and read. I am reading the last book in the twilight series. hoo-hah!

Tomorrow, I have another appointment for the spa (you really can't beat it), then I think I will hang at the pool a bit and then shower, check out of my room at 2pm and then maybe do a little shopping. The spas are great here. They are not cheap at the nice hotels like mine but quite a bit cheaper than at home. You can go to some smaller places and get a massage for like 5 bucks but that's not very convenient and I don't know how much I trust the cleanliness with those places. I'm sure it's great but whatever.

Sadly, our flight leaves at 8pm to go back to Jakarta. After that we head three days to Aceh in the northern part of the island. I may not have internet connect there but let's see.

Happy Halloween Aidan and Leo. I hope you have a good time trick or treating. Save some candy for me and the good candy! Not just the kind you don't like. I can't wait to see snake eyes and buzz lightyear holma!

Miss you and love you lots. On Monday, Grandma Joan and Grandpa Russ come to visit you. They will be so excited to see you! I hope you have lots fun. See if Grandpa Russ can help you learn how to ride your bike, Aidan without the training wheels! Leo be sure to show Grandma Joan your collection of bats.

Love,

Momma

Thursday: Meetings Inspiring

Can you guess where I am? Keep reading...

Today we had more meetings. This email will be quick because I have to pack for Bali. We are leaving straight from our site visits tomorrow. There is a slight change in plans for Bali. I was planning on travelling with someone but as it turns out we have different expectations for our trip. She is looking for cheap $12/night villa and I am looking for Spa and Luxury (D and Becs keep it to yourself). We are flying together but then splitting up. C'est la Vie.

Today we had meetings to disucss our project. These are three girls who were rescued by our projects from trafficking. They have amazing stories and happily they are going to middle school now. They are all beautiful. The picture below is of a young man who was working as a child in the footware industry in the early 2000's. He was working in dark, dusy and hazardous conditions and he is now at the University. He is also an artist and a writer. He was doodling a beautiful drawing on a piece of paper and I asked him if I could keep it and he said "yes". It was significant to me because he was doodling the name of my office. They are all really special kids.

Our meetings were being held at another government office and they had the same kind of toilet I wrote about earlier. This time I took a picture. I had to use the bathroom so I tried it out. I am just no good at this. It was disgusting and a mess and I won't say anymore about that! You squat down and pee in that hole and then use the water in the bucket to flush it down. The whole floor is wet and messy. Uck!

After our meetings ended at about 5pm today we went back to the office with the driver. We decided to go out to dinner with a colleague and on our way he stopped off at Obama's elementary school. It was great. There is a plaque right outside the building, you can see it on the left. The school is beautiful and really well kept for the visitors/tourists I'm sure. In one of the classrooms I peaked in they had a huge movie sized poster of Obama right in the middle of the class. It was really fun.

Bec's this is for Jake. He will be happy to know that Chili's is in Jakarta. Isn't that crazy. They are also really BIG on dunkin donuts. The shops are EVERY WHERE. I think they have more dunkin donuts than Boston. They also have oddly KFC and Tony Roma's. Wierd right?

Surprise: Aidan and Leo

Hi Aidan and Leo. I have hidden a surprise for you in the house. You have to follow these directions to find your surprise: Good Luck, and Have Fun.

Start: Stand in the middle of the kitchen with your pinky finger on the freezer door handle.
1) Walk to the living room and look under the couch. Not there?
2) Walk down stairs to the basement
3) Go into the bedroom in the basement
4) Stand in front of the mirrors
5) Turn around 3 times
6) Run upstairs to mommy and daddy's room
7) Look in Daddy's dresser to find your surprise

I hope you love it.

I love and miss you so much!

Wednesday: Down Pour

This morning I got up at 6am and went to the gym. They have an awesome gym with individual TVs for every machine. I did the eliptical machine for 30 minutes and then went to the whirpool which is only luke warm and then into the steam room which was hot, hot, hot!

We had a breakfast meeting this morning at 9am and then we left for a meeting in Bandung at noon. We thought it would take no more than two hours but the traffick here sucks so we got there an hour later which was fine. We had no role in the meeting and just went to hear what other were doing on trafficking. Bandung is a bit up in the mountains and we had a down pour. We were drive in the back roads trying to find the hotel that was hosting the meeting and water was gushing down the road like an active river. Imagine a DC rain storm with 3 more feet of water. I thought our car was totally going to get stuck. We were in a small SUV so the water came up to my car door. A little car had water half way up the door and some people were riding on motorcycles soaked and stuck! It was crazy. I was a little nervous we would get stuck and I would have to get out in the gushing river but we didn't and once we got to the hotel the rain stopped. On our way from Jakarta to Bandung we saw a lot of tea plantations and rubber trees. It was interesting.

The meeting was fine. We had dinner at the hotel of the meeting with some colleagues and drove home at 8pm. We arrived back at the hotel at 10:30pm. It was a long day so I am off to take my nyquil read some breaking down and catch some zzzz's..... We bought our tickets to Bali today and now we just have to figure out where we want to stay.

Love you all.

Tuesday: More Meetings

This morning I went down to breakfast at 7:00am. After taking some Nyquil I slept great and woke about at about 6:00am. I promised I would take a picture of these beautiful juices. They thought I was crazy but it is such a beautiful rainbow of colors. I had my usual american breakfast of coffee, juice, eggs, toast but today I tried a few indonesia dishes. One was noodles with eggs, carrots and cabbage. The other was fried rice. It is so weird (to me) to eat these foods at breakfast. I'm hoping at some time I become a little more adventurous and have the Udon noodle soup for breakfast!

Orange, watermelon, honey dew, pineapple and cucumber juices.

View from the ILO offices on the 22nd floor.

We left at 8:00am for our meeting at 9am. We didn't want to be late and figured it would take 30 minutes to get there at the most. We were going to the same place as yesterday but we didn't really pay attention yesterday to where we went because we travelled with a person we work with who lives in Indonesia. We had an address from an invitation we received and we did not realize it had changed. So we went to the wrong building. When we got inside they didn't speak English so they found someone in the Ministry that did. She told us they have another building and we needed to take a taxi there (our taxi driver left already). So she took us to the street hailed a taxi and she gave hime directions. She was so NICE and KIND! Finally we arrived to the right building 45 minutes later and 25 minutes late! But as it turned out everyone was slow today and the meeting had not even started. I was to present first so it was a bit of a stress but the presentation went fine. My presentation had to be translated into Bahasa Indonesia (which is the local language) and that was interesting. The meeting went fairly well and after my presentation I didn't feel like I wanted to hide under a rock and never come out.

We had about 8 minutes to eat lunch before we raced off to another meeting. This time we (directionally challenged) got to take the ILO car to the ILO offices so we didn't get lost. Again, the presentation went fairly well (no hiding) and the meeting was really worth while and interesting. I was sure if yesterday's meeting was worth us attending but today I thought was interesting and great.

View of housing area out of ILO 22nd floor offices.

After we left the ILO we walked down the street lined with trees (vertical line of trees) to our hotel. It was an interesting walk through a neighborhood. There was lots of little food stands. I'm extremely skeptical about the food in these stands so I have never had anything. There was also lots of garbage every where, dirt and dust. Some of the homes on these streets were actually pretty beautiful thought with stained glass windows. While we were walking there was a call to prayer and people were walking, bicycling, and motorbiking to the mosque.

When we got back to the hotel, I went for a dip in the pool sorry for the night time picture. There were bats flying low to the water which kind of creeped me out so I didn't stay in the water too long. After that I went to the hot pool and then the sauna. I showered in the gym and came back up to my room and decided to stay in. I feel exhausted. So I order room service and am going to read, relax and watch Thomas Crowne Affair in bed. Tomorrow we have a breakfast meeting and then we have rented a car to travel to Bandung for a meeting.

You may not get a post from me tomorrow but let's see.

Love you!

A night time view of the pool.