Pack up for quarantine!

 And so it goes. Before we know it, our visits end. We're on the move back to Indonesia before we know it.

Monday, January 25, 2021

It's goodbye week. We go from meeting to meeting today - we start with a covid saliva test (the results come back too soon so we'll have to redo it). We meet college friends for lunch.

We drive an hour north for a walk along the river with dear Jessa and Lucian.

Friends Terry and Debbie come over for supper. Melissa cooks our traditional family feast - spätzle and chicken cutlets or schnitzel. Oh, she's amazing. (If your daughter-in-law is less wonderful, our condolences. We're so blessed by her!)

Tuesday

We have a second covid test, more meetings, and almost finish packing. We've been tossing things into suitcases for the past week. We weigh, redistribute, and reweigh, more than once.

I'm bringing back art and craft supplies besides teaching materials and personal items. There are heavy things like books, markers, fabric, and new shoes for walking. Why shoes? I've walked the soles off many pairs of shoes in the last 6 years; Indonesian roads are rough and the quality we can get here doesn't hold up to the miles we put on our shoes. 

There are light things like skeins of wool, pens, and Trader Joes popcorn. Yes, I brought a bag of sweet and salty popcorn for the day when I miss Seattle.

This past week, Melissa has cooked up a perfect storm of steak, German food, and other family specialties . We've probably gained weight, even with daily walks. I've tried for 3 miles a day because we're going into a C-19 quarantine - lockdown in a hotel room - for 5 days after we arrive in Jakarta.

Our son Jonathan drops by in the evening. It's SO good to see him. We've enjoyed time with Timo, Melissa, and the grandchildren. We call the others - Kirsten, Jeremy and Rebekah. Distancing and stay-in-place is hard on connections! We miss the hugs.

Wednesday

We wrap up our time in Seattle by repacking once or five times more! It's a day with family, including a morning tea party. We give the  kids a few more gifts. One is a wooden balancing puzzle. Le is the star - he has creative ways to keep his pieces on top of each other.

The kids work hard to try not to topple their stacks. Isa is focused.

Miss K stacks hers easily and poses in her Indonesian batik wrap-skirt.

On our final walk, I peek into the local Little Free Library and pick up a stack of board books for little Mac to read. They can return them when she's done.

And of course there's laundry to do. After the bedding is washed and dried, it's tucked back under the sofa bed until our next visit.

Timo drops us to an airport hotel in late afternoon; snow was predicted and our flight is early - no sense in taking chances. We wave goodbye to the family from their porch - and we're on our way home. We call our other children to say goodbye.

Thursday 

We get to the airport early with a 5am shuttle from the hotel. It takes a half-hour to check our paperwork at the counter. Indonesia is being very strict on documentation for covid testing and visas. Air Canada staff is polite and helpful.

We leave Seattle about 9am, landing for an hour or two in Vancouver before flying along the mountains of the eastern Pacific coastline. The flight map is so interesting - we hug the coast of Alaska, cross over Tokyo and near Taiwan, and land in Hong Kong. On a flat-earth map, we're going the long way but in real geography, it's a straight line over the top of the sphere.

The long flight - almost 15 hours - has 30 passengers. We each take a row of 3 seats and stretch out. I sleep 4 or 5 hours! (That's a wonder, prob because people are praying for us.) Between naps, I read and watch the Mr Rogers movie, Beautiful Neighborhood. It touches me and elicits heartfelt thanksgiving for my wonderful father, who loved and affirmed us. I feel so privileged as his daughter. I lay across the seats, my mask hiding the tears streaming down my cheeks as I thank God for godly, loving parents.

In Hong Kong, two Chinese officials meet us at the gate with a sign: To Jakarta. That would be us ... and 3 more disembarking passengers. They take us on a rapid walk through hallways, one stop by train, and then send us through immigration and security. We make it to the new gate for a final check of documents and boarding. Whew - we would never have found our way alone in the short layover!

We're only about 80 people on the flight to Jakarta, meaning we get another row to ourselves. Hurrah - good for passengers, awful for airlines. This is unsustainable, but not having air travel seems unthinkable. We arrive in Indonesia before midnight (9am Pacific - have been underway about 24 hours from the first flight).

We sit in long rows for 45 minutes after filling out our health report. Chairs are a meter apart, one behind the other. Hmmm. Officials take us to the immigration line, where we're met by a helper who assists us through immigration and customs.

A taxi whisks us to the Millennium hotel to begin 5 days of quarantine. The hotel doesn't have adjoining rooms available, but we've told them we each need a desk. (It won't hurt to have our own bathrooms either.)

I take pictures in the foyer, since we can't see this until next week. The wood carvings are spectacular.

The hotel puts us in neighboring rooms. They promise to arrange rooms with a connecting door tomorrow. I read until 2am and fall fast asleep in the clean comfy bed. My book is a new one on the Compline, the night prayers of the Church. It's beautifully written.

Saturday

W wakes early but I sleep until after 8. Daily, 3 meals are left outside the door on a chair; we're not allowed to order food in. I write a thank you note and pop it into the little bag from the cutlery, fastening it with the lid covering the ruins of each meal. The note is harder than it sounds - the first one is on a teabag; I have brought no paper. When I find a pad of paper beside the phone and use Google Translate, it gets easier.

I immediately stub my toe on the 2" marble lip at the bathroom door. Ah, welcome to Indonesia, where it's a wet-bath (drain in the floor, easy to spray and clean). I'm reminded that you have to watch your feet. My toe starts out light blue and intensifies the first two days. I limp around until the bruise fades again.

Our view is over the diverse capital city of Indonesia. Neighborhoods with their own loudspeaker towers and mosques are tucked between hotels and high-rises. It rains most of the day but we don't care, dry and up high behind our windows.

I watch a botanical painting webinar. Such skill. I have neither paints nor paper along to participate.

The food is surprisingly good. We start with an Indonesian breakfast. Ah yes, I forgot that everything local is fried: the egg, the chicken, the nasi goreng sausis (fried rice).

Partway through the first day, they start bringing us Western food. It's enak (tasty) but not as good as the Indonesian meals.

Potatoes, chicken, vegetables. Even a salad!

Sunday

We're in the right time zone at 9am for BICOnline, after 5 weeks of joining @15 hrs different (Saturday 6pm in Seattle). Jennifer, a therapist and minister, is our morning speaker. She talks about the first family: Cain, Abel, and the challenges of sibling jealousy. She leads the Pastor Chat afterward, too. Well done and so valuable for families who are struggling with relationships in isolation.

In-between, I get to say hi to our grandkids, who attend BIC Sunday School online (though it's Saturday for them). They've recited the kidverse with our BIC kids, which is really fun to see. Makes it feel like we're not quite so far away from them.

A server rings the bell at lunch. He waits until I answer, smiles, and hands over the meal, thanking me for the notes they've been enjoying. He recommends that I try their Indonesian food instead of Western. 

"I'd love that," I assure him. "But please no fish." Ever.

After lunch, a bellboy moves us from separate to connecting rooms, just down the hall. It's a bit weird to have someone nearby, after a day of social distancing. W keeps popping around from his own desk, offering to help me with this and that. There's no fixing the furry TV picture though.

In the afternoon, I take a hot bath and dive into bed for a nap, which lasts 3 hours. Hopefully we'll get over jet lag by the time we head home.

I'm learning to juggle, persisting until I have 10 rotations (yesterday) and 15 today. Wait a minute - am I even doing things the right way? I check online. Nope - I start over with the correct throws and catches. It's harder the "right" way. There are a lot of 'plop's as balls hit the floor. Focus, Rosemee.

W orders chips and snacks and more water. The snacks are confiscated in the lobby for pickup when we leave. There's no outside food allowed, though they do let the water through: I consume 2-3 liters of tea most days and there are 6 small bottles of water in the room. W's also ordered paper - foolscap, 10 lined sheets @40c. Great! I've missed writing.

He calls down to the front desk at 6:30pm. Will we have the first covid tests today? (Apparently that was overlooked yesterday.) And is there supper? 2 Western suppers come up - we put them into the rooms and follow a staffer down to the testing area.

We get two swabs, one in the mouth and one in the nose. I hear W flinching as the swab goes up his nose, but stop him as he's ready to describe what happened. I don't want to know. Thankfully, mine doesn't hurt at all. The gals are friendly - they ask if we can take a picture together. Sure! We're back in the land of photos.

While we're being tested, someone leaves a delicious chicken saté with peanut sauce on our hall chair. That deserves an effusive thank-you note, for sure. I put the extra Western meal in the little fridge, in case they serve fish another time.

The days are flying by. I thought this was supposed to be boring and the days endless. Without the ability to go anywhere, I'm learning a lot: watching the local news and looking up Indonesian words, reading, juggling (well, tossing balls around the room and trying to catch them), and writing. The clock spins quickly. A long nap helps pass the hours! I stifle a yawn and consider going to sleep. It's after 10pm.

Read more:

*The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. Psalm 111:10

*They made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart. 1 Chronicles 29:9 NASB

*God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

Moravian Prayer; Dearly Beloved, we ask that you bless the gifts that we give to you this day, for when we give to you, we are honoring the many gifts you give to us. Our hearts are full and grateful. Amen.