The Week That Was

As I sit here and write this entry I feel like its been longer then a week since my last blog.

On Saturday night I went to the 28th Annual British Woman's Associations (BWA) Spectacular Fashion Show Ball. What a great night. The fashion show was more like a professional event , the people who took part where amazing and all volunteers, they had been rehearsing since November last year and the outcome to this event was just AMAZING. They should be proud of putting on such a great show. The idea of the night was to raise money for the different causes the BWA support. My friend Thalia was in the show and with the cartwheels and dancing I am sure she has missed her calling in life as a performer. The night took place at the Shangri-La Hotel here in Jakarta. I forgot how many staff a 5 star hotel employs as everywhere you looked there where waiters and waitresses delivery the amazing tasting food to the tables and I don't think the glasses where ever empty through out the night. I had a great time catching up with some old friends Anne-Marie (she lent me a dress), Jason, Thalia and Joe who I know them all from when we lived in Balikpapan another part of Indonesia. To top the night off I won a raffle prize which is a three day cruise on one of the boats that travels up a jungle river in Kalimantan in another part of Indonesia.

Picture: Bernadette, Francesca, Dana

With Paige going to school and settling in this week I was able to look at many houses in the complex, we are wanting to remain living in once we find a house. There are many houses here but getting something in our budget I found was a little harder then I expected. Everything seems to have tax excluded so when you get a price of the rent then add the VAT (tax) on top of it drives the rental cost up.
We had a look at some housing in other parts of Jakarta but many of the rents are just too much over our budgets and many housing compounds feel very closed in when you walk around them.

Between the school run, house hunting, discovering supermarkets, interviewing drivers, keeping dry from the afternoon rains and travelling in the car dealing with all the traffic, this week has just flown by and I can say I am exhausted.

Currently we are staying in a three bedroom apartment (flat) at a housing compound called "Country Woods". This is where will would like to remain living once we find a house within our budget. Being only a twenty minutes drive from Paige's school and close to a couple of shopping centres I think it will be a good location to call home.

There is a saying "things happen in three's" so in saying this the washing machine broke and the stove broke all in a three day time frame so I have gotten to know the maintenance department quite well. I am not sure what the third item is going to need fixing but I am sure it wont belong before I get my answer to that question. I am glad I have been an expat before as I think when things happen like this I just laugh about it as if you get angry then it will drive you crazy.

Picture: Main Entrance to Country Woods

Picture: Paige doing limbo under the front security boom gate

Picture: The apartment block we are staying in, we are on the ground floor

Picture: The shared pool room & library

Picture: Small shop area in compound

Picture: The grassed sports field

Picture: Pool area number one

There is also a playground for children, tennis courts, gym, sauna, another pool area and a small restaurant so there is everything we need to make our stay enjoyable here at Country Woods.