Krista’s Blog

Hello from Boulder

Short of San Diego, I couldn’t think of a nicer place to vacation in the summer. I am the only one vacationing though. Ed is actually here for work. He invited me to tag along on his last minute business trip. Summer school ended last week and so I happily said yes. Yesterday I hung out at Border’s bookstore at the Flat Iron Crossing Mall (one of Ed’s projects) and got some studying done.

Yesterday I dropped Ed off at the 29th street mall and drove around. I found my way to the base of the Flat Iron’s, a really cool rock formation at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. that is one of my favorite things to do when I travel, just get lost and explore things and places. I wish I could do more of that. Perhaps when we go to Germany next summer we can. It’s wasn’t easy to do that in Indonesia with the large group that we traveled with the last few times.

I have posted some of the pictures from our adventures in the Boulder July 2009 photo gallery for everyone to look at. The files from my digital SLR are very large, so I have shrunk them quite a bit and posted smaller files on our site, but if you find one you really like and want to use for something just email me with the name and I will send it to you.

We are still alive!

Hello, everyone! It just occurred to me that the last time I posted a blog was when I was in Korea, 3 months ago! We got back from Indonesia safe (obviously) and dove right in to work. Ed has been traveling to Colorado on an almost weekly basis to tend to his two projects there (FlatIron Crossing mall in Broomfield and 29th Street in Boulder) and I have been very busy with work and school.

The Psychology Department hired my replacement at the beginning of March, quite a bit later than expected, but she is awesome and I know that I have left my people in good hands and can now attend to all things school related. I am still working in Dr. Chi’s lab, and new this semester I took on a part time position with the Institute for Mental Health Research. Now that we have reached the end of the semester I feel like my workload has reached a manageable level, a level that I wish I had started off with in the Fall. The past two semesters have been tough, but I have learned a lot about myself, so it was worthwhile. I can’t do it all, and that is okay. Now that I have time to read as opposed to not sleeping to get my reading done, I am actually enjoying it.

Ed and I have done a bit of traveling since we got back from overseas. In March I joined him for a week in Colorado. I spent most of my time in a hotel room trying to study, but that didn’t work well. We got to see a little bit of Colorado, but it was cold and everything was dead. It looked like South Korea in the winter! The second week of April I attended the American Educational Research Association’s Conference in San Diego, CA. Ed and I went a few days early and hung out in San Diego and visited all of our favorite places. Our itch to move back to San Diego is stronger than ever now. I will definitely be applying to SDSU’s School Psychology program for admission in 2010. I will eventually post the pictures that I took. When I do, they will be in our photo gallery.

On the family front, both mine and Ed’s mom’s have had a tough couple of months. Ed’s mom had a fractured hip and had to have surgery and was just in the emergency room again this weekend because she fell. It’s hard being so far away from family when things like that happen. Getting panicked calls from relatives and feeling helpless is horrible. My mom has been having problems with her arms. Since she is a neonatal intensive care unit nurse, her problems have made it hard to tend to the babies at work and she has seen many doctors to figure out what she has and how to treat it. I am not sure of the exact terminology, but she had tendonitis, arthritis and something else. She had surgery on one arm a few weeks ago and is recovering now.

If you’ve managed to get through everything I just wrote, I applaud you. I will try to post updates more regularly through the summer. Hope all is well with everyone else!

On our way home

Edwin and I are about to begin our long, 5 plane ride trip home. We are departing the hotel in Bali now and will fly to Jakarta and from Jakarta to Seoul. In Seoul we have a 9 hour layover and are hoping to take a cultural tour before we get back on the plane and head for LA. I still haven’t posted any pictures since we left Jogja. Perhaps I will get that done when we get home and I am doing laundry. I am trying not to think about all of the work that awaits me when I get home, but that’s how I am. I need to prepare myself mentally for the months of hard work that lie ahead. See you all soon!

Our last stop

We have reached Bali, the final destination for our trip. It was nice to be on our own today and do as we pleased, not having to worry about what anyone else wanted to do. We plan on doing more of the same tomorrow. I will post pictures tomorrow as well. Hope everyone is doing well at home. See you in a few days!

Hello from Surabaya! We had a great time in Jogjakarta. Leave it to me though to get not only a stomach bug but a cold on vacation. It made getting around a bit harder, but I wasn’t going to sit in the hotel all day and sleep. I can do that when I am dead. Ha!
On Tuesday, December 30th, we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed off to Kota Gede, an area well known for its silver. We went to Edwin’s mom’s favorite store, H.S. Silver. We found many wonderful things there, including miniature hard hats made of silver with Javanese carvings on them. Edwin bought a few to take back for his bosses. When I asked if they sold silver beads I was taken up stairs to an “exclusive” area to look at all of the items they sell in bulk. Edwin’s dad assured me that since they are regular customers I would get a very good price on the items, so I filled up the tray with bags of silver beads and clasps. When they weighed them and told me that the price was going to be $1.50 USD per gram I had to put some of them back. They were beautiful and I love making jewelry, but I had no intentions of buying $1750 worth of silver. Oh well. You will all have to settle for the silver plated beads on the necklaces I make you!
After shopping for silver, we went for a quick lunch at a place called Bakso Ito. They had a simple menu that consisted of mostly noodle soups, but it was good. Edwin’s dad jokingly commented that the store should pay him royalties for using his name. After lunch we tried to visit the Kraton but it was closed as one of the King’s daughter’s was getting married and they were preparing the palace for the festivities. So we went to the Water Palace instead. This was large bathing facility designed for one of the former kings many years ago. A large portion of it has since been destroyed by war and earthquakes, but we were still able to view part of it. I wanted to go shopping on Jl. Malioboro but Edwin’s mom didn’t think it was safe so we headed back to the hotel. We were supposed to accompany Edwin’s parents to pick up Edwin’s brother from the airport and then go out to dinner, but we decided to sleep instead. We had to get up at 3am the next morning if we wanted to make it to Borobudur at sunrise.
You can check out pictures from the day’s events here.

On Wednesday, December 31st, we were up bright and early and downstairs at 4am. Edwin’s parents, brother, and aunt came down at 445 and then we left for Borobudur. It was a long drive and we didn’t make it in time for sunrise, but I still got some beautiful pictures as the sun was peeking out from behind the other side of the temple. It just amazes me how much time and effort went in to making that temple and others like it. I am sure many people lost their lives in the process too, but little is known about who built it or the process. The temple itself has withstood weathering and many earthquakes in its estimated 1250 years of existence and is still amazing. Restoration attempts have been somewhat successful, but many of the reliefs are extremely weathered and hard to see.
After we visited Borobudur I asked if we could treat everyone to breakfast at the famous Amanjiwo hotel. The rooms there are $800 USD a night and we couldn’t afford to stay there, but Edwin really wanted to walk around it and look at the architecture. The breakfast was pricey but it didn’t disappoint. It is a beautiful structure and had an absolutely amazing view of B0orobudur from the open dining area where we sat. Borobudur and Amanjiwo were so beautiful that I felt that they deserved a gallery of their own. You can find it here.

After Borobudur we headed back to the Kraton. This time it was open. My ticket was 10x the cost of everyone else because I was white. I don’t know if this is some sort of payback for the years that the Indonesian’s were under control of the Dutch or if it was just price gouging. A part of me wanted to protest. It isn’t right to discriminate. But because I knew saying something would only get me kicked out, and possibly in trouble, I didn’t say anything. I just paid for my ticket and went in. After the Kraton we went to the Ibis hotel for a quick lunch and after much asking I finally got to do some shopping on Malioboro. It was only for 15 minutes, but I got to experience it none the less. There were so many people there that if felt like we moved as a unit down the sidewalk. There was no such thing as personal space there! You can check out pictures of the day’s events here.
Now for the good part. After shopping we went back to the hotel to rest for a while. Edwin’s dad had purchased tickets for the New Year ’s Eve party at the hotel (we stayed at the Hyatt). When we went down for dinner we were quickly seated at a table outside in a large tent off of the golf course. Edwin’s dad disappeared for a moment and came back with the Queen of Jogjakarta! He introduced us all and we shook hands. I was feeling pretty ill, so I didn’t get up (I didn’t know who she was) rather I reached across the table and shook her hand. After she left Edwin’s dad told us that she was the Queen and she and her family were here for the evening’s festivities. So, we got to ring in the new year with the King and Queen of Jogjakarta. We didn’t actually stay until midnight, my cold was worsening quickly and we were tired from getting up at 3am to go to Borobudur.

On January 1st we had to get up early to start our trip back to Surabaya. What was to be a 5 hour drive ended up taking 7.5 hours and was very rough. More than once I asked Edwin if it was the shocks on the van or the road that was bad. Every bone in my body hurt by the time we got to Surabaya. My cold also made the trip a lot harder. Being crammed in a small spaced and being thrown around when you are sick isn’t fun. I also managed to get a nice sunburn. We stopped at the Prambanan (Hindu) temples on our way to Surabaya. Edwin’s mom politely asked if we could just drive by them and if I could take pictures from the car, but considering that this is ½ way across the world and last time we tried to get to Jogja their was an earthquake, I asked if we could stop. The temples were badly damaged in the earthquake in May, 2006. Because of the earthquake many were under renovation and the rest were closed. We were only able to walk around the perimeter of the temples. Because of the years of wear it was hard to make out many of the reliefs, but some could still be seen. Becuase the internet connection is so slow here I will have to wait to upload these pictures until we get to Bali.

Today is January 2nd and we are just hanging out at the Trunojoyo house where Edwin grew up. We slept in and ran a few errands. Who knew we would have to go 3 places to get postcards! I am still recovering from my cold, it is currently kicking my butt. Hopefully with some more sleep I will be all better when it is time to leave for Bali. Edwin’s parents have plans to go visit Edwin’s grandfather’s grave, which is 5 hours away, on Sunday. I don’t know if I will be up for that drive, but we will see. Hope everyone is safe and happy back in the US.

Hello from Jogja

Edwin and I spent our last day in Jakarta with his sister and her family. They took us to see their new house south of the city. It is absolutely beautiful. I am very excited for them. I remember how fun it was to design our house in Tucson and watch it get built. You can look at pictures of their house towards the end of the Jakarta gallery. After we toured the house we went to the Pacific Place Mall. This mall was 8 stories of very high end stores. We looked but didn’t buy anything. Edwin and I started to feel ill so we headed back to the hotel. We had dinner with Elke, Yadi and Ashana later in the evening to say goodbye and thank you for their hospitality.
By Monday morning Edwin and I felt absolutely horrible. I had gotten a stomach bug and he had gotten some sort of cold. We decided to sleep in and try to catch a later flight, as ours was at 6am. We got to the airport at 10am and all immediate flights were sold, so we had to wait around for a 230p flight. I was so tired at one point that I actually laid on the floor and slept. Edwin eventually did the same. We were beginning to wonder if the gods didn’t want us in Jogjakarta. Last time there was an earthquake. This time we felt horribly bad and had a hard time finding a flight.

The plane eventually came and we made it Jogja. To our surprise not only Edwin’s parents were here, but his aunt Thea too. Edwin’s brother Emil will also join us here this evening. The hotel grounds are absolutely amazing and I hope to get some more pictures. For now here are a few that Edwin took. Today we are going to go the Kraton (the Sultan’s Palace) , hopefully visit a few museums, and do some shopping. The internet here charges by the minute so I apologize in advance but I will not be labeling the pictures for this part of the trip. If you read the blog and then look at the pictures you should have a good idea of what you are looking at though. Da-da (goodbye)!

Day 2 in Jakarta

We spent most of Saturday morning at Anchol, an area filled with different amusement parks. We visited Seaworld Indonesia. Because this area sits on the north shore and because of my previous experiences with Seaworld in San Diego, I was expecting a large outdoor park with dolphin shows and the like. Seaworld Indonesia was more like Waterworld in Minnesota. It was a very large dark building with lots of different fish tanks. It was still fun, and I did get to see different species that I hadn’t seen before.

After Seaworld we headed off to Bandar Djartakrta for some very fresh sea food. It was probably the best seafood I have ever had. We sat outside next to the sea while we ate and at one point it rained hard while we were waiting for our food, but we were under a canopy and it was nice. This is one of the fish we ate.

After lunch we went on a short boat ride up and down the beach by the restaurant. When we got a bit further away from the land the water got a bit choppy and we got wet. I was talking and got a nice “taste of Indonesia” the first time. After the boat ride we made our way to a cake shop called Harvest. We each picked our own cake and sat down and celebrated Edwin’s birthday. We went back to the hotel and were going to take a nap, but we didn’t wake up until midnight, so we missed going to the movies with Elke. Oops! I guess we shouldn’t feel too bad though, we are on vacation!

Day 1 in Jakarta

Edwin and I had a wonderful time on our first day here in Jakarta. We tried to go the the National Monument (Monas) but it was closed as they were preparing for the new year festivities. We went on to the Museum Sejarah Jakarta. They had a lot of very interesting artifacts, including some ancient stone carvings. Ashana (Edwin’s niece) also enjoyed looking at the old prisoner cells underneath the Governor’s Mansion, where the museum is housed. We took some great pictures. You can look at them here.

After the museum we headed across the plaza for lunch at the Batavia Cafe. After lunch we headed over to the Mangga Dua Mall. This was my kind of mall! I picked up some Fendi and Gucci purses for 50,000 Rupiahs each, which is less than $5USD! (Aunt Karyn if you are reading this, yes, one of them is for you!). You can check out pictures of my findings here. After shopping we headed over to Elke’s house to wait for Jadi to get home from work and then we went out to dinner. Again, the food was great.

Tomorrow we are going to Sea World Indonesia and then we will do some shopping in the art district. It is also Edwin’s birthday, so I suspect there will be some celebrations.

Now we are off to bed. Good night.

Good Morning from Jakarta

Edwin and I just enjoyed a wonderful breakfast downstairs and are now on our way to spend the day with Edwin’s sister and her family. We will have emptied two suitcases once we give them the gifts we brought for them, so we will have to do some shopping to fill them up!

I found an interesting article in the Jakarta Post this morning. It was about a Muhammad Yunus like program that they have here in Jakarta to aid women and their families that are poor. The women are taught how to make small crucifixes that they then resell at a price that allows for a small profit that pays for milk for their family. Check it out here. I am not big on religion, but I believe that any program that aims not just to give a hand out but a hand up is a worthy cause. If you would like to participate and would like me to buy some of these crucifixes for you, please let me know by Saturday evening, Arizona time. I believe they said that they cost about 6000 Rupiah, which is about 60-75 cents.

One more thing. A few of you have sent me emails stating that you can’t figure out how to post comments on the blog. To do this, click on the “no comments” link under the entry you would like to comment on and it will provide you with the box to leave a comment. Not the most intuitive, I know, but it works. If someone has left a comment I suspect that it will say “1 comment”, etc., but it should function the same.

Our flight from Phoenix to LA was delayed and so was our flight from LA to South Korea, but we arrived safely in Incheon at 730 am this morning. Edwin also had a hard time getting through immigration (it didn’t help that we lost the folder that had all of our flight information in it), and we were unable to take the Seoul City Tour. We did however get to do a quick temple tour and then have some awesome Korean food for lunch. I am also happy to report that people here know what good coffee is. They have 2 Dunkin Dounuts here in the Incheon Airport!

The Buddhist Temple that we visited, Yonggungsa, was very beautiful. We were lucky to be able to visit is because the weather was good. The tour guide told us that a few days ago they got a lot of snow here and the tour desk had to cancel everything. Take a look at some of the pictures from the temple tour here.

I am very much looking forward to taking a shower and sleeping laying down and not in an upright position.

It is already 2:15pm on December 25th here, but for those of you who are in Arizona I wish you an early Merry Christmas.