Our new home in AL. August 20, 2006

front view
Originally uploaded by annedowns.

This is our new home in Madison, AL. We like Madison area because it has nice neighborhood and very good school. It is a suburb of Huntsville. I like its location because it is only 2 minutes to Jonah and River’s school and about 15 minutes to Sam’s work. And it is in a quiet area.

Hope we can feel homey…. Sweet Home Alabama…..

Internet Addiction August 19, 2006

This morning I woke up with the heavy stiffness on my back. Well, I guess it is from the sitting too much in front of the computer. I have been spending much time on my computer desk, searching, browsing and doing stuff.

This is one of my concerns too that I am becoming addicted to the internet. The lack of social life, loneliness, routinity at home, lack of activites, make me always come back to my desktop and start doing things, even when there is nothing to check on.

I can’t deny that internet makes me feel connected with outside world and friends. Chatting, browsing, exchanging e-mails and ideas, etc, help me a lot. But I don’t want to depend on it. I have family and social life that need my attention too. So, I have to gather myself and start pay attention to it.

I have to limit my time in front of the internet. I think when we are already in AL, with my days busy with my boys and arranging the house, it will reduce my time in front of the computer. Usually when Sam is around, I don’t have time to just browse. So, that is good too.

Busy Mode August 19, 2006

Well, we come to near our moving date. We have set the date for our moving on the 25th. Wow, it has been a long wait with the uncertainty and all. Thank God everything is better.

So, yesterday I was busy booking the mover, the flight, etc…. just like a mad dog. In the other hand, I am excited. New environment, new place, new house, ne friends, new…everything. People sometimes are wondering why we have to move a lot. Well, we DON’T have to move…but we want to. Mostly me. I have not been digging the midwest experience. Cold weather, cold people, rough and rude community….well, not liking it so much. So, I asked Sam to resign and find another job in the other state that maybe we will fit better. I most like Phoenix, AZ and Sam got a chance to go back to his former company but this time we passed. We want to try Huntsville, AL first..and see how we like it. So, our journey to settle down is not done yet. We are still trying some places….hopefully we can find a place that we proudly call ‘home’.

Fortunately the boys are still small…not school age. So it is easier for us to move around. Once they are in school, we hopefully find a place for our home.

So, that is that…

We have been busy packing…well, me of course. Sam is in Alabama and will fly here next Friday to help us with the move and take us all to AL. The mover is supposed to take care of all (packing, loading, unloading, driving..), but to make our move day shorter, I do some packing too. The boys are eagerly helping… they are good helper too.

So, that is our days…..

Just remember that I have to call the bank to provide us with the cashier check. I have been wanting to change bank. Our bank (CAFCU) charges a lot for everything and not really supporting us…sigh. Maybe when we are in AL we will change our bank. Wish us luck. Another errand to be taken care.

Sleep Problem August 13, 2006

Today I am very tired again. The lack of sleep and stress of moving and arranging things finally got me. I know that I cannot just rest because of my two tearsomes. Well, it is a beauty of being a mom

I don’t know why it is not easy for me to just go to sleep early. Since I was still in Indonesia, I always slept about 12:00 midnight and had to wake up at 5:00 am because my work was in Kuningan, Jakarta. I had to catch my car pool at about 7:00 am at Jalan Sudirman, and in order to get to Jln. Sudirman I had to take angkot (small public transportation) twice.

When I got back from work (usually I left work around 6:00 pm and went to Grand River Plaza in Kuningan to wait for my car pool at 7:00 pm. Lucky me that I had a nice car pool. The owner only allow 5 people in his new Mitsubishi Kuda, so I had a nice seat on the back, only two people a row and I could sleep along the way. Very cozy, I may say.

Now, still I had a hard time sleeping early, sometimes I slept at 2 or 3 am…wow..

If only I could sleep earlier…..sigh.

5 Days with Alice Hellwig August 13, 2006

Today I am so tired. The long driving and the nervous of the INS interview still got me. I have been feeling tired all day. Jonah and River mostly play by themselves…good for me.

We had great time with Alice’s visit. The boys surely appreciated it very much. They played and messed around. And I was the one who always yelled at them…heehhee

It was nice to have Indonesian company. Nothing wrong with that, right? I feel more comfortable making friends with Indonesian than people here. Not because I can’t socialize, but because coming from the same culture and life style is easier to get connected with.

We chatted and ate…..just like old friends.

Two days after Alice came, we went to Detroit, MI for my interview. That was my first time visiting Detroit. We went about 12:00 on Sunday and arrived in Detroit about 4:00 pm (that was because we stopped in East Lansing (Malay Resto) for lunch. My first impression about Detroit was, dirty and crowded.

In the evening, we visited Dian and Roger Beckett, our friends who live in Warren, MI (suburb of Detroit). Roger showed me the INS office, and meeeennnnn…. what a dirty and dangerous neighborhood on the way to the INS office. I got scared and considering on taking Roger’s offer to accompany me in the interview. I talked with Sam in the evening and he insisted me to ask Roger to accompany me. So, in the morning, I told Dian that I wanted her husband to go with me…hehehhe…

We arrived in INS office about 9:30 am (my appointment was 9:45 am). We waited for 1 hour before they called my name. The interview process only took 15 minutes. The officer was very friendly and just casually talking to me. I did my tests, writing, reading and history/civic test and got all right, thank God. And she gave me the passed paper….yippie. I asked her to transfer my oath schedule to AL, since we are moving at the end of August.

Now the hotel…. We stayed at Studio Plus (the ExtendedStay hotel group). Since the day 1 we didn’t like it because the front office was not very helpful, the rooms weren’t nice, the hangers weren’t there and it was too loud and we were scared when we found out some ‘weird’ people stayed just accros the hall.

We tried to stay there as short as we could, only for resting. Mostly we visited Dian and Roger’s house.

On Tuesday morning we went home…well, first we visited Ririn Seamount in Lansing, for a nice and delicious bakso and es campur. Wow, she is indeed a good cooker. Then after talking, gossiping and eating again, we went home…

What a tiring day……

The day after, we dropped Alice to the airport. We hope that she could stay longer but, she had to go home. Thank you for sharing your time with us, Alice. We’ll miss your company.

Hari ini August 6, 2006

Kemarin sore akhirnya Alice Hellwig nyampe juga di Grand Rapids. Gue, Jonah dan River jemput dia di Gerald Ford Airport, GR. Senengnya akhirnya ketemua anak satu itu…. kita ngobrol, makan, cekikikan, main bareng anak2 dan hari ini gue sama mereka semua keliling2 TJ Maxx, makan dim sum, ngobrol lagi….. sik asik. Alice bikin bakso malan, enaknya rek.

Jonah still acting up a lot. Kalau frustasi, gue telpon Sam dan Sam ngomong sama Jonah. Ajaibnya setelah ngomong sama bapake si Jonah rada mendingan. Kayaknya dia takut banget kalau bapake marah sama dia. Syukurlah masih ada yang ditakuti, daripada ga mempan sapa2. Sebenernya dia anak baik, asal dikasih kesibukan dan diajak dalam berbagai kegiatan…kalau dia cuma dikurung dirumah dan disuruh tenang…jangan harap sukses. Makanya kalau sama bapake dia akur, soale bapaknya sering banget kasih kegiatan buat dia…suruh bantu2 di garasi, atau di halaman…. ke park, de el el. Kalau emake, hopeless deh.

Ya udah, besok gue kudu nyetir ke Detroit lagi sama mereka…soale seninnya kudu interview di INS. Wish me luck.

His Journey had come to an end August 6, 2006

Telah berpulang kerumah Bapa di Sorga:

Papi terkasih kami,

Apelles Eben Haezer Toelle (15 Maret 1943 – 27 Juli 2006).

Selamat Jalan Papi….istirahatlah dengan tenang…bersama Bapa di sorga.

We’ll miss you….very much.