The Eagle Has Landed

Entrance of the school

It's just after 4 am and I can hear the faint chant of a nearby mosque from my bedroom. Excitement and sadness is welling up inside me because today my parents leave and I get to meet my students for the first time. It’s orientation day for students at Surabaya International School so my kids are stoked that they get to meet their new teachers and see their classrooms. But today is bittersweet because our amazing support is outta here! Grandma and Grandpa have been awesome as we hit the ground running here in Surabaya. From day 1, Rob and I have participated in loads of shopping sprees, orientation (read: networking) meetings, and lavish lunches in gorgeous, historic hotels or enchanting garden settings and we haven’t worried about the kids once!

Front of the house

WOW! This was the first word uttered from my mouth when we arrived and I think I've repeated it about 1,000 times since we've been here. We have arrived in an amazing world full of green, beauty, buzz, energy, and excitement. It's a city of contrasts, big skyscrapers and 50-floor apartment buildings interspersed with intimate canals and bustling neighborhoods. The landscape reminds us of Kenya everywhere we turn.

Welcome flowers

The dining and living area

The day we arrived was an oddity. A downpour hit Surabaya, the likes of which haven’t been seen in over 50 years. Though we’re on the southern hemisphere and it is winter season, it doesn’t typically rain in the winter, so the rain caused all sorts of havoc (read: traffic). When we finally pulled up to our house we realized that the pictures we had been sent didn’t really tell the whole story. The house is gigantic. The entry way (which was decorated with a gorgeous flower arrangement), living room, and dining room area (which meld together into a great room of sorts) are about the size of our Kuwait apartment…and we haven’t even gotten to the rest of the joint. There is a spacious spare bedroom/office downstairs, an arched staircase that leads upstairs to a landing that will serve as the kids play area and TV room. From there, stem our three bedrooms. Xavier has the smallest of the three rooms but he opted for that one because he wanted a Queen-size bed. Anouk picked a slightly bigger bedroom with a balcony that overlooks the back garden, while Rob and I moved ourselves into our gigantic Master bedroom with en suite. Our balcony overlooks the front garden and, on a clear day, to the volcanoes in the distance. The biggest problem with the house is the size—the ceilings are so high, the rooms are so big, and everything is so lavish that it makes all the furniture look puny. Xavier and Anouk LOVE their new house and are thrilled with their bedrooms. They think we live in a castle.

The Koi pond

The front sign

Day 2 brought the family (not just Rob and I) to school. The kids walked into the foyer of the school, clad in antique Indonesian furniture, art, and fresh flowers from the school’s gardens with gaping mouths. They both sort of squealed with excitement especially when they walked out to the hallway and stopped at the koi pond to get a view of the school’s local pets. A few strides past the pond, they were outside playing on the swings and slides and really enjoying their new playground. The kids are THRILLED with their new school. And as parents, Rob and I couldn’t be happier. The classrooms are nearly twice the size of our rooms in Kuwait and for me… I will only have 10 students. I have cabinets stacked with books and the storage room (between both classrooms contains everything our heart could desire, plus an entire guided reading room just for grade 2). It’s an amazing contrast that excites me both personally and professionally! And then there was the library!!! Who doesn't love an amazing library? The kids took a tour of the library with grandma and were amazed at how many books they can read. It is surely a sight to be seen!

A view of 1/2 the library

Life is good for us here! But it became even better on Sunday after an enchanting brunch at the Shangri-La hotel. My new Principal, Robbie, and his son Harry James, took our family on a brief tour of the Pakuwon Golf Club just minutes from our house. After a brief look around, it was a no-duh that we needed to become members, so we signed up! (For those of you who visited the Corniche with us in Kuwait…it puts that place to shame!) Monday found Rob and I at school trying to get things ready for the year but found the kids at the pool with my parents (and their new pal, Harry James) for nearly 8 hours. By the time we arrived home that afternoon, the kids were three shades darker than we left them that morning and they were zombie-like in front of the TV. So… the grown-ups left the kids with Noryeti, the house lady the school hired to start off our time here, and we went to a wonderful dinner in the clouds (literally). At 6 pm, we arrived at a rooftop restaurant with glass walls and no ceiling. The cool, evening breeze washed over us as we ordered up a few beers and glasses of wine. As we raised our glass to toast, our Superintendent, Larry repeated a phrase that we’ve heard about a dozen times since our arrival, “Well, here’s to another hard day in Southeast Asia.”

The Shangri-La Hotel

I apologize for not writing more than this, but we are currently in a house with no internet and when we are at school, with internet, we are more focused on working and preparing for our start on Monday.

Give us a couple weeks to get in the groove and we should be able to send emails, Skype, or talk on the phone. Until then… we hope all is well and if you think I’m exaggerating—my parents will be home by Monday, so you can ask them yourselves!

We are happy and we feel really blessed to start another “hard” day in Southeast Asia!