Repacking

April 26, 2007 -- It's gotten very warm here and last night I turned on the A/C for the first time this year. I think it was close to 90 degrees yesterday and will get close to that again today. What else can one do when it's this warm? Get in our pool, of course. Come join me.

Do we take this? Do we pack that? In which suitcase shall we put our candy we wish to take along -- some Hershey's candy since it was made in America? You're not going to take THAT? Now what's wrong with the suitcase? No, I haven't called the pool guy yet. No, I'm not going to call Elly now. She's sleeping! It seems today we are both walking a fine line of controlled stress. However, we are close to being fully packed and things are moving along.

I'm still bagging debris (vines, brush, weeds) and you can see the mark on the fence where the vines have been cut down. I'd love to post another picture of the vines just to show you how lovely it looked before but I'm having trouble downsizing photos I took prior to when Joyce came down here and helped me set up my camera so I can take already-downsized photos. I'm still practicing and playing around with things I can do with this blog.

John just broke up our stressful day. Both of us have such dry lips today and have been drinking lots of water. He just asked me where I put the chopstick. That's chapstick, John. You see, John has this way of coming up with his own English language sometimes. Remember when he asked me if I had my handcuffs -- he meant gloves? Watermelons became waterlemons. We had a good laugh and repacking has just taken a turn for the better.

I'll try to get back here before we leave next Tuesday.

Medications and American Money

April 24, 2007 -- Hooray! We finally received our necessary medications. Our insurance company had to override that little computer voice that says "it is too early to refill this medication." It took several calls and persistence but today the box of meds appeared on our doorstep.

I went to the bank to get some money for Indonesia. Do you know what I had to ask for? One hundred dollar bills that are new or as new as we can get, not folded or creased, no writing on them, no rips or tears in the bills and, if possible, with certain issue numbers on them. No, I'm not kidding. Our bank clerk was familiar with this because in February another couple left for Indonesia and they asked for the same type of bills. John and I were at the bank with them at that time and I remember the bank clerk looking at them as if they had lost their minds. So when I arrived today, she simply gave a big sigh and began going through her hundred dollar bills! I will go back later this week and try to exchange some of the bills with better ones.

Why am I doing this? If one has the good, nearly new bills, a better exchange rate is given. I'm told some merchants refuse to accept anything else. In Jakarta it should not be much of a problem as we can exchange our money at banks; however, as we hope to be traveling outside Jakarta, we will need some good cash. Can you believe this?

We are almost ready to go. We still have to pack our clothing, weigh our suitcases, and clean up the branches from our back yard. It seems our neighbor who lives behind us chose this week to have someone come in and cut down his bushes that had grown very tall, with his vines and branches towering over our fence. In doing so, lots of branches and overgrown vines fell down on my bushes and plants along the back fence. Since my vines grew over on to his side, I can't yell and complain as my lack of maintenance created this, too.

After four bags and two boxes filled with debris, I still have three huge piles of vines, branches and weeds to cut up and bag before we leave. I really wasn't too thrilled to have this extra chore but I must say, it's beginning to look rather nice now. O.K. back to checking that our carry-on luggage complies with the latest rules as to what can be taken on the plane.

Packing

April 23, 2007 - Our friends, Joyce and Wiley, had a wonderful photo on their Maine blog showing their driveway outside their home filled with all kinds of necessities they planned on loading in their camper. Each item had to be weighed as they needed to know the total weight of their camper.

Our bedroom, kitchen counter and table, and bathroom counters look like their driveway. We have been counting out medications, making certain they are in their original containers, lining up shoes, trying to decide which ones to take, checking on which shirts, blouses, and slacks we'll actually wear, and saving room for oleh-oleh (gifts) for our Indonesian family and friends. We had to purchase TSA locks for our luggage (locks that can be opened by customs personnel but that lock out everyone else).

The shuttle from Ocala to Orlando will cost us $34 each. We've asked Les and Eleanor, friends we met though church, to drive us to the shuttle pick-up point. There is so much to think about before leaving on this trip. Pool caretaker, someone to mow the lawn, and plant waterer. We have to hurricane-proof our home before we leave as the season begins June 1st. That means we removed everything from our patio or, with high winds, we could end up with all kinds of things floating in our pool or becoming missiles.

We leave May 1st at 4:30 pm, changing to Singapore Airlines in Newark, NJ. From there we fly to Singapore, changing planes in Singapore and flying on to Jakarta. Where's Jakarta, you might ask? I've found a map that will help locate us once we leave Ocala. We hope to visit our friends on Sulawesi and to take our daughter to Bali. As you will see, even Singapore is shown on this map. We are now getting very excited and once packing is done, we'll be even more thrilled. That's it for today.

Trip preparation -- Immunization day

April 17, 2007 (Tuesday) -- Just returned from Alachua County Department of Health located near Gainesville, Florida. Sat through two hours of updates on perils of spending time in Indonesia. Recommended were Hepatitis A shot, typhoid fever vaccine, tetanus update, malarial pills ($5/pill), polio vaccine, and deet repellant for denghe fever. For cholera, we either "boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it." Do you know they even have a vaccine for shingles ($200)? Of course, this is assuming we already had chickenpox, measles, mumps and rubella. If we go to one of the other islands, add to the above Japanese encephalitis. They also recommended a rabies shot.

Another couple were also planning on traveling overseas. Had to sneak this photo but I wanted to get the lady's hat. It doesn't show up very well but it was "lively."

I'm practicing typing blogs and inserting photos. My friends, Joyce and Wiley, while staying here with us, helped in setting up this blogspot. Now I'm just trying different views, photo sizes, and so on. With practice, it should become more interesting!