New Normal

Lately I keep thinking about my "new normal."
It's things like how I feel cold if I'm in an air-conditioned building for too long and need to go back outside to warm up. Or how I never think about the weather anymore except to notice when it's raining, but not really about any forecast. The only time all the motorcycles and different roads and traffic seem strange is at times like these when I'm really thinking about it. I don't blink an eye about seeing a palm tree, they're everywhere! I kill spiders now (almost) without any hesitation. The open buildings here where inside and outside space really seem to blend is also barely noticeable. My wife mentioned the other day how she marks time differently and has a hard time now comparing when something happened here compared to previous years because there used to be seasons where here there isn't much change, except more rainy or more dry. Our months are all getting mixed up.

Kahyangan Restaurant

Also part of my new normal is my kids growing up. We went to a swim meet much of the day Saturday. It was pretty fun to watch but a lot of sitting around, too. It was fun to see my child compete. Hope he had fun.
My wife and I went to a restaurant by ourselves that night. (That is also a new thing with our children getting older. We can leave them at home sometimes.) They put us in the corner of the restaurant, which is pretty much all outside, in a little hut with pads to lean on, sitting on the floor, fish swimming around underneath and around us. It was awesome having a nice quiet corner to ourselves. I ordered some baked fish and rice and we shared some mango juice and had a good time talking. This is the kind of normal I hope will always be.

Still in business

Highlight of my weekend: Priesthood Session of General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ with my son. I have looked forward to attending this session of conference with him ever since he was born because I love going to this meeting twice a year myself and love the bond I feel with other priesthood holders while attending it. The challenge this year is a couple of things. First, priesthood session is live 7 am to 9 am in our time zone but not broadcast over the Internet, only by satellite. Second, our branch holds regular meetings, starting at 9 am on that Sunday. Third, if they did the broadcast before church over satellite at our church building it would likely be in Indonesian since that is what they speak here. So I decided instead of going to the church the next week to listen to the meeting in Indonesian that I would download it and watch it at home with my son. We put our church clothes on, got some ice cream at a local market and then settled in to watch it after the other kids went to bed on Saturday night. It was almost like the real thing, except I didn't back my car in to the parking space at our house.

LDS General Conference

U.S. House Chamber

Highlight of my weekend 2: Watching all of the sessions of General Conference at home. Since our branch, and all the others in Indonesia watch the Conference the weekend after in Indonesia at the meetinghouse in Indonesian, we watched the sessions at home in English on our own. I downloaded all the sessions and connected my computer to our big television. It was awesome. Our kids even listened some of the time!
Frustration of my week: Waiting for Congress to pass a budget. I work very hard and wish they could pass budgets on time so I can do the work they've mandated me to do more efficiently.
Relief of my week: A budget passed and the government will not be shut down.
Frustration of my week 2: A couple of days or so of sickness bad enough to make me feel a little miserable: congestion, headache, tiredness, etc.
Relief of my week 2: I feel like I am getting better after going home from work early one day, skipping a meeting and getting a lot more sleep than usual. Just an occasional cough lingers on.
Question of my week: Why do mosquitoes love me so much? I have been bitten this week at least 20 times. Almost every one while in my own house. Not sure how so many are inside my house all of the sudden or why if the numbers were always the same why they're biting me more now. But I itch everywhere. I have them on my neck, arms, elbows fingers, knees, calves, and ankles. The night before last I woke up a little after 3:30 am because one buzzed so close to my ear that the sound woke me up.

What's interesting this week?

Let's see. . .
What's interesting this week?
Still a bunch of Emails to go through from the time while I was gone last week to Hong Kong. It's hard to get through them all when they just keep coming!
Work continues to be interesting. There's always plenty going on. I'm never bored. In fact, time seems to be going so fast.

LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake

Today was a busy Sunday for me: I had to conduct sacrament meeting, open and close the adult Sunday School and attend the primary class for the older kids in between conducting Sunday School, conduct opening exercises of priesthood meeting, teach the lesson for the young men in their priesthood meeting, and process donations after church. Luckily, I didn't have any other meetings or anything after that. If I was in the U.S. I would have been watching General Conference today, but since it's broadcast live in the middle of the night everyone here watches it rebroadcast during our day next week. Looking forward to watching it and watching the priesthood session with my son. We'll probably watch it on the internet late Saturday night or something after the younger ones have gone to bed.

In other news . . .

Sometimes found on their backs, legs twitching

I found out that cockroaches actually do fly sometimes! There was one on the curtain in my bedroom a little higher than I can reach. I got a magazine and a container thinking I would sweep it off into the container, cover it with the magazine and leave it for someone else to kill (our house staff maybe?). But it didn't quite happen that way. Just as I pushed the curtain back and began to sweep it off, it began to fly, missed the container, hit my hand (gross!), and flew past me, landing on my bed! I jumped over to sweep it off again, but it didn't go straight down and landed on my bag (sick-o!). I tried to move it so I could put the container down on top of it and it ran under my bed. In the short time it took me to reach over there and look under, I couldn't see it anywhere. It's dark under there, but even after getting a flashlight I couldn't find it. I looked all over the room and behind things and couldn't find it. There's a big space under the panel behind our bed that is part of the wall. My wife and I figured it must have gone under there. When I got up in the morning I noticed the container in the bathroom over a cockroach. It turns out my wife got up very early to use the restroom and there it was. (Hopefully that's the same one and not another).