Packing up (again)

Time to pack up and move again.  Our little 2 week "vacation" here in the apartment ends tomorrow when we move into a temporary house.

                                                             "Hornbill" Apartments

Temporary 3-bedroom Home:

Here's how they (BSP-Brunei Shell Petroleum) do things in Brunei...  first you stay at either the apartment or a local (not very nice) hotel for anywhere from 1 week to who knows how long...  


Then you go into a temporary house IF one is available.  If not, you continue to stay in the apartment or hotel.  If so, you move into the temporary house for the next 2-6 months, waiting for a permanent house to become available.  


The permanent house you get is based on family size.  In this case, we actually benefit by having 4 children.  For one thing, we'll get a 4-bedroom home.  For another, we probably won't have to wait as long as the families with 2 or 3 children who are all waiting for a 3-bedroom home.  This is one of the rare instances where we are at an advantage with a larger family!


Obviously, they don't make the settling-in process especially easy.  But, at least our temporary home is not far-removed from "camp", and it's just down the road from the SupaSave grocery store.  Now I just need a car to get to the store, and everywhere else for that matter!   For those who were rooting for the "Mystery Machine", it had already sold by the time Keith called about it.  I guess it wasn't meant to be...  Still looking for the right vehicle.


Gotta go pack now!!!  

Cheetos are saving my life!

After a trip to the local grocery store, Landon was SO excited to have found Cheetos.
He said, "You know why I'm glad Brunei has Cheetos?"
Me: "Because you love them?"
Landon: "No.  Because they're saving my life."

We have found some other American products that have "saved our lives" here in the beginning.  It's exciting to see what they sell amongst the local products.  Of course, these things may not always be available...

    BREAKFAST                                                             

SNACKS

LUNCH

DINNER

It certainly makes the adjustment a bit easier to have some familiar foods available to us!

A lesson in Malay

The local language here in Brunei is Malay.  We are very lucky, however, because nearly everyone also speaks English.  On the other hand, it's kind of embarrassing (to me) that we Americans are almost the only ones who don't speak multiple languages.  The Europeans, South Americans, Asians, etc. all speak at least their own language plus English.

Even though we don't have to learn Malay to communicate, the locals greatly appreciate any efforts you make at speaking their language.  Hoping to assimilate into the culture at least somewhat, I have been picking up some phrases from the sweet cleaning ladies here at the apartment.  Now you can learn some Malay too!

How are you?
Apa Khabar (a-paw kuh-bar)

I'm good.
Khabar baik (kuh-bar bike)

Good morning
Selamat pagi (selawmut poggie)

Good night
Selamat malam (selawmut mollem)

What is your name?
Siapa nama mu (see-ahpa nahma moo)

What time is it?
pukul berapa (pookle barawpa)

Thank you
Tarima kasih (tareema kah-see)

Goodbye
Selamat jalan (selawmut jhollen)

I don't think I'll become fluent, but maybe I can pick up a bit more over time.
 Selamat jalan!

New Friends

Tonight we are going out to dinner with a nice part Irish, part Dutch family we met here at the apartment.  In typical fashion, Natalie first befriended their daughter at the pool, and the boys soon started playing with their son.  That was about a week ago.  Since then, our kids have been going back and forth between apartments, getting to be better and better friends every day.  The mom and I have hit it off with our love of reading, and our husbands have run into each other in the hallways at work a couple of times.

 Tonight, however, we will get together as complete families for the first time.  It's always tricky trying to make "family friends".   Either it's difficult to get everyone to like everyone else and get along, or you don't like how the other couple disciplines their children (or how they DON'T discipline their children), etc, etc.  I am not referring to anyone in particular, if you're starting to wonder!

Anyway, we will see how tonight goes!  Following dinner, Natalie is having their daughter over for a sleepover.  What's one more kid in the apartment?  :) We are looking forward to school starting on Sept. 5 so that the kids can make even more friends, and I can meet more moms too.

To our friends back home, we miss you all!  As the saying goes... Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is silver, and the other gold.

A few unusual things

I've snapped a few pictures of some of the uniquely Bruneian things around our apartment.  Enjoy!

The green arrow is on the ceiling in our apartment, and in public places.  It points the way to Mecca, the direction in which Muslims should face when they pray.

Not your typical microwave keypad.  Where's the popcorn button??

And how common is "steam meat with soy"??

There is no central A/C.  Each room has its own unit mounted near the ceiling, with a little remote mounted on the wall.  No heat either, because we'll never need it!

   Little steps (1-2 inches) are all over the place!  I don't know if this is true or not, but one lady told me it's a Chinese thing... meant to "trip up" any bad spirits trying to move from one room to the next!  Hope it doesn't trip up Lacy here!

No dishwashers.  Even homes (at least the Shell ones) don't come with a dishwasher.  You have to buy it separately- and they are extremely small, or the Amah spends a lot of time washing dishes!  I'm missing my dishwasher while we're here in the apartment.  Dishes for 6... ugghhh...

The one and only outlet in the bathrooms... for shavers only!  

Guess I'll be drying my hair elsewhere.  But the picture of the little guy is fun to look at while brushing your teeth!

All of the toilets have sprayers attached to them.  Mini bidets. 

 Ironically, the toilet is an "American Standard".  In a lot of public places, they have squat toilets!  Yikes!

 

The Sultan is on every piece of currency, (and his picture is posted in every public shop.)  The money is colorful, and the bills all have clear plastic parts (the fancy design on the left, outlined in white, is see-through.)  

The unit of currency is the Brunei Dollar, and $1.00 in Brunei equals approx. $.80 in US.

Monkeys!  

Not in our apartment, but I had to include pictures of our local "squirrels".  :)

Exploring

This weekend we were anxious to get out and about to explore our new surroundings.  Keith was looking for a national forest, but his only "map" was the satellite image from Google Earth.  As it so happened, we ended up stumbling upon several cool spots in our search for the perfect "nature trail" to hike.

The first spot we accidentally discovered was this beautiful lake with picnic areas, a walking trail, and a large, fun playground.  We were tempted to get out and enjoy some time here, but decided to save it for another day.

Keith let his nose guide him to where he thought the national forest would be... well, we turned off into a bunch of trees and headed up a narrow winding road that was reminiscent of the Road to Hana in Maui (another amazing place!)

Even though we didn't find the particular trail for which Keith was looking, we did find this trail...

We saw giant ants (and I mean giant... like 1 inch long!), red dragonflies, and LOTS of mosquitoes.  Some things don't change on the other side of the world!  

Next, we stumbled upon some beautiful gardens, the National Forestry Center, and a museum!

Terima Kasih means "Thank You" in Malay

This was the exit at the museum

Our last discovery (of which I didn't get any photos) was a huge recreation area with lots of hiking trails and an awesome playground for the kids.  By this time, however, the kids (and I) were tired and ready to go eat lunch, so we plan to return another time.

We drove back to Seria town, where we ate at a local fast-food restaurant called Jollibee.   It's kind of like a KFC, but instead of mashed potatoes, you get a ball of rice as your side dish!  Very Asian.

We had a great time exploring, and all of this was within just 25km or so (gotta get used to metric!)  Just wait until we really venture out into the Borneo jungle!!!

Perks of living in Brunei

You still may be asking yourself, why exactly would we want to move our family to the other side of the world?  Especially since I said I'd never do that, and we hate to leave behind our extended family and friends??  Well, there are definitely some perks to living here.  Caution:  after reading the following, you may want to move here too!  :)

-Family life: Because of the school and work hours, and the proximity of everything, we will have more time to spend together as a family.

-Education: The children will attend an international school and receive an exceptional education in an environment unlike any other.

-Activites:  Through the Shell Panaga Club they offer all kinds of activities for the children (sports, swimming, karate, dance, gymnastics, music, etc.)  Everything is in one location, so there's no driving all over town in different directions to take kids to their activities!

-Outdoor living:  Although it is hot year-round here, it is also surprisingly mild quite often.  There is clean air, tropical jungles, lush forests, beaches, and all kinds of places to explore and enjoy the great outdoors.

-Peaceful and safe:  The country's full name, Brunei Darussalam, means "Abode of Peace".  It is peaceful, laid back ("no worries"), and quite safe to live here.

-Cultural experience:  BSP (Brunei Shell Petroleum) employees come from all over the world, so we will have a very multicultural/multi-national experience here.

-Opportunity to travel:  We will be able to see and experience things on this side of the world that we would NEVER be able to otherwise...  Singapore, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Bali, Hong Kong... Brunei is centrally located to all of these amazing places!

-Amah:  It is the norm to have an amah (housekeeper).  All of the homes actually have amah's quarters.  We met an amah on our preview trip here in June, and we will be hiring Rosalyn very soon!  This is perhaps my biggest perk... someone to help with the laundry and cleaning!  And a live-in babysitter so I can be free to run to the store without kids!  Of course this also means more family time, since I won't spend ALL my free time cleaning and doing laundry!!  Yay!!!

-Purpose:  Keith and I feel that we have a higher calling and purpose here.  During our marriage, we have "planted" and led adult Sunday school classes at our churches in both North Carolina and Houston.  Maybe we will be able to do the same thing for the expat community here in Brunei.  Or maybe we'll start up a home church, or Bible studies.  Since it's a Muslim country, there are not a lot of opportunities for Christians to worship.  We believe God has called us here for a purpose greater than just the "perks" mentioned above!