Flood Update

Well, the waters haven’t receded, but it hasn't rained anymore yet - the word is though, if there is no more rain, we'll be open as usual tomorrow for whatever student can make it in. (We are praying for rain tonight!)

We actually braved it today and walked through, knee deep in some places, to get to the mall for necessities - it would be alright if the water wasn't so damned filthy - my legs were stinging by the end of the short 5 min walk to the mall and I ended up carrying Annalise on my back through it on the way home as her foot was stinging as well and she refused to go any further - even in her wellies! Andrew was the packhorse with the bags and Juliette.
We all got home and poured a bucket load of dettol into the bath and communally washed our feet and legs! Probably a really stupid idea to go out in it. You could see raw sewage in some parts of the waters. Brrrr. Don't even want to think about it!

Our swimming pool is still black, but it appears that it is not sewage as we first thought, but from a petrol station that blew up last night and somehow dumped loads of ash and oil into it with the rainstorm. We heard what we thought was the loudest thunderclap at about 9.30 last night, but apparently it was the explosion.

One of our colleagues here at NJIS, Brandon, keeps a blog going and is far more informed about things to do with flooding and explosions! If you are interested, read his accounts below: Oh, and he is one of the MOST amazing photographers we have ever met - if you have a few hours or so to spare, take a look at his work on the site - beautiful shots of Indonesia. He is married to a gorgeous Indonesian lady and has two beautiful little girls, 4 and 2 - our girls love playing with them.

http://thejavajive.com/blog/

Decided to invite a few of Juliette's friends to a jungle gym on Thursday followed by dinner at Burger King for her birthday party. That is, if the flooding stops. At the moment, the mall where these are is unreachable.

Daddy, you're right that the floods are shades of Dubai - the problem is though, there is nowhere for the water to go here - it has to get pumped away by trucks and Indonesia seems to be sorely lacking in these! The waters out the back of us which are knee-deep now haven’t receded at all since it stopped raining at 9am this morning. However, we have had the most beautiful sunniest of days today! Indonesia is truly a world of contrasts!

Juliette's birthday tomorrow. Can't believe she's going to be two!!