tourist attraction

We had a super fun weekend!  It started when we went to the airport to pick up our friend, The Rev. Dr. Tan from New York by way of Singapore.  We waited and waited, but Dr. Tan was no where to be found.  As it turns out, a driver with a sign that read "Mr. Tan, Singapore" took him in his car and drove off.  Dr. Tan decided that he should give Jim a call to let him know he was en route only to make the shocking discovery that he was being driven to some other destination.  The driver than got a call from the other Mr. Tan who was looking for his ride.  Thankfully we had Silvia with us and she was able to talk to the driver in Bahasa Indonesian and straighten everything out.  The driver returned Dr. Tan to us and we all had a great laugh at the mix up!

 We took Dr. Tan to the colonial Dutch tourist spot in the city to visit some museums and the famous Cafe Batavia.  The museum was interesting with a lot of beautiful, intricately carved teak furniture from the era.  However, about every 15 minutes, we were stopped by school kids needing to interview English speakers and take pictures with them.  I thought getting to talk to these kids was even more enriching than the artifacts from the museum.  The courtyard was full of entertainment, food vendors and trinkets sellers.  My favorite was the improvised carnival ride shown below.  There were actually little ones sitting in the baskets going for a ride.  My kids wanted a turn, but I thought the better of it.  We ended up buying them some bubbles to take home and play with.

We were able to tour our apartment again and it looks like it is almost ready.  The only thing left to install is the kitchen.  We are going to have lots of room for visitors!!!  Hint Hint
On Sunday, we were invited for lunch and a swim at our friends townhouse.  The kids just had a blast and it was so relaxing.  We loved being outside for a change.  The sun is hot hot hot when it breaks through the smog, but if you find the shade, you can usually catch a nice breeze and it is quite pleasant.  I was treated to a delicious grapefruit green iced tea.  My new favorite!  I have been craving citrus and that really hit the spot.