Hello Gentle Readers (Ala the Bridgertons) I'm sure it is not proper blogger etiquette to not have u[dated this since mid September but I will commit to being more regular in the future. Three weeks after having returned from the our visit to Jakarta for the wedding, and then Bandung to see Shinta's niece and nephew, Shinta's daughters and Mom came to visit us in Bali. They have been here a couple of times before but they still have much to see here. They all live in Indonesia, two in Batam and one daughter in Bangka. These are just 2 more of the 17,000 islands of Indonesia. Indonesia is as wide as the US and they both live longish plane rides away. They all have to fly to Jakarta first to get to Bali so they decided to coordinated it so they could meet in Jakarta and then take the same flight to Bali. They were arriving at 6PM and Shinta wanted to do some shopping in the city first so I decided to stay home as I was in spring cleaning mode. I was on a roll and wanted to get flowers for the girls rooms, burn some incense, a bowl of fruit, etc. Shinta left around 10AM and I was already deep into cleaning. I had a mild stomach ache but it was more annoying than painful so I carried on. By 12 o'clock the annoyance caused me to try the things you do when you have a stomach ache but that proved useless, so I continued cleaning. I had all the windows and doors open and was working hard at this so when I found myself feeling overheated I closed things up, turn on the AC and laid down to cool off. After an hour or so I realized I was still sweating which was not normal for me. Of course I don't do spring cleaning everyday and had this stomach ache so I wondered if I was getting sick. I decided just to rest until my body normalized but then I started feeling mildly nauseated. I wasn't in real pain but I was uncomfortable so I thought maybe I ate something so lets try to purge. So I did that and not to be too graphic but what came up was 2 tablespoons of a very yellow smooth liquid. I was like - I haven't eaten anything yellow ??? so I googled it and found it was bile. So I wrote this off as stomach virus or something. I was feeling bad, wanting to finish the cleaning as now our place was in disarray with broom, mop, water bucker, cleaning supplies all over and furniture out of place, but I had no energy to do it. Long story longer -I thought I should just take a nap until it passed. I called Shinta to check in and told her I wasn't feeling well and that I was going to take a nap. I struggled to sleep, getting more and more uncomfortable and it taking 2-3 hours to finally get to sleep. I remember it as if I was in a fog my friend coming into my bedroom with a flashlight as Shinta had called him and ask him to take me food. I was thankful to him but at the same time dismissive and he slid a plate of food onto the bed and left. Shinta and family did not arrive until 10PM as they had stopped for dinner and shopping on the way home. I was somewhat conscious of her arrival but just barely. I awoke at 5:30 AM and my stomach ached which had been centered around my navel was gone but I had a pain 6" to right which was new and not an ache but a pain to touch. Suspecting my appendix, I search symptoms online which confirmed I had them all. So I woke Shinta up and apologized for the terrible timing and informed her we would be getting up and going to the hospital to have surgery. You can imagined, that woke her up! So we get it together and my good friend (the food deliverer) called his surgeon friend and set it up and adding "I'm driving". He, his wife, Shinta and I headed off to the hospital. We saw the Doctor at 1:30 where he asked me some questions which made it clear he was questioning whether it was appendicitis or only appendicitus. He then said ok, let see. He had me lie down and he proceeded to probe and poke all over by torso asking "any pain here". After 10 no's he went to the area I had said was hurting and "yes" that hurt. So he came close to my face and said, "TECHNICALLY you have appendicitis "TECHNICALLY" but it could be other things, so we will run some tests. He confirmed what I had read online when I had looked up my symptoms and then search appendicitis at my age. This is an affliction for 10-30 year olds and while not impossible at 72 it would be rare and would usually be associated with some other issues. He said that if the test showed only appendicitis we would have the surgery around 6PM. So the tests began, blood work, EKG, X-rays, sonogram and others I can't remember. They was very efficient rolling me from one test site to the other with very little waiting. The test results were all in around 5:30. The Doc showed up saying, "it is only appendicitis and we will have the surgery at 6PM. A male nurse showed up 5 minutes later and shaved the surgery area and I arrive outside the OR at 5:55 and was in the OR at 6 as planned. There were 5 staff in the OR, the anesthesia nurse, anesthesiologist, surgeon and 2 nurses. They did an epidural and the surgery came shortly thereafter. I had never had a non-elective surgery before and never an epidural. My previous surgeries were one sinus correction and a second follow up to that to correct something that was working. So it was an experience having this emergency surgery and also to be conversing with the staff while they are doing the surgery, giving me a play by play. I was not watching, as I would surely have passed out and missed it all. LOL. The surgery experience was short, I would guess around 20 min, then I was in the recovery room another 30, then up to my room and walking around an hour later. Shinta had secured a private suite with extra bed where she would spend the night. It was a large room, with a sofa and the staff was great and quick to respond. I was there 2 nights, never needed pain meds and the they handed me all of my prescriptions when they check me out. I explain all this in detail as so many people are concerned and ask about heath care here. The surgeon was a private doctor and worked out of a private hospital so I suspect it was faster than the public hospital and likely more expensive. And since everyone asks, the cost for all was $4900. Compare that to the annual cost of Medicare + supplement + prescription coverage + co pay. In the end it was quick and easy and I am grateful to be the "appendicitis-only guy" at 72.
During my previous trip to Dallas in July, Bella, Chantelle, Michael and I were at the World Trade Center shopping for Bella's upcoming 25th birthday (times flies right !) and were visiting with our old friends showroom we had met back in 96 when we had the The Barking Frog. We have stay friends with them all these years and somehow during the visit we all planned a trip to Mexicowith them and their kids for Christmas. They also have a 25 year old Isabella. Long story short in the end they could not herd all 3 of their kids together to make it happen. They are from Mexico and to some degree would be the leaders of that tour so we decided to change plans and go to Europe for the Christmas markets instead of Mexico. The only thing on Shinta's bucket list as far as travel has always been Switzerland, so we started the, as it turns out, arduous task of planning 19 days through Europe and its Christmas markets for a group of 5. Many hours were spent on educating ourselves and organizing that project over the next 2 months along with keeping up with the building project here which had been put on hold from mid July until late November as we were sorting out the building permit. That is a story in itself, but let's leave it at the learning curve was tedious but the results were good and know that the process looks nothing like it does in the US.
So this is from Nov 28th and they had just started building the walls at the house.
We were scheduled to leave for Europe on Dec 12th to meet up with everyone in Paris on the 13th, BUT - Shinta's "Schengen Visa" covering 29 EU countries was not going to be ready until around the 19th. This was because I understood that it would take 2 weeks and had started 30 days out, only to discover that it was 2 weeks after you secured an appointment. Know this, the luxury for all of us that don't need visa's to travel is immense as it is a quite an ordeal. We had to get an agent here in Bali with associates in Jakarta to compile the application which involved everything you might image plus records of property holdings, 3 months of printed back records with some things needing to be copied in color. They secured your interview appointment for Dec 4th which happens not in Bali but in Jakarta, a 2 hour flight from Bali. So we had to fly to Jakarta stay the night for an 8:30 AM appointment the next day. Fortunately I have a Bali-niece there, the one from the wedding story told earlier. We had dinner with her which was a treat. The next morning we went to the Visa office where we met our agents counter-part who had the portfolio they had prepared for Shinta for her interview. After the short & sweet appointment with strictly her alone, we were done and would wait the approximate 2 week waiting time to see if she were approved. It turned out she was approved in 12 days so we purchased our tickets, to now Basil, where we would take to a train an hour to Lucerne to meet up with the group. They overnighted her passport with visa to Bali and we left the next day arriving Paris 6 days into the groups trip.
It was very cold in Europe, but to my surprise we had managed to get winter wardrobes together here in Bali. Shinta had never been in weather that cold and had never seen snow, much less Europe. Her dream has come true and we met at the AirBnb and then had a great dinner in Shinta's current bucket list country, Switzerland. The trip was amazing, from landscapes, to architecture to fairly-tale Christmas and family. By train, we travel-stopped 6 cities through Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Czech Republic landing in Prague on the 29th where we spent New Years. Bella had left from Munich to head back home for her New Years gathering the same day we left for Prague. Prague is a magical city, where you wander cobblestone streets where almost every building is ornate and has a long history. The trip ended there except for Shinta and I. Having missed the Paris, Strasburg, Basil leg of the trip, we flew to Paris for a few days before heading home. So Happy New Year to All and we wish you well. But read on my friends as there is much more to tell.
Here are some pics of our Griswald family Christmas Minus the squirrel but notice Shinta bought a beaver.
Lucerne
Zermatt
No cars allowed in Zermatt
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and of course Shinta made a friend when we stopped for a cappuccino
Welcome 2026 !
Back from our travels we found the house build now moving at mock speed and were excited to see the progress.
January 7th
January 18 Roof taking shape
January 28 more roof and walls. 360 tour
The roof framing and block walls should be up in another week, then we are on to installing all on the electrical conduit in the walls. Determining what kind of light, how many lumens we required is slightly daunting but with the help of AI I'll get it done. There will be faux beams on the final ceiling so I can always add lighting there if I need to. So wish me luck with the lighting, its a first for me
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