SueDonim, thinking of you

[Tissy]

I think you've recently moved to Indonesia. Hope you're nowhere near Bali, and are safe and well.

How are you getting on SueDonim? I know the govt has advised British citizens to leave so wondering if things will be changing for you.

Me too SueDonim.

Just out of interest,does anyone know what our govt knows that they're not making public about the situation (as they're just advising people to leave without seemingly giving any details) ? I've always kept an interest in the region as I've family there and I'd really like to know what's happening

Sorry I'm illiterate tonight, I was echoing Tinker's query.

Just to add my thoughts and prayers for you and your family.

Hi everyone, we're still here and okay, although it seemed last night that we might have to leave. Jack Straw's edict that ex-pats should evacuate was made without consulting the Brit Embassy in Jakarta, who were as surprised as us when they got into work this morning!! Latest advice from the Embassy is to lie low etc but leaving is not necessary unless you want to.

I kept the girls off school today due to the uncertainty and now the school has been closed anyway, because large demos are planned in the city centre, making it very difficult for children to get home.

I've now got to go and read the lo-o-o-o-ng list of instructions we've received,about 'What To Do In A Crisis' from our security firm. Otherwise, it looks as though half-term will be spent working on our tans by the pool.

I also wanted to (belatedly) add my best wishes to you and your family, SueDonim.

SueDonim

You sound so calm about the whole situation. I would be panicking like mad about it. It is all so horrible and scary.
Good Luck to you and your family. Hope it all gets sorted out.

We're all thinking of you and hope you manage as calm and enjoyable h/t as possible in the circumstances.
Twink, hope your family are OK too.

Just read the paper, thinking of you too. R

Hi, everyone, today's 'crisis' is making a decision about whether dd2 should go to a birthday party!! It's in the ballroom of a very posh hotel (there are some seriously wealthy people at the dd's school!) which I suppose might itself be a target but also there is to be a demo in the city centre which we don't want to get caught up in. Also, last night the authorities foiled a plot to blow up three power stations over the weekend so we feel that maybe someone is doing a proper job at last. No ex-pats want to leave and the feeling is that we want to ride out the storm.

TBH, it isn't difficult to stay calm as we've seen nothing scary, thank goodness. Panicking doesn't help anyone, I'd rather cope for the time being and have a nervous breakdown at my leisure, when things get back to normal.

Twink, whereabouts is your family? I might be able to contact them if you haven't heard how they are. Let me know!

KS, ikwym! DH hasn't done a stroke of his proper work this week - he's been involved in emergency planning instead and I have a huge file of stuff sitting next to the computer here!!

What a lot of decisions! glad you've seen nothing to panic you, but the constant uncertainty must be so hard to live with.

Hope you all keep safe and get a great tan by that pool of yours.

Batters, it's very easy to be calm as thankfully we've seen nothing and it's boring, boring, boring here. We haven't been out beyond the estate we live on and are all getting cabin fever!! We didn't go to the party, in the end. Tomorrow, we're going to a friend's for lunch, so that will make a change.

I'm glad to hear you are ok there suedonim...unfortunately here in Perth WA things are still very much in a state of upheaval and shock as we are rallying around to support the families of the many WA victims of the attack. Bali is like a 2nd home to many Perth young people as it is so close and so relatively cheap to fly there. There are many missing still who may never be found, including six members of the local football team. It's very sad and shocking when it happens in your own backyard it seems so much more real somehow. Hope things are settling down over there now suedonim.

Hi everybody, I'm an expat living in Dubai with a 1year old son. We have only been here 3 months and prior to that lived in Bahrain for 3 years. I'm looking for cyber friends as at the moment my social support structure is non-existant. The upside is 365 days a year of sunshine, the downside is no family and few friends. I'm having a tough time with my son in terms of him sleeping and eating and feel like I'm heading downhill....help!

SuneDonim, thanks, sorry for the delayed response, I've not seen this thread for a few days. Fortunately most of those I was concerned about happened to be away on a team building (or should that be golf playing) session in Phuket and the other, a friend's daughter flew out of Bali on Saturday morning and was totally unaware of the news (and her frantic mum) for a few days.

I've been without internet for 48hrs - I've had terrible withdrawal syndrome!

Glad to hear that all is well with your family, Twink. Mollipops, I think the waiting for those families must be so dreadful. One of the teachers from a school here is missing and I saw a request from his wife and two dd's for information about him on a news website, so sad.

We are starting to go out a bit but have to stay away from certain places. Our driver seems to know what-is-happening-where and he wouldn't let us go somewhere unsafe. I shall feel a bit wobbly when school starts again next week, though security has been stepped up considerably.

Socially, life has taken a bit of a blow as many groups have closed down so the chance to meet people has gone. I realised how much it all affects everyone when one group shut down the facility they ran, including a coffee bar, playgroup, baby clinic and some charity fucntions. All those local people involved will be out of work and clinics unavailable to local mums etc. Such a huge knock-on.

Lukesmummy, you need to talk to mumsywumsy, she's in Dubai in Satwa.

Suedonim, I heard this weekend that the airlines are cutting back drastically on flights to Bali because nobody is going at the moment. Not sure if it's just Bali but, anyway, how are things for you and your family now? Are you still having to be really careful or can you go out a bit more? How do your DDs feel about all this?

Hi, Janh, thanks for asking after us. We're doing okay, a bit bored as we can't go to all the usual places (but I've been more-or-less confined to the loo for the last 48hrs anyway - oh dear!!) but we are getting out a bit. Very few people have left and everyone else is just getting on with life. A group I belong to had the Brit ambassador to speak to us yesterday and he was very interesting. Stricly off the record stuff, but he had such a calm and collected British attitude to things that I felt reassured by it. He did say that London's perceptions are quite different from those on the ground here.

My younger dd isn't aware of what has been happening, hasn't connected it to us at all. The 15yr is coping okay as all the teenagers are in the same boat. They are managing to have parties and getogethers at each other's homes instead.

I had a 'wobble' last week about the school's vulnerability but they have done an immense amount of work on security and now have the Polisi and TNI (Indonesian army) guarding them as well as improving their own security staff's training - 're-skilling' them, in the jargon!!

Now, we're looking forward to going home for Xmas - only 5wks and 4 days before I hit M&S food depts big-time!

ooh, Suedonim, bad luck about the 48 hours! Hope you are better now...was the Ambassador's message that we think things are worse than they really are, or not as bad? (Or can you not answer that because it was off the record?)

Is it an American school that your girls go to or just an International one? The time that they spend at school must the most worrying for you, I'm glad the security has been beefed up.

Coming home will be weird! How long do you get here before you have to go back?

The off-the-record stuff was more about local politicians, the progress of the investigation and the perceived target (ie were the Aussies realy the target?) than anything else, really, Janh. They still don't know who carried out the bombing, but he was prepared to say who didn't do it and who probably was involved, in general terms (no names). He certainly wasn't panicking about the situation. What surprised me was the relatively few number of Brits here, about 2,000 including dependants, which is much smaller than I'd imagined. I actually found that reassuring because it means if anyone has got it in for us, in many ways they are looking for a needle in a haystack of 12 million people. They'd end up 'taking' many local people out, just to get a few 'bules' (Westerners) and my hope is that they wouldn't want to do that.

The girls go to the British International school. It's on a campus a long way from the city centre, whilst the other international schools are in town.

We're going to be at home from 14th Dec to 3rd Jan and the diary is already filling up!

Oh, Suedonim, have just read this on university thread: