Water Aerobics

Well, we're back in Jakarta.  We flew out of the airport in Lombok yesterday and arrived back in Jakarta without incident.  I didn't even have any children kicking the back of my seat for the flight. 

Once we got back to the team apartment, we were pleasantly surprised to see not one, not two, but three packages had finally been delivered.  It was Christmas all over again.  I had sent one of the boxes back in early November.  I remember laughing when my post office clerk had assured me that it would arrive in 5-10 days.  Sure!  Maybe it would arrive in country in 5-10 days but then it would probably sit in Customs for another 4-5 weeks and then take another 2-3 weeks after that before the kids could pick it up.  Luckily they seem to have finally stumbled on the correct way to request the postman to leave the package with the doorman, instead of taking it back to the post office.  Hooray!

Back to a modern apartment, it seemed that the next logical thing to do would be to start a load of wash in the washing machine.  Right?  But, of course!  That's just what Lina did as I headed off to the bedroom to unpack.  I was partly unpacked when I decided to go to the kitchen for a glass of water.   As I headed out the bedroom door, I stepped into a puddle of water.  Huh?

"Hey, is there supposed to be a bunch of water on the floor here?" I called.

Everyone came running and skidded to a halt.  Then the herd reversed course and thundered over to the laundry room, flung open the door, and someone gasped.

"The drainage hose has been knocked loose and is just laying on the floor," someone called out.  "The water is all draining out right onto the floor."

The kids quickly put the hose back where it was supposed to be - draining into a small squatty potty floor with a drain hole next to the washer.  Lina grabbed the one and only mop and started mopping.  Of course, it wasn't a mop like I'm used to in the States that has a squeezing mechanism built into it.  No, you had to wring it out by hand.  Jason went looking for towels.  Apparently there were only two in the whole apartment.  He started putting those down on the floors and then wringing them out. 

By this time, the water had spread from the laundry room, through the kitchen, into the living room, and down the hallway towards the bedrooms.  I suggested taking a broom and sweeping water into the dust pan.  It had always worked for me back in my childhood home when our basement would regularly flood during the Spring thaws.  Of course, back then we'd use a snow shovel and a broom but the concept was similar.  Jason looked a little skeptical but gave it a try and indeed, it worked swell.

We swept, wrung, and flung water for a good half hour and we certainly all got our aerobic exercise for the day.  Finally I thought we might be able to launch a dove and be reasonably assured that it would continue on its way and not return to us to perch on the refrigerator.  I could see dry land, er, floor.

We didn't get any irate calls from the tenants downstairs so I believe we stemmed the flow in time to avoid any damage  Thank goodness that the floors were tiled and that I had felt that need for a cup of water when I did.

As the kids sank exhaustedly into chairs, I danced around the room.  "Hey, this is great!" I crowed.  "I won't have to spend any time trying to figure out what to blog about tomorrow.  I'll write about the flood.  Anyone want to pose with the mop for me?"

I ducked just in time to avoid the wet towel.