Spending Mother’s Day in quarantine feels awkward. And to be honest, I’ve never been very good (sensitive) to Mother’s Day. It’s embarassing to say, that even though I grew up in a single-parent environment up to grade four, that I’ve never been sensitive at wishing my mom a Happy Mother’s Day.

That’s something I’m still pretty horrible at–but I’d like to think that I’ve improved, albeit slightly, over the years.

In isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially after our two-week quarantine, the seemingly small things end up being scrutinised under a microscope. In this case, the concept of family got bumped into the #1 priority in my mind’s eye.

Pictured is my mom-in-law. And while I’m grateful that I have a good relationship with her, thinking back I’ve exhibited so many questionable behaviour which amazes me to think that she let me marry her daughter.

One stupid example is, that I proposed to her daughter without asking her if it’s okay to do so.

That’s really stupid. Kids/unmarried people, make sure you do that before you propose: it’s the right and courteous thing to do. Don’t do it the way I did.

Mothers are underappreciated. Happy Mother’s Day, everyone.

But, I ended up acquiescing. Not reluctantly: switching from the iPhone 8’s single 35mm (in 35mm film equivalent) to a 24mm, 35mm and 50mm? For a photographer, that’s super attractive.

Yet what really surprised me wasn’t so much the lenses–but more about the real gain in image quality. It was obvious to me the moment I took the first few pictures on the iPhone 11 Pro.

Yet, I never bothered to edit the photos outside whatever apps I use on the phone itself.

Until three days ago. The photo above of my good friend Felix was taken yesterday actually, and I decided to try editing it on Lightroom just today.

And goddamn. I could probably fool some people and say it was taken with a full-frame digital camera. Sure, post-processing does wonders–but I’d like to think that the above photo also shows just how far mobile phone photography has got.

No excuses in not taking more photos, now–as they say: the best camera is the one you have with you.

My half-assed attempt at taking a video of our trip from Jakarta to Sydney before they stopped all flights out of Jakarta. Proved to be prescient, since we left on midnight of April 18th and they’ll be stopping all domestic and international flights out of Jakarta from April 25th.

Intended to be a response to Zack Arias’ “Quarantine Assignment” video: but was never to be…

Apparently the only other flight to Sydney was on Tuesday, so we actually took the second last flight available. I don’t know how I feel about that, to be honest–in a way, it’s some sort of confirmation that God really wanted us to be here? Maybe?

It’s real easy to look for patterns where there are none. But it’s just as easy to dismiss the smaller things. Either way, we’re grateful for our current situation. I pray that our family and friends will be safe in Jakarta, and that it won’t devolve to social unrest.

I was feeling pretty down until earlier this morning, when I decided to shave. It was a combination of factors, I suppose: leaving my responsibilities (even though I could technically work from home just as well anywhere that has an internet connection), the possibility of turning away from my extended family’s business, and starting from near-scratch here in Sydney (should that come to pass).

Neither me nor Sarah wants to ignore God’s will. But we don’t know just yet whether this trip is supposed to be temporary or permanent. Only time will tell, yet at the same time we really don’t have that much time to spare.

You could argue on and on about the details on whether it’s a good idea to have someone else other than the parents take care/bring up the children–but as someone who’s been through it? The extra help is worth it.

Heard “it takes a whole village to raise children?” Yeah, I agree with that statement. One of my friends who have passed once said to my brother, “it’s less about helping raise the children and more about keeping the peace between the husband and wife.”

Wife been taking care of the kids the whole day. Husband been out and about navigating traffic to get to work and he’s been in meetings all day. End of the day at home, both are tired. How do you think the rest of the night will go should there be an misconstructed comment from either one of them?

Domestic helpers help. Immensely, in family situations.

In the case of Bangun and Ita, they’re lovely people and they’re always ready to help, and the kids love them. Just yesterday, on the third day of us in quarantine, my second child Maya already started asking about them and would like them with us here in Sydney.

So would I, kid. But life ain’t that easy in Australia.

That said, I don’t know what we’ll be doing next. Raising a family with three kids in Australia during a downturn and while we don’t yet have actual job prospects is daunting.

The flight from Jakarta was uneventful. Yes, we kept our face masks on. The food wasn’t that great, but can’t expect much from the airlines at this time. We were given a quarantine declaration form to fill in when we landed, in addition to the usual customs form.

We landed, and was directed to come through to immigration. Waited a good half an hour before they opened, as they need to clear the baggage claim area from the previous flight. Then, there’s more waiting until we were allowed to go through customs and for the bus.

We got on the bus, waited for the unmarked police escort and made the trip to the assigned quarantine hotel.

We arrived just outside the hotel (serviced apartment, actually), and had to wait a good hour until they actually let us off. A trio of policemen took our details before letting us go up into our unit.

All in all, we arrived at 10 am and finally got settled into the apartment at 3 pm.

A long day, but I think there’ll be even longer days ahead…

This is a trip we’ll have to make, for various reasons. We’ve hit upon a rough patch in our relationship the past six months and needed some time away from our daily routine. We also need to consult some doctors for our youngest child. The COVID-19 outbreak has also made Jakarta a questionable place to linger in–even when you have the luxury of self-isolating, especially since there’s the choice of waiting it out in Australia.

That said, I do wonder what God has in store for us there.

I left Australia with the hope of crafting a new life with my fiancee, and now I’m returning with my wife and three kids…again with a similar hope of crafting a new life with them.

Time will tell.

I took the above photograph at my son David’s classmate’s birthday party. Even though no one asked me, I’ve been attending some kids’ parties with my camera in tow, taking photos and sending the edited results to the parents about a week later.

It does get pretty challenging having to mind your own child, while also trying to photograph a party on your own. But it’s fun, and getting something like the above photograph is nice.

What sound could be sweeter than children enjoying themselves, right?

And that’s factually true, actually…

We took this picture in preparation for his 5th birthday party, which we held at the next door apartment building’s all-purpose ballroom/common room. Since he liked dress-ups (and still does, I must add), Sarah thought it would be a great idea to have this as part of the invite and to put as a sticker in the goodie bag thanking the guests for coming.

Reflecting on this photograph, I have to admit that I don’t take photos of my kids as much as I should. That’s something to be rectified in the future, as I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time once we get to Sydney.

I’m still somewhat shocked at this decision that we’ve come to, but welcome to it with all its imperfection. Neither of the two choices available to us during this COVID-19 pandemic are ideal: stay isolated in Jakarta–one of the most densely populated cities in the world–while the resource-strapped government try to get a hold on the situation before the annual mudik season, or go to Sydney, where even though we’ll be forced into a two-week mandatory quarantine, it seems that we’ll be catching the tail end of the outbreak and thus have a chance to live some sort of decent family life during these troubling times.

It feels unreal.

I only pray that this is truly what God wants for us, and that His plans will be made clear when we’re there.