Selamat Hari Ibu - Happy Mother's Day

 

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY NORTH AMERICA

The “big” move has now successfully happened. Our lease was up the end of April and as Nelly my housemate is here for another year and a half she found a place to live that suits her well. I am staying with Angela and Morton in their house, where I stayed last year for a month when looking for a new place for me. Angela’s work contract of 4 1/2 years is finished the end of June and they are heading to the UK for a while before settling back in Australia. Their plan is to leave about the second week of June, then I will have the house to keep running until I leave.

The projects I have been working on; the awareness DVD that is now finished, the informational posters that will sit in the offices and health clinics of both villages I have worked in, and a website for the Disabled Person’s Organization PRSANI, will all be completed by the 3^rd week of June when I feel my work here will be at an end. I will be leaving Indonesia July 10^th. There will be many memories and special people and experiences that will stay with me forever. I am trying to capture some of the everyday life to share with all of you.

“The Move” (Balcony photo care of Morton Rees photographer supreme)

moving truck

Angela got us a small truck through her work driver which was a blessing as Nelly had SO much stuff: all the kitchen stuff and her own. So they got a full load from her then came back for me. By then the little local boys had arrived and all wanted to help load.  Our friend Laura arrived to take James’ (former volunteer) big motor bike down to Angela &Morton's as VSO doesn't know yet what they want me to do with it as no new volunteers are coming, but it has been sitting since January so wouldn't start, had a flat front tire and hardly any gas!!!!! So Laura took off on her bike to find a guy to come back to push it to the nearest tambal ban - roadside business selling air. By the time she got back the guys with the truck had the bike running, opening up the choke, and  the guy she brought took off pushing the bike, down the road to his air service, Berti  and Chris arrived to help, so Chris took Laura on her bike to follow the guy pushing James’ bike, I had mine and Berti on hers and the little helpful boys I paid off for the loading, telling them they had to share the money. So off we set, me driving behind the truck, Berti leading on her bike and Chris with Laura off to the air pressure and the guy pushing James' bike!!!! What a sight we were. (sorry if this is just very confusing but I was laughing all the way to Angela’s! See the photo of the truck unloading.  Even brought my little herb garden with me – basil, mint and parsley.

movers

Friday nights are often the night some of us go out to eat and have a drink so this Friday was a walk to the Sasando Hotel for a burger, fries and a beer. It feels so good to walk nd get some exercise, as this is not a walking country. We have a road with a good short hill as busy intersection to cross then a busy roadside with no sidewalks – very few of those in Kupang – and of course it is dark at 6 pm so we carry our lights with us more for others to see us than us to see as the motorized world is not looking for walkers! But, we also have to keep our eyes open for holes and pits along the road as well as rocks. This is what makes walking not an enjoyable experience and especially in the dark.

ikat weaving class in village

But now that I am living closer to the “Zumba” class, Angela and I are going up the hill for a 5 minute walk to the classes 3 times a week. A good workout aerobically and fun women and good music! Tells me how out of shape I am though. I am down about 12 pounds from my Canada weight but still feels like I’m hauling around the same poundage on the Zumba floor!

volunteers trainees interviewing in vllage home

This morning I babysat Rose, my friend Chrystal’s little one and enjoyed watching a 9 month old explore her surroundings, while Chrystal tried to get some of her correspondence schoolwork done. Such fun watching this little one!

So all for now everyone. Next one should have a link to the new website Kelsey is helping to build from distant Vancouver and a photo of our new poster – all going well!

Memperbarui Desa Oesena - Update, Oesena Village

Where has April gone? For those of you who have suffered through the usual April snow, warm, rain and just plain up and down weather patterns of Canada's spring I can imagine you are now rewarded with the sprouts and signs of warming. As I've said, seasons here are dry and wet and really the only other difference is in the direction of the breeze. Hot is the only word!

Lounging on Lombok with friends

So, the update on our DVD debut in Oesena village. The DVD was well received and comments are mostly that people were inspired to try to make a difference in the lives of their fellow villagers who experience the external barriers that having any kind of difference brings, be it mental, physical, emotional or social. With patient prodding and long silences we gained 7 volunteers who were willing to be coached by us on how to interview people with disabilites in their village and collect the data required by the provincial and district governments to assess them for assistance.  Primarily, the ones who will probably receive the most assistance will be young adults who qualify to go for training in skills or in upgrading high school education interrupted by accident or disease. We are learning that although it is said there is a pension fund  for older people who are totally dependent, the fact of the matter is this seldom seems to come about. Right now we think we are hearning that this year's budget for them is fully ascribed, therefore the woman we submitted information for two months ago will probably not receive anything. This is so sad, as her daughter provides total care in very limited surroudings and cannot get away to earn the money they need to make things a little more comfortable. The other limitation is schoooling for children with significant limitations physically and mentally. The family needs to have enough money to support room and board at the school sponsored by government in Kupang and transportation to bring the children home on weekends for a day, if there are even rooms available for the kids to board.

PERSANI 3rd Birthday

But, back to our volunteers. We went back to Oesena the following week to do the training with our 7 volunteers- two for each sub village (neighbourhood), one of whom is a local health volunter who has been trained to facilitate the maternal child health programme of  clinics for weigh in and checkups and referral. This is great to get these volunteers as they know their community and are well respected. Next step this week was to accompany them on their first interviews and coach on site if needed. It is so cool to see these people interact with their community members, how they use humour to set the tone and how serious everyone is about "data gathering". We left Kupang at 8 am on motorbikes and arrived at 9:30 in the village where we sat around for half an hour waiting for the other volunteeer to arrive who had been at her distant "plot" harvesting the corn crop for a few days so had to get up at 5 am to make it back to the village - taking local trucks as transport, outfitted with boards in the back for seats and on then foot the last 2 km.

Gili Island snorkel day from Lombok

Every interview - 5 in all in the 3 subvillages - took all day, getting home at 5, just before dark. I was bagged! Mostly because conversation runs slowly and lots of visiting, food at every home of course - lots of rice! Two interviews stand out for me, but all were vary valuable.
One is a girl of 10 whose twin is healthy, but this girl has a knee joint which is backwards, (try to picture how she walks) a hand with stubby and missing fingers, limited eyesight and  reduced mental capacity. Her father saw the DVD on Elmi's experience and this inspired him to try to find schooling for his daughter. We will do our best to investigate the possibilites as they will not be able to pay large fees and they will need to room and board her.

PERSANI Birthday party

The other is a young man of 25 who had a stroke due to high blood pressure a year ago and has lost the use of his right arm and has distinct weakness in his right leg. He was part way into his biology degree in Kupang at the university but has not returned, working on his ability to write notes with his left hand and trying to build walking strength. This so dismays me, because if he were in Canada or another "western" country he would be back to school with all the electronic aids at h

Green cake is popular!

and and conciliations from the university to support his continued success. We are helping the volunters to explore some options for him to continue his learning path.

I am also helping the organization for disabled persons with website development but as that is not in my repertoire, have enlisted daughter Kelsey's expertise. she is fabulous and the 3rd birthday for PERSANI the organization was this week, with a very tearful Director thanking us for this work so freely given. the members are so very appreciative as they have very limited funding and didn't see themselves able to have a much needed website. a few photos here on the birthday party.

roommate Nelly's kitten and neighbours

So that's the update. Other than that, I'm including photos from my Easter holiday on Lombok with my friends and a photo of my bed etc on the balcony frying out the bedbugs. Success!

Pertama Hasil - First (tangible) Result

Happy April to all of you in the land of 4 seasons.  Most of you will be seeing spring bulbs coming up, some will even have had the blooms – west coasters for sure! Here, we are mostly out of the rainy season although the odd rain does surprise me but only lasts a short half hour at most. But the end of rain means it’s now hot and muggy and the breeze is now coming from the south which means my balcony does not catch the lovely breezes that have been so helpful to me in the last few months. It’s pretty hot out there once the sun comes around! But this is the last month in this house as our lease is up and the end of April and I will move in with my friends Angela and Morton until I am finished my time here. We make a good group and as I stayed with them a year ago for a month we’ve already done a trial of living together and we more than survived.

drying clothes-tin roof and 32C perfect dyer and no electiricity

 This morning greeted me with my neighbours who are within a few meters away, burning their garbage that they pile at the end of our balcony below us.  Also where they live.  The lovely smell of burning plastic wafted across as I stepped out with my coffee in hand, so quickly backed into the house to wait it out. Piling and burning garbage is a common practice, even in the large cement bins that are along roadsides for the purpose of dumping and they are supposed to have garbage truck pickup regularly but sometimes they are overflowing and people burn some of it after they have climbed into the bin and sorted through for any good “finds”. It sure gives me the worries to see people sorting through, even young children, bare foot clambering through a pile of garbage with who knows what in it.  We’ve started to separate ours into a bag of stuff people might want and the kitchen wet stuff they might not so that they don’t have to sort through all of it to get bottles and cans etc. It’s a real dilemma as to how we can help out the waste management here! That’s our little bit that we thought of so far.Also see the laundry below us on the rood of the housing. Great way to get the clothes dry quickly.

my speaking debut!

Well, I left my last Blog with a comment of “see what’s next” after experiencing my epiphany of the education I think is needed regarding people with disability. That being just illuminating the “abilities” rather than the “disability” of people with physical differences such as missing limbs, body size, vision and hearing loss. All the power points in the world explaining symptoms and encouraging inclusion is far too generic. So, in consultation with my colleague Berty and my man Don (by Skype) the idea of doing a film of Elmi and her independence could be the start of showing how someone from their own village is independent, more so than they ever imagined, and begin to plant the seeds of seeing “ability” rather than pity for “disability”. There are many clips of videos shown here of white foreigners who have very serious limb losses doing spectacular things like playing piano with their toes, getting around with paralysis of the lower body etc but people see these and just look at them as movies from far away and can’t relate this to people here. They believe that these “miracles of ability” happen because foreigners have lots of money. Now they will see that every day independence and the learning of a skill to make a living can happen right here if they know about the resources available to them, mostly from government and can get connected.

Berty introducing DVD of Elmi and independence

watching the DVD

So, Elmi thought this filming was a marvelous idea; Berty used my camera with my coaching on what we are looking for and the night before Elmi flew to Solo, Java for her 10 months of computer training, they filmed and re-filmed until 2am! But they got it. I located a studio to do the editing through my friend Chrystal, and Berty and I spent many hours with the editing, writing script for Berty to narrate the introduction and purpose of the film, choosing music, colour – very bright ones catch Indonesian’s interest who love lots of colour. And we figure at least 40 hours start to finish, we are having the debut of the DVD in Elmi’s village this week. We are starting with a workshop on disability in general, then letting them know I will be going home, so we need 3 people to volunteer for us to coach on how to keep up to date on government resources and how to help people get applications in for what they need. Then we will end with the DVD of their neighbour Elmi. I think they will be very surprised when they see how able she is, as some have not seen her since her accident a year ago as they fear seeing her with missing legs.

I will not post this until I have a few photos from our film debut in Oesena and the workshop. Take care all, and enjoy your spring. 4 seasons is a blessing I think!

Mencampur - Mixture

 This Blog is a mix of daily observations and experiences on my part. I sit looking out across my balcony at a very blue sea, light breeze and quite comfortable in the shade but the sun is a scorching burn if I even could sit in it. This follows several days of rain. I have pillows in the sun like other homes have during the day (my neighbours can reach the lower part of their metal roof so put their foam mattress and pillows up there on sunny days to dry them out and keep out any bugs that might be setting up shop.)

walking partners Chrystal and baby Rose

Speaking of bugs I have had my own to deal with this week. Woke up in the night Monday scratching my arm, went back to sleep - silly me, and woke to much of my torso, hips and upper arms covered in itchy red spots. I willl guess they are bed bugs as I am sleeping on a very old mattress and box spring that came with the house. But why now or where did they come from? Are they also in my sofa where I normally sit in the evenings to listen to podcasts of Q and Vinyl Cafe? I had a small experience a few weeks ago with my arms bitten but with lots of severe pesticide daily over a few days thought I had dealt with them.
So spent a night with my friends at their house and had a good sleep -thank goodness for Benedryl - then came home to think this through. Pillows and all bedding went right out into the sun then washed by hand - that's all I have - and unfortunately only air temperature water but hung them out for two days on the line. No more sitting on the sofa, although had already not been doing that for a couple of weeks, and the morning I got up with the bites had woman-handled the king size mattress out to the balcony, where it will live until I vacate at the end of April when our lease is up. I have been spraying the box spring daily with the ultimate pesticide, and now am going through my clothes in the wardrobe washing them and putting into our spare room when dry. I am sleeping in the spare room on a thin mat on top of a wooden platform as that room didn't have a mattress and thank goodness no real box spring to hide the critters. I bet all of you readers are now scratching just reading this. My friends have been great and not banned me from visiting but they too start to scratch when they ask how my new friends are doing!
So, that's my rant on that topic. But, given that you can imagine my mood is not top of the world but then again, one must have a laugh over all of these experiences, so no need to renew my Xanax prescription yet.
But now that I'm on the end quarter of my placement here are a few of the things that make life interesting.

Bride and Mickey

 - sticky sweaty skin, bug bites, bug spray twice a day, anti malaria meds and just thinking of keeping a home free of vermin! The hassle of buying big jugs of clean water when I don’t have a car, grocery shopping in small bits as I have to fit in in my backpack and be able to hook any extra bags to the hook on my bike. Trying to judge weather, too hot to walk in mid day or monsoon rolling in! phoning the water truck man when our cistern runs dry - about every 5 weeks and hanging around until he comes as he is often in the midst of filling other orders, keeping an eye on the electricity credits on the meter outside so we don't run out of electricity and going to the store to get more credit, having to put on my helmut, jacket, socks and shoes, gloves to go anywhere on my motor bike (now that I have had 3 accidents, I am continue to be vigilant on safety wear) , walking with no sidewalks or shoulders on the road and dealing with children who yell "boulay"  (foreigner) at me and children playing "knock knock runaway" on my front door. Now this might sound like it is terrible here and no it's not. It's just these become the daily life and for me who comes from a country where daily living is pretty convenient, and I can communicate easily to get my needs met and to just socialize, it feels like a lot of work.

interisland pilots- from several countries

 I am so lucky to have been able to come to be in a country so different from my own, meeting a vast array of new people of many different backgrounds and experiences and of course new friends. The view of the sea every morning, noon and night!  Being in the villages where I am welcomed as a friend and to have tasted mangosteen fruit! It is new to me and I really like it - will have to see if it is imported to Canada. Oh and avacado drink - now that's really a treat chocolate syrup and all! House parties with friends and crazy headwear themes! See photos of friend's going away party as their contract has ended in Kupang.

I plan to stake out a street corner that has traffic lights at some point and take photos of all the sights that we would never see at home before I leave. Have to go to that corner as that's the only time anything holds still enough to get good shots! Imagine live chickens hung by their feet  upside down strung on a pole across the front of a motor bike on their way to market! 

Angela the Bride and Alberta Cowgirl

So friends and family, Easter will be upon us soon, with all the accompanying activities among you. Blessings to all!
 

Elmi

Elmi's home

This post doesn't need a translation as this one is all about Elmi, the name of the young woman I have been writing about who has the amputation and for whom we were able to get the wheelchair donated from the local disabled person's organization. As I said in a previous post, we have been working on getting all the forms in and documents gathered to put her application to the province for training in Solo, Java as her mother has now given permission for her to go. She is now 19, the same age as War who I wrote about last May who we were also working to get out to training but who died before he could leave.

 I have resisted posting this Blog until Elmi was in the air, which she is today, leaving early this morning with 4 others chosen to go, in the accompanyment of a provincial staff person to get them settled at the school.

front of home

papers to sign

We went Friday to Elmi's home in the village, a 1 1/2 hour ride away to be there for her meeting with the provincial staff person for the asssessment meeting. (my first time to ride my own bike this far and the roads are atrocious in this village) It was confirmed that another person had definitely dropped out so Elmi could join the current group going and leave on Monday, today! There was great excitment and Elmi, sitting so proudly in her wheelchair was ecstatic. Her demeanor since rising off of the floor to be able to sit at eye level with everyone else has brightened and when she gets to Solo she will be meeting for the first time others who are in the same or similar situation and I think she will expand her horizons when it comes to accessibiity and maybe even learn some tricks to getting around easier. She really is housebound at present due to the inaccessible home, mud yard and road made of rocks and the steep hill where they live. BUT, one step at a time - I get ahead of myself looking at her other barriers but hopefully she will be her own best advocate when she returns. She hopes to study computer operations over the next 10 months and she will be tested for aptitude when she gets there. There are many other choices open to her as well and she may well change her focus on arrival.
In the meantime, she is off as of today, her mother was too tearful to come to Kupang to see her off, but was strong enough to give permission - a big step here as young people look to their elders for that support or they would not take these steps. Elmi's Mom is a widow, so she will certainly miss her for the next months.

Elmi and her craft work

We met with the village head after the time at Elmi's and Berti explained  why we were out there that day. He was amazed that Elmi could go off without her mother to lift her and help her with personal daily living needs and Berti used this as the teachable moment to explain how independent Elmi is and will be even more so on return. He couldn't believe that she could dress, toilet and bath herself and also clean the house and prepare food. He was suddenly very tearful as Berti talked and she later explained to me that it was his worry for her that brought the tears. (surprising to me in an Indonesian man)
My own lightbulb went on when I realized the biggest need here is the teaching about how people with missing limbs can be independent in all ways, and that the barriers are transportation and people's lack of knowledge. Usually those outside of their own family only see them sitting on the sidelines or in their own home, doing nothing. They don't see them in their daily life when they drop by for a visit. And some admitted that they haven't seen Elmi since her accidnet as they are afraid to see her legs cut off!
Still work to do!
Enjoy the photos from Friday.

neighbour gets us coconuts - barefoot to the top!

Chinta: Selamat Valentine's Day

Hello to all of you on Valentine's Day - for some of you in eastern Canada just waking up to it, for me it is evening and the day is almost done and in the west of Canada you are still in dream land. I also know there are readers in other countries and for you, who knows what day and time it is. What a big world we live in with so many time zones!

pink cooler hold serum for immunizati

It has been a good day today - a loving skype with Don this morning to get my day underway and working with Berty and my organization on  focus group planning for the two villages. The plan I have mapped out will hopefully leave trained facilitators to carry forward the work of meeting people with disability in their villages, being able to identify who may qualify for some assistance, complete all the data necessary and get it to the right place for conisderation.  First we need volunteers and also to have information that I've learned about over the last year readily available for them. We hope from all the people we have invited to the focus group that 4 volunteers will come forward and that the group will design how they wish the information to be left, easily acccessible and simply understandable. I will keep you posted as to what they come up with. I have my ideas, but this needs to belong to them, using their ideas.

clinic building: outside is cooler, cement wall for seat

In the meantime, we have been visiting more people in the villages - the lasst two being children with significant disability. One was a 3 year old boy, but the size of a 4 month old with no motor control. We visited his family on Tuesday last week and set up for them to bring him into Kupang to the free therapy clinic but sadly he died that Friday. Life here is very difficult at times, and I am not suprised to see the number of coffin makers along the road, with an abundance of little ones laid out for others like this little fellow.
On the up side, this week's good news is that the young woman we delivered the wheelchair to in December is such a treat to see. We visited her last week and her face radiates dignity as she greets people in her chair. She no longer sits on the cement floor and even though the door to her bedroom is narrow, she navigates backwards into her small room with finesse! Her mother has now agreed that we can proceed with an application for her to go to Solo, Java to take a skills course and she is hoping to be accepted to learn computer operations. This is fantastic news as in our first visit before the wheelchair came her mother was adamant that she could stay home and learn crafts to make money as she is good with her hands and very creative. But as with many young people, her mother's ideas were not her own. We are now in the process of getting her forms completed, photos copied, medical checkup and letter from her village head dentifying her as a resident in good standing and coming from a home "in need".  Once the forms are completed we will get them picked up and delivered to the government office then go with the official when she is ready to do her face to face assessment for the final decision. Oh so much buracracy and nothing is quick and easy in getting the paper work completed. Many trips to the village one hour away - if Berty is driving as she is much speedier than I! On these trips I am her passenger.

clinic day mouth hygiene presentation

Elmi is the woman who is 18 years old, lost both legs two years ago in a motor accident and now has a dream. Cool, huh?
These are the things that keep me going through the rough patches such as a few I've had recently, but I'm back on the horse as they say in the west! Also thanks to the love and support of family and friends - you know who you are. a big THANKS

Again, Happy Valentines to all and may love be in your day and always.

Morton in white- hmmmm donuts and lumpia

I'm including photos of Morton at our favourite stop on our bike rides - Borneo Bakery and a couple from the last health clinic in the village. Dogs, babies, pregnant women. AND, lots of immunizations and vitamins.

parking guy at Borneo on a calm day

Januari sudah selasai - January is finished!

PERSANI meeting

Where did January go? Well, I have a few ideas, one being that I was sick again with Dengue Fever for almost two weeks of it, had a going away party and guests - one a Couchsurfer from the US who is working in Yogjakarta for a year and the others my volunteer buddies going home. So that sums up January except for some work this week in the village, the beginning of a plan to do some on site training for ongoing folllow up with people with disability after I'm gone back to Canada.

So, I will back up a little bit to when Don was visiting Kupang before Christmas and came to the village with me while I met some people in their homes. One such home was of the Kapala Desa (village head) and while we were there, some neighbours had butchered a cow and brought it into the yard to begin the final butchering before they took it to market to sell. For those of you who are vegetarians on humaitarian grounds, don't look at the photo! for othere who are curious about the cultural aspects of my work here, have a look at one of the sights that I hope not to see up close again!!!


Berty and I had a meeting at the home/office of the Disbled Persons Organization  (DPO) PERSANI and here is a shot of the 4 hour hour meeting. WE all sit on the floor, which is common practice, but also suites them well due to some of the

home made Christmas tree

disabilites. Their monthly meetings are attended by about 15 members and consist of discussing what everyone has been up to and any funding anyone has heard about. In this meeting 3 women had just returned from Solo, on another island, where they had been sponsored for government training, two as tailors and maker of craft items, and the other on computer, word and excel. They told of their experience and how they soon expect to see the computer and sewing machines promised to them at the end of their 6 month course. They were so excited about the prospects of earning a living from their studies and I hope for them this comes to fruition. We all talked about how they could start their small businessess, with some offering useful advice. In the corner they still had the home's Christmas tree, made from string and lights. Very effective.
This last week of January, Berty was able to encourage a father of a 3 year old boy who is completely dependant, drinking from a bottle and not able to sit on his own, to come to Kupang to see a physiotherapist who works at a free clinic supported by a local order of Sisters. This therapist also offers advice on health and nutrition, and the visit was very successful, with Berty meeting the dad on the road into Kupang to show him the way and to introduce him to the clinic. There, the dad received advice on starting the child on mushy food and encouraging better nutrition and some stretching and limbering exercises. The father has agreed to return 3 times a week to try to help his child become stronger.

census takers ready for the road

It is heartbreaking to see the hope in the dad's eyes, but on the other hand, this is the first time he has been willing to seek help and has not allowed anyone from his local health clinic to intervene or give advice. For some reason, he was open this week to some ordinary people dropping by. I was not part of this as Berty and I had split up to make teams to do the village house to house census. This was a home she happened on with her team. The reason we were helping with the census was to build relationships with more people in the community and, as this case proved, find some people with disability and their families who were not included in village life for any of several reasons. Hopefully, this door opening to this man's home is just the beginning for him to accept some help.

"Oma" cleaning the yard of leaves

Today we also visited a mom who's daughter is 5 and also completely physically and mentally dependent, and on arrival was lying on the floor of the living room listening to music on a mobile phone. She was happy until our mob arrived as with our arrival at the house, the neighbours decided to join us in the small living room out of curiousity, causing quite a stir for the girl, all these people congregating around! I relaized this was really upsetting for her and cleared them all out to leave Berty to talk to the mom abut the possibility of getting some therapy in Kupang for her daughter, who, it appears may have a serious form of cerebral palsy. It is the first time Berty has seen me quite forceful and directive and I think it surprised her and afterward we talked about how we will appproach someone who may have very limited intellectual capacity in the future and how we will control the situation. Always a teachable moment!
For a little bit of levity, since the rainy season has grown the grass high in the field across from us, the neighbours have begun using it as a garbage dump, which is not uncommon here along the sides of the road. But the big problem for us in our house is that the neighbourhood dogs love our front doorstep for its smooth cool tile and spacious dining area. They bring their "take out" from the dumped garbage over here to eat, and don't clean up after themselves!

children have responsibilites - laundry time

This morning we had a split open bag with a bit of rice and who knows what else on our doorstep to greet me. Sometimes it what's left of disposalbe diapers, and not new ones either!

Jufen doing his laundry

So my friends and family, I think of you in your winter season as I continue to sweat it out anywhere from 25-29C and high humidity.
I must say, when it rains, the temperature drops all the way to 25 in my bedroom which is almost cool. Can you imagine? And then you add a breeze and it is downright cool and feels like a Canadian evening. I make sure to appreciate those breaks but still a fan on in my bedroom at night.
Bye for now - Sampai jumpa lagi.