Salamat Tahun Baru: Happy New Year

dancing in the rain before changing into whites for the Dark Moon Ceremony

Didn't think I'd post before the New Year but it has been such a full time in Ubud I had the fortune to have another woman staying at the home stay who is studying yoga at an Ashram here - she is 26 years old, from Neslon BC! she has been great to be around, invited me to come with her into town on her motor scooter and given me a lift to get a few groceries. We've had such fun together. She invited me to come with her to the Ashram Christmas Eve for the Hindu Dark Moon ceremony which is very special ceremony each new and full moon. It is held in the temple area of the Ashram which is so amazing to be in let alone part of the worship/ceremony. Mostly Balinese people there with about 15 Europeans who are studying there or have moved here and participate in the temple. It was about 11/2 to 2 hours long - lost track of a variety of singing/chanting to music on a congo drum, huge accordion type instrument sitting on the floor, then up on our feet - I was grateful as I do not sit crossed legged well for long! I followed some very graceful movements that al had meaning and were similar to other Hindu worship movements I've seen int he movies. I'm afraid I was not as graceful as them but did my best. Then moved on to the centre of the temple with many shrines with very significant meaning, again more dance type moves then circling the shrines with all the men and women single file moving and pausing at each to acknowledge its meaning.  Under the Dark Moon, following an afternoon of intense rain it was so fresh in the air and temperature about 25C. It was truly magical. Then onto the area for general gathering and the music began again and the musicians sang and led us in song and the Guru led us in singing and the party began with much laughing, and dancing around the raised platform SO much fun, love and sharing exuding from everyone there. We sang Hahlleluia  (how DO you spell this?) over and over to music led by the Guru to acknowledge those of us who celebrate Christmas which was very kind of him and the local people. They sang Silent Night with us and Away in a Manger as those were the only written carols we had with us. I just kept pinching myself for a reality check and was so very moved to be accepted/invited into this gather ing of people. I am uploaded - oops can't seem to get it so will have to research how -  a video of one of the celebration songs/dance honouring the servant in all of us and in the Guru in his work at he Ashram.

ready for the Michael Franti party

THEN, Mandy ran into Michael Franti while I was shopping at the market, introduced herself and the upshot was he invited her and a friend - ME - to his home/retreat centre here in Ubud for a small party Christmas night. Don and I saw him perform in Ottawa summer of 2006 when I volunteered at the Blues Festival. WE loved his energy and his music. He is a really kind individual, and we arrived in our little black dresses on Mandy's motor scooter and he created us warmly then carried on being a normal host with his friends. We ate snack food, tried a drink of Arak (rice wine ) and 3 ounces was enough for me! No more to drink that evening for either of us. Potent stuff if one had more. We bopped and hopped to the dj above the pool on terraced areas. Go to his website and you will see the retreat centre in Ubud. It was like going to a movie star home party in Hollywood although these people seemed very genuine and real. Many are studying or practicing yoga as Michael is known as a practicing yogi. Well, enough for now my friends - this little reprieve in Ubud has reinvigorated me for my return to Kupang next Tuesday, ready with more ability in language and ready for some work. Will keep you posted as always. Love to all as you journey into this new year.

Salamat Natale: Merry Christmas

rice paddies beside our study area

Six hours a day of language training plus homework and review but in Ubud, Bali; what more can I ask for? Well, to have my friends and family here but that aside, this rural setting for my home stay in a villa style spot in the countryside outside of Ubud fits me perfectly. This is the last push for language to get me ready to study on my own in the New Year and to start at least basic communication with my colleagues as we begin to assess their expectations of this placement and what they want for their disability inclusion programme which will be new for them.
BUT, let's talk Ubud, rice paddies, slow country living. I sit on my open porch outside my room looking  at the Bird of Pardise "plant" more like a small tree, and the Lobster Claw plant again like a tree and orchids growing all around in the garden. The young woman upstairs who has been staying here and studying advanced yoga at the local ashram a 4 months has offered to lead us right here on the porch overlooking the rice paddies and the distant mountains (volcanic).

study porch

So, overlooking garden and  rice paddies with very intricate hand made irrigation ditches running off into the fields and men and women harvesting the rice stalks all around. Temperature at night is about 22C and in the day about 25 so very pleasant next to Kupang and the high humidity and heat. I will be back on a long weekend into the next year I'm sure. Also supermarket with all North American foods, so bought muesli and Greek Yoghurt!!! I've only been here about 7 weeks but already really appreciating those items not available in Kupang .

Buddist Shrine

So, to all of you who are following me and my adventures,  A very peaceful Christmas and may the year ahead hold good health, togetherness with the people who enhance your life, and may your dreams advance the way they are meant to. Sometimes we don't know what lies ahead, but isn't that the adventure in itself?

irrigation

other end of study porch look out over fields and garden

porch outside my room 

Berti and I at Rotterdam Steak House Kupang

James' sitting room in Soe

I will post my latest pictures, a few are of my visit to James, fellow volunteer in Soe, a 3hour bus ride from Kupang up into the mountains in his home, then shots from a night out at an expat bar with Berti and Rachael who departed this week for good back to London, England. Other shots are round the home stay I am in now. I saw the rice harvest, sheaves lying on a big bag that someone will carry on their head, cloths hanging and waving on a line that is wriggled by a man or woman standing at the end to scare the ducks off from eating the harvested sheaves before they are picked up, and just scenes from the porch where we study and look out of the open air room. VERY conducive to working hard and not feeling dragged out at the end of the day!
Hope you enjoy. Sorry, no Balinese Christmas trees - Just a Hindu shrine and offerings placed outside the entrance to our place. Offerings are on every doorstep, hood of their car and on the motor bikes too. the Hindu people are so very gentle, quiet and respectful. they are a pleasure to be around. Til the New Year, I am thinking of all of you and thanks for your comments and emails to keep me going on those tough days. I am truly blessed with the people in my life.

Rumah Tinggal /Home

I have now settled into my three areas or rooms or more precisely, 4 areas including my "kamar mandi" toilet and bath room. As I sit here on my one chair at my little table I use for eating, writing, computer work etc - you get the picture, at the foot of my bed -queen size and new! - I am running water to fill the concrete tub in my kamar mandi as this is the water that runs every two days - I thought once a week so this is great! The water in this tub is scooped to "flush" my squat toilet and also to dump over me for bathing usually at bedtime and in the morning as I'm pretty sweaty most of the time. It always feels a bit cool to start with but as my body starts to appreciate the cool down I can dump more over me!

My sitting room is inside the front door and is 6 feet by 9 feet long. It is a narrow room just inside the door and I sit there after work with the door open as sometimes there is a bit of breeze and I don't like running my fan all the time. It already goes all night blowing across my bed. Thank goodness for it as my bedroom is the next room beyond the sitting room and has no windows and the rooms are concrete, which is a bit close in this heat. Even though it cools down outside it doesn't get below 27/28c in my rooms. Leaving the door open as long as possible helps a bit if it rains and cools down but then all the flying things come in as it gets dark and that is at 6:30pm.  The bed/eating/and room where my fridge sits is about 13 feet by 9 feet and is my big room. Oh, it also has a wardrobe for my clothes. That is my total storage for those of you who know of my walk-in closet at home!
Then through another door to the back of my home is my kitchen. I have a little table for my dishes to sit on and a bit of space left for food prep. My one burner stove sits on a concrete slab and operates on canned gas which is used is less than a week but they tell me the bigger bottles are not always readily re-fillable - don't understand why and the seller wants me to get an even bigger one but I have no room for it. Another problem to solve but will in time. Everything takes time, supplies are bought at several different spots, which I have trouble finding without help and several trips. Just to find chicken pieces was a chore but my fantastic landlady of 25 years old came home tonight after phoning to tell me she was out looking for a bigger gas canister for me and found chicken pieces that I can trust, instead and wondered if I could settle for that and she would just pick up another small bottle of gas for the week for now. That is how it works. You go looking for one thing, don't find it, but something else you looked for days earlier pops up. All in good time!
Back to my rooms! Off my little kitchen at the back, which has my one other window besides the front door and window beside it, is the kamar mandi - really small for us big North Americans - I feel like a giant here - stand at the back when we have group pics! The photo is dark but you can make out the tub of water and the pink scooper I use for flushing and bathing.

I am adjusting to such changes in living and starting to venture out beyond my one little street. I am walking to work about 15 minutes and other staff couldn't believe it. Most in the shad so bearable and it feels so good to move. I now have 3-4 of them joining me to walk home and I may have started my own little walking club. Usually many of them hitch a motorbike ride but they think maybe this walking thing is kind of fun. We all stop at our rooms, mine and my landlady Berti's who is a colleague as well as we are the first home to reach and sometimes share a drink of water and someone runs across the street and buys deep fried bananas for a treat. Ok, enjoy the pics friends and family! I have survived a month today, and must say there have been times I wasn't sure I could. sure there will be more but one day at a time! I have lots of support from these lovely people who try so hard to understand the culture shock I am experiencing.
I have included the scene from my front door - looks a LOT quieter than it is! The brown doors on the yellow building are the various doors to the rooms and mine is the furthest to the right, at the end behind the white wall, which is good as it shields me from the street. looking out my door I see the green house across. Usually this street is wild with motorbikes, bemo minivans blaring music to get the public riders for this interesting transit system!

Satu Hari di Kantor - Day One at the Office

Day one started with my last purchase to start up my digs - a small fridge with a little freezer even! The cost was under $200 Can. and because it was such a big purchase rupiah-wise, 1.2m, I got free delivery! This was better than us on Berti's motorbike yesterday laden with shopping bags of household start up goods, sheets, towel, cleaning supplies etc. what a picture we were, but this is very common as it is the best way to get around. At our next stop we bought my floor fan - splurged for a floor model rather than a table top as only have two tables and think I need to save that space and will want my fan to move with me from table side when eating to bedside for sleeping!

Now for the office..We rode up a very narrow, slightly winding road full of potholes up to the office which is a hilly part of Kupang "suburb" and such a welcome sight to have so many trees, banana and coconut around the area. slightly cooler - but that's just relative! Probably still high 20's and in the office area I have to be by the fan as do the local staff, so I don't feels so bad. We sat out on the veranda most of the first few hours, trying to talk - my interpreter Berti had a funeral to go to in one of her villages she is responsible for so there I was, with two staff with a bit of English, others with not much or none,  and me with my bit of Indonesian. We laughed a lot, used the kamus - dictionary - and generally did ok. Then they had reports to write and a powerpoint to prepare for a big meeting tomorrow with 4 other community partners in their Access programme serving maternal and child health in 10 villages around Kupang. I will attend once I check out of my hotel and into my new room(s) at Berti's. Kind of like a row house with her two doors away and I have a small sitting room at front, large bed/eating/kitchen room and small area beyond this for my stove - one burner propane - and toilet room/wash room for dumping water over me for a bath from a large cement tub. Water runs out a hole in the floor.
BUT back to  my first day. My first month or 3 will be mostly getting to know staff, them me and slowly assessing their stated objectives  for the disability inclusion work they proposed to  CUSO-VSO. I am to assess these objectives with them and need to encourage their involvement as we develop them further or change if needed, and develop goals, and measurable outcomes. Full SWOT analysis is requested by VSO. Sound familiar to those of you in the community development or other planning work? I'm sure it is. And, adding comfort for me, recognizable! I might really be able to manage my first 6 moths, and be able to produce a report to VSO with the staff on our 6 months of assessment and project planning.
Friendly young staff, all single, mostly devout - we pray before eating our meal, both protestants and catholics. I can use all the prayers I can get, so welcome their well wishes before our lunch. We pack our own lunch as no places in the area to go for food, which will be good for me to manage my eating healthily.
So, must go now and pack up and see if my pet mouse has left more droppings on my bathroom counter! We met at 2 am this morning quite suddenly and me moving to the lobby for a bit to recuperate then decided to "woman up" and return to bed, flip-flops in hand for protection!!

I am enclosing photos of us getting ready with bags no the bike, Christmas in the supermarket - trees very expensive and very skimpy plastic - and the office and surrounding. Enjoy.