House guests and other animals

1 – 7 June 2009

This has been a traumatic week for animal encounters. The first occurred on Monday when I had a very unwelcome visitation from a snake – it was only about 4 inches long but that was 4 inches too long – see previous entry re snakes. John was not around and I felt too much of a fool to go to get one of my male neighbours in the state I was in so eventually I plucked up the courage to chop it up – using my longest knife. Well I was determined it would not come back when it had grown up a bit more!

The next was just strange – I was taking Naomi down town on a borrowed motorbike when we stopped for petrol. I was just sat back on the bike when something hit my helmet, then fell onto my right foot. I looked down and discovered it was a bat – they are quite a size here. Not sure if had been alive when it left the tree but it certainly was not when it got as far as my foot – so at least it did not get a chance to bite me; I do not think I could have told VSO I needed to go for yet more rabies boosters!

I have had a continual influx of ants since coming back home. They flow through the house, congregating and them dispersing. They are so industrious but mean I cannot leave any food out for even a few minutes without their appearance.

There are lots of other insects that pay ‘flying’ visits to the house. One of my regulars is this praying mantis.

Cooking

25 – 31 May 2009

I started to use the oven that Jo had brought to Kupang for me back in February. I made a pizza for John and myself using cheese I had brought back from the UK and then some bread. I made bread pudding as all the bread from my freezer defrosted. I have also started to brew my own wine using papaya and ingredients and equipment from the UK. At last I have started my cooking lessons with Jude – it is just a shame that he is due to leave so soon. He is an excellent teacher making me do all the steps after explaining exactly what I needed to do. He is trying to cover what to do with commonly available ingredients.

Return to Rote and trip to Oeseli

22 May 2009



At last I have made it back to placement – so much has changed; including Ibu Nonpen’s husband setting up a breeze block making business just outside my house. The pile of bricks grew steadily each day. We have a new acting director - Pac Suadi. Dr Meli has left and her replacement decided not to stay so the hospital is short of one junior doctor.



24 May 2009

Several of the doctors were taking an ambulance down to Oeseli a beach on the South West coast and invited me to join them. This beautiful beach has two bays separated by a narrow strip of land with the left hand side particularly good for swimming. There were an amazing number of star fish in the shallows on both beaches. It is such a beautiful and tranquil spot. The more I see of Rote the luckier I realise I am to have been given a placement here.

Return to Indonesia – motorbike training continues

20 May 2009


On my return to Bali I had a further days motorbike training to ensure I could cope with driving a bike in Indonesia. The challenges are the volume of traffic, the condition of many of the roads and rather different rules of the road – often at red traffic lights it is acceptable to turn left, islands can be passed round on the left of right side and undertaking is quite normal. I also took the opportunity of the training to ride a semi automatic motorbike as this is the most commonly available bike out here.

Trip to the UK

4 – 17 May 2009

The VSO medical unit decided that as my leg was still not quite healed they wanted me to have a second opinion in the UK. Despite my concern about the expense involved it was decided this was a prudent us of VSO resources. Once I knew I had to go I was keen to get back to attend a dear friends funeral; Asih in the VSO office made this possible for which I am very grateful. Therefore on 3 May after my trip to Ubud I set off for the UK. I also took the opportunity of my trip home to undertake the mandatory VSO motorbike five day training. My leg was healed within a week but I had to wait for medical clearance from VSO to return to placement. During this time I managed to catch up with a few family and friends. I returned to the vagaries of UK weather including hail but also the beauty of the spring flowers.

Ubud

2 - 3 May 2009

Dorothea again kindly agreed to take me on a trip as passenger on her borrowed moped. We set off on Saturday afternoon for Ubud to stay with Jenny, another volunteer who is living there. She took us to an organic restaurant set in the middle of rice terraces where we indulged ourselves in excellent pancakes and fruit juices whilst we watched the sunset. After spending a cosy night all staying in Jenny’s kos – a single room within a complex of several rooms.

In the morning we set off to visit the Ubud spirit festival which involved yoga, dance, meditation and much more. All week the entrance tickets had been prohibitive for locals and volunteers like us but today it was free. However the lack of signage meant we nearly did not get there was we went down several wrong routes. I am pleased we had not gone on a day when we had to pay but it was certainly an excellent day for people watching and again the venue was set in beautiful surroundings.

Sumba

18 – 20 April 2009

As I had a couple of days after Steve left before my next dressing was due I took the opportunity to return to Bali via Sumba. I went to the local bus terminal and managed to get a bus to Melolo at 09:15 however it did a couple of circuits of Waingapu picking up passengers before finally setting off at 09:55. The trip took 90 minutes, having many stops to pick up and put down passengers. If you wanted a bus you left some luggage/sack at the side of the road and then went and sat in some shade. When you were approaching where you wanted to get off you just called up the bus. Money for the trip 10,000 Rp was then passed up the bus to the driver. Stupidly I used a copy of The Lonely Planet that was about 12 years old so when I got to Melolo I discovered the losmen – a supplier of basic accommodation - had been closed for several years. There was a family in the village where the husband speaks some English and will take in visitors he was not at home but the family rang him and we agreed a price of 30,000 Rp a day for my stay, what I did not appreciate at the time was that this was for full board; an amazing bargain. I was very grateful for my Bahasa Indonesian – even though it was limited as it allowed me to communicate with the family.
The next day a neighbour and his motorbike were hired to take me to three local traditional ikat weaving villages. There are big communal houses with interesting front steps – buffalo skulls. The village elders are buried under very elaborate graves. I was advised to take sirih to give to the village heads. This is betel nut, a catkin and lime which is chewed. It causes the production of copious quantities of saliva which it stains red – the saliva is then spat out. It has a bitter taste and is very granular; apparently it has a stimulant effect. Long term use grinds the teeth away and older people can be seen grinding the ingredients in pestle and mortars before popping the mush into their mouths. In each village I was offered some to chew and managed to take without actually having to consume it in all but one of the villages. I found it as disgusting as it looks.

On my final morning in Melolo I was waiting for a bus on the main road when one of the stall holders engaged me in conversation and tried to get me to go by ojek as it might be a long wait for the next bus – I declined, an hour plus on the back of a bike with my rucksack was not appealing. Then one of her sons arrived in his lorry and she persuaded him to take me – little did I know he had his assistant in the cab and had already arranged to pick someone else up as well. It was rather cosy in the cab but at least it meant we were not thrown around as much. I thought the lorry would be quicker than the bus but in the same way it stopped to pick up passengers – but only those with a lot of luggage and they and the luggage got into the back.