Days 11-12 (approximately 4 weeks until go to Roti for the first time)

well it's been an interesting couple of days, well actually thursday was pretty dull but friday was a bit, well, of an experience!

I was awoken at 5 in the morning by what i thought was the apocolypse until i got up to find it was actually a massive rainstorm which was flowing off the roof (carrying with it various degrees of muck) onto my freshly washed light coloured clothes which i had left out over night thinking, 'what could possibly go wrong?', well question answered i think.

When i got up a few hours later the rain had subsided and i departed for language school only to get to the door and it start hurling it down again. I have to say, being from the north i've seen my fair share of rain of the years and this was nothing like all of that! imagine accrington's annual rain fall all coming down in the space of 5 minutes but being sustained for serveral hours, that sort of rain.

Having managed to get possible the campest unbrella in the world from host family i set off. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas, somewhat displeased with my achievement with blocking it's efforts from above it attacked me from the ground. On my way i had to wade through calf deep puddles in just sandals of rain water and i fear to think what else (streets in Indonesia aren't the cleanest!).

It cleared up in the day and then when i had to go home again, lashed down not so much like 'there was no tomorrow' more in a way as to make me believe there would be no tomorrow. It wasn't so much puddles the second time as all streets being replaced with calf deep rivers.

The three rules of the rainy season:

1) it will start raining as soon as you set foot outside
2)don't even bother to try and stay dry, just wear things that will dry quite quickly
3) it will stop raining when you get to the sanctuary of where you are going.
4) do not, i repeat, do not, leave your phone in the front pocket of your bag, mine is currently wavering between as life being disabled with a severely damaged screen and watery grave. Sort of a 'died after a long illness' sort of affair.

I talked to the father of my host family in engonesian (it's a language people who only have a weeks training under their belt speak) and he said the rainy season doesn't even start for another month or so and described yesterday as a "shower", however today is much better so i will take his word for it.

Further to this a colleague very kindly gave me a lift from the office to hardy's ( a supermarket) and it wasn't until we pulled up outside did it occur to me that possibly there may have been more than one, alas it actually doubled my journey home!

I'm actually sat in the language school under the guise of doing independent study on a saturday however they actually have free internet which is how you're reading this. We're off for a week now but still have to go to the VSO office for some days next week. I have to say it is slightly concerning that whenever i talk to anyone at the VSO office about Rote/Roti (and indeed elsewhere) all the balinese say 'oh it's really hot there', it's not exactly chilly here so not quite sure what to expect!

The language is slowly but surely getting better each day, i can hold the most basic conversations now if the person speaks slowly, is very patient and only wants to exchange details of my name, age, martial status, where i'm from, my family members and the colour of this book (limited to hand full of colours still). LIke i say it is improving.

I am currently still facing a battle with the language which when i've won things will be much easier (not the battle to get the offical lanaguage of indonesia changed to english, that just won't happen). My language part of my brain is basically divided into two sections, english and foreignish, therefore if someone doesn't speak english i defer back to whatever is in foreignish which has always been french. It is amazing how much french i remember, i can basically construct any needed sentance out here in french whereas ask me in england and i would have no idea. This would be good if it wasn't for the fact fewer people here speak french than english.

Anyway this is already a very long post, hope all is well.....

Days 8-10 (approximately 4 weeks until go to Roti for the first time)

Well i'm sure you have all been waiting with baited breath for my next post (sarcasm). To be honest, it's not that exciting here right now! I'm at language school where i have been cast in the role of a dunce (complete with D cone hat and everything). It's really quite tough in a lot of ways, it's only been four days and they already expect us to know quite a lot, which i don't! i am trying my best though and today was much better than yesterday. i can read it and understand words but it's getting it stuck in my head and nailing down sentence structure.

We are expected to do at least a couple of hours independent study after our morning classes plus homework assignments so it's a bit hardcore. We do have next week off though (the school is shut, religious holiday) but that is actually quite tough as well. Knowing we're not staying here and not haveing a job makes it difficult to meet people plus, what do you do to fill your time? i've been reading a lot which is good really (when i'm not studying of course!).

I have seen two motorcyle crashes this week in the evenings which given the general road attitude of most riders is surprisingly few but still two more than i've seen in my whole life in england! they over take on both sides, don't check mirrors or blind spots and generally buzz around cars like mosquitos normally without helmets and sometimes a whole family (5 is the record i've seen!) on a scooter.

My host family has basically left me to my own devices which in many ways i really appreciate. It's nice to have your own space to just get away from everyone. I have noticed rather an annoying trend, i had been warned of the annoying 'hello mister' from locals which on the whole i just accept. However i have now noticed teenagers doing it as a way of trying to mock me in a jeering manner. I guess wherever you go in the world, on any continent, in every culture, teenagers will be tedious.

Generally i'm fine, i do ocassionally have the made panic of "what have i done?!" but on the whole okay.

We might go to a surf school next week but we have to see how it fits in with our required trips to the VSO office.

Days 5-7 (approximately 5 weeks until go to Roti for the first time)

Well on Friday we moved all of our stuff out of the hotel and went to the VSO office. We had the usual day lf briefings before the afternoon we had a fun trip to the police station to register (everyone has too I’m not some sort of deviant!) which was a subtle mix of dull form filling and general intimidation.

After this we went to a motorbike shop which was an embarrassing experience. VSO provides all volunteers with a good quality helmet even if you’re not riding in case you have to be a pillion passenger. However as many of you know I actually have a freakishly large head so this was a long process, they kept bringing out helmets and had to keep sending them back saying “no we need bigger!”. I actually had to try on quite a few before I found one that fit my giant noggin, I could see the staff sniggering in the back and pointing to me.

Having bought my XXXXXXL helmet we were dropped off at our homestay’s where each of us will live with an Indonesian family whilst in Bali. I was the last to be dropped off and as soon as I got out the car Badra charged over and grabbed me by the hand enthusiastically showing me my room/flat. My first impressions were that it was quite nice however I didn’t have long to form this opinion.

With another burst of enthusiasm, which I suspect he is frequently prone to, Badra asked if I wanted to be shown the way to the language school so I’d know when I went. I expected he would show me on Saturday but with just enough time to grab my oversized helmet and he took me outside onto the back of one of the tiniest scooters known to man. He then drove me to the language school, a 5’8” Indonesian man in his late 60’s/ early 70’s with a 6’2” blonde European with a huge head (and helmet to match) hanging on for dear life, bumping along the road with the suspension being crushed under the strain. It also allowed me to experience the terror of pulling out and turning in Indonesian traffic, I’ll admit more than a few prayers were offered each time this happened.

Most of the weekend has actually been spent on mundane tasks such as washing my clothes (by hand in cold water) and alike. On Friday night I managed to get lost and walk what felt that half way across Denpasar before finding my turning only to then get lost in the rabbit warren which is the side streets round here. Having wandered round for an hour or so I began to consider that dying alone and lost was a real possiboility, I got a text from a friend back home asking where I was in Indonesia, a cruel twist considering I had no idea where I was at that moment in time. Eventually I made it home only to find that I had to undo the most tricky padlock in the world.

Saturday night I met up with my fellow volunteers and realised that I had been making a massive mistake for the past few days. I have no shower here instead I have a mandi (strange sort of mini bath with a bucket to pour water over yourself (see picture) and I have almost killed myself a number of times climbing up to stand in it to wash myself (which is about 3 feet of ground) and I had wondered how other, shorter folks managed. The other day my foot slipped almost causing me to do a naked splits with one foot still in the mandi, something I really would struggle to explain in a Indonesian casualty ward. Alas as I’m sure you guesed, I found out from my fellow volunteers that in fact you don’t stand in it but instead next to it and then wash yourself.

Anyway, I’m sure you’re all bored of this or already stopped reading. Hopefully this should be posted on Monday when I set up my blog (hopefully). Got my first language school on Monday.

Days 1-4 (approximately 5 weeks until go to Roti for the first time)

Well being the organised soul that I am I’ve only just doing this, my first post and already I’m behind! To be honest there isn’t a massive amount to tell, most of the time has been just about general orientation and getting over jet lag. It is hot and sunny here which as I’m sure you all realise, I only tollerate in the name of development. Unfortunately I was hoping that most of my orientation could be done on my back in the sand next to the sea however I am yet to make a substancial visit to the beach. The beach near us has a massive coral or breakwater or something, which means that thus far whenever we have gone down it has been inaccessible because the tide has been out.

‘We’ is currently four of us who are all on induction together. Induction is happens about 3 or 4 times a year for new volunteers and apparently this is quite a small number for this. Our little crew currently consists of-

1) SSam- from Utrecht in holland- he will be an IT manager on west timor in kupang. I’m not sure if it is simply to fulfil a stereotype but he is genuinely fascinated when he sees hills.

2) SSuzanne- from Kiddiminister- the woman who I had hoped would act as my mum when she is working as a nurse advisor in Rote unfortunately she appears to have different ideas and is hoping to be the irresponsible risk taker of the two of us (her words not mine!)

3) DDorothyiea (spelling?) (Thia or if you want to annoy her, dotty)- from stuttgart and is an IT Boffin and will be working on a 12 month placement here in Bali on a database however she works for Accenture so she may start and then decide it won’t make enough money and pull out (sorry that’s an NpfIT joke, yes I am ashamed).

I’m currently sat on my porch of my hotel, we’re going to head out and get some food soon. We are moving out of hotel tomorrow to each move in with seperate Indonesian famillies for the next few weeks in Bali.

Unfortunately the photos don't want to load so you'll have to wait until later this week when i go to the office!

Introduction

Well I decided that rather than barrage people with long drawn out e-mails of my time in indonesia it would be easier for me to be a little more up to date and write a blog. The basic logic is that hopefully people can read this if they want to rather than be permentantly sending my e-mails to the deleted folder. I would however really appreciate e-mails, letters, parcels, texts and visits!

I’ll try not to make the whole thing too self indulgent but then again it is a blog so surely that is their purpose? Feel free to leave comments but on the whole please send messgaes direct to me.

Hopefully this should be updated fairly regularly however this will vary and probably dip much more when I get to Rote. Incidently it is know as Rote or Roti by most folk (apparently) however I guess the pun doesn’t really work if it’s the other spelling.