Week 27

Well I here is a long awaited blog post, it’s been quite a long time since I last wrote a post but things have been mega busy. My aim is to write this post basically outlining what I’ve been up to in brief and then resume my normal detailed posts.

Well having finally making it back from kupang after my last post, I was stranded there for just short of a week due to high seas. I finally managed to book a flight back which was then cancelled as I arrived at the airport and was rescheduled for a 5am the following morning.

However I finally made it back to the island and settled back into life. It didn’t take long to resume normal service however and what we initially thought was a flair up of my typhoid again turned out to be much worse. It would appear that I contracted amoebic dysentery (AD), although the tests didn’t come back positive, I responded to anti AD medication and the symptoms were consistent with it.

The tests I mentioned were ordered by a doctor friend of mine, Meli, who I went to see about it. Straight away she ordered a stool test which is a test I have to say I have never ‘sat’ before (very bad pun I know). Now working in the hospital makes such things a little awkward as you have to give a sample knowing full well that the following day you will have to look someone in the eye who has poked through your excrement. I waited until I thought there would be no one around and went to the lab to give my sample and thankfully it was empty except for the lab bloke.

When he saw the test ordered he reache for a bottle and gave it to me, I should explain that this bottle had a neck about the size of a 5p peice and I was directed to the toilet. I never thought when I was in language school that I would ever need to work out the phrase for “there is no way I’m taking a dump in that” but I believe through broken Indonesian and the art of mime I managed to get my message across. So I went and got my sample only to come out and find that the guy had gone walkabouts which left me with a difficult choice, I didn’t want to leave my sample there and just run off, it would appear like some sort of dirty protest if he came back and likewise I wouldn’t wander round the hospital looking for him with sample in hand. I ended up having to stick my head out of the department with my arm inside holding my cup trying to find him and eventually did.

A couple of days later I had to give another sample so again I waited until I thought no one would be around and went in, unfortunately I was not as lucky this time. Instead just about the entire male population of the hospital was there on some sort of blood drive and welcomed me thinking I was there to join in. When I said I wasn’t they said ‘oh so you’re here for a blood test’ when I said no they said ‘oh it must be for a urine test’ I said no, they looked confused. They then took my peice of paper and looked at it, they then proceeded to discuss at great pace (which I couldn’t understand) and then pass the test order around to anyone who was interested. Incidentally I recently found out that there is actually literally no word for confidentiality in Indonesian. I eventually saw the lab person who wasn’t the same as the previous time who once again offered me a similar sized bottle and the same conversation ensued. This time however, it was more a case of smuggling my sample back into the lab to avoid this to being examined and passed around.

Eventually after a raft of heavy antibiotics I was feeling okay again although a word of advice, try and avoid it if you can. i feel fine and healthy now but I have decided I’m basically working my way through the alphabet of illnesses and symptoms basically right now I’m on

Amoebic Dysentery (clinical presentation)

Bacterial Bowel infection

Conjunctivitis (see later)

Diarrhoea

E-coli

Fever

Then also had

Insomnia (anti malarial side effect)

Mosquito bites,

Sunburn,

Typhoid,

Paranoia (anti malarial side effect),

Vomiting

So thats 12 out of the 26 covered off in just my first 7 months, hopefully I should have filled up the rest after two years! Already got D covered so hopefully won’t get dengue plus I’m hoping by putting Mossy bites at M I won’t have to go through malaria as well.

During this Suzanne returned to the island having received treatment in Bali on her leg. Whilst at the ‘airport’ in Rote, I got to witness another peculiarity of that service, when passengers are checking in, they do not weigh the bag but they do weight the passenger and record this. an odd move I know. I have actually over the last 7 months as some would know, lost a total of 17kg (but managed to out two back on) from 95 down to 78kg. In old money thats about 15 stone (I was a bit of a porker) down to about 12.3 stone (I think) so I would have done well on this form of weight testing now although I have stabilised at about 80kg now.

Having said this I went to a restaurant the other week and went to sit down on the patio furniture plastic chair (as just about all establishments have here) and the waiter rushed over and stopped me. He then slotted one chair on top of another explain it was needed for extra strength. I explained one would be just fine and he replied ‘how much do you weight? I think it will be more than 100kg?’ and that is AFTER I lost all the weight.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I recovered from the AB and a week or so later in Kupang, went to the Sector workshops and AVC. This is basically when all the volunteers and staff from Indonesia get together and have some days working and then some days fun. It was really great to meet everyone and had a brilliant time. The theme for the AVC was globalisation and I was even asked to present my undergraduate dissertation on the effects of globalisation on English football, contrary to what some of you may think this was part of the fun part of the week.

The only downside of the workshops/conference is it that the paperwork I brought with me from my boss for my new special 12 month visa was wrong. Well it wasn’t wrong it just one didn’t have an official stamp, you must understand that everything is worthless here without an official stamp and another didn’t have a money stamp under the signature. The latter is ludicrous, basically for a lot of official documents here you have to go to the post office and pay a money for these thing that look like postage stamps, you then stick it on and sign over the top of it and this makes it ‘official’. To be honest it just sounds like a plot by the government to make a lot of money for nothing. Anyway, eventually this was all sorted.

Towards the end of the conference I managed to contract conjunctivitis probably from the sector workshop hotel’s pool where I managed one day to go for an early morning swim, I guess it’s my own fault for trying to be healthy. This meant for a week or so I was rendered virtually blind twice a day when I had to have cream administered to my eyes. I also took to wearing sunglasses even at night, believe me I know it looks silly but it feels much sillier.

Having finished in kupang Suzanne and I went to Bali with all of the staff in order to go to Singapore for a new visa. When we were at passport control leaving Indonesia the man asked me to remove my sunglasses, he took one look at my bloodshot red oozing eyes and quickly asked me to put my glasses back on. When I got to Singapore the passport man looked at me looked at my passport, looked at me and then said ‘is this your passport?’ to which I said ‘yes’ he shrugged his shoulders and said ‘okay then’ and let me in. This is obviously a fool proof way of making sure people don’t use other peoples passports, just ask them, how many illegal immigrants I wonder have been caught with a sudden moment of honest: “no........ wait a second I mean yes!”. Although it sounds quite glamorous to have to make a quick trip to Singapore it really isn’t.

I basically only got to see about one street of Singapore. I got into the cab at the airport, went to the hotel, got some food nearby, slept (although they had something called the football channel in the hotel, pure bliss of watching reruns)and gave our passports to the agent. At this point Suzanne had to go to hospital for a check up with a specialist about her leg which appeared to have become re infected o I was left at the hotel, I checked out of my room but had to hang around with her stuff in case she would need to stay and keep her room so basically I went to the coffee shop across the road and camped in there with a book and coffee for several hours. It turned out Suzanne was going to need surgery so returned and kept her room at the hotel, the agent redelivered our passports and I got a taxi back to the airport and left. Very very dull.

I returned to bali and as it wasn’t worth proceeding onto kupang, where I would have to go to the immigration office, due a couple of days public holiday I had an enjoyable couple of days in bali and then flew back to kupang. Then followed some frustrating days in kupnag basically getting up, finding out I wasn’t able to go to the immigration office, then loitering for the rest of the day (nearly all my friends were out of town) and the same the next day, after about four days of this VSO just told me to go back to the island, I had a few days at home and then back to Kupang to the immigration office then back to rote. So that is my visa now all sorted for another 12 months.

I have now been back on the island for coming up two weeks just getting back up to date with stuff like washing and generally recovering. Work is really starting to get going which is good but all of that meant I was off the island for about 4 weeks in total. So I’m a bit behind on where I wanted to be. Suzanne has been in Bali recovering and getting regular treatment and I chomping at the bit to get back, she’ll be returning in a week or so with husband in tow who is hear for a holiday which is good because hopefully it means plenty of treats from the UK.

Right mammoth post out of the way, normal service will now be resumed.