More about Maumere..

I’m now back in Bali, having arrived at 9.20 on Saturday morning after two flights so it was an early start in Maumere yesterday morning !

Our orientation week in Maumere was very useful and provided a great opportunity to find out the lie of the land without having to worry about starting work the same week. The town itself is nothing like as grim as I was expecting although there is one part near the harbour that is a bit grotty (the Lonely Planet travel book talks of “crumbling concrete buildings” and mounds of rubbish compounding the “postapocalyptic air”). True, the town was devastated by an earthquake and a 20m tsunami as recently as 1992 and has never fully recovered, but it’s nothing like as bad as it is painted. Teresa, one of the longer standing VSO volunteers in Maumere took Peter and me under her wing for the week so we had the opportunity to see lots of places outside the town and meet all sorts of interesting people. On Friday night, we turned up at Sonia FM to appear on Teresa’s weekly programme but unfortunately, due to our 3^rd mati lampu (power cut) that week, it didn’t take place and so we ended up sitting in the dark in the radio station sampling some of the local hooch – much more fun ! Teresa also took us to the market which was a great experience – an amazing variety of fruit, vegetables and lots of fish (see pics on my previous post).

One of the main objectives of the week was, of course, to sort out housing. In our case there wasn’t much sorting out to do as we are being allocated a hospital house but unfortunately we never got to see inside it despite two false attempts. It’s currently occupied by a hospital doctor and his family who are due to move out shortly. Unfortunately, they were unwilling to let us into the house while they were still living there. However, we have been assured that it is ok, that it will be painted and cleaned before we return in two weeks, and we have also arranged for a returning volunteer’s fridge to be moved in before we return so we can stock up on some cold beer when we arrive. It also has AC and a TV !

We turned up at work quite a bit during our week in Maumere (good wireless available !) but didn’t really get involved in anything yet. On Monday morning we attended Apel which was quite an extraordinary experience, standing to attention in straight lines, praying, saluting, listening to speeches and nursing reports, etc. for about 30 minutes. It apparently happens every day at (approximately !) 7.15 am and I gather that we will be expected to attend. Dr. Asep, the hospital director, is a real gentleman and we spent some time with him and Pak Edward, the AusAid representative in Maumere (AusAid is the Australian government’s foreign aid arm and is a significant aid donor in this region), at a doctors’ dinner on Thursday night. Dr. Asep is brimming over with ideas and enthusiasm (and has excellent English !) so I am looking forward very much to starting work with him.

The hospital itself is a very busy place with a little over 200 beds and busy A&E department and out patients clinic. It consists of many separate buildings linked by white tiled covered walkways and I’m sure that I will be posting much more in future posts when I start work !

Tomorrow morning (Monday) it’s back to school for the last week and a half before we start our placements proper. I was encouraged during my week in Maumere to find out how much I could understand and make myself understood – I think that Maumere accents must be clearer and easier to understand than Balinese ones ! Bali is showing many signs of the recent Nyepi and Galungan celebrations, with the streets still lined with panjurs and heaps of offerings in evidence everywhere (much more than usual).Many shops will remain closed until Monday but thankfully my laundry lady was open for business yesterday ! In this photo, you can see that the small temple in the middle of the road (surrounded by offering baskets) has been decorated in a yellow and white cloth for Nyepi and the banjar (community meeting hall) on the left hand side has also been decorated. You can also see all the penjors (tall bamboo decorations) lining the street. This was taken on Saturday afternoon at the end of my street.

Maumere photos

One tiny section of the huge daily market in Maumere.

Lots of fish available...

Cinnamon (on the right) and other goodies...
Bananas for Rp10,000 a bunch (about €0.70)

Teresa choosing avocadoes - look at the huge papaya in the foreground !

Our house (taken from the street outside)
Fish (on Teresa's handlebars) bought at the side of the road and cooked later for us by a friedly local hotel .

First time in Maumere

Firstly, apologies for the long gap between posts, it’s been a busy week !

Last Thursday and Friday, we all had the pleasure of meeting representatives of our future employers for the first time at a workshop run by VSO in Denpasar. The two day workshop included sessions on cultural differences, practical subjects such as finance and accommodation and also an introduction to VSO’s “cross-cutting” theme of disability. Each volunteer, regardless of the specific programme area in which we are working, is expected to come up with some initiatives to raise the awareness of disability in their placement. For some, this is easier and more obviously achievable than others but for others it may be something as simple as a short session to highlight the difficulties that a wheelchair user may have in gaining access to a building (assuming of course that they have managed to negotiate the treacherous or non-existent footpaths to get to the building in the first place !). The workshop was a great success and the opportunity it provided to meet our future employers for the first time in a “neutral” venue was an excellent investment by VSO. There were also plenty of opportunities for socialising, including a bowling night which is best glossed over.

On Saturday, we (Peter and I) flew from Denpasar to Maumere on Flores (via Sumba) and checked in to our (pretty basic but clean) hotel in the centre of Maumere for our one week orientation visit to Maumere. On Sunday, our two hosts from the hospital, Marlina and Yani, took us on a motorbike tour of the town and surrounds and showed us the house which has been allocated to us. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get inside the house as the doctor living there was out and his pembantu (housemaid) quite understandably wasn’t willing to let us look around in his absence. However, the house seems fine from the outside – it is about 5km from the hospital on a quietish street very near the town centre. We hope to get inside the house to take a look before we leave to go back to Maumere so we can decide what we may need to buy in Bali that is not available here.

I'll post some photos later on today.....

Nyepi

I've already posted about the daily offerings that Balinese families leave at the temples in their homes, outside their gate, and even in the middle of busy road junctions. These are just one of many examples of how inextricably Bali's religion (Hinduism) and daily life are linked together, and visible to everyone.

This week, as Ireland celebrates St. Patrick's Day, the island is grinding to a halt as the Balinese start a series of religious celebrations that will last for more than a week. This Wednesday is Galungan which is probably best described as a thanksgiving celebration. Every temple has been decked out in new finery (yellow cloths etc.) and the streets are lined with penjors (tall decorated bamboo poles) at the entrance to every house or family compound (Balinese families never seem to move very far away from each other !) .
The womenfolk have been busy cooking all sorts of delicacies for the feasting ahead while the men traditionally spent yesterday slaughtering for the feast. Pak Agung told me that the tradition was to catch and kill a turtle but due to western "influence", an unfortunate pig is now the usual victim. Last weekend I saw a small truck with about ten large trussed and kicking pigs on their final journey and yesterday as I cycled back from school,I saw a slaughtering taking place at a banjar (local village meeting place) near where I am staying.

Next week sees Nyepi (the Balinese New Year). Bali has its own calendar which has six months, each containing 35 days (i.e. 210 days in a year). The festival of Nyepi is quite extraordinary - it starts the previous day with all sorts of celebrations and riotous partying culminating in a symbolic driving of the evil spirits into the sea. From 6 am onwards for twenty four hours , the island (yes, all of it !) remains completely silent so that the spirits will think that the island is deserted and will go elsewhere. Every school and business remains closed and everyone stays at home (I mean this quite literally - nobody will even consider leave their home for the whole day for any reason whatsoever other than imminent death or childbirth) and the streets will be completely deserted except for the traditional security police who will be patrolling to ensure that Nyepi is being observed properly. Every home will be quiet, with no fires, no visible lights, no TV or radio, and plenty of time for quiet personal reflection. Even the airport will be closed and the beaches will be deserted for the day - the only exception seems to be emergency hospital services. Unfortunately, this coincides with my week long field visit to Flores so I won't experience it for myself (Nyepi is a Balinese festival and is not observed in other parts of Indonesia, or indeed, in other Hindu countries).

I am not a tourist !

Next week is when I must wake up to the fact that I am not actually here on holiday although, to be honest, the last four weeks have been a most enjoyable way of getting used to living in Indonesia. On Wednesday evening we will meet our employers for the first time as we start a two day workshop with them in a Denpasar hotel. After the two day workshop ends, we will then travel to our placement locations (Maumere on Flores in my case) with our employers for a one week field visit. The objectives of this visit are to introduce us to our colleagues at work, open local bank accounts, sort out accommodation arrangements and generally get an idea of the location in which I will be spending the next fourteen months. Many of the places in which we will all be working have limited shopping facilities (other than basic locally available food) and so this week also provides an opportunity to see what we will need to buy in our last few days in Bali before moving to our placement finally. After the one week field visit we return to Denpasar for a final ten days or so in language school before heading off to start work proper. I’ve had a few emails from other VSO friends whom I have met on various courses and know that VSO Indonesia’s eight week induction programme is much longer than in most other countries, especially African countries. The main reason for this is of course the need to be reasonably proficient in Bahasa Indonesia before starting work whereas volunteers to most African countries are able to use a lot of English, at least initially. Speaking of which, last week we had our first oral test (with a different teacher to our usual one) and also a written test based on what we are supposed to have learnt so far. I was pleased with my results in both – I think Pak Bagia was generous in his marking of the oral test and I now know some of my areas of weakness in the written test (don’t ask me to make any comparisons - more expensive than, less tall than, older than, etc. - in Indonesian just yet !).

As I mentioned, after my one week field visit, I will return to Denpasar for about ten days to two weeks before my final move to Maumere. However, not all of our group of ten will do this – volunteers whose placement is for a year or less will not return to Bali. Instead they will start their placements immediately so our close-knit group of ten will be reduced to six for the last few classes. To mark our last weekend as a group (and the first weekend for some time that we haven’t had classes or training sessions of some sort or another) a few of us headed to the town of Ubud for the weekend. Ubud is about 35kms north of Bali and is regarded as being the other half of Bali’s tourism duopoly (along with Denpasar). Some went by taxi or bus but I borrowed one of VSO’s motorbikes for the weekend and with my partner in crime, Peter (also bound for Maumere), hanging on behind me we first headed south to Uluwatu.
This is an ancient temple site at the western tip of the “foot” of Bali and is a really spectacular location. The temple is on the clifftop overlooking the Indian Ocean and is the scene of a ritual fire dance every night (tickets Rp50,000 each). We were there early in the morning and almost had the place to ourselves apart from the hordes of monkeys and a few other visitors - with the place so quiet it was easy to appreciate the spiritual significance of the location. After Uluwatu, we headed north back past Denpasar to Ubud where we met some of our group and enjoyed a very pleasant (and reasonably priced) night’s stay in a lovely Balinese style bungalow homestay called Sania’s and a good (western style !) dinner last night. This morning (Sunday) Peter and I headed further north to see Gunung Batur, one of Bali’s volcanoes (the Indonesian for volcano is gunung api or “fire mountain”). This is a spectacular location reached after a long gradual climb to about 1500m but our enjoyment was unfortunately marred somewhat by the masses of hawkers who besieged us every time we stopped to draw breath or take a photo. This was our first exposure to Bali outside the city of Denpasar – Ubud is a lovely town full of art shops and is certainly worth a visit and it was really interesting to see some of the countryside, including the spectacular terraced rice paddies and the much cooler, fresher and greener uplands. After enjoying Gunung Agung, it was back to the traffic and motorbike chaos of Denpasar and an hour or two’s PR (pekerjaan rumah – homework) for tomorrow before I go out to my local internet shop to post this and catch up on emails. Finally : en route to Uluwatu yesterday morning, I had to call in to the hospital for the last in my course of three Japanese Encephalitis vaccinations and while I was there, I asked if I could weigh myself. In the four weeks and five days since arriving in Bali,I have lost just over 4 kgs. If this continues, I will have disappeared completely by the time my placement ends.....

The Bali bikers

So back to the motorbike training - for five of our group of ten, this weekend was no holiday although thankfully we have no school today (Monday) as it’s a Muslim holiday. Instead we spent the weekend doing our motorbike training – compulsory for everyone who wishes to ride a VSO motorbike in Indonesia. On Friday, we were issued with our helmets (provided by VSO to all volunteers in Indonesia whether you need a motorbike or not as hopping on the back of a motorbike or ojek is a very common form of public transport ). On Saturday, we showed up at the VSO office and after a short theory session (the main lesson was “hati-hati dan pelan-pelan” (go slowly and carefully), we sorted out who was going to use which bike from the random collection available, some semi automatic and some larger 160cc machines with a clutch and four gears. Then we started slowly cruising up and down the quiet road outside the VSO office before heading off to a local car park to practice slow turns and other manoeuvres. In the afternoon, we braved the rather overwhelming Bali traffic and started adapting to the local interpretation of traffic laws (I had a bit of an advantage over some of the others as I have been using a bicycle for the last few weeks).

On Sunday, we made a trip to Ubud, about 30kms away in the centre of the island and visited Senang Hati (= Happy Heart), a centre for disabled young people and adults which is one of VSO’s partners/employers in the disability programme. There we were given a warm reception, a geat lunch, and a tour of the facilities and craft shop where I purchased a wood carving made by one of the Senang Hati community before mounting our trusty steeds and negotiating the hills, twists and turns, and tourist buses on our way back to Denpasar. I am happy to report that we all survived the experience with no accidents or falling off and only the occasional stalling at traffic lights !

This morning was spent doing my PR (Pekerjaan Rumah – homework) for tomorrow and this afternoon our group of ten is meeting to celebrate Jenny’s birthday at a restaurant on the beach in the tourist area of Sanur.

Happy birthday, Jenny - enjoy your first birthday outside Holland !

Helmets

One of the many differences between home and here is, as I have mentioned already, the vast quantity of motorbikes in use in Indonesia. Everybody uses them for everything. Today five of us experienced day one of our two day motorbike training so I spent much of the day riding a round an empty carpark on a 160cc Honda Mega Pro. Great fun...
As I arrived in the internet cafe this evening, I was reminded of yet another difference : at home, people generally remove their motorbike helmet when they get off the bike. Not here - there were 6 young guys playing online games in the cafe this evening - four of them had their motorbike helmets strapped firmly in place as they killed their online opponents. While we were in Kupang, I saw two guys out fishing in a small boat, both still wearing their helmets. Another local was digging for something on the beach (we never found out what) and was also wearing his helmet.

Weird.....

Dogs and the Beeb

I mentioned in an earlier post the amazing number of dogs that are everywhere in Denpasar – roaming the streets, grazing from the offerings left at entrances, sleeping in the roadway, frequently lying dead in the road after being hit by a car, and an extraordinary number of them show visible signs of having given birth very recently so the problem is not going to get any smaller anytime soon. While I was taking a shower this afternoon after returning from school, there was suddenly a lot of shouting and screaming in the laneway outside Pak Agung’s house and when I emerged I found that his daughter had been bitten on the arm by a dog just outside the house as she walked home from work and had rushed off to hospital for a rabies shot ! Rabies was one of the many jabs that I had before arriving here but we are constantly reminded that the course of vaccinations doesn’t immunise you against the possibility of contracting rabies, it just buys you a little extra time in which to start the course of injections after being bitten, licked or scratched on broken skin (yes, a lick from a infected dog, cat, squirrel, bear or raccoon is all it takes). The WHO estimates that about 30,000 people in Asia die every year from rabies - as you probably know, there is no cure and death is inevitable once the symptoms have started (and they can start anytime between four days and two years after contact). Cheerful stuff, eh ?

Ok, on to less gloomy stuff : one of the best known lifelines for Anglophone ex-pats worldwide who crave news and other programmes in their mother tongue is the BBC World Service’s English language service. Reception in Denpasar is reasonably good at the times I tune in (usually about 12 noon GMT, about 2000 hrs here) and every time I switch on I am grateful to the boys and girls of The Stedfast Band for their generosity in presenting me with a very good Sony world radio before I left the band last year. In honour of my arrival in Indonesia, the good old Beeb has started a series on Indonesia focusing on some of the issues which the country is facing in the run up to the general election later this year. These short programmes (about 25 minutes long) are being broadcast on Wednesdays but are also available after broadcasting to download as podcasts, so if you are interested in learning more than you will get from my humble mumblings, click HERE. For those of you who are not (yet) into podcasts, here’s how to get started : right click on the “download” button and select either “save target as” or “save link as” to save the recording to your computer. I suggest that to start with you choose your desktop as the location to download the recording to. When the downloading of the recording has finished, just double click on the new icon on your desktop to play back the recording. (You will of course need to have some speakers either built in or connected to your computer and make sure that you have the volume turned up !). That’s the end of the IT lesson for today.