Musim Hujan

It's been a while since my last post, the reason for which is that there doesn't really seem to have been much to write about. Life has changed a bit in Maumere since the New Year as the rainy season (musim hujan) has arrived in earnest. What this means is prolonged periods confined to barracks listening to the torrential rain on the tin roof. Most days the rain starts at about 2pm (coincidentally and unfortunately the same time as I finish work) and it usually then continues well into the night with a few brief pauses. As my only means of transport is a motorbike, and the roads are awash with lakes and rivers everywhere, going out in the rain is really to be avoided if possible. Shopping has to be done at great speed in between the downpours – the market turns into a sea of mud in the rain – so I stock up on tomatoes and cucumbers when I can and often now my evening meal is the ever popular, but rather monotonous, mie telur (instant noodles with an egg to you). At least it's cheap, a packet of mie costs RP1.500 and an egg is RP1.000 so the whole exciting dish costs less than €0.20. Pineapples are still in abundance and two nice ripe ones can be had for RP5.000.

One unfortunate consequence of the arrival of the rainy season is that the number of mosquitoes has increased dramatically, with a big increase in the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases. At today's morning report in the hospital, I heard that there are 190 patients in the hospital (95% bed occupancy rate), of whom 61 are children. Of these, 33 are ill with DHF (Dengue Haemmorrhagic Fever) and 16 have malaria. [One very sad story - on Christmas Day, the 7 month old daughter of one of the managers in the hospital died in the private ward. She had been admitted with malaria but apparently died of anaphylactic shock following an injection. She was their first child.]

My reading has accelerated again as a result of this enforced imprisonment and so I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of a long overdue book parcel sent by Ruth from Canada (posted in early November). The delivery time seems to have lengthened recently, I received a few parcels last year that arrived within about two weeks but my last one took over six weeks to turn up.

And finally, in other news - I now have just twenty more weeks to go in Maumere.

Ah, you're all too smart !

Or too well travelled, or too something....

THIS, as many of you guessed is an electric mosquito zapper, just like a handheld version of the blue light things you see in butchers' shops and kitchens. It's great fun to use as it gives a very satisfying spark and sizzle when you make contact with the offending creature. (It is not a rice strainer as suggsted in one email !)

There are two main mosquito-borne diseases in this part of the world - malaria and Dengue fever. There is currently no malaria on Bali (or so I am told) but there have been some recent cases of Dengue fever. I won't put you off your morning coffee with a rundown of the symptoms but if you want to read more, click HERE. The main risk of being bitten by the Aedes mosquito (which is the main carrier) is in early morning and late afternoon - apparently it does not generally feed at night although patterns are constantly changing in response to changes in the environment. When we move to Flores, the risk of Dengue fever will remain high but we will have the added pleasure of having to deal with the Anopheles mosquito (the principal vector of malaria). These beasties feed mainly at night so it looks like about midday is the only safe time.

While you can take drugs (as I am already) to prevent malaria (or at least reduce the risk), there is no way of preventing or curing dengue fever, other than avoiding mosquito bites, which is hard to do. Therefore, a mosquito net and a supply of insect repellent containing at least 50% DEET is an essential part of a traveller's luggage in this part of the world. I think I may be requesting some top up supplies from home in due course as it is not available here.
Last night I soaked my mosquito net (provided by VSO) in permethrin, which gives some added protection and will kill mosquitos and their eggs. As West Timor is a malarial area, I plan on taking my net and a ball of string when we go there on Thursday for the Volunteer Conference and will attempt to hang it over my bed wherever we are staying. This will be my first time using it so I'll report back on how easy it is to manage. It looks like a huge tangled jumble of polyester net so I suspect that it will take some wrestling to sort out !

Thanks for the comments about the new layout (both of you). I'll stick with the new one for a while, until I get bored with it as well.

Lastly, your bahasa Indonesia lessons start today and lesson one will cover greetings : greetings here vary depending on the time of day (just as in English - good morning, good afternoon, etc.). All greetings start with selamat (which means safe)and are then followed by pagi (morning), siang (afternoon), sore (evening) or malam (night). Pronounciations : pagi has a hard g and i is as "ee", sore is pronounced as soray, the other two are as they look.

Now, go and do your homework and selamat malam !