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.