Catching up...

I seem to start a lot of posts recently by apologising for the length of time since my previous post so this time, please take it as read this time ! In my defence, all I can say is that there hasn't been very much to report recently. Things at work continue to trundle along slowly, especially as Yani (the colleague with whom I work very closely) was out sick for almost two weeks and returned to work just in time to go to a meeting in Jakarta (which will take about a week by the time you add in transit time, shoppping time, etc.).

Add to that the fact that our internet connection has been very unreliable recently and that half of the buttons on blogger.com seem to be missing most of the time so sometimes I can't change fonts or upload photos...

Last Sunday week we visited the village of Kristo, a friend in the hospital for another long day of sitting around on plastic chairs doing nothing much but drinking moke and eating RW (as the K9 delicacy is known). RW stands for Rintek Wuuk which is Sulawesi for "fine hair" and is the euphemism by which the meat of our four legged friends seems to be universally known. Nobody has yet been able to explain why they don't just call it daging anjing (dog meat). Another of those mysteries which will remain a mystery I guess. One of the most welcome parts of that particular visit was being offered es kelapa muda (young coconut drink) as soon as we arrived, it's deliciously refreshing and there is something special about enjoying a drink like this while sitting under the tree from which it has been plucked 5 minutes earlier. We're also in mango season now so there are plenty of mangos to be had everywhere, I bought three huge ones at the side of the road this weekend for Rp5,000 (about €0.30).

Another recent highlight was the visit of Geoff, a previous VSO volunteer who I more or less replaced in the hospital here. Geoff unfortunately had to return home early due to personal circumstances but came back on holiday to visit Lamalera on Lembata (the whaling village I wrote about HERE) and also, after visiting Flores, went to see Krakatoa. By coincidence, I was just finishing reading "Krakatoa : the day the world exploded" by Simon Winchester while he was here so was able to give him the book to take on his onward travels. I recommend this book very strongly to anyone who wants the full story of what happened in 1883 with a good introduction to the story of the geology behind the eruptions.

Here's Geoff, what film star does he remind you of ?

Lastly, some of the kids who hang around outside our house in the afternoons trying to destroy a wasps' nest (despite at least one of them getting stung every day).