This week...Literally been living in the clouds!

I think this must be an occupational hazard of living up a mountain. But woke up the other morning, and for a split second I thought it had been snowing!

(very strange for Indonesia) but then I realised this was not the case, it was just that clouds had moved down the mountain and enveloped the school. I could not see the other end of the school because it was so cloudy.

Here are the photos of where I am staying.

!So here you can see the bathroom facilities, I have one of the more luxurious bathrooms as I have a flush toilet the other toilets here are squat toilets. However my flushing toilet does not flush, which actually took me longer to get used to than I imagined!

The blue square thing is where the water is for my mandi so I just take the little pink bucket each morning and chuck it over me. (Well not quite as it is to cold, I gently introduce myself to the water, otherwise I think I may die of shock.) The next photo is some of the grounds of the convent. You cannot quite see it but my room is in the top left hand corner, slightly around the corner. The white building in the middle is the chapel. It takes ages to load photo's so I shall try and put some photos of the school on next week.

Not much has happened this week, due to the sisters being away, and strangely enough the night-life in Ruteng is quiet. Last night I went out with other volunteers and had a few too many beers. I think the big event this week is a party in the town centre on Saturday. I am not sure why but I will find out and let you know next week. Things are so quiet I am even contemplating joining the gym! but at the moment I am still in the contemplation mode and I think I can drag that out for a few more weeks. However I have signed up to do Teaching English a Foreign Language. I am hoping it will help me before I start teaching the staff English here are the school.

Well in the meantime I am going to surf the net as I want to see if I can find any scholarship opportunities for children who are blind or deaf to go to university or train to be teachers, as I am sure I saw something the other day. If you come by anything on the internet you think I may be interested in, please let me know. Many thanks Rachel

Bajawa is even colder than Ruteng..or as I seem to like to call it Retung!

Well my English pronunciation and spelling are not improving out here. All of a sudden I seem to be devising my own language. Made all the sisters reel with laughter when I renamed the town of Ruteng, Retung. No wonder the poor bus driver was confused!

Well as promised I have now found stable internet and photos will now be coming in various shapes and sizes. Firstly my transport. The trusty motor sepeda,

Must

admit have not gone far on it. For a

start it is a kick start bike, I have developed muscles in my right leg I never knew I had, I do wonder if after two years one leg might be bigger than the other. Well I suppose time will tell. Mind you I would need to ride the bike more than the once a week that I am averaging at the moment.

I feel like I have had a busy week this week, but now I am trying to think of something to write I cannot think of that much. At work I have managed to build a simple website for the school. Here is the link, please have a look. http:// www.karyamurni.webs.com/ now all I have to do is devise a simple training package in Bahasa Indonesia so staff who know how to update it. That will be one of my tasks for a few weeks.

I am also compiling an excel spreadsheet with a difference, I am adding photo's so we know exactly which child is which and new staff starting at the school will also know. I am really hoping this will help with data collection. Again some simple training will need to put together. Thankfully the excel training has already been started by Mark so I just need to add a simples session about adding a photo to a spread sheet.

The sisters are on holiday this week, they have very kindly been donated a holiday by a sponsor, so they have all gone to hot Bali, and myself and Sister Petra are here in cold Ruteng. However at least we can rest assured that this is not as cold as Bajawa. It was freezing at night there. Thankyou for Danny and Lau for letting me stay, had a great time. Thanks to the staff at Bappeda for the coffee!

As people will see from these photo's life is quite simple for volunteers.

In the next exciting instalment of my blog I will put some photos of the convent where I am staying and the grounds. If you are lucky you might even get a bit of video, depends how brave I am feeling.

This week the children also performed in the Independence day celebrations in Ruteng. Some people will have already seen the photo's on the website of the school, if not they are well worth a visit and the website is very easy to navigate. But good news for people who have been asking, I got a photo taken.

After a day is this sun, I developed nasty sunburn. I became a bit complacent as it is not normally that hot here, due to the cloud cover. In future I will be much more careful.

People keep e-mailing me about the food and what I am eating. It's easy to remember I am eating white rice, fish and green vegetables 3 times a day seven days a week. I know that sounds bad, but actually I really like it. Especially with a nice dose of Sambal, (the hot chili paste - very popular here)

Please keep in contact. Rachel

Sorry for the delay....I have found an internet connection that works!

Well at long last I have arrived in Ruteng, Flores. The 10 hour jounrney from Bali was fun. First the flight was slightly delayed, but I had to endure 4 hours on a bus around winding mountain roads, some of them not with the saftest surface in the world. None of this was helped by the tiny hangover and the lack of sleep from the night previously (Yes Teresa, Alanna and Bambang - I hold you all responsible) I cannot believe I went clubbing (I hate clubbing).

I am also pleased to report noone vomited on the bus, so my image of noone being able to do this jouney without chucking up has been laid to rest. It cannot be that bad as I did manange it with a tiny hangover, but I think 4 hours was the limit. Any longer and I think I would have struggled.

Anyway arrived in Ruteng, about to fall asleep standing up. Dropped my stuff in my room and then got introduced to the sisters. To all those people who thought I was joking I am really living in a convent. Yes me! Thankfully met Anouk and Mark, two other volunteers from VSO, who quite honestly I do not know how I would have coped without them.

Well Ruteng it half way up a mountain so it is cold, which means the Mandi (shower) is FREEZING! I am so glad I cut all my hair off, otherwise it would have been a night mare.

So arrived on Saturday evening. On Sunday I was a judge for a colouring competition. None of the children from SLB took place ( I think this may have been because they were disabled) but all the other local schools took place!

On Monday I attended a lecture, again in Indonesian on the church and spirituality help the poor and the abnormal. (anyone who knows me will know I am biting my tongue a lot at the moment) It is really hard to explain unless you experience, but here in Indonesia disability is viewed culturally and religiously very different from the Western World. However saying that it probably was not that long ago really that philanthropy did similar things in the UK.

I was designated official photographer of the service celebrating the 25 years of Kayra Murni the School were I am now working. The main part was a church service attended by the Bishop. It was all very nice and very Indonesian. I did not understand word. However the dancing and the singing by the students was out of this world. They are a really talented bunch.

On Monday I started work. Not really doing too much. However I have realised that noone has an accurate record of which children attend and live at the school! So on Tuesday like any good manager started looking at the historic documents and compiling a database. The world is an easier place with a database. Three weeks later still not achieved but the end is coming ever closer. I thought it would be a small piece of work. I was so wrong.

Highlight so far has been helping Mark and Anouk plan a party for the children. this happened on Saturday. The children got to eat meat, a real treat for them. They also all got a present - which Anouk and Mark had achieved through some friends, family in Holland. Best of all the children all got a present with their name on. There own name. The toy belongs to them and no one else! Amazing how something so small can be viewed so importantly.

A toy shark hand puppet (attached to a child) went to church the next morning, and got into trouble for being animated! Childhood is very different here.

On Wednesday 17th it is Independence day here. The children will be playing their drums and marching now I have found Internet connection I will try and get some photos on here in the near future.

And the really good news is I now fit into my XXXXL Indonesian shorts, they did not fit three weeks ago.

More news soon. Promise.