Every time I think I’m relaxed ok, I’m living this crazy life in Indonesia….another minor catastrophe strikes! I had (and maybe still have) another stomach bug this week. I threw up twice in the same day and totally lost my appetite mid dinner one night. No idea what it could be from! Maybe I’m still fighting off the cold I had a while back? Well today my stomach is feeling a bit better. I'm just taking it easy with what I eat. Mostly boiled eggs, rice, bread and jam, and cereal. Don't have much energy but I did some yoga today and it felt really good to stretch everything out. My hot water is fixed for my shower too so that was great tonight to have a hot shower. The plumber that fixed my water is so freakin cute! Grandpa type, smaller than me, super skinny, big old mouth full of crooked teeth, super nice, and speaks very very softly. Pa Paulie is his name. He is Muslim and has had 5 wives. We don't think all at the same time, maybe he has divorced or some died, because we don't know how a lil man like that could handle dealing with 5 wives at once!
We had a meeting on Saturday with all the heads of each department and I'm starting to realize what my role is in Alor more. Feels like the dust has been blown off a bit, and its a bit clearer. I am technical manager, and I deal with operating oysters. But also pretty much all things pearls. Harvesting, re-operating to grow a second pearl, collecting rejected pearls from the cleaning boats, and grading pearls. Also I'm responsible for helping Sugi organize before and after operations. This includes selecting the oysters into separate sizes, conditioning them before operation, and X-raying to check how the pearl is growing. I've also taken the divers under my wing as well, and they are my responsibility now. I make their dive calendar, where they should be diving every day and collect their data from their dives. And! I am helping with the Mutiara Kids (Pearl Kids) program on Sundays teaching English to the kiddos. So a lot really! And about the Mutiara kids. The word is out that I will be teaching English on Sundays and everyone is interested, parents and kids alike. I am a horrible teacher and I know it! I’m not my mom teaching kindergarten for 20 something years! I don’t have the patience, and I probably seem rude…so we’ll see how it goes. Think I will teach them some slang English, as I always want to know the slang to fit in when I’m learning a language. Like “What’s up?”
A bit more info on the Alor staff. Daniel oversees a lot of personnel issues, finances, government, admin, sorting a lot out for Alor, he is the head. Then Tomek runs the hatchery but he has Moulia as hatchery manager and she is really good. He has also been running the cleaning boats schedules and making sure they stay on task, etc. We are making new long lines and Tomek has been putting together GPS and depth profiles to see how the bottom looks as its a couple hundred feet deep in some spots! Tomek also transports baby oysters to grow at another site a 5 hour boat ride away. He has been running those trips lately. Think he has 3 more trips to do this month!
So ya that's kind of helpful to know where I stand. I have been pretty busy at work lately getting ready for the next operation. A lot of checks to tell if the oysters are ready to operate. Oh and I even spoke a little at our meeting today. I said, "Terimah kasih semua untuk bantu dengan Molah. Molah kerja bagus untuk operasi." Basically...Thank you all for your help with Molah. (the operation site I work at, that everyone has been fixing up) Molah works good for operations. Then I asked Daniel to say some other things for me! But I'm getting there! Really can see an improvement in my bahasa Indonesia. When I explain something to the workers, be it mechanics, electricians, or my tech girls and they actually understand what I’m trying to convey, as I’m walking away I say to myself, “Yes! That’s one point for me! I’m getting this Indonesian-ness!”
I tentatively have a flight booked for my leave in April. Not definite until March 10th. I get into Orlando April 9th, and will fly out of there to Nassau probably to help James take the boat he works on over to Palm Beach. I am planning to be back in the Fort, April 25 and sticking around the area until my flight out of Orlando on May 1st. Daniel and I went for a muck dive in the bay this Sunday morning. Just an easy dive in the bay, near our long lines about 30 feet deep. I think we should call it Nudi-cutie after all the nudibranches we saw! I counted 20! Big beautiful and colorful nudis. 2 species I have never seen before either. For those of you that aren’t divers, a nudibranch is like a slug of the reef. Really wild looking little creatures. They can be orange, white, black, yellow, and neon green with different sizes of ridges all over the body. Not much else to see on the dive except for the nudis, sparse coral heads, and little reef fish. We watched the movie The Town on Saturday night. First time I had seen it and it’s a pretty good movie. I only slept in until 7am on my relaxing Sunday off. Will def be taking a nap later on today. Mutiara kids today are having a field day of sorts. Like the ones we used to have in elementary school. Relay races with flags, balancing a marble on spoon in your mouth, and doing the chicken dance! Ha! We’ll see how it goes! We aren't playing with the kids until 5pm so having a relaxing Sunday in the meantime!
We had a meeting on Saturday with all the heads of each department and I'm starting to realize what my role is in Alor more. Feels like the dust has been blown off a bit, and its a bit clearer. I am technical manager, and I deal with operating oysters. But also pretty much all things pearls. Harvesting, re-operating to grow a second pearl, collecting rejected pearls from the cleaning boats, and grading pearls. Also I'm responsible for helping Sugi organize before and after operations. This includes selecting the oysters into separate sizes, conditioning them before operation, and X-raying to check how the pearl is growing. I've also taken the divers under my wing as well, and they are my responsibility now. I make their dive calendar, where they should be diving every day and collect their data from their dives. And! I am helping with the Mutiara Kids (Pearl Kids) program on Sundays teaching English to the kiddos. So a lot really! And about the Mutiara kids. The word is out that I will be teaching English on Sundays and everyone is interested, parents and kids alike. I am a horrible teacher and I know it! I’m not my mom teaching kindergarten for 20 something years! I don’t have the patience, and I probably seem rude…so we’ll see how it goes. Think I will teach them some slang English, as I always want to know the slang to fit in when I’m learning a language. Like “What’s up?”
A bit more info on the Alor staff. Daniel oversees a lot of personnel issues, finances, government, admin, sorting a lot out for Alor, he is the head. Then Tomek runs the hatchery but he has Moulia as hatchery manager and she is really good. He has also been running the cleaning boats schedules and making sure they stay on task, etc. We are making new long lines and Tomek has been putting together GPS and depth profiles to see how the bottom looks as its a couple hundred feet deep in some spots! Tomek also transports baby oysters to grow at another site a 5 hour boat ride away. He has been running those trips lately. Think he has 3 more trips to do this month!
So ya that's kind of helpful to know where I stand. I have been pretty busy at work lately getting ready for the next operation. A lot of checks to tell if the oysters are ready to operate. Oh and I even spoke a little at our meeting today. I said, "Terimah kasih semua untuk bantu dengan Molah. Molah kerja bagus untuk operasi." Basically...Thank you all for your help with Molah. (the operation site I work at, that everyone has been fixing up) Molah works good for operations. Then I asked Daniel to say some other things for me! But I'm getting there! Really can see an improvement in my bahasa Indonesia. When I explain something to the workers, be it mechanics, electricians, or my tech girls and they actually understand what I’m trying to convey, as I’m walking away I say to myself, “Yes! That’s one point for me! I’m getting this Indonesian-ness!”
I tentatively have a flight booked for my leave in April. Not definite until March 10th. I get into Orlando April 9th, and will fly out of there to Nassau probably to help James take the boat he works on over to Palm Beach. I am planning to be back in the Fort, April 25 and sticking around the area until my flight out of Orlando on May 1st. Daniel and I went for a muck dive in the bay this Sunday morning. Just an easy dive in the bay, near our long lines about 30 feet deep. I think we should call it Nudi-cutie after all the nudibranches we saw! I counted 20! Big beautiful and colorful nudis. 2 species I have never seen before either. For those of you that aren’t divers, a nudibranch is like a slug of the reef. Really wild looking little creatures. They can be orange, white, black, yellow, and neon green with different sizes of ridges all over the body. Not much else to see on the dive except for the nudis, sparse coral heads, and little reef fish. We watched the movie The Town on Saturday night. First time I had seen it and it’s a pretty good movie. I only slept in until 7am on my relaxing Sunday off. Will def be taking a nap later on today. Mutiara kids today are having a field day of sorts. Like the ones we used to have in elementary school. Relay races with flags, balancing a marble on spoon in your mouth, and doing the chicken dance! Ha! We’ll see how it goes! We aren't playing with the kids until 5pm so having a relaxing Sunday in the meantime!
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