Sorry for not blogging for a while but I was back home in Florida visiting James and parents who were also home. It was really a quick trip and very exhausting, but def worth it to have a break and see everyone. Next time I am on leave I will have to practice my bahasa every day because it is lacking now that I didn’t speak it for that month back home. At home, the boat James works on was down in Riviera Beach and kept in dry dock for a few weeks. So we were commuting an hour a day to and fro to do work on the boat. We did go to a music festival downtown and had a good night out with friends. A couple good days of fishing, went to a baseball game, spent some time at the beach, and met up with friends. I did get all my food cravings in as well! Mexican, Indian, Italian, BBQ, sushi, steaks, etc! It was great!
I was sad to leave home with my parents there and James actually in the same state for once. But have to remember that was a fluke, they all don’t live there all the time. I left from Orlando and I did finally make it back to Indo. It did take three days of flying though. On the second day of flying we flew over Alor (last flight of the trip) and it was too stormy to land, so we had to turn around and head back to Kupang. So I was stuck in Kupang for a night at a semi sketchy hotel. I’m not really a fan of Kupang, a bit rough around the edges for me. When I did arrive in Alor I made it just in time for the Saturday meeting. These meeting with all the department heads are now taking about 2 hours. Its good though that everyone is talking out their problems and work is getting done. I have been messed up from the time change for about a week now. When I first got here it was to bed at 9 pm up at 5 am! I’m back in the groove now though and wake up without my alarm these days.
The next day after I arrived we all spent Sunday morning at the beach. A smaller crew than last time and a beach closer to us near the airport. I rode with Tomek (he is a better driver now after more practice) on the motor bike/dirt bike. We only spent a few hours there and then half hour drive back home. Its not that nice of a beach. The water is murky and there isn’t much of a beach. Very local though, its packed every weekend. For Mutiara kids on Sunday about 40 kids showed up. So much for the 10 kids I was expecting. Attendance has been falling over the past couple weeks I’ve heard. But I think the word is out that I’m back. I had a bunch of old magazines I was finished with so I let the kids tear them up and glue bits together to make collages. At first they had a hard time ripping up magazines like they wanted just to look at all the pictures in the pretty book, but in the end they were loving it. I had to pick two of the best (hard to do!) and gave them prizes from my mom back home. The staff here wanted to keep the collages as evidence that they did something with the kids that day, but I said oh no! And let the kids take them home to their families. They were so proud, they had never made anything like that before.
My first week back at work went well. We are busy xraying oysters for another two weeks. Just found out we have to cram more oysters into the plan too. I am planning operations in Lembata and Alor for June and July. I was stressed at first, but Nic helped me get it all sorted. Nic wants me to take care of seeing these operations run smoothly as he is busy in Bali with ops there. Think Sugi is glad I am back. I’ve been helping here out and overseeing the xray room some of the time as well. She is taking an English communications course at the school in the town here. She wants to get better at English for talking to Tomek and I.
Tomek has been super busy making budgets and things, so I went to a meeting for him this past week. It was to see the ibu-ibu (mothers) about why we no longer have a local market that comes here anymore. It was at 4 pm when I had been working all day and I wasn’t enthused to go, but it turned out to be a cool experience. The human resources girl and I met with about 15 of these farming ladies on the porch of this old lady’s house. They were all chewing and spitting bettle nut and had their young kids laying on the ground while they picked out the lice from their hair. Cute! The head lady spoke to me like I was someone of privilege and was saying all these things…well I had no idea was she was talking about! The human resources girl I went with told me later that there was a problem with the kitchen on site and when they brought things to sell the women in the kitchen would say, oh no we don’t want that, we don’t need that. Also a problem setting the prices of things so that was sorted out in a shouting match between all the ladies for a bit too. Glad I went and got to be a part of it actually.
Had a pretty productive weekend this weekend. I am reading The Hunger Games, and just loving it! Hard to put it down. I am about to finish it and I only started reading it a week ago. That is fast for me! I don’t zoom through books usually. I bought a bad copy of the movie that was recorded in the theater, but its still something so I am looking forward to watching that after I finish the book. I have also been crocheting a beanie. Its turning out pretty good too for my first one. I’m not doing it the ordinary way I guess (thanks you tube videos!) and starting from the top. I started from the bottom and was able to close it up at the top. Will post pics when its finished. Daniel bought a fancy mountain bike and said Tomek and I could use it while is gone. I went on a bit of a bike ride today on our horrible rocky roads. Went down the road a ways and then bought some things at the local shop. All the kids were out and about and were hollering at Ibu Tanya! Haha! Speaking of Daniel, his wife Lita had her baby, Kiandra. She looks just like Lita too. Will be fun to have her back here in August with the new baby. No Mutiara Kids today as it was rainy. I hung out with a few of the kids earlier on our swing out back. They are so cute and just wanted to play. I really thought this was the dry season now, but it has been monsoon raining here in the afternoons the past few days. I like it rainy though when I’m cooped up watching TV, reading my book, or crocheting. Well that’s all from this side of the world. Hope all is well where you are!
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