Adventures In Pearl Farming: July 2012

Time to start operations again in Alor. More on that later though. Big news first off! Sugi and I saw a whale while out on the speedboat the other day! Like a huge whale! It first surfaced and I thought it was one of our large speedboats that capsized or something. Thought it could have been a whale then, but it was a stretch. It dove down and then resurfaced again. Sugi definitely saw it the second time and confirmed with me it was a large whale! So cool! There were divers down at the time too, but they didn’t hear or see anything, pretty far away. I’m not too surprised though, he was right near our long lines and it can get to 150m deep under the lines. Perfect whale territory. Maybe a sperm whale? Didn’t see much of the tail or anything though.

The managers now have new work hours in Alor, from 6am-4pm with 2 hours a day on the cleaning boats. So not too much time during the day to get things done. Also pretty spent after work, so I usually just watch a TV show, dinner, and bed. There has been lots of problems with the cleaning and how thorough they are cleaning the shells. I think the crews are getting it now though, they look a lot better. Maybe that’s just because we are there more often though, and they work hard when we’re around? We have been have ridiculous cleaning hours too for these workers. Rushing and working 24 hours a day to clean shells to send to another site. But now we aren’t even sending the shells, as there is higher than normal mortality. Ugh! Poor guys, I feel bad, they have been pulling these ridic shifts for nothing really.

I have been preparing for operations here in Alor. Checking on the health of the oysters, getting the building cleaned and ready to go. Oh we are so ready to start. However! The 7 Bali technicians that were meant to arrive today are stuck in Kupang as their flight was cancelled. So we will take it easy and not operate too many nets tomorrow afternoon. Just start off slow. The ops will last for around two weeks here so I will be busy! On top of that, its soon to be the end of the month, and lots of paperwork is due at the end of the month. So it has been and will be a bit manic around here.

In my few hours off though, I have been studying Indonesian with an electrician here on Mondays. He may be teaching me a bit too formal than my basic course book is teaching me. Maybe because I’m his boss? Could be. It’s a bit confusing, I just want to learn basic bahasa, I don’t want to have to talk to the government or anything. On my Saturday nights off I have been enjoying one large beer and TV show and that is a pretty great Saturday night off for me. I walked into the village the other day and just got one beer at the shop. At the shop they all thought it was funny me buying just 1 beer for myself. I’m just finishing the series Revenge and its pretty great. I can download my shows at night from the internet and then watch them the next day now so it works for me. I’m onto the 3^rd Hunger Games book already! They are for children and are short, but I still enjoy them. I thought the second book was great, and hope they don’t butcher the movie. Mutiara kids is still happening on Sundays. The amount of kids that come has really weaned down though. Last week just 15 and this week 8. We have been learning the names of flowers and singing children songs.

I am getting excited for my leave in August/September. I get to see my family in Seattle and explore some of NE with James on the boat. I just ordered a yogurt maker online too and will pick that up when I get to WA. Will be great to experiment with that and have fresh yogurt everyday. Can’t wait! I am feeling so out of touch with the world and the news at the moment. I’m so wrapped up into work on the farm, definitely could use a break.

Alor fam

Jackfruit and I. They are huge! Vegetable and boiled when green, and a fruit when brown. Pretty good both ways!

Jackfruit on the tree look so funny. That is all I will say about that! The star fruit tree next to my room is going crazy. Picked 12 yesterday and made a fruit salad for everyone. No one likes star fruit here though, too bitter they say. I love it, there are plenty for me!

I’ve been bad about blogging once again! Really meant to catch up last week, but I’ve been pretty busy. Transfer went ok. A bit manic. I was out there on the boat every day but the last day, as I had to do work for the operations session coming up. And of course on the last day we have all these problems! We have had to go back and recount several lines again as no one really knows what is hung on the line at the moment.

My big boss has been visiting the farm twice in the last two weeks. He was here once to meet with the government and the second time to bring our CFO out to see the site. After his visits here, we found out we are doing a lot of small things wrong. So now its essential Daniel and I go out first thing in the morning every day to the cleaning boats (6 am) and then again at the beginning of the second shift every day at 1 pm. Each time for 2 hours and then I dive and carry on with the rest of my operations activities after visiting the boats. A bit too regimented for me as every day I was getting out on the cleaning boats on my own time anyways. So ya days are a lot longer now. I try to catch a nap over lunch. Up at 5 and try to get to sleep by 8. Feel like my dad!

It has still been blustering windy and I still don’t have a sailboat. The guy is a bit of a drunk, he prob forgot. Glad I didn’t pay up front! I have been downloading TV series from the internet now. No viruses so far! Knock on wood! Getting into the show Revenge. Last Sunday I made a huge twister game out of a large tarp for the kids to review our body parts and colors and we have been learning about. We they really liked it, but were more into the game and not remembering the English words for the body parts and colors. I would say right hand red, and they would look at me stumped until I said it in Indonesian, tangan kanan merah. This Sunday off we have a break from the kids and next Sunday we will learn about flowers and make flowers by cutting up straws. Going to have a water day for them at some point, I got some ideas off of teacher’s websites online. We also bought them some chalk and dyed it with our printer ink, so they can draw on the concrete. Kind of getting into the Mutiara Kids lately. Still not too great with kids or anything, I don’t want to be a teacher anytime soon mom! Just feeling like they have been deprived never playing a game of twister or never having done a field day or an obstacle course. Gotta share the love right! lol!

This weekend there is a mini-festival or what we would consider a fair in the town of Kalabahi. Nothing major, just the islands businesses get a booth to show their wares and the village people (like highland villages, in traditional dress) come and dance and things of that nature. Well it is the thing to do and the place to be on Alor, let me tell you. We heard we were invited on Wednesday and on Saturday we were meant to have a booth ready and prepared for the activities. Well we got it together, Lita got it together, and it looked really great. We had plans to go at 6 pm for the open ceremonies, and we got in our uniforms, put our pearls on and were ready to go. Well Daniel was still asleep at 5 and couldn’t watch the baby, so we took Lita’s 2 month old baby to this grubby festival with all the locals and highland villagers in traditional dress with spears and all. Not a place to a 2 month old baby at night being pushed around in a stroller. Got home from the event late too around 9:30 and the baby is screaming and crying its eyes out. Not happy to say the least.

In other news! I took another outing out to the supermarket in Kalabahi this week. Got a ride in our car with the logistics crew while they were getting water refilled. I waited a pretty long time for them at this grocery store, met the owner, and had 2 amazing yogurt ice cream bars. Good to get out and about though. On Tuesday I met with the electrician again to practice some bahasa. Went good, again he was helpful with my grammar. I get it all mixed up in Indonesian! I explained to him about apostrophes and how to use them in English. I’m definitely not the best English teacher in the world, don’t get me wrong.

I have booked my plane tickets for my next leave in Aug/Sept. I fly to and from Seattle, and it’s a pretty easy flight. Excited about that. Don’t lose too much time flying this trip. I will stay in Seattle for a few days and then head out to Boston (I think?) to stay with James on the boat and maybe move it farther south. Ready for my leave, to have some time off, see my family, spend some time with James, and see a bit of New England. I’ve never been up there before. Looking forward to the seafood! He had 3 course meal with a whole lobster the other night for $15. I guess lobsters are cheaper up there than in FL. Only $5/lb in the grocery stores. Well that’s all from me. Today I will lounge about, watch some TV shows, and maybe do some yoga. One of our workers is getting married this afternoon in the village, but I can’t really be bothered to go. Will be quite a busy event and I had my share of that last night with the festival/fair in Kalabahi. Also finished reading the Queen’s Fool and I am onto the second book in the Hunger Games series. Can’t put it down! Already halfway through and I just started it yesterday!