Quite the Whirlwind!

Seems the eye drops the doc gave me are working... the swelling and redness are almost completely gone! Yay! Now, we're back in Sorong, and I can take some time to write a little update on the happenings over the last month!

Sooo... at the end of October we left Sorong, did a flying pass in Manado (for mango madness), and headed for Jogja. It was interesting to go back to the place where we really 'began' in Indonesia after almost a year and a half!



It was wonderful, not only to meet up with old friends again (the teachers from Realia language school, who of course got a kick out of our new accents and language abilities!), but also to meet the new CUSO folks who were just completing their language training, and of course, to be in that city so rich in culture!



Interesting, too, to see how our perceptions of places and situations have changed, probably because of a deeper understanding of the culture (and language!) I still hope we'll have a chance to go back again, just before returning home to Canada perhaps (it also has to be the best place in Indonesia to pick up interesting, inexpensive souvenirs)! We also had a great first meeting with PaperMoon, the puppetry folks who came to run the puppetry workshop during our training last week... we saw their studio, some of their works, and chatted about the upcoming training. Our evening activities were possibly the most fun part of our visit to Jogja (thanks to the new CUSO folks, who are just a wonderful bunch) - they included a jazz show in a mall food court (the singer was an ex-teacher of ours!), eating at a yummy thai warung, a spaghetti supper party at the school (DELISH!!!... even the teachers though so... after adding a generous spicing up with sambal (hot sauce)!),




the most healing foot reflexology I've had in Indonesia (KakiKu literally means 'my feet'),



and best of all, a birthday party complete with a spectacular live drag queen show (you can see from the picture that Martin is slightly uncomfortable with the whole idea!)!



Then it was off to Jakarta (where we took a ride on a Bajaj/Benkai - below, motor tricycles that the UN has warned against the safety standards of!), briefly, and on to Bandung, for the annual CUSO Cooperant conference.



The Conference was full of long days, and quite draining for me, because I was not only listening, and processing the information and discussions, but also doing my best to translate it all into Spanish for Martin (of which I'm afraid I didn't do a very complete job)! We had sessions on Gender, Funding, Results-based management and reporting, Community-based natural resource governance, Cultural Effectiveness, and of course, reflection and sharing specific to our placements and experiences in our various locations. We also talked a great deal about the imminent merger of CUSO with VSO Canada, and how it will affect cooperants.




Bandung is known as the "Paris of Java", and is the center for fashion and shopping in Indonesia, so we tried to take advantage of that and spent several hours shopping at the factory outlet stores (where they actually have sizes that fit westerners, and where the European and western name-brands are sold at bargain basement prices (I picked up a pair of Versace jeans for the equivalent of 7 CAD!). On our last day together we went to visit Koem-koem (the CUSO Indonesia Program Assistant) and her new baby, who was born prematurely, but who is now healthy and home with family... then we went out for dinner to a lovely Indian Restaurant in Jakarta (a trick to find, but much-enjoyed once we did!) and said our good-bye's to all our new friends. The social aspect of the conference was the biggest plus, as we got to get to know the other cooperants, and had many evenings chatting over beers, and going out (wow, almost like having a social life again)!


being silly at the conference costume party!






We came straight back to Sorong after the conference, and I had a week to finish preparing for the training workshop (completely alone, again!?), which of course included finishing up the program module and all the equipment needed for each activity. The week prior, I also facilitated an internal training for our new assistants, to help them get up to speed on the basics that they will be teaching to others at some point! Let's just say the level of knowledge is very, very basic, and we've still got a LOT of work to do... but I hope that the workshop gave them a bit more motivation and they'll use the momentum coming off this last week to push themselves to their limits!