THANK YOU CENTRE HASTINGS!!!!!!

I just read an email from the PR folks at CUSO Canada to say they received a cheque from CHSS for 500$!

Some students at CHSS organized a fund-raising dance-a-thon in support of CUSO as a project for their Leadership course. Obviously the event was a success! I would love to hear more about the actual dance… wish I could’ve been there to watch y’all bust a move! Everyone at CUSO (including me!) is really impressed that highschool students are interested in International Development and applaud your initiative!

Great work guys!!!

Diving….

We FINALLY have been diving for the first time here in Bunaken… It’s nice to finally actually SEE what we’re here working toward the conservation of! And in truth we have Naeema to thank for that… had it not been for her visit, we would probably still be dry! We did 5 dives, including one night dive (a first for Naeema).

I’m toting a reef id guide everywhere with me, and although it doesn’t help much in learning the Indonesian names for everything I’m seeing, it certainly makes me appreciate how diverse the waters here are.

I have posted a couple of underwater pics for those of you interested in corals and sealife…

City-living

We found a house before becoming homeless and just in time for Naeema’s visit!

After a long and frustrating search for a house we have finally signed a contract… It may be in the city, and far from what we were envisioning when we began this whole adventure, but it is where we will be calling home for a significant amount of time…. and we can certainly house any and all of you who want to come visit! (Yes, it’s large – far too large for just two people… but that doesn’t mean there’s any plan to change that status immediately!)

We will actually have our first house guest help us move in!!! Naeema arrives the same day we are set to take possession… and I’m soooo excited! We haven’t seen eachother for 5 years (since graduating from Queen’s together in 2001) and I am thrilled she is able to come all the way from Dubai for a visit on her holidays!

Creambath

I would like to extol the virtues of another of our new-found pleasures called a “Cream-bath” (aka hour in heaven). This is not literally a full-body immersion in a tub of cream, as we might think when we first hear the term… but more an intensive treatment for your head. It seems that Indonesians really do love their pampering. For the equivalent of $1.50 Canadian you have your head, neck and shoulders massaged, rubbed and soaked in natural creams and tonics by professional hands… even if it isn’t a complete re-alignment of chakkaras, it certainly does refresh the mind, body and soul. My first cream bath was actually at a beauty factory in Jogja with Cecilia (Martin was not open to the treatment at the time, but has since come around!)

Pisang goreng (Fried bananas)

Yu-u-uuuummy! This delectable little treat can be found at “kaki-limas” (street vendors, literally “5 feet”) from afternoon to evening. A special type of banana (locally called pisang cepatu, or shoe banana) is sliced into about 5 segments lengthwise, battered, and deep-fried. Locals eat it dripping with hot sauce, but I prefer it unadulterated. Probably not what the doctor ordered for keeping the cholesterol down, but a sweet treat none-the-less.