Wow! The Trip of a Lifetime!



What more can I say, really!? I think the smile on my face says it all... I had an incredible trip. I just got back into Sorong (Soo Wrong; it seems even more-so after coming off a ten-day high!) this morning, and already the whole thing seems like a magical dream!

An intense dive trip (35 dives in 10 days!) which spanned Raja Ampat's most celebrated dive sites, and included a few new special spots! I even hit my 100th dive! The group was a very interesting mix of people, and I really enjoyed getting to know them all.



When the possibility arose, I was upset that this opportunity overlapped with Martin's trip to Ayau with the Coral Reef Monitoring Team, because he had taken my dive computer and my log book, as well as my camera and underwater housing with him! In the end, it was of no consequence, and indeed I thoroughly enjoyed not being burdened with lugging a camera on every dive, and more-so, with feeling the pressure of getting good photos. In fact, diving without a camera is so much more 'real'; you can see and appreciate so much more! As it turns out, I'm a pretty decent spotter! Who knew... I guess a little marine biology knowledge goes a long way... it helps you know where to look anyway! Of course, my better-than-average vision (which recently astounded the local doctor treating my eye infection, and I am convinced is to balance my less-than-average hearing!) probably has a lot to do with it as well!

A little bit about the experience:

The boat - an immaculate schooner, built in Indonesia by the master boatbuilders in Makassar two years ago. Classic and tasteful. The most exquisite liveaboard dive vessel operating in Raja Ampat. Far outstrips my current digs in the staff house in Sorong... the boat not only had showers, but they had HOT water!




The crew - a delightful group, warm, friendly and professional. Lucky for me, I was able to actually get to know them on account of my Indonesian! The team is headed up by the phenomenal cruise and dive director, Stew.




The DIVING - incredible! Lots of new eye candy for me... things I've never seen before, new sites, awesome caves and caverns, beautiful coral reefs, unbelievable amounts of fish... I even saw my first manta ray underwater!



Here are a few more pictures... sorry, I know scrolling through them isn't a nice format, but with blogger there is no other way.






The scenery was stunning, above and below the water!






We went sunset-kayaking to explore the many channels amongst the coral karst formations in SE Misool.






The "study/massage lounge". The study lounge for those of us doing the Nitrox certification course while on-board, and the massage lounge for those needing a little extra relaxation at the magical hands of Yovin!




Meet Sandra... a fabulous english/auzzie who I clicked with, and whose company I enjoyed immensely... she also happens to be an amazing photographer, under- and above-water. I am including a few of her underwater photos below her here, most of which I'm in, to give you an idea of her talent.










(crocodile fish)



(nudibranch)



(This is the lionfish that stung me! - Yikes... it can be more serious, but luckily I was fine... although it is incredibly painful!)








What a wonderful early Christmas present!

Hi all!

Just a quick note... got news that there was an earthquake in North Sulawesi last night (phone call in the middle of the night from CUSO checking on our safety and security!)... we weren't there, and we're fine! There was actually no damage in Manado, and all our friends there are fine... they said it was just a little tremor.

WOW!!!

The most amazing opportunity for me just came into the office!!! I have been feeling for some time now that I 've been working in Raja Ampat, for conservation, but that I really don't have a very solid idea of what it is we're conserving... I've only been diving here a handful of times and seen a limited area of Raja Ampat on the whole...

WELL! The cruise director of the Seven Seas Liveaboard dive vessel just left the office... we had a great visit... and HE OFFERED ME THE CHANCE TO JOIN THEIR TEN DAY CRUISE WHICH IS LEAVING IN TWO DAYS!!!!!! They never have open spaces, but it seems that there was a charter which was canceled and hasn't filled up completely since they re-booked it as an open tour. I'm in disbelief... but I'M IN! What luck... really, if we hadn't postponed the second part of the training, I would have missed this once in a lifetime opportunity! I can imagine that most of the guests are probably amateur marine biologists and I won't be able to help much in that regard... however I will certainly offer to do some presentations about CI and especially our education program for the guests.

Too bad Martin is still in Ayau with the monitoring team, or we would be going together... and what's more... he has my dive computer as well as my camera and underwater housing, so I won't be able to get pics of it all! Oh well, I'll be able to enjoy the whole experience to the max without being behind the lens of the camera!

Will write to tell you all about it when I get back in TEN DAYS!

Conservation Education Training Workshop
Waiwo, Raja Ampat

For the last long while I have been preparing a marine conservation education module that the CI Education Team will deliver to communities in Raja Ampat using the KALABIA conservation education vessel (when and if it ever arrives in Raja Ampat).

This training, which I also organized (in the end, virtually solo), was the first time the Education Team really came together to learn about Environmental Education, how to become an effective facilitator, and to simulate the program which we will be running in the villages. The plan was a 12-day training, but in the end it was cut virtually in half - well, the second part of the training, the field-testing in the villages, was delayed due to half the team contracting an eye infection! Honestly, although frustrating, and not 100% effective as far as the learning process of the new facilitators goes, I think it was the most responsible decision. We would hate to be the ones to bring this highly contagious infection to a village where their access to the required medicines is minimal.

The elements of the training workshop that we did complete were a definite success... the activities were varied, and all together, I think the team members now have a clearer idea of what the program will look like, as well as where their (our) strengths and weaknesses lie, and on what areas we will have to tailor further learning.

It was a team-building experience as well, not just because of specific team-building activities incorporated into the agenda, but also in the way that by living together for a week, working together throughout the day, and hanging out in the evenings, we came to know eachother further, and better understand the way we are going to function as a team!

We made 'cake' while learning about the difference between learner-centered vs. teacher-centered teaching approaches:



We learned the new Kalabia Team song!



We simulated the games and activities...



... the best part was watching people 'become kids' again... since if they weren't acting as team leader for an activity, they had to be the participants... kids!



One of the special components of the training was the 3-day puppetry workshop that we held. We invited two facilitators from a Jogja puppetry organization called PaperMoon to train us in all-things puppet... from the ground up... identifying themes, and writing simple scripts, to making the puppets and stage ourselves, to how to make the puppets come alive with their own personalities, and how to stage a play, and most importantly, how to facilitate that entire process with the kids (and adults) that we will be working with! It was tonnes of fun! Following are a few pictures from the puppetry workshop...

We certainly had fun making a mess!



The puppets themselves turned out really quite well for a bunch of amateurs!!!









We used bits and pieces of whatever was around for material for the puppets... recycling at its best!






people got really 'into character'!





... and the show, with it's limited audience, was a big success!

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!

This eye infection seems to be going through cycles. The day before yesterday I thought it was clearing up, however, it came back again. There are now five of us that have contracted it (me, second of the five), and there are two more that are experiencing the 'onset' symptoms this evening. Yesterday afternoon two of us ('the infected') went back to Sorong to have our eyes checked by an ophthalmologist there. Although I'm not 100% in his diagnosis, I certainly feel better having seen a doctor, and he prescribed us some eye drops with anti-bacterial properties (but no oral anti-biotics). We came straight back this morning, and hardly missed any of the workshop.

I have reported the infection (via CUSO) to the insurance company and asked them to check up on the medications, and whether they think they fit the symptoms. I was joking with a friend via email, that maybe I would be able to convince the insurance company that I need re-patriation... you know, just in time for the holidays!?! Haha! No, it seems the doctor is quite sure this is not Trachoma, and only conjunctivitis, and will be better within the week.

We have decided to shorten the workshop back from 12 days to 7, cutting out all the field-testing. It's obvious that this infection is highly contagious, so we are afraid of bring the ailment to remote communities with already questionable health standards where access to medications is impossible!

So... will be back to Sorong on Dec. 3!

A pretty un-fun experience!

So... we arrived in the field on Sunday afternoon for this Workshop that I have been preparing for ages, and which I am facilitating (the majority of)...

I have excruciating pain in my eyes!!! Seems my 'try anything once' theory is not just an active process (ie. I CHOOSE what I try and when)... I have some weird eye infection (which has now spread to BOTH eyes!). Check me out... uuugh!

It's painful and itchy and runny and watery and swollen and inflamed and altogether annoying and I just wish it would go away! Of course, we're here for 12 days, so I am a little worried!? Actually what worries me more are not my eyes alone, but the funny little bumps that have developed just in front of my ears on my lower jaw hinge... it doesn't seem like swollen glands, and I don't remember any glands just there from Anatomy!?

We were able to get a message back to Sorong to send meds for the eyes with someone we knew was joining us late, and today he arrived with eye cleanser and oxytetracycline. Not a fun thing to use either... after applying it my eyes were absolutely stinging and I was worried I might go blind!? What an awful feeling. But in the end, in fact, they are slightly better already, if that only means that they are half covered in goop and I can now see half of what's going on around me.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I facilitated the first day of the workshop wearing sunglasses and half-blind? Fun.



This is the most recent version... swelling and redness almost gone; in fact, probably 50 % better... well, in comparison with monday/tuesday. Now just insanely itchy!



Scary thing is... I read earlier on the internet that it is most likely trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world (yikes!)... so we have anti-biotics coming tomorrow and may have to cancel our field-tests, since it is highly contagious (which we already know, since several of us here have already contracted it; me from another girl on the team first, and since then, two others!)!!!

So, I have been very lax in blogging of late... there's a reason for that... I've been INSANELY busy (and thus blogging has fallen lower on the priority list)! I've been preparing all of the activities for the education program, as well as creating a training session for the new education team... which we are leaving for in half an hour! We will be going into the field (the event is being held at the CI Field Station at Waiwo) for a 12-day training session including some environmental education and general education theory as well as (the majority) practical aspects of the program (with several field-tests!), and of course, lots of team-building. We also have two external facilitators coming from Jogjakarta to do a Puppetry workshop/training with the team!

It's all very exciting, and in fact, although I've been running less-formal, internal training on basic ecology and marine science, this will be the first time that this team is really coming together to get the Conservation Education Program off the ground in Raja Ampat!

(and no... the boat is STILL not here... it has had more mechanical delays, and should (crossing fingers) be here in January.

I hope that once we get back from the field I'll have a chance to fill y'all in on the last month and a half, including the CUSO Cooperant Conference (which we traveled to Bandung, Java, for) and our brief return to Jogja (after a year and a half)!

Missing you all terribly as we are trying to make plans for Christmas!
Love and Light,
Ange

Kerupuk



As far as I can figure kerupuk literally means ‘cracker’… but it usually refers to something that has been ‘dried’ first, then fried…

The first time I tried kerupuk was actually in Canada… AGES ago at a nice Chinese Restaurant with my grandparents in Belleville – SHRIMP CRACKERS!!! Light, fluffy, … it’s still one of my favourites. Right up there with banana crackers…

So basically, this is what they look like before frying:



... and this is what they look like after (ready to be eaten):




Of course, they come in all variety of shapes and sizes, colours and flavours, depending on the base... so there's always a new taste around the corner!

HOLY MANGOS!

Our brief return to Manado this time (on the way to the CUSO Cooperant Conference) was full of action and fun and MANGOES … more-so even than our recent holiday!

Other than hanging out with the Latin Contingent most days, and ‘clubbing’ with them a few evenings (lucky for me the theme was ‘beach party’ since club wear isn’t really part of my wardrobe!), we also took them to see the mini-monkeys, and introduced them to the wonders of reflexology and ‘the cream bath’. They don’t really go outside their norm… they spend their days going from the hotel to the stadium to the mall… they’re not really explorers, so they like it when we force them into new experiences.

The previous week when we had blown through Manado, our friends at Bintang Laut said that mango season had begun, but I was disappointed when I went to the market looking for them, but came up empty-handed. But on this trip I found myself pleasantly surprised to see overflowing bins of SIX different types of Mangoes in the produce department on a quick visit to the supermarket! I didn’t even know there were so many different shapes and sizes and smells of mangoes… so I bought one of each, and brought them home to try. The names range from Mangga Madu (Honey mango) and Mangga Harum Manis (Sweet aroma mango) to some that aren’t very descriptive (have no meaning) such as Mangga Kuini, Mangga Dodol and Mangga Gole.



Then when I got to chatting about mangoes with several different folks around town (and in Jogja as well), I found out there actually may be hundreds of different types of mangoes!!! YUMMM!!!!

Upon arriving at the house, we saw our neighbours’ mango tree… exploding mangoes!



I guessed that they would no doubt be by later to get the latest gossip on us, under the guise of bringing us mangoes.... and I was right! See, not only are mangoes sweet, delicious treats, they also bind together society!

More Online EyeCandy from Raja Ampat
(even though we're actually back in Jogja for a few days!)

You may be starting to think this might be a subtle coercion tactic to get some visitors coming this way... and although that would be fabulous, I really just want to share the uniqueness of Raja Ampat with all of you. Since it takes hours to upload my own pics, this is the best way!

Sea Life of Raja Ampat Slideshow from pictures taken by CI Communications team.

... and another slideshow this one showing the species that were auctioned off at the Blue Auction.

National Geographic has featured Raja Ampat in their latest issue (the link which I provided you before)... they have expanded their online offerings... you can now explore the sights, sounds and stories from them online. Use the side navigation bar to explore the various pages!

A REAL Shuttlecock

A closer look at this 'birdie' from a badminton game on one of the islands really does make its namesake clear!



More unique than the plastic version nowadays, and a lot cheaper (unless you're paying an hourly wage to make it)!

Pupuan Birds

The bird life here is incredible... and incredibly at risk.

You know, those beautiful tropical birds with the colourful plumage that most of us only see on cereal boxes or in the zoo... well, here in West Papua, there are actually some of these birds left in the wild!




Last time we were at Waiwo, the CI Field Station, I counted 26 squawking parrots flying above the canopy... at ONCE! The twitters and tweets of many of these birds can be heard right from the breakfast table (where we can also now access internet!)

Sadly, the only time I've had a really good look at some of these creatures is because the locals sometimes keep them as pets.






Much more devastating to their populations is the illegal wildlife trade; locals capture the birds, but they have been contracted to do so by wildlife traders, who intend them directly for sale, usually through the conduit of Java, and then often to the international bird market.





... or, like these unlucky endemic birds of paradise, they are killed simply for their feathers...



... to make souvenirs...




Please don't keep these birds as pets! They weren't meant to live in captivity. I read a true story about the Bird of Paradise - that it has never been successfully been kept alive in containment... they always die after a few days, and no one can figure out why. I figure it's probably a broken heart, or spirit.

They're so much more beautiful in the wild... although hard to spot! Can you spot the red parrot in the photo below??? Court took it at the CI Field Station, Waiwo, while he was here for a visit in September.

Waiwo
(a few of the critters that live there)

To my delight, when the CI Field Station was built, the critters in the jungle didn't head for higher ground... instead, they just adopted Waiwo as part of their home.

This little skink landed in the laundry (yes, Waiwo even has a washing machine!!!)... he must've been going for a swim in the water tank!? I'd seen him around previously in his dull brown shade, but I guess his trip through the water hose gave him a bit of a fright... he turned electric blue! I have since learned his name is Ronald.



Spiders are not an uncommon sight... how many do you spot in this pic?



This guy is probably the king of all grasshoppers...



...but this one takes the cake for kookiest (and best camouflaged - he is identical to a leaf from the side!)...



Then there are a variety of bugs of all shapes, sizes, colours and descriptions...



There are also two Soa-soa (monitor lizards) that play in the compost heap in the early mornings... however, they have remained largely elusive whenever I have my camera handy!



Getting a picture of the birds is equally challenging!