Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Just a quick note to wish everyone a very happy holiday season... I hope it was a memorable one.



It was another tough one for us, being away from family and friends, home and snow (!?), for the second Christmas in a row (unheard of for our family!)! But of course, because of good new friends here, it was special and memorable in its own way! But I still don't think I'll ever get used to a green/hot Christmas!

So what did we do??? Well, after getting back from the wonderful diving trip, I met up with Martin in Manado (he had gone back ahead of time), and we spend the few days before Christmas just enjoying having our own space (our house, even though it has now become an office as well, was vacated for the holidays), and visiting with friends, and people-watching in the malls (which were over-crowded, stuffed, and crazy... and surely no longer adhering to building codes!).



We had a 'Latino-style' Christmas -- on Christmas eve we gathered together at the home of the soccer coach, with his family, and the other Latin soccer players living in Manado (above). We had a nice meal and drinks (a yummy Chilean specialty called "Cola de Mono" (yes, that's the tail of the monkey!)), and gift opening. I was spoiled with a guitar from Martin, which means I'll have a chance to continue to learn (since I didn't bring the guitar that my brother gave me for Christmas two years ago to Indonesia with me!)! I'll definitely have time once the boat arrives and we're at sea for three weeks each month!



"Cola de Mono"

6 cups milk
1 cup sugar
2 cinnamon sticks or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup instant coffee
2 cups tequila
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Bring the milk, sugar and cinnamon to a boil.
2. Dissolve the coffee in the hot milk mixture.
3. Put in the fridge to cool.
4. Once cold, add the tequila.
5. Pour into capped bottles and return to the fridge.
6. Serve very cold.
7. This keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks

We came immediately back to Sorong on the 26th in order to leave that same day on a boat headed to Ayau (the farthest group of islands in Raja Ampat), where we attended 'Christmas Together' and ran a 3-day education program.



What a neat few days. The Ayau people celebrate 'Christmas Together' on the 27th or 28th of December each year... all the people from the 5 villages spread around the group of islands gather in a different village each year for their celebrations. This means a trip as long as 12 hours by dugout canoe in favourable conditions for some! Their celebrations are fairly simple... they parade doing 'Suling Tambur' (drum and pipe bands) day and night non-stop for days! It's not a parade in our understanding of the word, either... because everyone participates, and there are virtually no spectators; the people who aren't playing a drum or flute are dancing (not marching) along behind! Each village has its own band (and sometimes more than one!), so there were about 8 different groups marching in the streets (that sounds funny... there are only TWO streets in the village of Yenkawir, and of course, they're sand). The instruments are mostly made from natural materials, of course, and the drums are absolutely wonderful... each one unique! They use tarps, pig, goat or shark skin wrapped taught over wooden bases they have carved themselves.








They usually also have a special church service and a 'feast' (which usually includes seaturtle!). This year, the people of Ayau have committed to not eating sea turtle, in an attempt to help conservation efforts... they have not been consuming it (apparently) for almost a year! CI made sandals for all the residents of the islands (about 2000 people) with the message 'thank you for not consuming turtle' in the local language, indonesian, and english, and we took them as christmas presents to the big celebration! Folks were thrilled!






After the 'Christmas Together' celebration on the 27th, we ran a conservation education program for 21/2 days in one of the villages with kids. The program included activities about corals and coral reefs (including a snorkeling trip), coastal ecosystems ecology and, of course, sea turtles! It was a lot of fun as well, and although our new 'education assistants' are still pretty rough, it looks like they're 'coming along'!








Needless to say, the kids had a blast!

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