The experience continues!

Yep. I spewed. I actually can’t remember the last time I vomited. And I was definitely eating my thoughts – as I never thought I’d spew on a boat. I love boat travel. I secretly thought that those who couldn’t hold their own on a boat were a little weak. Like I said – eating my words… To be honest, it wasn’t as bad as I imagined. I felt super car sick and after I looked up out of the window and tried to talk myself out of the inevitable I just figured it would be easier to let it all out. Don’t worry – that’s enough detail for most people. Sorry to mention it, but it was such a momentous occasion in my life that I wanted to remember it. And, to continue with the honesty, this boat ride was not like any I expected or like any I would wish on anyone for as long as we had to endure it!

We left the dock earlyish on Saturday morning. Now I say earlyish because it may have been early at the time – but we had to wait over an hour for our pre-arranged boat man to arrive. Island time, or rubber time abounds in this island. It’s one of the things I have trouble adjusting to peacefully. Well, it’s usually ok so long as I don’t have to wake up early for it. Like this Saturday morning. Like 4.30am early. Dang! The ironic thing is I don’t remember ever asking God for patience so I’m not quite sure why He called me to this country… Ha! So it’s 8 something AM and we leave in a 3 motor powered speed boat to begin our 1.5 hour ride to this island paradise. It starts ok and I’m at the front of the boat, loving it, but then the wind and rain pick up and start coming through the hatch and I’m not ready to get wet just yet. So I move to the back – which happens to be a very good move!! In no time the wind picks up and the waves start up! We’re speeding along in this boat and every wave that we hit my stomach hits the floor! Now for this first experience this was great fun!! People go on rides like this in theme parks. My butt would be lifted off the seat at times – that’s how fast we were going over these waves. But then the fun 10 minutes turned into a horrendous one hour and that’s the point where my body just had enough! But soon after that, the water turned smooth again and we were allowed to exit the boat and go to the roof or stand on the side and watch as we arrived at Dodola.



 Part of the view at the dock.

Not too bad for an early morning with Kahli (left) and Cassie (right)

David (from USA) and Ingunn (Norway) and their little few month old Normerican in Ingunn's belly!!

 Having a go at creating a cool pic of the jetty. Our boat is the blue and white one close to the jettyon the right hand side.

 Sitting on the roof as we approach the island (though this island is the one we walk to from Dodola)

Ok - so this totally doesn't do the rough seas justice. It was super crazy - like people getting thrown out of seats crazy!

I’d love to describe to you the majestic moment when we rounded on this island. The way the morning sun glinted off the glass-like water; the beautiful coconut trees silhouetted by the sun; the white, fine sand without a footprint on it… Well, the sand comment is valid, but it was still dark with the rain continuing and for some strange reason there were pine-style trees instead of coconuts. But the place still held a charm. I had to imagine the beauty that would be present with the sun out in full force. This place wasn’t littered with rubbish either like most beaches.

For ages we sat around under this shelter – me trying to get warm – sharing stories, Matt and Dave tried to take sharpened sticks spear fishing (to no avail despite the big number of fish) and Naomi and Steve went off to have romantic photos to put on their wedding invites. The rain stayed with us until about 2.30pm and then slowly the sun came out. We explored the island that we were able to walk to across a sandbar that was visible when the tide was out. This little island could probably be walked around non-stop in about 20 mins.  There were heaps of beautiful shells and adorable hermit crabs. (I’m not sure what it is about hermit crabs but they are sooo cute and entertaining!) We finished up at about 5pm with the sun deciding to make an appearance at our departure. The trip back was much more pleasant than the arrival and we made good time back in time for dinner and a yummy restaurant where it is possible to get delicious-not-spicy food (oh how few and far between those times are!). It was a great opportunity to spend time with some great friends who will soon be leaving. Matt and Kahli have been here for 2 months and Kahli was my room mate for that time. She did some wonderful things with the kindergarten and I really enjoyed spending time with her the past weeks. Matt has a great grasp on the language and has spurred me to pick it up more in these last months I’m here for. The both of them have been a huge source of strength and companionship for me.

David and Ingunn are an American/Norwegian couple who have been here about 3 months or maybe more and have also had a huge impact on me during their time here. We’ve had heaps of conversations that have drawn out interesting ideas in theology and life and it’s been great to have other cultural backgrounds to really delve into my beliefs and assess whether they are from the Kingdom of Heaven or from Australia. I’ve truly treasured my time with all of these people and this was a lovely way to spend some last time with them.

One of the beaches here

 Some more on the beach

 Me and Kahli

 Just gorgeous when the sun decides to come out!

Bonnie and Cassie and Caleb are here from Careforce as well and some good things are happening. We took the youth kids out for an overnight stay at an island and had an absolute blast of a time!! Great things happened and the kids are alive with a passion that only has one origination. There’s been a huge shift in their focus and that’s so encouraging for us to see it unfold. The kids are fantastic! Now that I’m halfway through, I sometimes think ahead to June and wonder how hard it will be to leave these kids. But then I remember that I was called here for a season, and like every part of ministry, those seasons come and go, and as long as we’re working for something more permanent, then the time will come again where we will all meet and share our stories. Good things are happening!

I also want to mention Justin and Leanne and Bill from Warragul, Victoria. Leanne is the Australian representative of our organisation and she is doing a fantastic job! It is rare to come across someone with the right amount of tact yet the right amount of force and Leanne was able to support and mentor me in my teaching and in my day-to-day life very effectively! Thank you Leanne! Her husband, Bill, spent nearly all of 2 weeks in our little staff room making up these resource centres which involved an incredible amount of cutting, laminating and more cutting. Because of that, my life is so much easier to plan for in terms of teaching activities and resources. I’m not sure I could ever express my thanks to Bill enough, and I know subsequent teachers will appreciate all he’s done as well. Justin, you came bearing gifts from a range of schools and giving me tools to more effectively teach literacy. You encouraged me and strengthened me and were able to give me ideas and strategies I hadn’t yet thought of. I believe that because of your input I won’t reach the same stress levels of not knowing what to do or how to do it, and that means the kids will get the best education possible from me – I wish there were other words, but thank you!

I’ve also included in here some random snippets of photos of interesting daily life stuff here in Indonesia to help you all get a bit more of a visual of the area I live in.

I hope you enjoyed my little spiel. I certainly enjoyed writing it.

Much love and many thoughts

Aimee

Our local airport... Ha! Definitely not international...

Hello tiny little plane. That's why we're only allowed 15kg luggage each...

A typical view of the front yards. The mums all get out and sweep the ground every day which I assume keeps the grass from growing back. If this wasn't during school hours then the kids would all be out playing. The little covered shelf area is sometimes used when the owners have stuff to sell and they'll put it out on the shelf for people to buy.

The more garish the paint on your house, the cooler I think. The flag out the front was out to celebrate Christmas. This is one of the brighter houses I've seen. Usually they're more of a pastel based colour.

Sorry for the bad shot but this was taken while driving - these are the public transport buses and they're all over the show. For the 55 minute ride from town to our base it costs 10,000 rupia (about $1.10) - but you have to put up with sharing with any number of people and their belongings and usually the music is blaring so loud you can't hear yourself think, and you pray to God that the driver can still see through all the paraphernalia on his dashboard and hanging from his rear-view mirror...