It's over

The last week flies with more of the same, though my daily rides to Sanur for yoga, swim or shopping have fizzled out.
The quilt is finished and hanging on the wall, almost everyone sewed something on and are proud to point out their names. Some of the library books are labelled and all have been sorted, with bags of rejects to be passed on. I have top to toe spa package - 5 hours for $50... I make 6 trays of brownies to have with ice-cream at today's July birthday party celebration. I pack my bag for the last time, surely it's overweight but that can be sorted at the airport.
And I say goodbye to an amazing bunch of kids and adults.
Sampai jumpa lagi tahun depan - see you next year xxx

Week 3 finished

And yet more fun.... the Belgian lady who is also volunteering and I have given up on actually teaching anything!
We help with a bit of kitchen prep, supervise reading in the afternoon library session and generally make ourselves useful. I find a nearby tailor whose sewing machine I can use and attempt to have every kid help with something on the quilt.
Ian's dad and friend arrive Thursday so I go to Ubud with them for a few days r&r. It's cool and clean and green and comparatively quiet. We visit amazing rice terraces, go to a birthday celebration and generally relax. Of course I have my weekly massage, 11/2 hours of bliss with an occasional ouch for $15....

Where has the week gone?

It's the last week of hols so fun and games continue with little planning or structure. We have visitors from many countries who bring very welcome donations of food, goods, money or their skills. A face-painting lady is popular, as is the bearer of a birthday cake.
I continue with making a quilt, with the help of a couple of junior embroiderers, take a swimming lesson, supervise donut making with the big girls and attempt to sort the library.

Cooking...

It's like trying to teach your grandma to bake scones - why did I download an indo cake recipe and try to cook it??
Started off just fine, walked to local shop to buy correct rice, washed and soaked it. Yanti (cook extraordinare) found me a steamer then realized what I was making. Aduh, not like that, or I guess that's what she meant!! Got it all happening same same but different. In the meantime i sliced my finger with my new, sharp you-beaut travel knife, the fridge shelf collapsed sending tofu all over the floor and then we fell about laughing. Who needs a common language!!
Stickyrice cake cooked with coconut cream, palm sugar and apple. Yum. But I should have made lots more....

Ooh just one more

Agus is not quite 2

Chores....

Each kid from age of 5 has a job to do, you can just imagine how long it takes if you are on dishwashing. All 57 kids are back now plus 4 extras so the cooks' job just got a whole lot bigger.

Exercise and movie star

Up early and yum breakfast of my own making - rice, chopped apple, banana and nutella - a good alternative to the sandwiches the kids ate. Braved the traffic and rode about 8km to Sanur, even used most of my 6 gears as I dodged potholes and motorbikes and trucks dodged me. No aggression, just a gentle toot sometimes if a big vehicle wanted me to move over.
We watched a big bamboo structure being built last year so it's great to see it finished and now a yoga studio. I suspected I might get a discount when I said I am volunteering, but was amazed to be given a months free pass. Yoga isn't cheap here either.
Back home to heaps of visitors, a bit much but each of the 6 families brought goods or went shopping at the nearby combined Coles/Kmart equivalent. The storerooms will be bulging by the end of the school hols as I suspect this will keep up.
Final treat was Mclouds Daughter/The Circle star Michaela (meant nothing to me), here to film a segment. Should be on Friday week and will be full of very cute kids dancing and playing. Me too!
Also had fun downloading lyrics and singing along with the older boys, one of who bashed away on the piano. The kids all seem very accepting of the many visitors and volunteers. The younger ones are starting to snuggle up and the older tease me with my language attempts. Music is a great icebreaker.

At Jodie O'Shea Orphanage...

Breakfast starts around 6am. A huge pot of rice is on the table, plus chicken nuggets, cornflakes and milk. It's still school hols so the 30-odd kids from
1-19 (the other 25 have gone home to Sumba) gradually turn up and help themselves to whatever they fancy and then more. Only the 2 littlest need helping. Very healthy appetites! Spilt milk? No fuss, the kid just grabs a cloth and mop and cleans it up. Plates are stacked on the sink for Sumini and Yanti, the cook/housekeepers, to wash. I cook myself some black rice with apple, palm sugar, too much coconut cream and sliced banana. It does me for morning tea as well.
Then it's chore time according to the roster - sweeping and washing floors, raking leaves and tidying their rooms, helping wash the dishes. I find stuff and clean my bathroom, very happy there's only me in the 3 bed room for a week or two.
Next I'm driven to a bike shop. Ian and I went a couple of days ago and I'm soon the proud owner of a shiny new 6 speed for about$130. Must be cheap cos the owner won't even throw in a lock but charges another $5. The 3 girls and I visit a supermarket while the bike is being tweaked and I spend another $10 on coathangers, thongs, plastic containers and 5 magnums-one for the driver too. Very cheap stuff. It would cost me about $80 to hire a bike for a month so made better sense to buy and leave behind.
When we return there's 3 families visiting with bags of clothes and toys. Wow. Some is given out and some put away. Seems any excess is distributed to those more needy so that's good. I go with them on a supermarket run and help navigate the shopping list. The 5 kids that come too are well practiced in choosing fruit, meat and whatever else and the visitors are impresses with their good behavior.
Ok, better go do some work making name tags so I can remember a few more names!
Oh, Ian the specs are here and I'll take to Ubud