Where is Sarah?

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2008-08-19T22:20:00.002+08:00

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Want to have a super weekend in Banda Aceh?! Here's how!

2008-08-19T14:47:00.010+08:00

It was a busy weekend in Banda Aceh this weekend. And like the best weekends it lasted for three days. Sunday was Indonesian Independence Day so a public holiday was observed on Monday.

Friday was the 3rd anniversary of the cessation of conflict between the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement. There were public events all day and I quickly dropped in on one in the afternoon to see one of our NGO partners perform (they have a band). All I found was the Deputy Governor giving a rather long speech...and a sign telling me where I could stand.
Pria (men) to the left and wanita (women) to the right. Sex segregation in the middle of the day? Really? When I first saw the sign I hoped it was directions to the bathroom...

Later that night at the same location there was a concert with the very popular and very awesome Acehnese performer, Rafly. The segregation plan failed and there were boys and girls sitting wherever they felt like it. Standing was strictly forbidden though. I guess it might have led to...dancing! Gasp! Rafly really knows how to rock your socks off so it was a killer to remain seated when the music was telling you to shake your bootie. Occasionally some boys lost control and jumped up to dance...but they were very quickly reminded by crowd control to sit down (crowd control=military so you actually have to listen to them).

On Sunday, Independence Day, there were all kinds of festivities around town, including panjat pinang where groups of men from the local area climb a slippery pole to grab the loot at the top (the loot consisted of electrical appliances at the one we saw). A few of us headed to a local park to watch as groups of men tried with varying levels of success to reach the top of the pole. There were two poles, each was smeared in grease and was the height of maybe 6 or 7 men.

Here are some men at the base of one of the poles.
This group have almost made it to the top.And this guy was the first to reach the top.
He proceeded to detach the boxes and throw them down to the ground. Fortunately the boxes were symbolic. The appliances had been removed before being attached to the pole. A friend of mine saw one of these competitions in which the victor threw down a blender from the top of the pole and it smashed.

On Monday a few of us decided to go for a walk to the secret secret beach. I call it the secret secret beach to distinguish it from the regular secret beach, which is not a secret at all because everyone knows where it is and it's easy to get there. The secret secret beach actually deserves its name....we walked for a few hours and couldn't find it.

Here is the wholesome hiking troupe making our way along the track. At this point we were pretty sure we were on the right track because our GPS told us so (that's right...we even had a GPS and we still didn't make it!)
We continued along the track but eventually arrived at a cliff that was very clearly a dead end. Fortunately this was the view at the dead end:
Can't be too sad about finding a view like that.

At this point we were low on drinking water and it was very hot, so like sensible little hikers we turned back. We had received some guidance (relating to both navigation and life) along the way from an old man who stayed in a hut along the track. On our way back we stopped in at the hut for a chat. He was deaf so our communication was limited, but he did give us some life lessons (because what else is an old man in the forest going to do?)

Life lessons from the old man.
1. get married
2. have babies
3. getting married and having babies is good
4. Hedgehog is tasty and good for virility

I was pretty much ready to sign up for marriage and babies by the end of the hike.

Here, Simone and Marcus are sitting in the man's hut.
Here, Cat is talking to the old man.
A little further on from the old man's house is a natural well he collects water from. It's salty so you can't drink it but it's perfect for pouring over your head, as demonstrated so beautifully by Simone.
After making it out of the forest we stopped in at the easy-to-find-secret-beach for a quick swim and then headed to Joel's for drinks and pizza. Marcus ordered our drinks while Simone and I used the showers.

We came back to the table to find (each):
1 big bottle of water
1 pocari sweat (isotonic drink)
1 coke
1 pineapple juice

We were pretty thirsty.

This weekend was probably as good as they get... I reflected on this as I had a hot shower (it was truly glorious) at Marcus, Simone and Cat's place after returning from the beach. How can you beat that?

On blogging

2008-08-16T16:23:00.004+08:00

As you might have noticed I've been messing my blog up a bit. Playing with the layout of my blog is one of those things that starts small and eats hours away without me realising. The slow internet connection doesn't help either because I wait for a few minutes for every little change...and then decide I preferred it the old way. This got me thinking about another entry for:

THINGS I WANT TO DO WHEN I'M HOME. PLEASE HELP

No.2. Overhaul my blog.
I can't let myself start this now because I will make a mess of it and neglect some fast approaching deadlines in the process.

I have to keep it simple (I already spend a bit too much time writing posts so I don't want to spend too much time maintaining the layout), so if you have an inkling of inspiration for a simple blog design, or can help me make a design I choose a functioning reality (ahem...Benjamin) I would be eternally grateful for suggestions.

I don't really need a fancy looking blog because I suspect my readership of 20 will tune in anyway but it would bring such joy to this simple heart if I had a pretty blog.

All this blog talk has got me thinking about what keeping this blog for a year has meant for me. I started the blog as an alternative to sending group emails about what I'm up to, and as a way to keep thinking about what I was seeing and doing. I'm terrible at keeping a journal even though I see great value in it so this is a bit of an alternative. There are obviously things I can't/won't share on this blog for reasons of being work-sensitive/personal/boring, so it's far from a complete replacement for a journal but it does seem to working as a recorder of my experiences even if there are giant gaps.

But I think the most surprising outcome of keeping this blog is that it helps me to feel connected to my life outside of Banda Aceh. I didn't necessarily expect that because the communication is mostly one way (apart from comments received). And I write to a mixed audience so I don't particularly tailor my content to one group. But I suppose that as I write a post I think of the people who might be reading, where they're sitting when they read it, who will like a particular youtube clip, etc...and I feel connected.

By the way, ramping up the frequency of my posts has made all the difference. Seems like my "9 Things to do Before 2009" list, including the posting target I set for myself, is actually doing some good then.

Aceh in the news today

2008-08-15T09:23:00.004+08:00

Gah, my Aceh Google Alert has so much news today! (google alerts+me=BFF)

Links to the best bits:

I'm trying to recall if I ever met this guy from New Zealand at a party in Banda Aceh. Hot new destination!! Banda Aceh! Sun, surf, relative anonymity!! Perfect for relaxation and police evasion!

A less shady New Zealander residing in Banda Aceh is a HERO! We all knew that about Cas already....But now the Red Cross and the newspaper have confirmed it! (Cas also gave me tips on how to fall asleep once for which I am eternally grateful: Cover your eyes with your hands, lie on your back with your legs against the wall. Both instructions sound ridiculous but I'll show you in person and it will make sense...and it works).

Andrew Bolt said some stupid stuff about Papuan refugees. The link to Aceh is minor, but I'm glad this ended up in my inbox. It's like a jolt of caffeine first thing in the morning! Oh Andrew Bolt...I just want to scruff your hair up and give you a Chinese burn.

Care for another reason to dislike oil companies?

Humanitarian aid workers killed in Afghanistan. More here.

Things I want to do

2008-08-14T10:46:00.004+08:00

Now that I know when I'm getting back to Melbourne I've started making a mental list of all the things I want to do while I'm home (a very different list to the one of all the things I must do when I home, e.g., tax, moving out of Gore St).

To spread the word I've decided to post a few hints on my blog in the hope that my friends and family (i.e., readers of this blog) want to come along...with your car (no, I didn't miraculously learn how to drive while I was here. sorry).

I will call this subtle hinting:

THINGS I WANT TO DO WHEN I AM BACK IN MELBOURNE: PLEASE HELP

These posts will appear whenever I think of something else I want to do.

No. 1. Go to Sassafras.

I had some lovely pictures of a trip Lara and I took to Sassafras last year sometime but I can't find them. So I stole this image from Google images instead. I think we stopped at this cafe/grocer for drink. The photo is hyperlinked to the blog I stole it from. I also want to go to the toy store, lolly store and flea market with the records and books. If anyone reading this blog can say no to this trip I can't imagine why we get along.

Please feel free to suggest other things I should do while I'm home.

The Pen Has Been in Their Hands

2008-08-12T19:32:00.010+08:00

I just finished reading Jane Austen's Persuasion and I will admit that it's the first Jane Austen novel I've read. I guess the BBC series' don't count, do they?

I think Jane Austen's feminist credentials have been discussed/debated at length in various places, so this might not be earth-shattering for some. But I read a passage in Persuasion that perfectly captures an idea that's come up a few times this year in my work. When Sarah writes about it she get wordy and needs to qualify it, and gets caught up with using the appropriate term of the moment etc etc. When Jane writes about it...well, from now on I will just refer to Jane.

To introduce the following passage, Anne is arguing with Captain Harville about whether men or women harbour heart ache longer. Captain Harville insists that men don't get over heartbreak easily ("and that as our bodies are strongest, so are our feelings"). Anne argues that women are more fragile and thus suffer more. Keep an eye on Anne's response to Harville.

Harville says:

'as I was saying, we shall never agree, I suppose, upon this point. No man and woman would, probably. But let me observe that all histories are against you--all stories, prose and verse. If I had such a memory as Benwick, I could bring you fifty quotations in a moment on my side the argument, and I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon women's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs all talk of woman's fickleness. But, perhaps, you will say these were all written by men.'

Anne:

'Perhaps I shall. Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.'

It reminds us why it's so important for women to tell their own stories (and to report on the world too, as journalists, historians, academics etc). In Aceh there is a huge gap. I'm working on a book at the moment that is the first collection of essays written by Acehnese women to be published. My organisation was motivated to publish this book because there is so much written about Aceh but very little of it is written by the women of Aceh, who will give unique perspectives and reflect a whole different set of issues to the men of Aceh, or people coming from outside (men or women). We often think about 'what issues are being written about', but sometimes overlook the important question of 'who is writing about the issues'.

Sunday is also a great day for the beach

2008-08-12T10:12:00.004+08:00

I spent another lovely day at the beach this weekend. I know I should be posting about the millions of things that happen in between beach trips but it takes more time than I have today to prepare those posts.

I was supposed to go on a boat trip on Sunday. Some of you may recall me writing about these trips here, and they are without fail a really great day. But I woke up on Sunday feeling tired and unwell so I stayed home and Sas cooked me a breakfast burrito.

Fortunately, there were a few other boat trip rejects (illness, work and other things got in the way of their participation), so around midday Simone, Cat, Azeemah and I went to beach, wandered and collected shells.
Later in the afternoon we met Marcus and ate crab with noodles for lunch. So delicious. I forgot to take a photo of the crab but you can see in this photo of Simone the remainders of our feast. We stayed at the beach for a looooong time. It was so great to be out there for the whole day, although I am now quite burnt (but only on the very few bits of skin that see daylight. I was wearing a high-neck, long sleeve shirt and a long skirt).

As you can imagine by looking at the photo below, we were a group of very happy and chill people by the end of the day.
Oh! I almost forgot the greatest moment that happened after this last photo. We went for a swim as the sun went down and the undercurrent was so strong that my legs were pulled from under me and I was dragged out to sea...only to be thrown back to shore a couple of seconds later...and then dragged out again...thrown back to shore. I had no control over this process at all. I don't really know how I broke the cycle but it wasn't without effort and getting tangled in my own skirt while doing it. Ahhhh, funny.

Monkey/Journey to the West makes Olympics slightly less lame

2008-08-11T11:51:00.000+08:00

Moving this way and that

2008-08-11T09:09:00.004+08:00

Saturday afternoon saw the end of a crazy stretch of work so now I will pick up where I left off as a diligent blogger.

The busy period gave me a lot to report so I plan to post a few photos from the last few weeks over the next week and get up to date. Now I move into a new phase of busyness as my time in Aceh draws to a close (I'll be back in Australia next month). I have a lot of writing to do so I will be glued to my computer and therefore probably blogging as a form of procrastination.

Dates aren't fixed yet but I'll be home for a few weeks in September/October and then I'll be relocating to Bangkok to take up a six month contract (the picture to the left is just one I shamelessly stole from the web). This is great news and I should be falling off my chair with excitement but I'm a bit too tired, and I suspect my soul is too weary, to be excited yet. But I expect that I will go home and have a rest, attend to the other parts of my life for a little bit and then jump back in feeling refreshed. And if there is anywhere to go for a weary soul it's Thailand right?

I will be looking for accommodation with room for visitors as I've already had a few people signal their wish to visit, and in any given six month period a handful of friends and family visit Thailand anyway, so maybe people will like to stop in Bangkok and say hi. Again, no dates fixed yet, but I think I can flag the last half of January and a week or so in late March/April as times that I will be back in Aceh, so whether you're coming to visit Sarah or want a vacant apartment in Bangkok for a couple of weeks I hope these times suit.

Now, after a lovely hour of blogging and interneting on Monday morning, I will start work for the week. Just after I find something for breakfast.

1, 2, 3, 4 monsters walking cross the floor

2008-08-05T15:41:00.002+08:00

Have you seen this yet?

Wenesday is the perfect day for the beach

2008-08-01T13:15:00.005+08:00

After a week of inefficiency and time wasting I am trying to turn the productivity dial up to maximum force, so I will just post some pictures from a walk along the beach on Wednesday (a very rare and welcome UN-observed public holiday).

We found a fish. Marcus wanted to kiss it.

Then we found this thing....Any ideas on what this is? Anyone?

Then we rested and reflected on the spectacles we'd seen.

Portmanteau

2008-07-31T14:25:00.002+08:00

My new favourite word is portmanteau. I think the word itself is pretty great but the meaning/s are also great.

A portmanteau is a suitcase with two compartments, and a portmanteau word is something like a contraction when two words are blended. The word was first used in this way by Lewis Carrol in Through the Looking Glass. I will let Wikipedia explain:

The usage of the word 'portmanteau' in this sense first appeared in Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking-Glass (1871),^[1] in which Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky:^[9]

"‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy’... You see it's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word"
"‘Mimsy’ is ‘flimsy and miserable’ (there's another portmanteau ... for you)".

Indonesians love portmanteau words. They make there way into formal language all the time. I think these examples might be contractions rather than portmanteau words, but I'd rather not be a stickler if being a stickler means excluding myself from using my new favourite word.

For example: partai politik (political party) becomes Parpol. And that's just the beginning. If a phrase cannot be made into an acronym (also a favourite in Indonesia) it will become a portmaneau word.

An example of something that is half way between an acronym and a portmanteau (can a linguist help me out here?):

Badan Perencanaan dan Pembangunan Nasional becomes Bappenas. Efficient isn't it!

I think I will create a list of Indonesian portmanteau words. But first I will do some work...

chocolate and dengue

2008-07-29T17:18:00.005+08:00

I don't mean to turn this into a chocolate blog (there are enough in the world already), but I, a gal who is neither here nor there about most chocolate, could not go another day without drawing the attention of my fellow Australians to the little gift from god called:

Club Classic Mixed Berry.

I brought some chocolate back to Indonesia from Australia last month and gave most of it away as presents. I kept this block because I knew a day would come when chocolate would be needed. It was Friday last week when it happened. We were flat, bored and in need of a little adventure, so I gave the block to my colleagues Ani and Inda to try. It had been melted a billion times so it was a little bit weird, but it truly made my colleagues jealous that I could just waltz on into a regular supermarket and buy something this delicious!

When I went looking for a photo for this post I found a blog reviewing Club Classic Mixed Berry which said all kinds of delicious-sounding things about it. But I have nooooo desire at all to describe the texture of the chocolate and the chewy consistency of the berries. Just eat it and have your socks knocked off.

***
On a less tasty note, I've mentioned my house helper Kak Ani on this blog quite a few times because she is basically my Aceh mum (but this one doesn't get angry when I leave my clothes on the floor, she just picks them up for me and washes them...and irons them and puts them back in my cupboard). This morning she wasn't feeling well so we went to the doctor and found out she has dengue fever. Hopefully it won't get too serious (so far it's not that bad), in which case it's not a big deal, but she is really scared and sad because as she put it "I'm never sick!" (wow, she does sound like my mum)

The doctor's orders for dengue fever:

bed rest
drink lots of water
take panadol for fever

Everyone else's orders:

drink lots of guava juice
don't believe the blood tests because they always tell you that you've got something you don't
take panadol for fever

Fortunately none of these conflict so we can adhere to both Western medicine and village medicine without a problem. Phew.

Photography and Documentation Workshop

2008-07-28T09:44:00.003+08:00

About two weeks ago we held training on photography and documentation for a group of women involved in one of our projects. The project has gone well so we're keen to document it as much as possible in the hope that other oganisations will replicate it. I'll be writing a paper on the whole process but we thought it would be far more fun to give the women involved cameras so they can take photos to reflect on their experiences with the project. We also asked them to write a few pages each on their experiences.

To support the women to do this we decided to have a one-day workshop. We brought in Dea, a wonderful and talented girl from Yogya to teach them the basics of photography and how to use their cameras (cheap film cameras, no bells and whistles). I gave them some ideas for writing about their experiences.

Here I am doing my presentation. My Bahasa Indonesia isn't good enough to be able to ad lib on the points I was making, so it was a pretty dull presentation. But I think my cute bubbles in a funnel helped matters.

I also spent part of the day drawing the inner-exhibitionist out of this little girl. She started off rather shy...

We're picking up the developed photos today. We will choose about 25 photos to display at the opening ceremony of the Balai Inong in two weeks time. I'm excited and nervous to see what the results are. Dea, who I mentioned earlier, did a similar project with kids from Yogya after the earthquake in 2006 and made a great book using the kids' photos. I hope we can do something similar here.

Because I always feel like I need to continue the discussion

2008-07-25T16:16:00.005+08:00

A few points relating to things mentioned on this blog in recent days:

Benjamin, did you think I was joking about eating and looking at bookstores...? Seems like Batu Caves are a cool place to go if my schedule wasn't already packed. I've said that about Batu Caves the last 5 times I've been to KL.
Speaking of book shops in KL, Kinokuniya runs rings around Borders and Times. That place is amazing:

Great selection of books (I've never seen a bookstore as well stocked with as much variety),
A section for everything including, philosophy (a whole wall devoted to it), sociology and a dedicated gender section. Greg reported that the history section was pleasingly ordered by subject rather than author,
"Bestsellers" walls that were actually just books they wanted to sell, but the selected books were great. Perfect if you're looking for something new to read without a specific author in mind,
Great music playing over the loudspeaker (not too loud, not too soft, not too hideous...this is a warning to Borders that was playing covers of bad 80s songs by bad late-90s bands),
Books were where they were supposed to be,
Plenty of people to serve, but no one creepily following you around asking if you need help,
"self-help kiosks", a name that received Greg's scorn, but a good concept none the less. Can search for something on the computer yourself, no need to ask the sales staff.

Cherry Ripe anyone? I ate the one Elisa sent me. OH MY GOD, have they always been this delicious?

Unrelated note

I am looking to buy a new carry-on suitcase but was uninspired by the selection I saw in KL. I did find one I loved but it was so expensive. Fortunately as I negotiated on price Greg thought we were talking 500 ringgit ($165). If he'd known we were talking about USD500 (after 50% discount) he might have dragged me out of the shop. For the record, I can't afford a USD500 suitcase...but it was sooooo cute...and pink! Can anyone recommend a brand they like? I want it to last until I'm 80 so I'm willing to spend a bit of money (maybe not USD500 though).

Favourite thing on the web this week

2008-07-24T12:26:00.000+08:00

Power returns

2008-07-24T11:45:00.003+08:00

The power is back on! It came on last night just as I was about to venture out to find a friend with a generator so I could have a shower.

My bak mandi (the tiled bath/trough that holds water) was mysteriously empty when I got home from work so I had no water at all. I started concocting conspiracy theories (e.g. the cleaner used my water to wash the floors...) and realised first hand the tension and complexity of water politics.

I expected the power to go off again but it seems to be here for keeps this time. And that's not the only good news.

Yesterday I received two pieces of mail. TWO! One piece of mail was a very cute photo of the twins (who have changed enough that I can't tell which is which) and the other was this:

A package from the delightful Elisa!

Look at all those lollies and chocolate (the snakes were already half consumed when I took this photo...about 2 minutes after I opened the package).

The blue thing in the corner turns into this!:

The photo isn't great but I was too excited to worry about photo quality. What a great bag! It's from Douglas & Hope, one of my favourite shops in Melbourne. I'm so pleased to have something so nice here. I will take it to the shops tonight and dazzle all.

Thanks Jess and Elisa for the great deliveries.

Blackout

2008-07-23T09:47:00.004+08:00

I got back from KL yesterday around lunchtime (48 hour round trip. I love it!) and walked into a monster blackout. Yesterday was day two of a blackout that is predicted to last three or four days. The electricity was out since morning and came on for an hour around midnight and is back off again, presumably for the whole day.

Blackouts have their good points but they also have their bad points.

Good

No lights and no TV means a quiet house and relaxed occupants. Last night I had wound down so much that I was asleep by 10.30pm.
You have no choice but to go out and find food at one of the restaurants with a generator.
Your laptop will run out of battery power so you're forced not to do work (one organisation sent everyone home at 5.30pm last night so they could turn off the generator and our generator is going off at 6pm tonight).

Bad

Without electricity the pump doesn't work so we have no water. That means no showers and after a while the bak mandi empties too, which means no washing at all and no flushing the toilet. Fortunately an hour of electricity at night allowed me to run around the house turning on all the taps (but not all at once, it seems that two taps at the same time is the pump's limit).
No AC or fans. Usually the discomfort of sleeping in the heat can be overcome by taking a cold shower. Please see the first point. (My friend Jess told me last night that she took water from the drinking water dispenser to wash! This is true ingenuity.)

I'm not bothered yet because I arrived freshly washed from KL yesterday, but I'm guessing the novelty will wear off soon. I'll keep you posted.

My KL agenda

2008-07-21T11:59:00.002+08:00

I'm in KL on yet another Visa Run, but this one is different because this time I have a GREG to keep me company. We're pretty determined to cross everything off our 'to do' list. Fortunately the list looks like this:

1. Eat tasty food
2. Look at bookshops

Done and done. and we've only been here 18 hours. So for the rest of the stay (I leave tomorrow and Greg a couple of days later), we will re-do the list. Eat more good food and look at different bookshops.

I went to the embassy this morning and had a remarkably efficient time there. The system they have coordinates a series of counters and number taking and it means that 50+ people submitting visa applications can move smoothly in a very small space and any minor obstacles (e.g. forgotten photocopies, incorrect forms filled out) can be dealt with easily. All this and you get your visa later the same day. Quite a different experience to my visit to the Consulate in Melbourne last month. In a room with a three other people waiting quietly I went to the desk with all my forms in order and was told my visa would be ready seven days later. Grrr.

I'm writing this in a creepy, dark and smelly gaming internet cafe that makes you think it's the middle of the night even though it's 12pm and sunny outside. So I shall leave now and go outside, but only for as long as it takes to walk to the next mega-super-giant bookstore inside a mega-super-giant shopping mall. I love KL.

Dropped the ball

2008-07-17T15:13:00.002+08:00

I've haven't updated for a week even though there has been plenty of adventure. I'll give a quick round-up and catch up on details over the next few days.

Greg is visiting this week. We met in Medan, stayed in the fanciest hotel I've ever stayed in (for around $60 per room per night), and eventually made it to Bukit Lawang to see orang utans. It was hard to drag ourselves away from the fancy hotel breakfast and the fancy chairs in the lobby and the fancy blankets they had (in the deluxe suite we were upgraded to because we wanted twin beds)....
but the orang utans made it worth the effort. We only stayed one night and set out early in the morning of our second day for a 4-5 hour hike. We saw a peacock that defied gravity and lots of orang utans...then bolted back to Medan to catch a plane to Banda Aceh...
...That was booked for the wrong night. When we checked in for flight they kindly let us know that our tickets were for the previous night and that there were no more seats on the last flight for the evening. So we went back to the fancy hotel who booked the tickets for us and let them know of our dilemma. After a bit of fussing about we had seats on a flight the following day and a free room for the night.
My wisdom tooth is infected! I have taken a steady stream of panadol for about a week. Is that dangerous?
Standing in the rain waiting for a taxi in Medan, I was helping a nice man move a hardwood bench that had tipped over but he dropped it on my finger and my fingernail is now gross. But it seems like it won't fall off, so worst nightmare no.1 averted.
Going to KL again this weekend, for yet another visa run...

MJ's Right of Reply

2008-07-10T12:27:00.001+08:00

Hahaha, MJ just responded with this...

Wow, I’m famous! But what about the seriousness of that mosquito situation – I get the feeling that no one is taking me seriously!

Postcards from my momma getting published

2008-07-10T12:06:00.007+08:00

Do you remember that I posted a funny email from MJ on a website called Postcards From Yo Momma a while back?

Here's the original blog post about it: Things That Make Me Laugh

Well, turns out they liked MJ's email a lot and plan to include it in a book they are publishing called...

"Love, Mom: Poignant, Goofy, Brilliant Maternal Messages from the Digital World" (due for release in April 2009).

Funny, huh?

I just sent an email to my brothers and sisters about it so went to the website to find the original post to show them. MJ's email got one comment, and it was a cracker.

overreacting much? lol
sounds JUST like my mother.
all mosquitoes carry debilitating diseases in her eyes.
this is my fav email yet. lol

The funniest part about this, I think, is that when I saw that website for the first time I thought "I bet I could find a funny email from MJ for this" so I opened the most recent email from her, surely enough it was funny, and I sent it in. Apparently MJ, your everyday material can make Americans laugh. Imagine if I offered them your A-game?!

I also think it's funny that this person with an overreacting mother thinks that MJ is like that too (for the record, MJ just keeps up the appearance of being paranoid to make me feel loved).

P.S. Here is the email they liked so much:

itches

Aceh conflict is old news

2008-07-08T13:41:00.003+08:00

I just stumbled across an old article from The Age a year and a half before the tsunami at a time of renewed fighting between the Indonesian military and GAM (June 2003). Check out the great picture.

It's always interesting to try to imagine this now mostly peaceful place just five years ago. All the evidence and the stories should make it easy, but it's not. Reading a newspaper story is a bit different. I can't really articulate why though. I guess that's the beauty of a newspaper.

Can I remember reading articles like this in 2003? I have a vague recollection but not really. Perhaps if I'd known what my future held I would have paid a little more attention.

Read the article here: Aceh Media Plan in Chaos

Weddings and other nice things

2008-07-07T18:35:00.008+08:00

I spent way too much time alone in my house on Sunday. Today I am jumping around the place at the sight of real live people.

Saturday, however, was packed full of people including these very cute girls at my becak driver's brother's wedding. You may recall my becak driver Rijal from my last post. He is the one with the pineapple shrub.

I also went to lunch at my friend's house. He lives at the beach so a heap of us went for the afternoon to eat his mum's cooking and enjoy the sea breeze. It was just my kind of party.

Friend Jess just sent me a bunch of photos from K-Rudd day and I found this one that I think is very amusing.

Someone looking like this and standing so close to the PM for no reason is probably the kind of thing his security are looking out for. What a weirdo.

Friday night's the night not to party

2008-07-04T20:29:00.004+08:00

It's Friday night and I should be out of the office but I haven't posted much this week and I am barely keeping up my posting targets, so I shall post and run.

Many people like going out on Friday after work and letting off steam, but I want nothing more than to go home. I have a feeling that a lot of people feel this way but go out because of pressure from their colleagues/friends. Who else agrees with me?

So, as of today I have 11 weeks until the end of my contract. 11 weeks doesn't sound like much time, especially considering how fast a single week goes by. Sometimes I think a week is an odd period for us to plan our lives by. I'm all for the two days off in the middle, but you often set aside a week to do something, or expect to have achieved a significant amount between Monday and Friday, but Monday arrives and before you know it, it's Friday already. Not enough time to have really crossed many tasks off your to do list. I know this seems like an odd statement, and a bit like an old person/unoriginal person thing to say ("oh how time flies"), but if some people can argue that we shouldn't count by tens* I think we can reconsider the week as well.

Right in the middle of that 11 weeks we have more events planned than for the rest of the year, and they are the kind of events that require more planning than usual. It's going to be a pretty crazy few weeks.

I haven't posted a photo in a while, so here are two:

This is a photo taken from my desk. I have a nice view, and it's especially great at the time of day that this photo was taken. As the goes down there is the call to prayer and everything turns a bit magical. I have gone on about Aceh doing the 6-7pm slot better than anywhere I've ever lived, but no research has gone into that claim. In fact, I think the whole world looks pretty good as the sun goes down.

This is a photo of my regular becak driver Rijal and a pineapple tree that made me laugh. It's tiny and the pineapple is huge. Hilarious no?

*The link I should have given about the Duodecimal system is here. Please follow the other link, it's the best thing you will ever read on the internet...ever. If you don't read it you are a heathen

Waiting for workshop

2008-07-02T08:56:00.002+08:00

I'm just waiting in the driveway of my office to go to another day of a workshop we're running, and have nothing specific to post, but I need to post to keep up progress towards my posting goal for 2008.

There is a cat sitting next to me. Its name is Pusspah. It walked into the office this morning so my colleague who lives here at the office decided to name it. He is now considered the cat's papa. There are a million stray cats everywhere, and they often enough wander into a house with an open door. I don't know what sets this cat apart from those to be given a name. This cat is particularly ugly too, and not even a little kitten. I suspect Pusspah won't still be part of the family by this afternoon.

The mornings are very fresh and cool at the moment, but unfortunately all I want to do is sleep through them. My friend Jess and I planned an early morning beach trip for last Sunday but I was feeling sick on Saturday night so didn't set the alarm and woke up at 9am. I then made the epic journey from my bed to the couch and stayed there, dozing until about 1pm. So Jess and I went into town and ate burgers for lunch instead.

Other news, the tap/shower broke off the wall in my bathroom the other day and water and dirt gushed out. It was magically repaired when I got home, and even better, I had a whole new tap/shower that is AMAZING.

OK time to go...

Australia: meagre photo offerings

2008-06-30T18:41:00.004+08:00

So it turns out I took about ten photos while in Australia and most of them were of Emily striking a pose in City Square.

This photo is of a delightful Swedish sauna-inspired cafe in North Fitzroy (we discussed whether it was OK to take your clothes off when sharing a sauna with parents. Definitive 'no' vote). I don't know the name of the cafe but the lattes were well received by my coffee-appreciating friends and me. I liked this place a lot.

I have one photo of a twin. That's it. One photo. It's so blurred I can't tell which one it is. Lucky Liam and Oliver have Jess as a mother who takes plenty of photos for all of us. She could make up for a whole family of bad photographers. If I ever have a child I hope Jess is as diligent a photographer.

I started writing a list of highlights for my week in Australia but it was all great with the exception of Friday night in Bourke Street. I don't know why an otherwise nice place can turn so awful so quickly one night week. Bleh. I won't include the list because then I might be seen to be putting Elisa's lasagne on par with seeing the twins and that just isn't going to be well received by anyone is it?

Finding lost accounts

2008-06-27T17:47:00.003+08:00

Work is not happening at the rate it needs to today. Internet has been particularly unreliable this week and it's been an internet-using kind of week. Just about to send out an e-newsletter that would have gone out days ago if it weren't for a stream of unexpected technical glitches. The funny thing is, looking back, the greatest sense of achievement I've had in this job has been when some technical issue has turned up and I've figured out how to fix it.

Yesterday's surprise issue was realising that when the server computer had died it took the general office email account with it. No one had checked the inbox of the email address splashed all over our materials and business cards in months. But how does one 'find' an email account? I had dealt with problems with this account once before so I wasn't starting from scratch, but it did keep me in the office until very late and took up an unexpected three hours. But, as I said, this kind of thing is oddly satisfying...too bad it isn't my actual job, maybe I've missed my calling as the I.T. guy ("are you sure it's plugged in?" "Switch it off, wait 10 mins and switch it back on...if that doesn't work call me back").

I'm sure the fact that it isn't my regular job is part of why it's satisfying...using your brain in another way, or maybe just feeling righteous and a bit like a renaissance woman.

Now I am plowing through the kind of thing I do everyday, a summary of one of our projects...fortunately iTunes has just thrown up a party shuffle of 30% Tom Waits, 30% Joe Jackson and 40% other great stuff which is totally pushing me through the last hours of Friday! How does iTunes know better than me what I need to hear?

Oh hello Mr Prime Minister

2008-06-26T12:12:00.003+08:00

I know you are dying to see what I wore to meet Krudd, so here are the official portraits:

Why Sarah, you're funny and delightfully dressed. What an exemplary Australian.

Yes Brett, what you say is fascinating...but actually I am just too captivated by the young woman in the brown dress...

It's already Wednesday

2008-06-25T13:15:00.001+08:00

Which means:

I've been back from Australia for three days and I still haven't posted about it
I met the prime minister a week and a half ago and still haven't posted about it
This week's many deadlines are are fast becoming overdue so the last thing I should be doing is posting on this blog

If you haven't signed already

2008-06-23T14:19:00.002+08:00

Another shout out to sign the petition saying no to violence against women. It's super quick to sign.

http://saynotoviolence.org/

The more signatures collected worldwide the stronger our advocacy to bring more attention to this v.v. serious issue (that has far broader ramifications for peace and security and development goals than most of us realise).

You can read more about violence against women here.

P.S. K-Rudd told me the other day that he'd signed it already. Good boy, Prime Minister.

In Melbourne

2008-06-16T20:50:00.002+08:00

I arrived in Melbourne this morning and it was FRIGID. It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny morning that has me thinking that winter in Melbourne is glorious and not at all gloomy and wet. Perhaps tomorrow I will be reminded of the truth.

The twins are even cuter in person and itsy bitsy teensy. I'll be posting more photos shortly.

I had no success getting a visa at the Indonesian consulate this morning, for reasons so ridiculous I was almost rude to the woman behind the counter, so now I have to enact a plan B to get a visa before the weekend. Was too busy eating soup today to think about plan B.

Meeting with PM went well. Will report in more detail later this week or next. In short: I like the guy.

Now it's time for sleep. Still catching up from a very late Saturday night followed by a very early Sunday morning.

1000 hits!

2008-06-13T15:50:00.002+08:00

It took nine months to get there, which is probably tragically slow in blog world, but today my blog was read for the 1000th time!

Thanks for reading. I love you all lots.

Sarah

more about the bloody PM

2008-06-13T15:03:00.005+08:00

Today's post was going to be about the rehearsal for the PM's visit but alas...

First of all, I will finally give some details about this visit (I realise I've been vague about it, but I didn't really know much about it other than 'I'm meeting the PM!')

So, as you've probably seen in the news, Kevin travelled to Japan earlier this week and today he is in Indonesia. Australia gives aid to a whole range of countries, as one could expect, and until very recently Australia gave more of its aid dollars to Papua New Guinea than any other country. But that's recently changed. Now Australia gives more money to Indonesia than PNG. That isn't entirely surprising considering the difference in size of the two countries, but it is quite symbolic because it means that Indonesia, out of all the countries in the world, is a priority country for Australia. One could write a very long list of reasons why this is, but you can probably think of a couple of reasons off the top of your head and they'd probably be right.

So, further to that, within the context of a large Australia aid program in Indonesia, one of the identified priority locations is Aceh. Again, I can think of a few reasons for this and they're probably right, but there are probably more complex reasons for this that I'm not privy to. One thing I do know is that Australia is extremely proud of its work in Aceh, and it's fairly justified. There have been many, many successes and failures in Aceh, but Australia has had a pretty good run, and there are more than a few stories that would make you feel pretty happy about how your tax dollars have been spent here. So when Prime Minister Rudd decided to go on a trip to Indonesia it makes sense that he chooses to drop into Aceh (only for a few hours) to highlight one of the jewels in the crown.

That's where I come in. Even though I work for someone else (quiet separate from Australia and its aid program), as an AYAD I am part of Australia's aid web. My guess is that a memo has recently gone around AusAID about increasing the visibility of the AYAD program, because after months with no contact with them at all I've been called to participate in two events in one week. Furthermore, although I haven't received official confirmation, in provisional schedules the AYADs have been specifically singled out for time with the big man. Cool, but very unexpected.

I will report back on whether this eventuates or whether I end up taking a photo from across a crowded room. We were supposed to have the rehearsal this afternoon -- at which I was expecting to find out more information so I could start to get nervous accordingly -- but it's been postponed to later this evening. We've been told to be on standby for a few hours until we get the call.*

*It turns out that if you're organising an event with the PM you can pretty much expect people to do anything, even on a Friday night, and they will be obliging.

P.S. I found a nice dress in my housemate's wardrobe that will be just right for meeting Kevin. Thanks to Lars for the note about the stockings in the last post. I'm going to follow your advice.

from sharia dress code to PM dress code: How men control my wardrobe.

2008-06-12T19:51:00.003+08:00

Another PM-related crisis. I received the official invitation today and the dress code is FORMAL.

We're in Aceh. If anyone brought anything formal with them it won't look formal after being washed by being beaten against the tiles by the laundry lady.
It's at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon! How can I do formal in 35 degree heat?

I have one very nice skirt that I've only worn maybe once or twice here (meaning that it's too nice to wear anywhere in Aceh, which is probably what makes it suitably formal), but it only barely covers my knees.

Question 1: Do I reduce the Sharia compliance to be PM-Dress-Code-compliant?
Question 2: If I am meeting the PM that means I have to wear stockings right?

Big K and little kittens

2008-06-12T15:52:00.004+08:00

Thanks guys for some great ideas for my meeting with Kevin 24/7. The tip about wearing deodorant was particularly useful (thanks Meags) because I just ran out this morning and hadn't really thought about the increased chance of sweating it out when you meet the PM in a tropical setting.

An important aside. A photo of the two day old kittens that live at my friend's house.

What would ask the Prime Minister of Australia?

2008-06-11T15:45:00.002+08:00

I and two other AYADs have 20 mins with the PM! 20 whole minutes! That means we have to do a lot more than shake his hand and say "yes, I am having a having a wonderful time in Aceh Prime Minister".

So, help me out here. What would you ask the Prime Minister??

What a busy day!

2008-06-10T15:02:00.002+08:00

It has been a BUSY day. It all started with an emergency run to the doctor when my housemate slipped and NEARLY DIED, but actually just cut her head a little bit. Obviously I had to sit with her for a while to see if she was OK, so made it into the office shortly after lunch.

After checking emails and looking at photos of Liam and Oliver (WITHOUT tubes thank you very much) it was time to visit my favourite NGO in Aceh and take some new interns with me. We interviewed the head of the NGO who has a fascinating story and made us all kinds of excited and then we planned ways to get our bosses to let us go on a road trip to find out more about female ex-combatants. Didn't cross much off my "must to before I go to Australia" list, and added more events preparing for the PM's visit on Saturday to my overstocked calendar.

Now I will go home freakishly early (it's not even 6pm yet) because I have to check on my ailing housemate...obviously.

Should I stay or should I go? Finally, I know!

2008-06-09T18:07:00.004+08:00

Today I finally decided on where I will be for the rest of 2008. As originally planned a million years ago I will come home at the end of September (rather than staying on for an additional 3 to 6 months as was tentatively planned).

I am so pleased to have made a decision, which in general I am quite terrible at doing, but in the end this was an easy decision to make. In short, life here is full of adventure, wild times, and great opportunities (like meeting the PM...stay tuned), But the other side of that coin is illness, long hours and cold showers. The ups definitely make up for the downs, but only for so long. The roller coaster is a blast but you've gotta know when to get off (hopefully before you start to spew).

Truth be told, I don't know what I will do when I get back to Melbourne, but I have a bucketful of exciting ideas and three months to figure out how to pull off just one of them, so I'm not too worried yet.

I only clarified this decision this morning, and I'm already nostalgic and teary about the things and people I will miss. I'm really pleased to be able to spend the last three months here squeezing the crap out of all the goodness and then go home on a high note.

Big Picture photos

2008-06-06T16:34:00.002+08:00

I found a great website via Frontal Cortex with photos of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, taken from a helicopter that flew overhead. These photos are incredible...so incredible that my first instinct was that they were staged...Boo Sarah for your lack of faith.

But the photos of the Amazonian tribe were not the only things worth checking out on this site, The Big Picture. The photos of volcanoes and earthquakes are amazing, but my favourite is the series of photos of indigenous Brazilians who gather to protest the building of a new dam. I was shocked at the unexpected and gruesome turn it takes! Had I read the text I would have seen it coming. I'm glad I didn't read the text.

Birthday donuts

2008-06-06T10:22:00.006+08:00

I missed posting yesterday, which really isn't allowed if I want to meet my posting goals for 2008. But here's the odd thing about it: I didn't post yesterday because I was bored. I was SO BORED that I couldn't be bothered doing anything. I was immobilised by boredom! That would have to be the worst survival response I've come across.

Today I am back on track and will post some pictures my friend just gave me of my birthday in April. We went to the German restaurant, which is actually not really a German restaurant (but it does have weiner schnitzel on the menu, which makes me about as happy as I will ever be).

My housemate Sas came back from Jakarta the afternoon of my birthday and brought krispy kreme donuts as a birthday cake! Thanks Sas! Here we are eating them.

There was a lot of drama surrounding the distribution of donuts.

This is me saying "Sas, let's be best friends so you bring me donuts every year".

TWO cute babies.

2008-06-04T18:11:00.003+08:00

I hereby present the eagerly anticipated photos of....

THE CUTEST TWINS EVER BORN!

Oliver

Liam

This photo of Liam makes me laugh every time I look at it. I'm sure I'm being stared down by him. Like he's truly disgusted in me. You make me sick Sarah.

I asked Jess's approval to post these pictures this morning, and her response was "YOU'D BETTER!" I think that means she likes the kids and wants to show them off.

Note that I didn't even need to frame Jess out of these pictures taken only a matter of hours after she gave birth to twins. I will admit she does look a little tired. Maybe "I stayed up watching House too late last night" tired.

Colour Quiz

2008-06-03T15:05:00.003+08:00

Seen on How About Orange...

Colour Sense Game. Apparently you can discover your colour personality.

Let me know if you think it works for you. (I'm going to do it again later to see if I get the same answer the second time round).

Added later: I keep getting White Spaces as my primary pallet but my secondary pallet keeps changing.

How babies and language collide

2008-06-03T11:11:00.002+08:00

Photos of babies have begun to filter through and I can't wait to see them in real life. But I must wait two weeks (12 days to be exact) until I go back to Australia for a short visit. This could very well be the longest 12 days of waiting (especially because work is busy with many laborious and pretty dull tasks before then). But two things this morning are making it OK to wait.

1. Beck has duly informed me of the madness at the hospital when 20 big and small people all try to fit into one hospital room. I don't mind the idea of arriving when the storm has passed.

2. This morning I am finally enjoying Bahasa Indonesia.

I've learned one interesting thing about myself this year. I don't like learning new languages. I can hear the gasps around the world as I admit this (especially damning for someone who is all about international relations). It seems that everyone, especially Australians who often haven't learned a second language to fluency, longs for the opportunity to learn a new language, or relishes the opportunities they have. I'd assumed that I was the same...that hanging out in Paris, practicing ordering a croissant for 12 months sounded fun. But I've realised that I'd love eating the croissant but that I will learn the minimum language required to get it.

I thought I was just bad at learning languages, and I think it's true to a point, because I always want to translate the English thoughts in my head, even if those thoughts include idioms that no one will understand, and I struggle if I can't directly translate a sentence from the other language into English. But the truth is that I haven't been too bad with Bahasa (although if I'd studied I would probably be fluent by now). No, the most limiting factor to my success with languages is laziness. At any given moment I would much rather convey my thoughts precisely rather than practice using a language I still don't understand well. So if there is an English option I take it.

But this morning something was different. I was reading an email in Bahasa Indonesia which usually I would skim, or even copy and paste it into an online translator if it especially important and I was being especially lazy. But this morning I was feeling diligent and persisted with every word in an email that wasn't even directly written to me. And I understood! I learned new words, clarified the meaning of few others and genuinely understood a reasonably complex discussion between two people! But the real breakthrough was this: I enjoyed reading and deciphering and understanding it! This has been the missing (crucial) link to my language study.

How does this make the wait to see babies easier? It means that the daily struggle of working in a second language is eased, and moments of frustration that inevitably lead to "I don't want to be here I want be home playing with babies" are fewer and farther between.

And so the family grows

2008-06-02T17:16:00.002+08:00

Yay for Jess, the babies are here! And in two weeks I get to see them!

The babies are commonly known as Oliver Benjamin and Liam Peter. I congratulate Jess and Mark on coming up with four good boy names all at once.

But here's the bad news...Someone has already secured http://www.oliverbenjamin.net/

Liam's internet career is safe for now, but someone better get onto securing that domain quickly.
I don't want to accuse Jess and Mark of bad parenting before the children are even a day old, but could you argue that not googling your child's name before the name is formally assigned to said child is negligent?

Just in case someone reading this blog is weird, I don't really believe you should google your child's name before they are born. I mean, if you want to go right ahead.

Whiteboard markers or monkeys. You choose.

2008-05-30T21:07:00.004+08:00

I was just about to launch into a long reflection on the wonder of a whiteboard marker. Seriously, I had half of it written in my head. The core theme would be the complexity of human society, as reflected by the whiteboard marker in my office. Fortunately the phone rang and I got sidetracked. So no post about a whiteboard marker.

As you know, AYAD friends visited Aceh two weeks ago. We spent most of the weekend on Sabang. Here are some photos of

The little baby monkey I was terrorising by picking up. Look how cute and scared he is! P.S look at my robot arm! I have a claw!

On the ferry the way back from Sabang we sorted out who owed what for accommodation. We were dealing in the millions of Rupiah. Check out the piles of cash. I got to play banker. Fortunately we were in VIP class so it was normal to throw money around. Other people were smoking their money...Check out the pimpin' couches we got to sit on. It was like we were kicking back in a cigar lounge and going places. Literally! I find this joke funny enough to carry on for a bit longer...We were crossing seas while climbing the social ladder! Oh man, that bombed.

Me and two other AYADs in my backyard. It's way more fun out there when there are people to play with.

Yes, I was in every photo. A little egocentric perhaps? 1. It's my blog, so I rule this kingdom. 2. I'm 'borrowing' Amy's photos and it somehow lessens the wrongdoing in my mind if I don't post photos of people who I (obviously, who has the time?) haven't cleared it with.

The second crisis in as many days

2008-05-29T14:35:00.003+08:00

I just heard that our man K-Rudd is coming to visit Aceh in a couple of weeks and obviously he wants to catch up with me.

But wait...when are you coming Kevin? The same day that I fly back to Australia?? Noooooo.

Crisis of Attention

2008-05-28T20:00:00.003+08:00

Sigh...A Crisis of Attention and Intention. Courtney E. Martin wrote this article for the American Prospect and unfortunately it's all about me.

I have the shortest attention span of any 26 year old I know. It's embarrassing. I even get bored at wild parties. Perhaps it's because I do have such a short attention span, I really do believe that being able to concentrate on one thing is one of the most valuable skills/traits and person can have.

I had a note on my desk at my last job that said "Multi-tasking is a moral weakness". It worked quite well, being reminded that multi-tasking is not something to aspire to, but it certainly didn't turn me into a focused and productive individual.

This article talks about students being distracted by facebook and other things during lectures, which I can definitely identify with, but it doesn't stop there.

Martin says:

Take those Facebook-surfing students, missing out on a potentially life-changing lecture about war and courage. Their diffused attention isn't criminal, but it certainly doesn't do justice to professor Dalton's lectures, their own potential for learning, or the $51,976 they or their parents are paying for a year of Ivy League education. They mirror something very real in most peoples' lives—the sense that your life is happening "to you," instead of feeling truly intentional about how, with whom, and on what you spend your time. How many times have you complained about how long you spent emailing--as if some ambitious demon inhabited your body and kept incessantly pecking away at the keys?

I can relate to this as I am especially guilty of letting the internet and my computer rule my life, and frantically jumping between screens so fast that my crappy computer freezes on me every time (then, of course, I get frustrated by the moment that feels like an eternity it takes for my computer to start function again, as if I haven't just been reading blogs for the last half an hour anyway).

Martin continues:

Their passivity, their misplaced priorities, their degraded educational experience has a lot in common with the frenetic pace and compromised lifestyles that too many of us lead. It is as if we have all been swept up in the hurricane of contemporary life without realizing that it is our own complicity that gives the storm its overwhelming force.

This reminds me of those people you meet from time to time who seem to be able to go slowly, and stay chilled at all times. Man, those people freak me out.

This is not an anti-tech argument or a back-to-the-land manifesto. It is a reminder that our technology is only as enlightened as our use of it. Our productivity is only valuable so long as it is paired with excellence and excitement. Our memories are ultimately populated by sensory experiences, the highs of connection and lows of disconnection, not the mind-numbing march of checking off items on our to-do list while half-listening to the drumming profundity of our own lives.

Read the article here (don't worry, it's short)

Funny photography

2008-05-27T16:14:00.006+08:00

I was giggling to myself moments ago about how bad at photography I am (MJ can vouch for recent bouts of unwarranted giggling), and then I found this picture which isn't so bad.

I took it this morning when I was visiting one of the Balai Inong (a traditional women's space) that we've built. You can't see the detail all that well when the photo is this small, but I think it gives a sense of the landscape in the part of Banda Aceh where the tsunami hit the worst. In the water up front, next to the road I was standing on, you can make out the mangroves that presumably were once very thick. They are slowly reclaiming the water. In the background you can see the tsunami houses lined up in rows. You can almost imagine what this area might have looked like before the tsunami.

After taking this photo I turned 180 degrees and saw this:

And for good measure, here is a picture of the building we built. I think it's very pretty.

Al Jazeera report on Aceh

2008-05-27T09:20:00.001+08:00

Just a short piece on reintegration of ex-combatants in Aceh.

What I Loved.

2008-05-23T19:18:00.006+08:00

Happy Birthday Beck!

I just finished reading What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt. Mary Jo recommended this book to me a billion years ago. Unless I dreamed the whole thing, this was one of her book club books. I bought a copy of it to Aceh because I knew it would force me to finally read it after years looking at it on the shelf. If only MJ was a little more over top in her recommendations, then I might have understood just HOW AMAZING THIS BOOK IS!

My housemate Mike read this book before I did (I think he tore through my entire Aceh collection while I meandered through one book). About a week after I started this book, Mike said, "isn't it great how that book is so calm at the beginning and then turns sinister?" Well, of course, after one measly week I was still in the calm beginning! So it played on my mind every time I turned the page...Is this where is gets sinister? I was enjoying the calmness so much that I was dreading the sinister part, and worried it would degenerate into a crime novel (Sarah DOES NOT like suspense and unsolved crime-style books...they make me anxious). All I will say, so as not to spoil the ending, is that the turn that this book took was so seamless and engaging that I didn't lament for a moment the passing of the beautiful pre-sinister period.

If you have an interest in any of the following you MUST read this book:

Art/art history/art theory
Psychology/psychological disorders
New York (in the 70s, 80s and 90s)
Relationships (romantic/sexual/paternal/maternal/friendship...it's all covered)
Raising children

I like all sorts of books, but this book falls well into my favourite genre that I can't define (that maybe doesn't exist as a genre), of books that discuss ideas and generate thought almost incidentally to the plot, but never to the expense of the plot. I once thought that the plot was secondary for me, but then it occurred to me that if I wasn't there for the plot I'd be reading non-fiction.

A mostly awesome long weekend

2008-05-22T14:47:00.004+08:00

Happy Birthday Jess!

If the past week reflects my blogging practices for the next few months there is no way I'm going to reach my blog target (see "9 things to do before 2009"). So I will get cracking.

This weekend past I had a million visitors. It was one of the most fun weekends I've had in Aceh yet. A bunch of AYADs from around Indonesia came for the long weekend, and Benjamin dropped in from Thailand so we headed to Pulau Weh, the island off the coast of Banda Aceh. The weekend involved diving and non-stop action for some, and snorkeling and sitting on the beach for others (place Sarah in camp B). It was great to be reminded of the tropical paradise a one hour ferry ride away from my office. My friends were shocked that I'd only been there once before.

I also took the guys on a tsunami tour to see the giant generator ship, the boat on the roof and the gazillions of identical houses built by NGOs lined up in rows. It's always interesting to do this tour because I am yet to grasp the magnitude of the tsunami, so it's a good time to reflect and try to figure out what happened that day in 2004.

A dampener to the great weekend was that my friend's camera and cash from her wallet were stolen from my house. We can't figure out when or how someone came in, but we think someone quietly came in when a few of us were at the beach and the others were having breakfast on Tuesday morning. We've turned out house into Fort Knox as a result.

AYAD Chris from Jakarta is a clever cookie. He put together some footage of the weekend and put it on Youtube. Don't get too jealous about the beaches, just come and visit me.

9 things to do before 2009

2008-05-15T11:54:00.002+08:00

Read five novels
Cook dinner at home once a week (and invite at least one person to eat it)
Write one story or essay to completion
Go to Lake Toba
Go scuba diving in Sabang
Paint the ugly door in my bedroom
Go on a day hike on the outskirts of Banda Aceh
Make sushi in Banda Aceh
Post on Where is Sarah? 150 times

This list seems so tame, and yet I might not even come close to achieving these goals. As I was typing the list into this post I revised the first goal to read "five" instead of "ten" novels ("come on Sarah, as if you would get through ten" I read like a turtle...if turtles could read, presumably they would be slow.)

I don't like the sound of scuba diving at all, but it seems crazy not to try it once. Maybe I will even aim for it this weekend. It would be great to cross the awful things off my list first.

Today is Wednesday

2008-05-14T09:43:00.003+08:00

The kittens were back on my doorstep last night. I put them in a box in the backyard (with help from the neighbour boys showing me how to grab and trap the kittens...oh dear), but they found their way to the front door again. I think the mother helped them over the very high fence to get there, so I will just let them love the front door.

I had dreams that made me angry last night. I really need to figure out a way to leave dream emotions behind, it's really not helpful in daily life. The dreams were about foreigners on the beach with Acehnese locals, and the foreigners were wearing bikinis, which is a big no no. But it shouldn't really be that anger-inspiring. When I went for an run just after waking up I couldn't shake the anger, and when all the guards at the CHF office started their usual calling out, I yelled "STOP LOOKING AT ME!" I yelled in English, which makes it even funnier and more nonsensical. Fortunately, my housemate got offered a really great job in her home country at 6am this morning, so the jumping up and down with excitement shook any residual anger out.

I've just rediscovered the greatness of Weetbix! I think it's the absence of oil and chili that makes me like them so much. I am eating these things for breakfast and lunch (not dinner, that would be crazy). And now, to compliment my regression into childhood, I am going to make a cup of Milo.

kittens

2008-05-13T16:11:00.006+08:00

Two kittens have taken up residence on my doorstep. As you can imagine I find this absolutely brilliant and have taken measures to ensure that they stay (I gave them a box to sleep in and some milk). At first they were too scared to go near either. I tried to tell them that the box was comfy and that all cats love milk, but they're too little to understand.

My housemate is allergic to cats so they can't come inside, and she'd probably be horrified that I'm encouraging them to stay, but I think she will also give in as soon as she sees them, and hopefully let them live peacefully in our yard (bonus: she is out of town this week while I do lots of things to make them feel at home).

There was terrible wind and rain last night, which is probably why the kittens were huddled at my doorstep in the first place. I worried about them a lot, and checked up on them at 4.30am.

This is what I saw when I opened the door:

Yes, it's a terrible photo, but it was 4.30am so I wasn't going to stand there forever just to get the picture right. The black thing under them is one of those inflatable pillows you put around your neck when you're sleeping on planes. I have about three because Jetstar give them to you, so I shared one with the kittens. They loved it.

At about 6.30am I could hear them crying a lot, so went looking for them and found two kittens with the mum (who I'd met before and given some tuna), and discovered a third kitten caught in between the fence and the gate. The whole situation was so cute, albeit a little distressing for the mum. One of the kittens ran away when I came to help, so then I had to find it and put it back on the right side of the fence. Up until then the kittens had hissed at me when I went near them (kittens these days, where to they learn to hiss so young?). But this time, even though the kitten was scared, it let me pick it up and carry it back to its family. I was very happy. And now there are three!

Earlier this afternoon I dropped in at home (for other reasons that conveniently allowed me to check on them), and noted that Kak Ani, our helper (helper is the word I use instead of maid because it makes me feel better), was terrorizing the kittens and they'd resumed hissing at humans. In fairness, when I say terrorizing she was actually trying to be nice to them but was getting annoyed at their hissing so started hissing back. It's not a healthy relationship. But at least she is letting me keep them.

9 things to do before 2009

2008-05-07T21:23:00.003+08:00

Today I read one woman's list of 40 things to do before 40. It was a really silly list, no offense to that lady's life. I won't link to her post because then she will be able to track this post and she probably doesn't need to hear something like this.

But anyway, her silly list inspired me and I've decided to make a list of 9 things to do before 2009! Who wants in? I'm still formulating the list in my head, and it's nowhere near ready for public display yet, but I want to get others on board so we can publicly launch our lists together. I know at least a few of you love a gimmick so let's get cracking!

Some of the things on my list will be goals (e.g. read one of the very long classics on my bookshelf) and others will the maintenance of an ongoing resolution (e.g. cook a real meal at home at least once a week...believe me this will require a major overhaul of current practice).

I'll post my list next week. If you want to join me: send me an email/facebook message (if you can't do either of those just post your email address in the comments and I'll email you).

Procrastination post

2008-05-03T12:31:00.006+08:00

I don't have enough time to write proper posts at the moment, but I also desperately want to procrastinate, so I will just give bullet points:

There was a snake in my house last week. It was lying by the dining room table and I thought it was dead because it was so still. So I ran for my camera and when I tried to take a photo it slithered into the corner. I ran away and when I checked in 10 minutes it was gone. I could only hope it had left through the back door I'd left opened. I walked around the house in sneakers for the rest of the morning (which is only funny if you know we take our shoes off when we're inside the house, so it was kind of like walking around the house with an umbrella).

I'm going to spend next week in Medan, the city of the future...after a nuclear war. I've posted photos of this beautiful grey city before, but I'll be sure to let you all relive the magic next week. I get to stay in a pretty fancy hotel for the week. It has hot showers, a gym and a pool. There is also a shopping mall nearby with Starbucks and Dome. It's going to be a busy week of training and trying to get my regular work done outside training hours, but it's going to be done with a hot shower to start every morning, so I'm OK with that.
In a couple of weeks Benjamin will be visiting, as will a couple of other AYADs who are posted in Java. I think we will be going to Sabang, the island near Banda Aceh to snorkel and relax to our heart's content.

I'm planning a week in Australia around the 14th of June. Please tell me now if that's a good time to come (I'm 99% sure that certain babies will be born by then, which is the key deciding factor).

Yesterday, when I arrived at my desk in the morning I found this:

2008-04-29T18:06:00.003+08:00

There is so much going on at the moment, and so much to write about.

I had a really great time in KL, and was able to laugh and marvel at my ridiculous "jet-setting" lifestyle again. It also occurred to me that it won't last forever, and that I need to appreciate my freedom right now.

This trip also provided the opportunity to think about my job and whether I want it to continue, and the benefits and challenges of the lifestyle of an 'aid worker'. I think I will save those thoughts for another post. Although, I will simply say that weekends in KL fall clearly into the benefit category.

I finally bought sheets for my bed, and I think this was one of the best purchases I could have made. The best part was that it felt extravagant and luxurious, but actually wasn't really, as two sheets and two pillowcases cost about AUD60 and I'd been fixated on how terrible my current sheets are for so long. Spending that kind of money isn't exactly going to put off buying a house for another year. But of course, I also spent money on sushi, books, and a haircut which might cumulatively put off buying a house for another year, but that's fine because I really don't want to buy a house right now.

I stayed in an excellent guesthouse called number eight, which I recommend to everyone without reservation. It's comfortable, clean, stylish and cheap. But if you are planning to stay in KL anytime soon book ahead because it's popular.

I had a long wait at the airport on the day I left KL, and was shaken out of my KL-induced zen-state by the many Australians in transit. I don't intend to complain about Australians, but when I see and hear Australians I notice their behaviour more acutely.

One incident that really shook me up (which might say more about my fragile state at 6.30am), was when a girl of about 14 had a moment in Starbucks. She was ordering a muffin and the Malaysian-Indian girl behind the counter asked her to repeat what she wanted, unclear of what flavour she'd asked for. The Australian girl misheard the Starbucks worker and started to panic. I was walking up to counter at the same time, and had heard the exchange, so piped up that the girl wanted a banana muffin, but it was too late, she burst in to tears and screamed "I don't understand!!" An overreaction sure, but I guess she was probably just tired and intimidated and wasn't very good at controlling her emotions. But what shocked me most was the reaction from her family. She ran to their table and was met by her parents' shouting with absolute disgust, "what's wrong with you?", "what's your problem?" Then a drink was spilled and the tension escalated. What that girl needed in that moment of panic and what she received from her parents were so fundamentally different. The tension escalated further until her mum told her to "get out of my sight, I can't look at you right now".

Again, I want to clarify that I'm not linking this incident to the Australian-ness of these people, just that because they were an Australian family I seemed to take the incident more personally (why? I don't know. A question for another post, but probably the more interesting component of the story).

Maybe there is a history of this girl behaving this way, and her parents are frustrated and tired, and I don't want to judge anyone's reactions. Her parents are only human too. But it was sad to see a girl panic over something fairly minor and instead of receiving support from what would be her main support network she was told she was bad and that there was something wrong with her. It seemed sad that humans aren't very good at understanding each other.

It was all just too much too much for 6.30am.

KL adventure sans laptop

2008-04-23T19:48:00.004+08:00

I'm not so diligent that four days without posting is going to shock anyone, but I'd like to think you're checking daily for updates, so I will save you the trouble. Tomorrow I am going to KL for four days, and....

I'm not taking my laptop.

I haven't gone anywhere without it since I bought it a few months ago, but there is absolutely no reason for me to take it this time so I am forcing myself to leave it at home.

I doubt I will have anything so compelling to do that I will need to use an internet cafe, so I won't be responding to emails either. My phone has roaming so if you need to contact me just call or text my regular Aceh number.

Rock n Roll Sharia style

2008-04-21T19:33:00.006+08:00

A few weeks ago there was a concert in Banda Aceh. Two of Indonesia's biggest bands, Nidji and Peterpan performed at the stadium to a crowd of millions!

But there was a problem. Some of the millions were boys and some of them were girls. Whatever could the authorities do to keep this event free from inappropriate mingling of the sexes?

Put up a fence of course:

Girls on one side, boys on the other please.

But there will always be bad eggs. And they do things like this:

Blatantly ignoring the spirit of the fence, this couple stood next to each other.

But it would only get worse. Next time they should build the fence out of bricks. Surely it was the sight of sexually promiscuous women that led this otherwise good man to behave so poorly:

(to clarify, this is my friend Michael jumping the fence, but he wasn't the first to do it, and was by no means the last. There were many compromised men in attendance that day).

It seems that no matter how much you try to steer people to the path of righteousness, they are too evil or stupid to know better:

This couple knew that holding hands was wrong, so they covered their heads in shame.

But seriously, many more awesome things happened that day. By the end of the concert there were more boys than girls on the girls' side of the fence, and there was a lot of evil dancing, girls taking off hijabs, boys taking off shirts, and lots of people getting very silly. This was youth rebellion Aceh style....and all over by evening prayer (6.30pm).

Wow! Every day counts!

2008-04-19T12:35:00.004+08:00

Thank the almighty for Wireless internet, so I can sit in a meeting and post on my blog and look like I'm taking notes.

I think I've tried to keep specific details of who I work for out of this blog, so I think it's only slightly unprofessional if I mention that I am sitting in the most head-buttingly stupid meeting of my life. And the best part is that it's lasting for two days!

Oh my, oh my, it's lucky I haven't had a near death experience recently and am all "every day counts!" because this day is a complete write-off.

Oops, they're talking about me now. Back to work.

Bad internet and my birthday

2008-04-16T18:42:00.006+08:00

Internet access is terrible at the moment. It cuts in and out throughout the day and is so slow that sometimes an email without an attachment will sit in my outbox for hours. But there is a greater concern that has far wider reaching ramifications...

I can't upload photos to this blog.

All week I have been trying to upload photos from a concert I went to two weeks ago.

A million more things have happened since then and I'm stuck in the past.

Conveniently, last night at my birthday party my camera battery was flat so I have no photographic evidence of the night and thus it's OK to post about my birthday without photos.

My Birthday. By Sarah L Fortuna
It was a pretty chill day, like most other work days. But when I chose not to do much work I didn't feel guilty. That's the specialness of birthdays.

In the evening a billion friends and I went to the German restaurant. It was tasty, tasty schnitzel goodness.

To top it off, my housemate who had flown in from Jakarta that afternoon brought Krispy Kreme donuts to represent a birthday cake! This was an excellent choice because western style cake here isn't so delicious. (Local cakes are truly excellent but didn't seem right for a birthday cake).

It was really lovely to hang out with all my Banda Aceh friends in one place. They are pretty much the coolest people in town, obviously, so my birthday dinner was like, the place to be.

Thanks everyone who wrote me emails, and posted on my facebook wall, and sent text messages. I had a steady flow of love all day and some extra love today. Birthdays are so excellent.

Things that make me laugh

2008-04-11T11:09:00.003+08:00

It has been a busy week! I can't actually recall ever working as long hours as I have worked this week. It's been fun, but I can tell I need a rest because last night when I lost a day's worth of work on the report that I have been working on (the reason for the long hours) all I did was giggle.

Me: hehe, Mike I think I just lost my report....hehe
Mike (my housemate): ummm, like 'lost it' lost it?
Me: just one day's work. hee hee.
Mike: should you be laughing?
Me: heee heee

***
Now...get ready for some information that is going to have you all booking the next flight to Aceh (but don't forget about visas! Call me and we can chat).

This morning I went to a cafe and bought this:

A coffee and a muffin!

But here's something, I emptied the coffee from that giant paper cup into my Starbucks mug (Starbucks haters can keep their rants to themselves, this was the only decent mug I could find on the WHOLE island of Sumatra), but...the contents of that giant paper cup only filled my mug three quarters full. I think I've uncovered a paper cup scam. Cafes give outrageously tall cups to those silly people who are all like, "I simply must drink a GRANDE latte in the morning before I speak to ANYONE," but as the cup gets taller it also gets skinnier and those people are really just drinking a regular sized coffee.

***
Earlier this week, when the report writing insanity began, I lost one whole hour to this website.

Because none of you probably followed that link, I will just tell you about it. The website is called "Postcards from yo Momma" and is a collection of funny emails from mums. I was shocked to see that other mum silliness in the world is actually very similar to my own mum's silliness.

I even found this post from April 8 that sounded awfully familar:

itches

What are you doing getting bitten by mosquitoes?!! You will get MALARIA - and i will have to start worrying about that instead of typhoid. Maybe you have got dengue fever even! Are the drugs working? Are you still alive?

OK, so that is actually an email from MJ, but it is posted on the website.

When I found the site I thought I would look back through the many millions of MJ's emails and find one that made me laugh. Uhhh, it took me approx. 10 seconds. You are a very silly woman who writes lots of funny emails MJ. Keep up the good work!

It's Monday night and it's raining hard.

2008-04-08T10:35:00.013+08:00

It's Monday night and it's raining hard. I'm writing a big report with a very tight deadline so I've set myself up at my desk and am mentally prepared for a late night. It's raining so hard the signal for the TV was disturbed. Even though I was despondent when this happened it is for the best because Monday nights mean two episodes of House. It would have been too easy to lose two valuable report writing hours. Even with my laptop on the top of my lap and the intention of working while watching I can't help focusing all my attention on dissecting the psyche of that complex and troubled Greg House.

The great thing about this rain is that I can turn my music up loud and know that my housemates can't possibly hear it over the loud rain. Bonus no.2 is that the rain drowns out my noisy and clattering air conditioner for once. I usually have to choose between oppressive heat and a clack clack clack errrrrrrr noise. Downside is that instead of taking advantage of the clatter-free air conditioning and having a gloriously uninterrupted and cool sleep I have to stay up and work. I know, I should be more appreciative of the clatter-free time to work, but can't you just imagine how good that sleep would be...

The house is flooding, but fortunately the numerous holes in the roof and drains and the leaking doors all have the decency to be attached only to the laundry/entryway to my bathroom and toilet. It makes for slipperiness on the way to the toilet, but the lack of effective seals/the expectation of water from the shower and laundry means the water will dissipate through drains and holes as soon as the rain stops.

Please enjoy these photos of my flooded house.

The laundry

The front yard

The backyard

The side of the house alley thing

Tonight after a formal auditing process I have identified the following animals living in my house:

1. Cats

2. Mongoose (mongeese?)

3. Geckos

4. Mice (fortunately not rats)

5. Toads (unfortunately not frogs which are much more attractive)

6. Many millions of mosquitoes

7. Possibly that big spider I took a photo of, but I haven't seen him since we met by the paper towel about one month ago (by the way Yvonne, I didn't throw dirty socks at the spider. I just left him there and he was gone in the morning)

8. Stinky water in bathroom/laundry area. This is technically not an animal but it sure is a BEAST (har har).

Stinky water is common but usually reasonably inoffensive at my house. But tonight's rain either sloshed everything around the drains or (unfortunately most likely) flushed my village's sewage into my drains. Hopefully the well, and thus the water from the tap is safe from contamination.

Update: this morning the water was stinky coming out of the tap so I haven't showered and I brushed my teeth with mouthwash.

Traditional dance and more animals

2008-04-02T16:47:00.006+08:00

I need to catch up on a few things that have been happening over the last month so today will be a mash up of all kinds of stuff.

Did I tell you that in Bangkok we performed a traditional Acehnese dance? Well WE DID!

We were SO awesome, and we only had a few days to practice. It was an insanely hard dance to perfect because it was all about clapping in perfect time with each other. There was also a song but it was in a mix of Arabic, Acehnese and Indonesian so I couldn't learn it in time.

Here are some of god's great creatures I have spied lately.
1. this giant spider in my kitchen

2. This kitten at the place I eat lunch most days. I did a deal with the guys who work there. The cat would live there and I would bring it food (I couldn't take it home or to the office). But then I went to Bali and when I got back it was gone. Now the guys there just say "hey, what happened to the cat?" and smile conspiratorially.

This is the hornbill that lives at the pizza restaurant, Joel's, at the beach. He's so huge and extremely creepy. The other day he attacked my friend. Well, she was sticking her camera in his face and he snapped at her. In the whole time I was in Sarawak (where hornbills are on every tourist brochure and in every hotel name) I didn't see a single one. Turn up at the pizza shop and this guy is hanging around all the time.

I was going to show you more photos of elephants today, but I will save telling you about our elephant adventure for another post. It deserves a whole post of its own.

A quick update

2008-03-31T13:34:00.004+08:00

1. My spots got a lot worse, and now they seem to be getting better but I still look ridiculous. Lara suggested scabies, but the doctor ruled it out because it didn't have one crucial scabies symptom or something. The current hypothesis is the mother of all heat rashes.

2. There was an earthquake (mag. 6.2) on Saturday night (early Sunday morning actually) but I didn't feel it.

3. An Indonesian soldier was shot dead in Banda Aceh. The news reports haven't specified a date, but my friends saw police road blocks on Friday night, so it was probably then. No one seems too troubled yet, so neither am I.

4. Radio Australia seems to be the first media outlet in the world to report anything on Aceh lately. Good on Radio Australia. Paying as much attention to Indonesia (and not just Shapelle) as the Australian media should.

5. I bought a new desk and book shelf on the weekend and last night I assembled the desk using the most inadequate instructions I've ever seen. I am proud to say that the desk looks almost exactly like the picture in the instructions and seems to have no fatal flaws. It doesn't even wobble that much.

Because I know you're all dying for more info, I'll update about the scabies again tomorrow.

T-ra.

And my health degenerates further

2008-03-28T19:27:00.004+08:00

I was at a party on Wednesday night (I know, how hardcore am I to go to a midweek party?) and I was getting bitten by so many mosquitoes. And they were SO itchy.

The next morning I was still itching like crazy, and over the course of the day it just got worse. It was then that I notices that these bites were hard and raised and not at all regular and, well, they were ALL OVER MY BODY.

Behold the hideousness:

Figure 1.1. My leg

Figure 1.2. My arm

My colleagues have many theories as to what caused this and most of them relate to food. The most common is that I've eaten too many prawns or too much Indomie (instant noodles). The cure is also almost always a food or drink. Green coconut has been a popular remedy. But no one can really decide if these are insect bites or some other kind of allergic reaction.

To get a second opinion I went to the doctor and it went like this:

Me: I have spots
Dr: When did it start?
Me: Most likely Wednesday
Dr: Is it itchy?
Me: Yes
Dr: OK. Roll up your sleeve. I'm giving you an injection. And then go to the pharmacy and collect two kinds of drugs and a cream.
Me: Ouch, that injection really hurt.

I don't want to push negative stereotypes about Indonesian doctors, but seriously that was the extent of the consultation.

I went to the pharmacy and picked up the medication. About 40 tablets cost 2000 Rupiah, which roughly converted equals 20 cents. No wonder drugs get handed out like tic tacs.

Please, dear reader, tell me what is wrong with me.

A milestone and a medical anomaly all in one post!

2008-03-27T09:42:00.006+08:00

I posted the long-awaited Bali photos, but because I started the post a week ago, you have to look below this and the previous post to find it.

All this messy half-posting and updating later allowed me to overlook a very special milestone.

My 100th POST!

My 100th post occurred almost exactly six months into the life of this blog (and my stay in Aceh obvs). I wonder if I will write another 100 posts over the next six months. Is this my standard posting rate? Only time will tell. But what it tells me now is that my current posting rate is very low. I have visions of updating daily but I've only squeezed out 100 posts in around 180 days. I will try to increase posting but we're all going to have to make some sacrifices to realise this dream. Your sacrifice will be to lower your standards and except some very ordinary material. Thanks, I can really tell you guys are with me on this.

Now, to set the tone of the next six months of posting I will explore a fascinating subject: My pupils.

I woke up this morning and my eyes looked VERY dark. It was cool, but of course your eyes aren't supposed to change colour (unless you're one of those people whose eyes change colour). On close examination I realised my pupils were larger than usual and wondered if this was what is meant by 'dilated pupils'. Is there a moment when large pupils cross over and become 'dilated'?

To find out more I wikied 'dilated pupils' and this is the text and image it gave me (beware, it's hideous):

Mydriasis is an excessive dilation of the pupil due to disease, trauma or drugs. Normally, the pupil dilates in the dark and constricts in the light. A mydriatic pupil will remain excessively large, even in a bright environment. Sometimes colloquially referred to as a "blown pupil."

As my friend Jesse would say "that's totally grodie". I think he means gross, which is what I mean now. Clarification: this is NOT my eye.

So now that I've exhausted all scientific avenues (if it's not in Wikipedia it doesn't exist right?), maybe you guys can tell me what's wrong with me. No, I am not taking drugs. Haha, funny.

2008-03-22T13:19:00.002+08:00

It is 100% STRUGS to write a post today. I've even uploaded lots of photos (usually the most boring part of posting process) and all I need is to add some commentary and I'm done. BUT I JUST CAN'T DO IT!

So instead I will give you a teaser photos of what is to come.

No, this photo isn't a still from a film, this was taken in Bali. Don't you think it looks like she's found herself in a post-apocalyptic world and she's just spotted a creature mutated by nuclear radiation? The crazy cow in the background can't be bringing much comfort either.

****
This advertisement is AMAZING. The end, when they advertise the product (that I won't mention on my blog with the hope of holding onto a string of integrity) is kind of lame.

Rocking Bali's socks off and keeping the paps at bay

2008-03-20T18:14:00.007+08:00

Last week there was a lack of inspiration and this week there is a lack of time. I don't have enough time to write lots of words about Bali, but these photos are overdue. Probably all of these photos were taken by Meaghan and Beck.

Did I mention that we were traveling with a celebrity? Ryan was a HIT in Bali. He was pale, cute and smiled and laughed at EVERYONE (is there anyone that this kid doesn't love?)

Here are just a few examples of Ryan-fever:

In the photo below Ryan is being held by our driver Made while some girls take photos of them both. This photo doesn't even capture half of the extravaganza that was four girls spotting Ryan and going CRAZY.

Unfortunately it went to his head:

And it seems that I didn't like sharing the spotlight at all:

Look at him...so smug and laughing. Yeah, it's easy being on top Pal...just you wait. The death knell of your celebrity, Celebrity Big Brother is just around the corner for you.

When I was plotting my own comeback, I pretended to be Ryan's friend. We went swimming.

We were all big fans of the pool.

Meags captured this postcard sunset when we had dinner at the ultra-deluxe LaLuciolla. Oh my steak...I wish I could eat you all over again.

Sometimes it rained. A LOT.

Sometimes we rested with blankets over our heads.

One day we visited monkeys and spotted...A BABY!

Beck made a great nature documentary about this little guy's bid for freedom that was curtailed (HA) when his mum grabbed his tail (HAHA). I've uploaded it to YouTube and will embed tomorrow.

Pre-Bali meditations on a theme

2008-03-11T11:34:00.008+08:00

Because it's been two weeks since my last trip, I just can't fathom another day without travel. So today I will go to Bali.

And it's a total holiday! Eight whole days of holiday.

I haven't been doing much in the last week that I can post about. I took some photos of a giant spider in my kitchen and a cute kitten but I didn't bring my camera to the office.

So today's post will be a reflection. Unfortunately this doesn't present any obvious opportunities for photos. Unless you want to see a photo of me thinking.

Reflection no.1.
An observation about travelling out of Aceh: I can handle cold water showers every day but the day I am travelling. It's like my mind knows that hot showers await and that I don't need to kid myself that cold showers are fine. I think this can tell us a lot about expectations and how they impact on our acceptance of certain realities.

Even though I am LOVING my current jet-setting lifestyle, it might actually be making it harder to accept the day to day living standards of Aceh. I had ceased perceiving cold water, scratchy sheets and limited food choices as discomforts. Rather, what I was experiencing was a lack of luxury items. I think you would have to agree that the relative lack of comfort in not having a fine Egyptian cotton bath towel is far easier to accept than the discomfort of having no towel at all. If I begin to perceive cold water as a discomfort again I am in trouble. If I get fussy about food I might even starve.

Reflection no.2.
There is one thing in my house that I will NEVER be able to accept. And I think it might be that it is a potential health risk. Fecal matter in my mandi. That's right...POO! Here is an example of a mandi (this is one in my office. I took this photo to capture the manky green water).

I'll often use the mandi to wash my face and hands and brush my teeth. Traditionally it the only means of washing. I have a shower head so I don't use it for everything.

You use the little red bucket seen in the photo above to get the water out of the mandi. Theoretically the mandi should never be contaminated with soap or dirt. For example, if you want to wash your hands you scoop up some water in the bucket and pour it over your hands onto the floor (this is the kind of bathroom that stays wet from floor to ceiling all the time).

But now mine is contaminated not with soap or dirt, but animal poo. I can identify rat poo but there is some crazy other pooing going on in there that is just FREAKING ME OUT. Not only are there unidentified animals living inside my house, they are pooing in my face-washing water.

I thought the animals living in my house might be mongoose (mongooses, mongeese?), so I Wikied it and discovered that Indonesia has 100s of animals that could possibly inhabit my house and poo in my water. Possums, bandicoots, bats, megabats. Why don't don't they tell of you of the dangers when you arrive at the airport?

Any advice on ridding my house of these unwanted , disease-ridden monsters will be gratefully received.

***
Even though I am having 8 DAYS OF HOLIDAYS, I am going to have to work a bit, so if there are any special Bali treats you would like, or if you think of any good places to visit in Bali go ahead and send me an email.

Stuff White People Like: The BEST SITE EVER

2008-03-06T11:16:00.002+08:00

Stuff White People Like has been getting lots of 'buzz' lately so I'm a little embarrassed to just jump on a bandwagon and post like, totally a week too late. (Potential Stuff that white people like #82: being the first to 'discover' something).

But seriously guys, this is THE FUNNIEST THING I HAVE EVER READ. I am prone to exaggeration, but I really mean it this time.

Take some examples of stuff white people like:
#1: Coffee
#2: Religions their parents don't belong to
#16: Gifted children
#71: Being the only white person around

Read Stuff White People Like, and I can assure you it will describe the things that drive you crazy about other people (#28 Not having a TV; #67 Standing still at concerts), and your own White Person sins (#52 Sarah Silverman, #72 study abroad). There will also be a gazillion "it's funny because it's true!" moments.

I'm not at all convinced that this list describes only white people or would include poor white people, but putting those details aside, this list is right on the mark for describing some kind of demographic that I think most of my readers belong to. If you cannot identify with a single thing on this list (that includes the non-whites reading this) please let me know.

As I write this post some other "Stuff White People Like" have come to my attention.

Potential #83: blogging about websites (and movies, music) as an expression of how knowledgeable you are about cool things. My blog is one of about a trillion others.

Potential #84: Living in dangerous places (or making them sound dangerous even when they are not).

And thanks to Bryant's bitching about Gmail's Archive function that inspired this one:

Potential #85: de-cluttering (and looking down on people who hoard)

I could go ON AND ON about this. I've had to force myself to stop adding to the list. Believe it or not, I actually have to get back to work (#12: Non-Profit Organizations).

Another week in Aceh

2008-03-04T10:15:00.003+08:00

All is quiet on the Aceh front this week.

Although there was the most violent conflict-related act since the signing of the peace agreement over the weekend.

And of course there were all those earthquakes last week and at least one more this week.

And just to keep those things in perspective, this morning I was charged by a bull and stepped in dog poo (no news reports on these events yet, but when they make headlines I'll link them here).

I didn't intend for this post to be a list of things going wrong in Aceh, but when I wrote "all is quiet on the Aceh front" and realised how ridiculous that statement was, the only natural thing to do was post about all the dramas and....

...complain that still no one emails me! I linked reports from AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPERS, to make the point that you have access to information about Aceh dramas and yet the concern is BARELY audible. One concerned SMS from Australia is all I got when a mag. 7.3 earthquake struck in Aceh. ONE SMS! 7.3!

Yes, I am fine but clearly that is SO NOT THE POINT.

While on the topic of how hard my life is, next week I'm going to Bali with Beck and Meaghan. you know what that means....CARE PACKAGES! That's right, some bonds undies and salt and vinegar chips is all it takes for Sarah to forget months of neglect. And if your love for me isn't enough to motivate, remember that Bali is full of cool stuff to send back to my loving family and friends.

Waitress - My new favourite movie

2008-02-29T11:39:00.006+08:00

Last night I watched Waitress from start to finish. I had seen part of it before on a plane, and was pretty sure I loved it, but slept through a lot of it. I was waiting to see some of the scenes I remember from the first viewing, but I must have dreamed them because they didn't turn up this time. But it didn't matter, my dreamed scenes didn't make much sense anyway.

Oh this movie! What a tasty, sweet piece of loveliness!

It made me HUNGRY (not that I need any help with that). See, Kerri Russel plays a waitress with an awful husband and an unwanted baby in her belly. She expresses her angst through her extraordinary pie making.

I've always been a fan of pies, and have made a few in my life, but I don't think I could ever make another pie again as it will never come close to matching the (admittedly imaginary, movie-world) magic of the pies Kerri Russel made. I am grateful that there are no ovens in Banda Aceh so I am not tempted to foolishly attempt to make a pie right now.

Even if you're not a fan of pie (who are you anyway?? Soulless creature) you would probably love this movie anyway. It's clever, original, addresses important issews like gender-based violence (if you haven't signed the book sign it now), and it also just looks really nice. And if that's not enough, it also has grumpy old men and cute babies! It's true!

The fate of Kopi Manis

2008-02-28T18:42:00.005+08:00

Kopi Manis's owner is back. But before I break out the champagne (not that you can buy champagne in Aceh)....

Last night he came over to see Kopi and begin the delicate handover process. You know, reintroduce puppy and owner, allow Kopi to refamiliarise herself with her owner's smell, etc.

But we didn't get around to discussing handover because it took Kopi's owner about 15 seconds to realise that his rooftop was no longer a suitable home for this very active and MUCH larger dog. So he asked if Kopi could live with us forever.

Ummm....No.

As much as I love Kopi (still only about 1/100th as much as I love say, the cake I'm eating right now), there is no way I will ever be able to tolerate her early morning barking. Or her mid-morning, mid-afternoon, mid-evening, late-night and other incidental barking. Or when she scrapes her food bowl along the cement to get attention. Or when she bites really hard. Or how she's stopped sitting when I tell her to sit.

Our housekeeper would also like Kopi to leave so she can replant the flower bed and hang out washing without Kopi tearing it off the line and making in a comfy bed for herself in the mud.

I have a secret plan for Kopi which I REALLY hope works out. I think she will be happier if it does, and it means she will be very, VERY far away from my bedroom window at 5.30am.

But in case I can't pull it off, can you guys spread the word that we have a puppy that needs a home (don't mention the barking and flower bed destruction though)? I know that the bulk of my readers are in Melbourne, and perhaps none of them are in Aceh, but you never know who is connected to who.

I was going to take a photo of Kopi to update you all on how big she's grown, but she's so excitable I can't get far enough away from her to take a photo. If nothing else I will take a photo of her biting my foot later this evening and post it here tomorrow.

Update: This is the best I could do (note the torn up box in the background. I thought she might have wanted a cosy place to sleep):

Early morning Banda Aceh

2008-02-27T17:47:00.009+08:00

The strangest thing happened at 6.30 this morning. If I were to tell you without giving background I am sure that the bulk of responses would be along the lines of "you were awake at 6.30am?" or "you do exercise?"

Allow me to explain.

Most mornings I go out at about 6.30 to get some exercise (usually jog but this morning all I could muster was a brisk walk). My favoured approach of 'incidental exercise' (i.e. walking to work and taking the stairs) doesn't really work here in the land of chauffeur-driven cars and sexual harassment from boys on motorbikes so I have to make exercise happen....early in the morning.

I go out early because by 7am there are lots of cars, motorbikes and people around, which means two things:

I could get hit by a moving vehicle
I get stared at because a sleepy white person running around in trackies and listening to an ipod is just plain weird

But Banda Aceh is itself quite weird at that time of the morning for the following reasons:

The sun is just rising, so it's not dark anymore, but the light is super creepy.
It's quiet, which is just impossible to believe at any other time of day or night.
There are so few people around we all say hello to each other and pretend we live in a less densely populated country where everybody knows everybody.
There are few enough cars and motorbikes on the road that you can actually look away from oncoming traffic long enough to notice the mountains surrounding the city.
The cows. They take over the streets at that time of the morning and I have to get way closer to big bulls than I am comfortable with. To be totally honest and share my fears, even the regular sized cows are pretty scary.

But, this morning an even weirder thing happened. I was walking past a house and a little girl, maybe 1 year old, was stumbling around her front yard crying. Like really bawling. In her left hand she had a really big knife. It was the sort of thing you would use to hack at something.

Usually I don't approach little kids here because they are scared of me and my creepy white face, but it didn't seem right to walk straight past this baby that was crying. So I stopped and talked to her, and made very subtle attempts to take the knife out of her hand, but all it did was focus her crying -- towards me.

Then her dad came out of the house and saw this foreigner girl harassing his baby and making her cry. I new it was futile trying to explain that I was only a secondary cause of crying (the first cause still unknown), so I just ran away.

A guide to living the life in Bangkok

2008-02-23T18:46:00.011+08:00

I'm staying at the Rose Garden Riverside Hotel in Bangkok. In a room that looks like this:

In fact, this could be my room (it's the photo taken from the website). I'm sharing my room with another AYAD and even though we don't know each other it's still like catching up with a friend. And I'm pretty sure I remember her from the streets of Melbourne and uni days.

Anyway, as you might be able to tell from the photo, this place is fancy. I could never, ever have imagined how incredible this buffet is. I am eating tasty meal after tasty meal. I can't remember a time in my whole life where every mouthful of food has been so truly satisfying in a continuous three day period.

My brain is pretty tired from the workshop so I will allow photos to tell the story with minimal explanation on my part.

1. This is how we felt after 16 hours of travel to get from Banda Aceh to Bangkok (and what's more, this photo was taken the night after our arrival, after a solid 8 hour sleep).

1. This is the view of the pool from my window. I've been swimming twice in the morning and each time I've had the pool to myself. I could swim diagonally across it if I wanted and often did because I had no goggles so was essentially blind.

2. Ani, Inda and me in the Orchid Garden.

3. Waterfall and balcony thing. At first this area seemed a little out of place and European in the Asian-Zen environment, but the lobby had a French theme about it too, so I think the European blend was actually planned. Not having seen anything remotely European in a long time, even faux-European was delightful.

4. Toni playing the piano in the lobby. This is one of those silly pianos that plays itself. A good example of something that is fun and completely stupid at the same time.

The music coming out of the piano was piped around the whole complex so you'll be wandering past a temple on the riverbank with water lilies surrounding it and cheesy classical music soundtrack follows your every step. I'm not sure what I would ordinarily make of it, but being in a place where things exist purely for their aesthetic beauty is so calming and restorative that I don't even mind a little bit of piped music.

Where is Sarah? Not in Banda Aceh!

2008-02-19T17:52:00.005+08:00

Tomorrow I am going to Bangkok for work. I think this might be my first official work trip. I guess technically I had my costs covered to come to Aceh, so that might fall into the category of work-related travel, but it's not the same. I did go to Hamilton (not the island) for work in my last job, but I don't think it should be counted as a work trip when you go by minibus and it's in the same state as your office.

I will be back in Indonesia on Monday and back in Aceh on Tuesday morning. My phone will probably work in Thailand in case you have something really, really exciting to tell me.

Maybe I will post while I am away, but I'll probably be having too much fun "meeting and greeting" and doing "icebreaker" activities. YAAAAAY for workshops! If I'm lucky I might even get to brain storm some ideas on big sheets of paper and present them to the group in the form of a funny skit!

Oh yeah, I'll also be distastefully GORGING on the hotel buffet food. A buffet of Thai food?! Nice to meet you Mr Jackpot! It's going to be buffet-mazing!

Seriously though, I'm excited about the workshop because my colleagues and I are going to perform an Acehnese traditional dance at the Welcome Dinner. My language teacher just watched us perform and his encouraging words were, "you need A LOT of practice". ummm, thanks.

Here is a picture of my colleague Toni, fanning himself with the USD he got today in preparation for our trip (his commentary: "Oh I'm so rich I just like to use these extra notes as a fan"). He had to boost himself up to feel rich after handing over a very thick stack of Rupiah and taking away 5 measly notes.

Personal intention to donate organs as inappropriate post subject matter. Discuss.

2008-02-18T19:40:00.004+08:00

An article in the Age today reminded me that I am yet to "register my consent to donate my organs and tissue and discuss it with my family."

It took me 25 years to get to Vicroads and sign some forms to get my Ls so I don't expect that I will get around to registering as an organ donor anytime soon (can I do it online?**) And I ALWAYS forget to bring it up when any of my family members are around. So I've decided to blog my intention to donate my organs.

This is a great idea for a number of reasons:

1. My whole family faithfully read my blog (right guys...right?)
2. Instead of telling one person who might forget (ummm, I remember Sarah saying something about organs but was it yay or nay?), I am telling at least 10 people which has got to improve the odds.
3. If I don't get around to registering sometime before I die when I'm 120 (and not a moment sooner) you can use this post as a legally binding statement of my intention (a blog post has to be legally binding somewhere in the world. Just send me there and start extracting those organs...maybe not China though, I don't want to be sold to rich people).

**post script. You can register online HERE! But you still have to send the form to Hobart or something.

CreaMayo Delight and other traditional Acehnese foods

2008-02-18T15:01:00.005+08:00

I have just discovered a great restaurant in Banda Aceh. It has a very fancy interior including leather seats, artwork on the walls and is extremely clean. It seems to have taken on the role of "haven from the squares-ville world of Shari'a law" too. Quite a few women go there without a head scarf, and sometimes a boy and a girl will be there on what looks a lot like a "date".

This place also has a really catchy name. One of those "I wish I thought of that" kind of names. Pizza Hut. Like a hut with pizza in it!

Before you ask how I can overlook the poor quality of the pizza in my ode to PH, I must assure you that Indonesian Pizza Hut is very different to Australian Pizza Hut. Let me introduce you to a new world of culinary excellence.

Exhibit 1: When I was there on Saturday night I asked my friend to choose the pizza we would eat, and he suggested the "CreaMayo Delight". What is the CreaMayo Delight, I asked. "Oh just your basic mayonnaise pizza". We ordered it because it seemed too unbelievably delicious to leave untested.

The pizza was criss-crossed with mayonnaise and chilli sauce over chicken and tomato. And just in case you really love your mayo, a little fondue tray of mayonnaise stood on a podium in the middle of the pizza (for dipping purposes I assume).

The verdict on CreaMayo Delight: Kopi Manis LOVED the left overs.

failed sleep-in

2008-02-15T10:56:00.008+08:00

Boy oh boy, I am sleepy grumpity grumps today. I haven't been getting to bed early enough this week so I decided to take advantage of my boss's absence today by sleeping in and come into work a little bit late. In truth I could probably come into work a little bit late any day because no one really notices, and no one would care, but here's a secret about Sarah: I NEVER break rules unless I can guarantee I won't get caught. Yep, my sole motivation for doing the right thing is to keep myself out of trouble.

So I went to bed last night without setting the alarm and had visions of sleeping in my very comfy bed until 8am...but it wasn't to be. I guess I'm being punished for something (probably my spineless, authority-fearing ways) and my punishment has been delivered in the form of this:

Kopi Manis has a truly excellent early morning routine of barking incessantly and pushing her water bowl around on the cement (bark, bark, scrape, bark, bark, scrape). Well, I showed her who was boss...I got out of bed at 7.15am to give her food (that she doesn't need because she is fat). Yep, the dog wins. But I gave her a stern look. OH YEAH, IT WAS STERN!

As a consolation I watched the end of the O.C. (pure genius to play it from 7am-8am every morning) and didn't start getting ready for work until 8am. 8AM! Pretty rock n roll right?

Everybody's doing it....

2008-02-14T09:56:00.004+08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

****
Catherine Deneuve, Hillary Swank and Sir Bob Geldof have added their names...

If that isn't the most compelling reason to add your name to UNIFEM's Say No to Violence Against Women campaign, then I AM STUMPED!

www.saynotoviolence.org

Sorry

2008-02-13T12:21:00.003+08:00

Happy Sorry Day everyone!

(OK, so we need to work on that greeting a bit...and isn't there already a Sorry Day? Does this day get dibs on the name now?)

So, this morning when I got to work at about 8.30am I hopped online to check out the business about the apology. I read a couple of articles and tried to find the complete speech on YouTube (no luck yet because the internet is a bit slow today). But what seemed to be coming through in reports is that Kevin Rudd was great and Brendan Nelson was...not so great.

The article in The Age didn't really explain what was so bad about Nelson's speech, and quoted some pretty innocuous excerpts that didn't seem to say much at all. Could people have been offended by his weird hair cut? It's possible, but perhaps an overreaction. I wondered "What could he have said that was so bad??" So I found the full text of Nelson's speech and....

...my jaw dropped.

Brendan, Brendan, Brendan...What were you thinking? Was there a mini-explosion inside your brain mid-speech? Yeah, maybe that's it. Maybe you didn't mean to make the most absurd speech in the history of the universe...Maybe?

And he just KEPT.ON.GOING....Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse he actually used the words "half-caste". I KNOW!

I would have loved to have been sitting in on that planning meeting:

Brendan: Hey guys, why don't I say "we're sorry" but then spend another 2,500 words explaining why it's not our fault!? Why don't I also bring up alcoholism and sexual assault. That's always a crowd pleaser at weddings!!

Sarah (if I was sitting in on the meeting): How about you just say sorry. Short and sweet?

Brendan: Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, I could also blame the state governments! They're Labor right? Sweeeeeet! This is going to be one hell of a speech! I'm going to piss on EVERYONE!

Sarah: Ummm, OK. Good luck with that. (we all know that in real life I wouldn't have said something that calm and mature, but it's my fantasy so let's leave it be).

***
Feel free to post a comment about the apology or send me an email telling me about the day. This is the second seriously exciting moment in politics I've missed in the last few months (no.1. the election), so keep me in the loop, yo!

An Album a Week...?

2008-02-12T11:48:00.000+08:00

You might remember my New Year's Resolution to buy an album a week every week I'm in Indonesia. Well, it turns out that even awesome New Year's Resolutions are often not kept.

The thought of spending money on an album I couldn't share with anyone bummed me out (iTunes won't let me share). So in response I bought pirated CDs and copied enough music from a friend of mine to last me until 2010.

I bet you're wondering what kind of musical gems I can buy in remote, religiously conservative Aceh (The Acehnese practice Shari'a Islam). Well, it turns out that you can buy this:

Yep, the creepy Australian Christian mega-church, Hillsong has made it all the way to Aceh.

I would review this CD, but I'm pretty sure it's blasphemy to question the glory of the word of god sung by a woman in a red latex jacket. But nothing reminds me of the power of the lord more than a good rock-n-roll tune.

Another surprise find was Youth by Matisyahu who is known as the orthodox Jew who raps.

Wikipedia is pretty quick to clear up misconceptions about this guy's religious practices, but while someone in the world worries far too much about that, I will enjoy tracks like Fire of Heaven/Alter of Earth, Shalom/Saalam and Late Night in Zion.

****
What's you're Six-word memoir? I am absolutely stumped on this!

...and now for a request

2008-02-11T18:07:00.000+08:00

I'm finally getting around to printing some photos to put on my wall, so if anyone has a photo you think would look nice on my wall can you email it to me? I want to print them as big as possible, so the larger the file the better.

Train puppy: Check.

2008-02-11T16:51:00.000+08:00

I trained the puppy in about 10 minutes. All it took was a bit of food and voila, the dog can sit. She's still a little bit psychotic at times, but now I can break her out of it because we have a command she understands. She's also figured out that biting isn't a game. She still tries to bite sometimes, and I think she's trying to convince me to reconsider my stance on biting (no really, it's SOOOOO much fun!) but the improvement is huge.

I would LOVE to get her a collar and lead so we can go walking (a guard dog wouldn't be a bad idea sometimes), but no one in town sells anything like dog supplies (the foreigner supermarket has just started stocking dog food though!) so I will wait until I go to Bangkok in a couple of weeks.

****
Try Montage-a-Google!

Kopi Menace

2008-02-07T11:10:00.000+08:00

In response to my puppy parenting dilemmas I got two suggestions on how to train a puppy:

1. Ask Lara (the puppy whisperer)
2. Tough love

The funny thing is, rather coincidentally, these are the only two things that I've tried already. As you know from earlier posts, Lara was visiting a couple of weeks ago. She suggested a couple of things and I've been diligently playing tug-of-war since. I have also been tough (ceasing play time when the biting gets too vigorous, and smacking on the nose) but the dog is getting progressively more psychotic.

Now I am in a catch-22. I think Kopi Manis probably needs more attention than she's getting (I'm at work from early morning to early evening), but she's now so bad at biting that even if I wanted to keep playing with her I have to go inside to save myself! As for the tough love, I have no qualms about being tough to a puppy, but she fights back!

At least my fears for Kopi when she is left to fend for herself (when my friend leaves Indonesia in 18 months time) have subsided. This puppy could take on the biggest, meanest dog ever and tear it to shreds.

Can a puppy have slow-onset rabies?

The ups and downs of raising a family

2008-02-06T16:12:00.001+08:00

I'm quite busy at work these days, with quite a few "projects" to work on, and it's lots of fun. What concerns me though is that working in my office doesn't really provide great blogger fodder, and also doesn't allow for much time to go searching from something to post.

But keeping with that saying "if you want something done give it to a busy person", I am now more committed than ever to post frequently. But please be warned that I can aim for quantity, but whether it's quality is truly up to the gods to decide.

******
I'm pretty sure that some of you who read this post have or have had puppies. As you might have heard, I'm puppy-sitting this month for my friend who decided to ride a motorbike around India.

When Kopi Manis (the dog) came to live at our house she was about 10 centimeters long and a little weakling. And then she had a growth spurt. She was always an excitable dog, but she seems to have gone a bit crazy and now she's actually big enough that her craziness causes problems.

For example:
1.She can pull over the rubbish bin and eat from it
2.When she bites it actually hurts and if I get a proper dog bite I have to get rabies injections. yuck.
3.Yesterday after Kak Ani washed the sheet from my bed Kopi Manis somehow pulled it off the washing line, dragged it into the garden (while it was raining) and then went to sleep on it. Cute: yes, good puppy behaviour: no.

Clara and I were very diligent puppy-sitters. We tried hard to train her and sometimes it seems to have paid off. But mostly she seems feral (which I guess is actually true considering that she was found in a garbage bin). Could this just be rebellion due to a sense of abandonment since Clara's departure?

Can anyone tell me how to train a puppy?

First language class

2008-01-31T20:18:00.000+08:00

Today, after four months in Aceh I had my first language class. My brain hurts. Unfortunately I appear to have been born without the slightest gift for languages. A shame really considering that I seem compelled to go to places where people don't speak English as their first language.

My teacher worked hard to correct my accent, which is apparently more Medanese that Acehnese. That will come in handy the next time I am in Medan, but for now I really need to nail the Acehnese accent. I had a hard time explaining that my inability to roll my 'r's is not a new discovery. I realised this deficiency first when learning Italian in year 8 and later when learning Turkish. Apparently a fair bit of Italian blood wasn't enough to ensure the gift of the rolling 'r'.

Speaking of Italian, some Italians dropped into the office earlier this week to talk about post-conflict projects. When they discovered that my surname was Fortuna they asked me all the usual questions like where I was from, which part of Italy, which part of Sicily...etc. etc. but the conversation quickly degenerated into, "why can't you speak Italian" and "why don't you know anything about Italy". Sorry guys...

Thanks to those who skyped me the other day. My colleagues in the office were so excited to see my family, especially my Ibu (mother). I was particularly pleased to see cute kids and Jess's belly. And most importantly, my friends were jealous that I was so loved! I have established that the skype sound problems rest with my computer, but have no idea how to fix them. The sound works in pretty much everything else, although a little while ago I couldn't hear anything when I played DVDs. Any ideas of what to try? The computer thinks all components are functioning normally.

More generally I think my computer is on the brink of a total breakdown. If it were human I imagine it would be hiding in the toilets crying and binge drinking after work.

2008-01-29T11:20:00.001+08:00

Finally Lars and I are co-posting just a few minutes before she leaves, so this post will be heavy on photos and light on witty commentary (that stuff takes time people, it doesn't just happen).

This weekend we went to Pulau Weh.
We stayed in accommodation that looked like this:

With Laras that looked like this:

We snorkeled a lot and saw a huge yellow moray eel.
This is me after snorkeling:

We took a boat to Rubiah Island just a stone's throw from where we were staying. Here is some youtube footage of me trying to take a photo of Lara on the boat. Technology isn't as easy as it looks.

Lars tried to be friendly to this cow, but instead of becoming BFFs the cow charged her.

There was also a goat...

We took the ferry back to Banda Aceh on Sunday afternoon, and on the becak drive home (see vehicle in photo for explanation of what a becak is) we stopped by the famous generator ship that was swept approx. 3km inland by the tsunami. Yep, it's big.

That's Clara next to Lara. The inevitable jokes when we introduced ourselves as Sarah, Lara and Clara never got tired. EVER.

Here are a couple more photos from Lara's 1o days in Aceh. Did we mention that it rained?

The first photo is of Naomi and Lara on our stroll along the beach last weekend. We got very, very wet. Not really the best location in the world for a wet t-shirt competition.

Yesterday, I took the day off work so we could do some last minute sightseeing. We'd lined up a driver ahead of time and everything....but we decided to stay home and watch DVDs instead.

Anyway, turns out we are clever cookies because it rained a tonne yesterday and instead of getting soaked, we took photos from inside our comfy (but actually muggy and hot) house. This photo was taken before the backyard flooded. I thought about putting the dog in the laundry to escape the rain, but soon found out that the laundry had flooded too.

****
In other important Where is Sarah?-related news:

1.Suharto is dead and the flags are at half mast. He got a state funeral even though he was on trial for defrauding the state of squillions. He was also "widely considered to be one of the most brutal rulers of the last century". That was paraphrasing a quote that BBC has been using repeatedly for the last week or so. The Indonesian TV news reports are mournful and speaking of 'forgiving the sins of a great nation builder'.

2.Kopi Manis is a girl! The vet told her owner (Jesse) that she was a he, but in fact, to quote Clara when she was playing with Kopi last night, "it's a girl...IT'S A GIRL!!" We couldn't be prouder temporary guardians.

3.Clara is leaving at the beginning of next week. I have no idea what I am going to do with myself when she goes. I have a new house mate lined up, but who knows if he will be willing to gossip with me? Sigh....

Boat Trip

2008-01-22T11:15:00.001+08:00

Lara and I tried to co-post yesterday but instead we were sidetracked by the surprisingly difficult task of buying Lara a flight out of Indonesia.

On Sunday we went on a boat trip to an island about an hour or two from Banda Aceh. This boat trip was the mostly highly anticipated event on the Banda Aceh foreigner calendar for some time. So on Sunday morning we all arrived at the port like kids going on school camp and loaded the boat with supplies enough for 100 people (there were probably only 20).

After an hour or so we arrived at our destination and began the mission of getting necessary supplies from the boat to the beach via surf boards and waterproof bags. Once everything was on dry land we made a fire and cooked up a storm (actually I collected firewood and went for a swim while the cooking happened). We had fish and prawns and chops, and one very resourceful person was even able to bring salads across from the boat in Tupperware containers.

At one point Lara pondered whether the location could be any more perfect and I reminded her of the coral cuts we all had from crossing a reef as we swam from the boat. I retrospectively added to the 'what's not perfect about the boat trip' list:

1. my decision to climb up a steep hill in bare feet
2. the strong current that nearly swept us out to sea as we swam back to the boat
3. Sunburn even though I lathered on the sunscreen

But even the list didn't make the day anything less than brilliant. Here is me and Lara at the end of the day on the way back into town.

For a change of pace, this weekend Lara and I will stay put on an Pulau Weh (Weh Island) for three days. It's nice to mix it up a little you know?

Lara comes to town

2008-01-18T16:39:00.000+08:00

Yesterday Lara arrived in Banda Aceh. Here is photographic evidence:

This is her sitting in my office. Today we ran errands together and were generally just busy bees.

Tonight we will be the guests of honour at my friend's dinner for his students and later on we might open the bottle of red Lara brought from Australia. Tomorrow we will go to the beach and the following day we'll be going on the ultimate fishing trip. Photos of all that fun later.

Peter Russel Clarke

2008-01-15T16:38:00.000+08:00

My whole world has been turned upside down by this YouTube clip Bryant showed me. Embedding has been disabled though, so you just have to follow the link.

Peter Russel Clarke Bloopers

I should probably give you an extreme foul language warning, but that will spoil the surprise.

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It's been a while since I've actually written anything of substance (if you don't call posting YouTube clips substance) so I'll give you a brief rundown of my activities of late.

I don't think I've posted much since New Year so I'll work from there. Sadly for my blog, not a whole lot out of the ordinary has been going on. Just work and hanging out mostly.

There were people taking photos of me through my bedroom window, which I guess could be considered not awesome. I put a blanket up and stopped them in their tracks. YEAH, I showed 'em who's boss.

On the weekend a few of my friends and I played golf. I was pretty shocked when I wasn't completely excellent at it. That was just weird because I'm such a natural sports player.

Last night I ate some sensational crab. Best I've had since being in Aceh to be sure.

Yep, that's it.

An Album a Week

2008-01-11T17:09:00.000+08:00

Album 2. Stars - In Our Bedroom After the War

Stars are a Canadian band who share three band members with Broken Social Scene. I actually wanted to buy their 2004 album Set Yourself on Fire but iTunes doesn't have it, which seems really dumb. Especially considering that Stars released this new album on iTunes two months before it was available in stores. Stars and iTunes should be best buddies but I think they are just using each other.

I've been listening to this album for a week and I like it a lot. I don't love it the same way I loved the tracks I heard from the last album, but it's still very nice. I'm not going to review every album I buy because, let's be honest, my opinion is about as informed as "I reckon it sounds orright". If you want to hear any more tracks just lemme know.

Next week: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

The marvels of lontong

2008-01-10T10:35:00.000+08:00

I've tried almost everything to garner comments on this blog and nothing has worked (I was sure the puppy would rouse interest), so now I will try a tactic that is very popular in the blogosphere (ha, I just wanted to say blogosphere).

Expose of dirty laundry part 1.
I am at work and have a terrible hangover. It's Muslim New Year so it's a public holiday for everyone but me. More truthfully it's a public holiday for everyone but me and the other suckers who work for a certain multilateral organisation (here's a tip idiots: forcing your staff to work on public holiday is not enough to counter allegations of gross inefficiency).

Last night some friends who work for a well known international NGO (that gives more annual leave and lets staff take public holidays) had cocktails to celebrate the beginning of a very long weekend. Of course I went. I didn't come all the way to Banda Aceh for the work you know.

Anyway, long story short: too much gin=sick Sarah.

I trialled a new hangover food this morning and it seems to have done the trick. Behold the lontong:

The white chunks are a long stick of sticky rice chopped into pieces. The soup/sauce is coconut-y and curry-ish with peanuts and vegetables. There is also an egg in there for good measure. This is tasty tasty and maybe even more satisfying when I have a hangover. The only thing holding lontong back from being the primary hangover food is that it's only eaten for breakfast so if I snooze too late I lose the chance to eat it. 3.5/5 stars.

Kopi Manis

2008-01-08T11:46:00.000+08:00

My friend Jesse found a little puppy underneath a rubbish bin just before Christmas. He was one week old and practically dead. After a week at the university Veteranary School he's doing much better. His name is Kopi Manis (which means sweet coffee).

These photos were taken at New Year. He'd already doubled his size since he was first found.

Here Kopi is sitting on my legs while I lie in the hammock. He hasn't really figured out how to wriggle yet, so if I hold him in place he just sits there, trapped. It's fun.

Here Kopi is trying to climb over my friend Sarah's legs. As you can see it's a pretty serious obstical.

I'll post more pictured when Kopi turns into a big mangy dog.

An Album a Week

2008-01-05T14:37:00.000+08:00

My new year's resolution was to buy a new album from iTunes every week I'm in Indonesia. We should all make resolutions that are fun to keep. It would make the system work a whole lot better. I'm sure some happiness-hater out there will point out that a resolution should be about personal growth, so I will tell you why this activity will make me a better person:

1. I will actually pay for this music instead of stealing it like I usually do
2. Listening to music has been scientifically proven to lift your mood (unless you have bad taste in which case it probably just increases self-loathing) so having more music to listen to should make me listen to it more and thus be happier
3. I will have a great music collection which will make me infinitely cooler (I know, cooler than I am already must be freezing) and being cool definitely makes you a better person

Feel free to add to this list in the comments section. I have a traffic counter now people, so I have proof that you are reading this blog. You can't hide anymore.

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Album 1. The Grates - Gravity Won't Get You High (e-deluxe edition with music video included if you don't mind)

Download a track from the album

I chose "Science is Golden" which you might already know, so if you want to hear something else just let me know and I'll make another selection.

But if you haven't heard this song get ready to get Jem truly outrageous! and dance around your bedroom with your hairbrush.

Creepy Sesame Street

2008-01-04T10:20:00.001+08:00

I promise this is the final post about Sesame Street for the morning (but anything can happen in the afternoon...)

I have had many serious discussions about the following clip (I think all of them have been with Jess). I could never quite remember what happened in it, but I remembered it was creepy. I think I've mixed the images with another clip that was even creepier, but I think this one provided the foundation for the memory. On review I realise this isn't so weird. I think I found it creepy when I was little because I thought it was a real little girl and not an adult acting as one (although I knew it was Lily Tomlin, so I don't know what was going on in my head).

Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann making a sandwich:

Sesame Street Mania

2008-01-04T10:04:00.000+08:00

Watching that Philip Glass clip on YouTube sent me into a Sesame Street nostalgia spiral.

Searching for one particular clip (to be revealed later) I have found so many other great Sesame Street clips like "Teeny Little Super Guy" and "How Crayons are Made" (Remember the dorky girl looking inquisitively at her crayon?!):

This is way more fun than Facebook, so I encourage everyone to spend their afternoons finding their favourite Sesame Street clips and reporting back in the comments section (just click on the "comments" link at the end of this post and let the magic happen).

Philip Glass on Sesame Street

2008-01-04T09:48:00.000+08:00

The Very Short List sent me a link to this clip from 1979 that I am sure everyone will remember. Obviously we didn't know who Philip Glass was back then, but even by the mid-80s when I was watching Sesame Street it was still of very high rotation. Can any current viewers of Sesame Street confirm whether this is showed anymore?