Someone gave me a hug today, someone who has had a much tougher life than me and they took the time to help me, makes such a difference in life. And I bumped into someone I like and then also heard from another kind, person, after several weeks of not really getting out, this pre Christmas period re-engaging with colleagues in Herts Welcomes Refugees and the Green Party has been lovely. Virtual signalling, virtue signalling, virtue signalling.
Bali could also be said to be virtue signalling but really it was more to do with me being selfish, I wanted to have one last go of doing something important, but as much for me as for those who might in the process benefit. I wanted to spend time in a classroom and to just also be in one place in another country in a way that would mean getting to know the place. I had tried in Thailand to get volunteer work, but it had failed so in the end I just had a holiday there, but I wanted to try one more time, to do something similar so this time I went through what for me was a better organisation and I just arranged something small, a week's cultural experience and a week volunteering in a school. Because it was Indonesia, relatively cheap, I could afford to choose to stay in a hotel whilst doing the experience, but I also had the backup of the organisation which turned out to be very helpful.
I was not going there as a tourist so did not need to travel around, but several people told me Bali was not worth visiting now as it had lost its beauty, and for two and a half hours of the taxi journey across the island which was basically solid traffic, I could see why they might be saying that, but then we went up into the mountains, everything was lush and green and then down into Lavina, and found my final location, 3 minutes from the beach. The organisation I went with is American, and I guessed most of the other volunteers would be native English speakers like me as we were there to teach English speakers from the States and the UK. Instead I was with a whole bunch of enterprising young German women. They were staying in dorms, some arrived the same time as me and we spent the next two weeks together, some had arrived before hand and were already teaching or working on other projects. They were all always kind and curteous but understandably had more in common with each other, even though they did not know each other until they arrived. Many hoped to be teachers and were able to get invaluable experience over the many weeks they volunteered there mostly working in the kindergarten or school. Then for each of the two weeks I was there, there was also an English speaker, one with her daughter from Aus and the other from America and, we had an easier connection but everyone was lovely.
And then there were the Balinese. And that was the really great thing, the Balinese, they organised the event and ran the event. Most of the time a strict young woman was in command, which I thought was brilliant but all our drivers were men. The first week we were put through our paces learning some Indonesian and lots about cultural values, they also organised cooking classes, making offerings, took us to a temple and wonderful hot spa, and Balinese dancing and gamelan. I loved the hot spa, but only one of the younger women fancied it, I think everyone thought because it was hot and the weather was hot, then they would be exhausted by it, but it was amazingly refreshing. The organisation also helped us arrange a boat trip to see the sunrise and dolphins. We all loved swimming with dolphins, I choose not to actually swim with them, I was just in the boat, and it was not completely swimming with them, but one could be in the water at the same time as them. One of the women was almost a professional swimmer, she was amazing, but of course not as amazing as the pods of dolphins around us. I think we all were surprised by how many boats there were out at sea, because the actual location was very quiet with very few tourists, and as far as we could tell the dolphins were not panicked by our presence, but it was not quite what we had anticipated. So a lesson for all of us. However, what an amazingly beautiful thing to do. We were also treated very seriously by the dancers and musicians in the special school we attended. So that was a special experience for all of us and what was nice was being all in it together.
In between activities, we could swim, eat the three meals provided, rest, read go down to the beach or in my case along to the hotel just down the beach for a coffee und kuchen. I loved just looking at the water it was so calm. Perfect. So almost everything one wanted, except by Thursday I was champing at the bit to get a bit more involved and to find out about the teaching, but also concerned in case it was too much for me. And by the third day, possibly because of the snorkeling, I had a very sore throat and people were beginning to automatically bring me ginger tea when they heard my cough. Everyone knows about Balinese belly, but by the weekend, it was clear I was ill, with Balinese cough. I cancelled my planned visit to a coffee farm in the mountains and tried to focus on being well for the Monday and the teaching, but really struggled alone in my room at night, awake and unable to rest. Being ill is never nice, but being ill and feeling alone away from home is definitely worse.
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