Work Hard/Play Hard

We wrapped up our first week of work here on Friday after meeting and talking to many interesting people. Most of the Indonesian's in the office speak very good English; however I have to listen very carefully due to their accents. They provide aid such as food, medication, agricultral, HIV/AIDS, education to developing countries and to people in emergency situations. One of the guys has been in Sumatra assessing the damage and needs from the most recent earthquakes. We heard about how one of their offices in another country was demolished due to political unrest. They also strongly believe in utilizing local staff and empowering them to better themselves through education and job skills.

After a week of hard work, we went in different directions (literally) for the weekend. Two went to Singapore for the weekend and two of us went to Bali. One of the ladies that is here with us suggested Bali if we had never been before. It's so different from Jakarta.

Augustin is a certified scuba diver, and Bali has the reputation as one of the best places in the world to dive. I have gone diving 2 times before...not a pro by any stretch of the imagination but really enjoyed it when I went before. We found a great PROFESSIONAL dive shop and they were willing to take a diver with little experience (ME). So Saturday was spent exploring the waters off the west side of Penida Island, which is off the southeast coast of Bali. Augustin went with his diving buddy and I had my own diving buddy, Kade'. We were really fortunate to have the dive master/owner of the shop on our boat taking a German guy out for technical diving. OK...for you skiers think of it like this. I was diving green runs, Augustin was diving blue/black runs, and the dive master and his student were diving double black diamonds. There were thousands of gorgeous fish to see and the coral reef was so beautiful that I don't even know how to describe it. We did two dives in two different areas. I even saw a little village that farms seaweed near the area of our first dive. As I was swimming under water I heard something you wouldn't expect to hear underwater. Kade my dive buddy was humming his favorite song. It took me awhile to figure it out..then I had to laugh. He did a great job of keeping track of me underwater and he was entertaining as well.

Today we spent most of the day touring around the island with a guide (Alex) and a driver. We visited three different Hindu temples and went all over the countryside. Bali is known for it's many temples. Alex explained about all of their many gods and ceremonies. In fact they were having a temple dedication at one we visited. We got to see the men and women dressed in their colorful temple attire, hear the unique music, and watch one of the men dress up with differents masks and do several ceremonial dances. It was very interesting to see, but I struggled with the concept of their religion and many gods. I asked Alex several questions referring to what Christians believe. It's just so different. He asked me some questions as well about Christian beliefs and customs in the US. Bali is 85% Hindu and in need of prayer in a big way. One sight that caught my eye was a small pick up with three men in the cab and four nicely dressed women in the bed of the truck. They were all heading to temple with their offering.

In Jakarta you don't see dogs because of the muslim people. Jakarta has many stray and very skinny cats roaming the streets. However in Bali, there a many dogs. Alex told us each family has at least one or two dogs. They are a little rough looking but we definitely saw our share of dogs today. Other cool sights: rice fields, coffee plantation (beans, roasting, crushing & tasting), cloves, cocoa plants, vanilla plants, kiwi, papaya, hand made batik designs on cloth, hand carved wood figurines and many beautiful kids.

It was an action packed weekend and I'm back in Jakarta ready for week 2 at work. After all I saw this weekend, I can sum it up by saying God's creation is truly amazing.