Bert Vierstra
Hee, you are not allowed to work tonight, says Nila as she walks into my "Office". She is chewing on something. "Yeah, and you are not allowed to eat", I respond. She smiles and says she is a christen. Yesterday night was a special night, some ceremony of which I forgot the name. No Work, no food, no sleep, but praying. It's special because tonight is very dark, good for meditation. I go to the family temple in my sarong, and to my surprise I see only young people there. I sit down, say the "Our Father" in Dutch while I get splashed by Hindu holy water, and look a little at the stars, sometimes covered by the clouds. Clouds, it IS the raining season. Today was a grey day. There have been a lot of thunderstorms, and because of those some modems have been blown up. The telephone lines here are not like "at home".Sandy, the wife of Gus from Villa Agung called today and said she can't access the internet, a blown up modem. While I am replacing it with a new one she tells about a Cobra that was chased around the house by the dogs. "A Cobra", I ask surprised. Yes. that's how it looks like and how the Balinese call it too. It has spit poison in the eyes of the dogs, who had swollen eyes for one night. She saw it "standing upright" and waving its snake head.Saw Gloria because I took Eny, the sister of Dewi to her clinic again, still some problems with her eye. Gloria proudly announced that the books are finished, and officialy approved. A few days earlier I saw her with some white guys with camera's that could feed a Balinese family for 10 years. I hope she squeezed some money out of them.Had an email from a company I worked for before I came to Bali. They need something from me, and I offered to come to The Netherlands for a short time to help them out. I would be nice, financially spoken. I think they will not accept, but it was fun to think about all the things I need to do to go there. I need clothes!, its snowing there..Mita, the young sister of Nila, has been placing offers around the house lately. I was surprised because in the 6 months I have been here, I did not see so much Hindu activity, besides the ceremony's. I praise her, "gee, what am I saying here", she smiles and asks if I want my motorbike "done" too.I looked a little envious at the Balinese that have the same bike like me, but "tuned" it a little, mine is totally standard. Yesterday I bought a new "knalpot", a racing muffler, for the Tiger. Now I sound like an 1200cc Harley, and I feel ashamed of all the noise I produce, but the man love it, some girls however disapprove of the noise.Some time miscalculations make that I suddenly have to go abroad to renew my visa, within a few days. Thought it would take another month. I hope that with all the visa changes and the rising tension in the world, I won't have any surprises at embassy's or airports. I would be horrible not to get home again.Nila shouts "Goodnight" through the wall when she is going to sleep, tomorrow she will be a Hindu again.This is Dewa, with Rama and Cinta, he made the two Wajang Kulit puppets I send to lantana, as a thank you for the Wagner Music.http://bali-information.com/forumpics/dewa.jpg[/img]-
Gloria
[b]Strangers with Gloria[/b]Hello all, yes Bert, I was with some "white guys" a few days ago,who did have cameras worth a small fortune, as would be expected of the BBC LONDON UK..They contacted Crisis Care Foundation having had some good reports from visitors who have been to our clinic and took film as we were doing our "rounds" of the poorest villages to give away RICE and BLANKETS,NOODLES etc...They contributed a total of 400.000 rp towards the cost of renting the car and for some bags of rice,for which they were given a receipt. They observed the rice being given to the villagers and they filmed everything to be contributed to a documentary for the BBC,called Discovery. They also confirmed that they are coming back to Bali with another film crew to do extensive filming about the effects that the BOMB has had on rural Bali, with the intention of promoting tourism here in the North.They also came to two schools with our Team and were happy to be a part of giving donations of pens,pencils,books etc, for the children.It was a very pleasant day and we all enjoyed it despite the rain. So the " white strangers" have now been identified,and the mystery set straight. With reference to THE BOOKS OF CRISIS CARE, they have been audited by an accountant and were found to be fine and are now on the desk of the Governments Auditor General for his stamp of approval. I am proud of that, yes. It proves,without a doubt, that I have been honest in all my book keeping, somewhat haphazzard,but that is not a crime...so the gossip must now be put to rest. A further announcement will be made about our recent expenses with collected funds later today,if we can still get in to the computer..which is also haphazzard... Gloria
