Another Week In Paradise!

Well, it actually isn't paradise but it does sure beat the cold and snow back in Thompson! Work as usual has been interesting and I must admit that I get a lot done here as I am able to focus without very many interruptions.

I went and chatted with Dwayne Kroll and Glen Schrum this past week as they are both based in the same building where I have been working. It looks like Glen expects to finish out his Inco (or I should say Vale Inco) career here. He started with the company the same time I did but then took some time off to go back to school and got his engineering degree so he has about 4 more years. Dwayne and Sarah like it here but I think I detect a bit of restlessness and a possible desire to move on, to where Dwayne isn't sure. But then that may have come from pure speculation as he knows as well I do that sooner or later they will have to go back.

Another person I knew from Thompson who is here is Warren Flannery and I stopped and chatted with him for a bit too. He and his family have been here for about a year and a half and he informed me that they are heading back to Canada in June. He came to Sorowako from Sudbury and that is where they are going to return to. His wife doesn't really like it here as she is a fairly private person and in that situation there really isn't much to do. For wives, as they except in rare circumstances can't work here, if they aren't in effect "social butterflies" one can quickly become lonely if you aren't careful as you are a definitely a stranger in a strange land.

I met a couple who just arrived two weeks ago: Suzanne and Oscar (I think their last name is Stewart but I'm not sure - if I see them again Wednesday I will have to ask). So far they like it here. Oscar is in charge of safety at the new hydro dam they are now constructing at Caribbe.

Wednesday I went to the driving range they have right across the road from the golf course to practice a bit. A little kid about 7 or so came over and even though I couldn't understand what he was saying quickly figured out he would run and get any balls I hit and return them to me. And that he did. I would hit 5 and he would scamper where ever they landed and when I was done he would bring them back and we would start again. He never lost a one, even though I was spraying them all over! I gave him a few thousand rupiah and he seemed happy. But I wasn't pleased with myself in that I still cannot carry out even a very basic conversation!

So I bought a Pimsleur teach yourself Indonesian audio book and am now slowly trying to expand my vocabulary enough that I can carry out such a basic conversation. When it comes to other languages I am a very slow learner (my short term memory at times refuses to retain many of the Indonesian words!). I should say too that getting this book was a bit of an adventure! Because the network connection is so slow here I didn't want to try downloading directly so I remotely connected to my office computer back in Thompson, and proceeded to purchase and download the book there in about 15 minutes. Then I accessed where I had saved it over the network and transferred the files during the night! Took a few hours but I managed to get them all here.

This past weekend as usual I have found things to do, if so inclined! Yesterday morning I went to the golf course hoping to meet up with Eugene and Ito (Paul is out for a couple of weeks now) but they weren't there. As there was no one else I knew who could speak English (Inggris in Indonesian) I just went out by myself and my caddy. While I never had one decent tee shot all round I still didn't play too bad. Haven't been keeping score so obviously there is still room for improvement. For what ever reason I am now hooking the ball instead of hitting it straight or slicing it! After the round I went for a swim down at the Yacht Club (there is a security guard always there and so I have no fear about leaving my valuables about) although it doesn't have a very good beach - a bit too rocky for my liking. I ended up spending the afternoon working.

Today I went for a hike with my friend Richard Jones (the same person I went to Matabunto Falls with a few postings back). We walked overland from Sorowako to Wasapunda, a distance of about 15 kilometres. It took us just over 4 1/2 hours to make the trip. For the first third we followed a cart track that slowly got less and less worn, but still easy to follow. Here is a view looking north as we were approaching the upper reaches of the pass looking out towards Sorowako.
Except for stopping occasionally to pick off the odd small forest leech it was fairly steady going through the damp undergrowth. Temperature wise it was relatively cool for these parts in that it was probably in the high twenties and fairly humid but at least the sun wasn't beating down. The track eventually came out onto a meadow like area in the highlands well above Wasapunda.

From there we made our way to a narrow trail that wound its way down hill and eventually through some farms. There we saw small plots of corn with other crops interspersed including hot pepper bushes, water melon vines, banana trees and papaya. Plus some sort of grain that looks a lot like rice plants but not in paddies. It was really interesting as there were in one place three different ages of crops: corn and other plants almost ready for harvest right beside a plot that would probably be ready a month later beside another plot that probably would be ready in a couple of months. Amazing what one can do when the growing season is all year round!

This next picture is looking over the Wasapunda valley and onto the village of Wasapunda. Once we got to town we stopped for a cool drink and an ice cream at a small shop and then caught the Inco bus back to Sorowako. Upon arriving at the bus station Richard and I parted company; I wanted to walk down to the main village and see the newly rebuilt market but Richard just wanted to get back to the dorm as his shoes had given him a bit of foot trouble.

Of the 4 markets I have seen here (Sorowako Village, Sorowako F Market, Wawadula and Wasapunda) it was the former that had previously impressed me the least. I had been told by Suzanne that it was much nicer now (in her short time here she has been to all of them already and she liked it the best). But to me it may be larger than the Wasapunda market but just as smelly and as uninspired as I had remembered the previous version. The main difference is that the passage ways are now a bit wider and it is a bit better organised.
In a past post I commented on the general lack of "craftsmanship". well, here is an example! For those of you not familiar with concrete block construction, the mortar layer should be about 1 cm thick, not 3 to 5! Likewise the mortar should come out flush to the edge of the block and not be some sort of irregular mess. Good thing they are using a lot of re-bar to hold it all together!

Well that's all I have for now. The reduced number of pictures shows that the awe and wonder is beginning to fade. Until next time!