Arrival in Meulaboh

Sunday, September 26, 2010
The day immediately following our arrival in Meulaboh was an all day team building event for the Mercy Corps office (over one hundred staff, including cleaners, drivers and guards participated)… So despite jet lag and a cold and pouring down rain in the morning, Jeremy and I joined the party on the beach at 8am to participate in all kinds of crazy games.
My team, Kapak Merah, named after an infamous street gang in Jakarta wore red (merah) bandanas…
My team, Kapak Merah, named after an infamous street gang in Jakarta wore red (merah) bandanas…
The month of November we lived at the Mercy Corps guesthouse and work consisted of orienting myself to the Community Development Program- the team of 30 staff and the work we are doing with communities outside Meulaboh. For Jeremy time was spent setting up his blog (see finalaeon. wordpress.com) and participating in soccer with the Mercy Corps team and Meulaboh city teams.
Jeremy became an instant star in Meulaboh after his participation in an annual soccer tournament in early December. Literally he became a celebrity overnight- everywhere we walked people would shout “BRUNO!!” at us in a friendly fashion. And, when walking on the street Jeremy would be offered rides on motorbikes by guys passing by, and he was frequently invited to coffee (a common male pastime in Aceh).
Christmas in Bali and Lombok – New Year in Jakarta
There were almost two weeks of holiday leave over Christmas and New Year so we took the liberty to vacation in the most famous of vacation spots- Bali! Ok well really we went to Bali but then immediately left for the Gilis (see map of Indonesia)… We stayed on Gili Air for 4 nights and loved the small island with good swimming and snorkeling- we saw sea turtles! And stayed in a beautiful hut. The island is so small you can walk around it in just under an hour and the sand is white and there are many excellent restaurants along the shore where you can sit at night with candle light under a thatch roof and watch the surf and feel the sea breeze. It was lovely and so relaxing. Also of note is the traditional mode of transport which is by horse drawn buggy.
Gili Air Boats
Our Cabin Deck
What am I?
Taxi
From Gili Air we went to Lombok- to the south end called Kuta and treated ourselves to two nights at the Novotel (aka. pricy resort). Our room there was amazing and the landscape incredible. The most fun we had the whole vacation is when we rented a motorbike and took of in search of locally famed batik weaving and a pottery village. Lombok is a quieter place, a big island with lots of culture and little tourism- we hope to go back before we leave Indonesia. They’re putting in an international airport- so get ready to make your trip to Lombok in the next few years!


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Hand Weaving.
Finally I get to drive.
Novatel Beach
From Lombok we then
flew back to Bali and spent a few days in the hill town of Ubud- the heart of Balinese art and culture. Bali is much busier and more crowded than Lombok. Food in Ubud was unbelievably delicious after our time in Meulaboh (where we eat mainly fried rice and fried noodles)- it was like being in heaven to eat three delicious meals each day- have lattes and desserts and every good thing! We did a lot of shopping and art looking (amazing Indonesian artifacts on display in galleries and that kept us absorbed). Highlights included a visit to the Monkey Forest where we watched baby monkeys scamper about and adult monkeys clean each other, and we took a hike up a hillside through beautiful paddy fields and got scalded by the sun- it felt so good! There are lots of Hindu temples in Ubud as Bali is the rare Hindu island in a predominantly Muslim archipelago.
Sacred Mokawk Monkeys of BaliMonkey Forest
Who Knows...


Grass
We ended our vacation by spending New Years in Jakarta with friends from Mercy Corps- and also doing a whirlwind shopping spree at the malls there to get various items we’d forgotten or realized we needed once we landed in Meulaboh (ie. new glasses for Jeremy to replace the ones he accidentally left on our flight from Tokyo to Singapore- NOOO!). Just two nights in the megalopolis and we had a good party to bring in 2008J
January of 2008 was a hectic time with work- Mercy Corps realized that we had little funding left to support the Community Development Program in 2008 after doing our annual budget- so I had to begin the process of downsizing the team and revising the number of villages where we will work this year. However, Jeremy and I were able to get more into the swing of life in Meulaboh- we settled into our house (shipment from the States finally arrived!) and continued to make friends with the other NGO workers in Meulaboh. Common event is evening at the beach to have barbeque, play Frisbee, fly kites, and to watch the beautiful sunset over the Indian Ocean.
Fishing Boat
Classic Sunday get together sunset.That is a white shirt... honest!
La Casa Bruno
The month of February was almost entirely consumed with the restructure and downsize of my team of 30 staff to a team of 10. It was not a fun job and we had to let a lot of really great people go- there simply isn’t funding to keep up a big program and a large team of workers any longer. A lot of NGOs are packing up right now because funding from the disaster of 2004 has finally been spent out- we are lucky to have any private funds remaining to continue our development work with communities this year. So, it’s a sad but necessary change and fortunately for me the staff were wonderful and we actually had a bit of fun in the process- Jeremy and I hosted big party at our house for the CDP team a few weeks ago, and then we had a big office party at the beach on the final day for our departing staff. Leading up to that party a group of women decided to learn a traditional Acehnese dance to perform- and I was persuaded to join the group! What I didn’t realize at the time is that we would wear full traditional costume (including headscarf) for the performance- the dancing was a lot of fun but the outfit was less than flattering! Despite this fact, the performance was a smash hit! These next pictures are: 1. Jeremy and his best buddy Agus (former MC staff and fellow soccer fanatic); 2. Laura with her four Team Leaders and Community Development Advisor from the old team; 3. Group picture of traditional Acehnese dancers; 4. Let’s get a close up of that fetching outfit- they say I look Iranian? Poor Iranians- that doesn’t reflect well upon them; 5. When I ran my car into the drainage ditch while rushing to get to the big farewell party (Oops! Thankfully MC guys were at the ready to jack the car out!)
Saya Dengan Agus... me and Agus
Team Meulaboh havin fun at our house
Gotta preserve native culture!
mmm mmmm!


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Kicking off March
So that brings us to the present…To kick off the month of March Jeremy and I arranged an excursion up the coast to explore an area called Calang (C pronounced with “Ch” in Indonesian). Its reputed to have the best beaches in Aceh and the reputation is TRUE. A group of ten MC and former MC staff joined us on a day trip up the beach to see this paradise of white sand beaches and clear blue water- it was amazing. So you understand- the beach at Meulaboh is also nice but the water is not clear and its really rough- its too dangerous to swim. And the sand is nice but not white like you want for a truly fantastic tropical beach experience… So Calang will now be a frequented destination for those of us who like to swim (unfortunately Sharia is law in Aceh so you have to swim covered, in full pants and shirts- hence making dangerous waters in Meulaboh all the more dangerous…But in Calang the tide is fine and its only annoying to wear clothes, not dangerous). We also introduced our friends to Skip-Bo and it was an instant hit (for those of you who don’t know the card game–try it and you’ll become addicted).
Indonesia swim wearCalang, Indonesia

Everyone got into skipbo
beautiful beach
The best of times!
Up Next
In about a week we will be heading (at long last) to language training on Java for one week. It’s about time we get our Indonesian language skills solidified- we still sound like two year olds in most conversations. Then in early April Jeremy’s parents are coming out for more than two weeks! We plan to visit Lake Toba (Danau Toba) and hopefully some other famous sites on Sumatra. We are very much looking forward to time with family!! We’ll do our best to send another update after those trips. Please feel free to email us as often- we miss all of you!


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