Enroute and in Hong Kong

The long trip gets longer, but hey, upgrades can make all the difference. We discovered that our 'Elite' travel status with Air Canada has real benefits. Dawna's suitcase weighed in at 65 kg which would have meant a $75 surcharge, but as 'Elite' there is no cost and we each could have 4 bags! It gets even better, when we got on the flight from Toronto to Vancouver we were bumped up to Executive class and each had our own sleeping pod. Man was that great!

Sadly, we didn't get that treatment for the second flight, which was 14 hours from Vancouver to Hong Kong. The flight was ok, long but manageable. We are at a very nice hotel and will sleep a bit and head out for the final two flights tomorrow.

We have our traditional first photo taken at Vancouver....we don't know if we get any better at taking our own photo but we have a lot of fun trying.

Getting set to go again in January 2008

Here we go again beginning travels on January 4. First stop is Jogyakarta, then a couple of days in Singapore and back to the library in Sigli. So more to come after Christmas.

More pics

Thought it might be nice to finish off with a hodgepodge of snaps from the end of the trip so here goes:

On the way to Sigli from Banda Aceh

The girl in pink on the way to Independence day celebrations.

These pictures show us just after we found out we missed our flight out to Singapore and we were going to have to stay overnight in Medan. It was a pretty dismal moment but Dawna and I found a spot of humour when we spied this sign. It suggested that we could complete an internet based checkin and get an electronic boarding pass. This seemed a bit optimistic on the part of the airline and completely ludicrious given recent experiences we had but heck they were giving it a shot so kudos to them.

Katherine and Sosi at the market. We bought this fried food (potatoes, bananas and other greasy goodies). Simon told us when we got home that he wouldn't have let us buy it because the oil was used over and over again. Yuck. He also would have told us about the wee bananas we purchased...apparently we bought the type what was only fed to birds, not people. Who knew?!

On the last afternoon we went to a cultural/dance celebration, in honour of the 2 year anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement in Helsinki. There were some wonderful traditional costumes and dance. People wanted to have us in the pics too when we really just wanted to take photos of them.

That was a major festival even with a rock band.

More pics later on not as regular life takes over. Now to write all the reports!

leaving Singapore

Leaving Medan proved a little hard to do - we flew from Banda Aceh to Medan and then missed the flight to Singapore thereby sealing our fate to endure pretty much the worst hotel we've ever encountered. Even a hotel in northern Ontario where the bikers drink sounded good after that night.

We should have known something was up with the hotel (called Inna Dharma Deli...the name was actually the best part!) when the key ring had a Barbie sized key on it. It even made the porter laugh. No one could tell us what that key was for.

However we prevailed and had a terrific couple of days in Singapore. Last night we visited the night zoo which was pretty darn cool Dawna had to duck and shield herself behind young Grael when the flying bat flew low overhead.

So we are off to Hong Kong and the endurance flight to TO. See everyone at home.

Dawna here: Katherine is being very restrained about the Medan hotel experience. More later, we have no time for details as they are calling our flight. We'll catch up when we hit Hong Kong.

See you soon!!!

Last day in Banda Aceh

We had quite a productive meeting this morning in the CALGAP office going over presentations about local government and public libraries – the similarities and differences between Canada and Indonesia. Yes it was quite engaging and we learned a fair amount from the local CALGAP staff.

The afternoon was essentially spent debrieifing with the manager for the projects. Yikes we still have work to do and here we were thinking we were in pretty good shape for the end of the mission.

Note to self – folks here like the souvenirs from Canada and even pictures of Canadian scenes are appreciated. We brought several bottles of Maple Syrup this trip but can’t keep that happening as it adds too much weight to the luggage especially once a few books are thrown in with it all. As it was it felt like we were carrying stones in the luggage.

Last night we went to a community event in the local fairgrounds. We also crashed an official TV station party by mistake really but it was also kind of fun to hear the local rock band perform. On the way home we saw a couple of 9 year olds whipping around on a motorbike – weaving through traffic. Even the Indonesians were surprised by that.

So we are off to Singapore for a couple of days and then Sunday back to Canada.

@the library

You may think that all we do is eat but really we are working hard every day!


For the second week, we changed gears from doing all sorts of presentations for the staff, to actually doing some hands on work. This is the really fun part. The presentations gave overviews to library basics and the hands on work is for the staff to apply the basics to their environment. So for example, we gave a presentation on various aspects of collection management (thanks Susan for the books - we have left them as a resource in Sigli), collection policies, intellectual freedom, weeding etc. Then along with the staff we are drafting collection policy and procedure for the library. Everything we do is in both languages and is in draft.


Once the business case presentation was done, the staff developed business cases for the large items that are part of the equipment request for the project. Bookmobile service is key to reaching the 21 districts that they are responsible for. A business case for an additional bookmobile has been written. We found out over the weekend that the staff need to write a business case to accompany the equipment request. They didn't bat an eye when we told them this on Monday, the business case for that has been written too. I am most impressed with the rapid response we get for any task that is requested.


Katherine spent time teaching some staff some basic computer skills so they can make internal signage. It is really important that all of the staff become comfortable with the computers. The plan for the library involves having 3 public internet terminals. Everyone will need to be somewhat computer saavy to support this service. Think back to public libraries in Ontario, not all that long ago when computers were introduced. A lot of staff upgrading was required then too.


If we want to break into small groups, we need two translators. We don't always have that luxury, so sometimes we try to do stuff without a translator. Yesterday, one of the staff asked if she could practice reading English with me. We had brought over some Grass Roots Press literacy books (books with easy to read English targeted at the adult reader) and Gusmeli was able to read two complete books to me. We took our time and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. She was so pleased to think she could read an entire book and they now want to include books like this in their collection. It makes me want to be a volunteer tutor when I get back home.


Last week we had done some brainstorming with all of the staff about ideas for improving the bookmobile service and the collections. Every staff member contributed an idea for each topic. Today we went over the lists....they were able to find ways to accomplish almost all of the suggestions. From adding DVDs and CDs to the collection, to providing special programming at a bookmobile stop, to circulating some magazines. The best part is that the ideas came from the staff and so did the solutions.


Lunch today was going to be Kraft dinner. Yep - from the exotic to the not-so. However, this was not to be the case because we received a phone call telling us that the Bupadi (akin to the mayor) was ready to see us immediately. So we had to leave the house without our lunch. The meeting ended up being with the Vice-Bupadi. The Vice Bupadi (like a deputy mayor) was a former freedom fighter, as are most of the people in power now. He has a tremendous vision for the role of the library and supports the expansion of the bookmobile service. It's quite good because he had some of his own ideas for library service. He suggested that the bookmobile have internet access and that there be chairs and events at the bookmobile to draw people to it. It was great to hear it coming from someone in a position to approve things. We have basically said that we will push for the improvements to the facility, infrastructure (public computers etc) but we need his assurance that they will budget for the operating costs attached to all of the improvements. We are building training into all of the plans because sustainability is the big thing. It has to be maintained once we are out of the picture. It was a good meeting. Muhktar took us out for lunch afterwards. We were all pleased with the progress that has been made. It was worth missing the Kraft dinner.

Tonight we had a dinner for all of the project staff. While we were preparing the meal we sang camp songs. We cooked mashed potatoes, meatballs, peas and gravy. (Tip - don't ever pack Bisto without putting it in a zip-lock bag. I learned this the hard way and my entire suitcase and contents were covered with Bisto powder. I am still finding it everywhere.) Simon's (local resource person) wife Daisy cooked chicken with vegetables and the same delicious soup she made last week. We bought nasi goreng. The drivers and guards are quite shy of us and would giggle whenever they were offered food. It was fun. There wasn't enough seats for everyone so we took turns at the table. The Canadians kept saying it felt like Thanksgiving. (And for Lisa - I have recipes which I will send you.....I knew you'd be asking.)

Hard to believe that tomorrow is our last day in Sigli. The time goes fast and slow. Things that happened yesterday seem like they were last week. It is a great time but we're tired out at the end of the day. I will sleep again once I get home...fingers crossed!

D.

10 things I want to remember

Every day has moments that are memorable. We meet so many interesting people, find out different things we hadn't heard of before and just plain old have funny things happen. I have been keeping track of things and will throw a 'Top Ten' list together for this post.


Here they are in no particular order:


1. The motorcycles are everywhere, sliding in and around, going the wrong way on roads. Almost gnat-like in their buzzing around. Now add this to the picture....there may be several people on a motorcycle...several children even. The most we have seen is 5...typically without a helmet. Motorcycles are also used to transport items....big items too. We saw on motorcycle rider, on the windy road to Sigli carrying 3 long tables! Holding one with each arm and balancing one on his head. Sorry we weren't fast enough to get a picture of that one. The amazing thing is that on the first mission we were aghast at the children on the bikes and the no helmets....now we just count them to see if we will see more than 5 on a bike.

2. We hear so many good phrases and word spins. One of my favourites was 'You know what the flow.' This was said to us when someone was sharing a challenging story from his work place...along the lines of "You know how it goes".

3. The air conditioners in the Sigli house have remote controls. Each room has a wall mounted holder for the AC remote next to the light switch.

4. The animals we see while we travel...monkeys, water buffalo, many many cattle, the occasional elephant, large lizards and small geckoes. Then we are also surprised by the animals we don't see....there are very few birds and no horses.

5. I have been keeping a list of words that are the same in English and Bahasa Indonesian....so far I have: element, proposal, effective, brochure, concept, conflict and success.

6. Fuzzy furry purple flip flops.....I want them so BAD!

7. Katherine reads the newspapers here any chance she gets. Yesterday she saw an article about a woman's mud soccer tournament. The winning team won 5 ducks. We are not making this stuff up. If we chose to we could watch all the Al-Gezeera network we want...if that wasn't of interest we could watch TV from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Oman, Saudi, Quatar and Libya. And in a pinch every day there is channel G with a daily dose of fashion yacht TV (a reality game show with skinny models cavorting around a yacht). And this is with cable!

8. The road to Sigli. We thought it was rough during the first mission....this time a large portion of it is under construction. Part of it is at the stage where all of the black top is being removed. This makes for more curves and bumps and jostles. We have somewhat acclimatized to the drive and have been listening to music from home through the I-Pod (thanks Alex!) which makes it fun. Katherine and I sing away to old Bowie songs and the drive passes quite nicely. The part I may not have emphasized is how truly beautiful the ride is...the mountains curve around the background, the sky is usually a brilliant blue and rice fields give balance.

9. Padang food - which requires higher math skills. Many many little bowls of food are brought to your table, most containing 4 items. You get a plate with a mound of rice and help yourself to what you want. You can take a little or a lot. When you are done the server assesses how much you ate from each bowl and charges you accordingly. We are in awe of this process because sometimes we will take just a spoonful from the bowl and there are upward of 20 bowls. We have been told that the local curry goat stew is spiced with ganja. (Yep - ganja is ganja here too.) So the joke was that if I ate the stew they would have to wake me up at work because I would be too sleepy. Today's padang lunch included lung. I found this too much to look at....it looked similar to what you can see on cigarette packages at home. Katherine and Sosi humoured me and moved the bowl of lung to the far end of the table.

10. How lucky we are. Everyday we are seeing new things, learning and finding out more. It is an adventure that we will remember for the rest of our lives.