Just Wait Till October...

I hope everyone is doing well as the summer is winding down. I chose "Just wait till October" as the title of this update because I have heard it alot lately, in reference to the weather. It's hot here. It was a pretty nice week though, the mornings and evenings are cooler (I even wore my jeans a couple times which is a special treat) but the afternoons can be brutal. So, whenever I comment on the weather to someone who has been here for a while, I always get the same response: "Just wait till October". Because, October is when the "rainy season" starts. And by rainy I mean oppressively humid hot daily monsoon rains, apparently. Sounds like fun eh? I know I'm excited...

Not so much.

Anyways! Things are really, really good here. My temporary house-mate Lindsay from the states arrived on Wednesday. I have really enjoyed getting to know her and showing her around. She is alot of fun, laughs at my jokes, wants to do things, has traveled alot and is really interesting. It's nice to have someone around.

Language is fun!

Oh my goodness, I am so excited about this. This coming Sunday I am 'canceling' the children's program and we are having a Camp Day! I haven't come up a name for the camp yet. So, I'm going to decorate the kid's building like a camp- make a fort, have some tents, a fake fire (I really want to have a real fire, but I also want to pass my internship and I think burning down the church would constitute an 'F'), fake trees, nature crafts, "cabins", campfire songs, crazy games, a dramatic "scary" story, and (if we can find marshmallows) a marshmallow roast!!! Doesn't that sound fun?! I hope the kids like it, I think it will be good to change it up for the kids (and me), and will be a good community-builder as well.

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Random Bali fact: Just because there is a sign for a "Wendy's" restaurant does not necessarily mean there is one.

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So, I'm sure you can kind of tell so far in this newsletter that I'm really enjoying it here, but a couple days last week were really hard. I really had to deal with understanding the culture and not taking some things personally and I was pretty lonely. It was not very fun and locking myself in my house all day was a very tempting option. I get approached a lot for numerous reasons, and I got really impatient with that; just tired of having to deal with people and the language barrier and I wanted to just put in my i-pod to block out the world. But those days didn't last long, with a lot of thinking, good friends and good sleeps. I'm glad it only lasted a few days.

Did I tell you we have been sort of fund-raising here for a tv for the kid's building? Well, we have. This week we took a special offering in the community for it and then after the service a woman I have gotten to know a bit approached me and said she would like to donate her tv to us! That was pretty cool. The generosity of people (here and at home) continually blows me away.

Galungan was last week, it was a very quiet day as everything was shut down and people were with their families. I did not specifically notice a change in the atmosphere, but it was a difficult time for some people as far as anger and things go, and I guess it was for me too. The only place (so far) I really notice an atmosphere difference or the "darkness" or "heaviness" that some people speak about when they talk about Bali is actually in Kuda, which is like tourist central with alot of partying and all the things that go along with that, alongside the Balinese traditions. Its a strange place.


Itu saja, thats all. Thanks everyone for your support, thoughts and encouragement.