Thank You Zions Hill

The family here in the Singaraja Orphanage would like to say a HUGE thank you to Zions Hill! There was such an overwhelming response with those wanting to donate for the Waterbomb trip that there was money left over to bless them further!

The family were SO appreciative of this and were asking for photo's to be taken of their new items for the home! We were able to get them all new "Handuks" (Bath Towels), Sheet sets for all their beds, new stools for the meal table, a new kitchen cooking appliance which will be fantastic in catering for the family as it grows! Two new fans for the home! (For 11 people there was only one fan to share and you can imagine how hot it is over here) and amazingly we were able to set them up with broadband internet and pay for a years worth of downloads!!!

So again, a BIG thank you to all who contributed!

God bless you!!!

A New Home For The Singaraja Orphanage

After many diligent prayers from the family, they have finally been blessed with their very own home! It is a large home consisting of six bedrooms and two bathrooms, it was formally a baby clinic. The house has some repairs that need doing before they can move in, this will be undertaken in the next month or so. The home is about a 10 minute drive away from where they currently are, and much closer to the beach which I'm sure Frans and Jimi are very excited about! All the family are very excited about the move and are continually thanking God for His provision!

Part Two of Our Expaditions!

After an awesome morning at Waterbomb the children were getting hungry, so off we went over the road to Kuta Central to find a Pizza Hut! It was such a nice restaurant! I loved seeing the looks on the children's faces as we walked in and were seated at a big beautiful table!

Here you'll see the children excited to choose from the menu all the delicious pizza's and drinks to choose from!

Amanda thoroughly enjoying her drink

Yummm!!! Pizza for everyone!!! The flavors you could get were awesome!! We should definitely get them in Australia!

Zzzzzzz!!!

And here they all are on the way home to Singaraja! I think I've worn them all out! :D (all except one...cheeky Olan! :) hahaha)

Waterbomb!!!

Hey all!

We had a bright and early start to the day today! Up at 4am to cook breakfast and do the daily chores, our van arrived at 6am for the 3.5hr drive to Denpasar to spend the day hitting the water slides!

We made it in perfect timing, 5mins before they opened. Here we all are waiting in anticipation to explore the slides!

Lia and Merri loved drifting leisurely in the tubes!

After an hour or so of water slides and relaxing drifting down the streams, it was time for ice cream! I'm sure this is the children's favourite food! Yunus' favourite for sure! :)

yumm!!!

Hello Waterbomb!!!

Hey there!!!

So tomorrow morning at 6 am we're off to Waterbomb for the day! Woo hoo! It's forcast for a BEAUTIFUL 30 degrees and we're going to have a FANTASTIC time! We'll do some brief shopping in Denpasar in the morning to finish getting bathers for the girls, then off to Waterbomb to let loose on the slides! Yeah!! Lunch time we're going to venture on into Denpasar and get some PIZZA which the children are SO excited about! I think they're just as excited about pizza as they are to go to Waterbomb LOL!

The other night we came home from doing some shopping with board shorts for all the family! A BIG thank you to all those from Zions Hill that helped make this happen for the children! It's such a blessing and they want to express their thanks too! So THANK YOU!

Make sure you check back on here on Monday for lots of photo updates from the trip!! Woo!! :)

TTFN - Ta ta for now! :) haha

Goat for Makan Malam (Dinner) Tonight

Yummm is all i can say!!! Yunus, Anita, Cara, John & I all went out shopping for some satay goat for dinner last night! I was shocked on arrival to find this:

Hahaha! The goats are literally out the back waiting LOL!!! oh but it tasted SO good! This was a real treat for the family, the children loved it!....and so did I!!! :)

New Guitar Tuner & Strings for the Home

On arrival to the Singaraja home I discovered Jimi had accumulated quite a few guitars. Looking closer I noticed all but one were missing strings and they were all out of tune; so...off I went to the local music shop with Yunus and I brought Jimi a guitar tuner and strings for all of his guitars. The guitars are VERY well used in the home!

(Bapa Yunus tuning the guitar)

(Jimi enjoying his newly tuned guitar)

Children’s First Day Back at School

It was the children’s first day back at school on Monday. They were all very proud of their uniforms and asked to have a photo. Amanda looked especially proud as it was her first day at the school. When we arrived we found out that there had been a mistake and she wasn’t enrolled, but soon enough she was all set to go.

They all reported a good day in all! School here in Singaraja is 6 days a week, starting at 7:30am and finishing at 11:00am. The children then come home for Makan Siang (lunch), and after lunch majority of them head off to bed for an afternoon sleep (bobo)

John Joins the Singaraja Home

Left to Right: Jimi, John

I got home from a walk the other day to find a new friend in the house! At first due to the language barrier I thought John had come to stay for the night. After asking some questions and looking through our well used kamus (english/indonesian dictionary) I discovered that John has come from another Mercy home in Sumba to study at an automotive school here in Singaraja for three years.

John's settled in well and seems to have bonded with Frans and Jimi really well, they spend ages at night time playing the guitar and soccer together! Last night he even lead our study time, he's getting straight into it with helping out with the cooking and cleaning in the home.

Introduction to the House and Culture Pt 2

The boys bedroom is the size of a double bed mattress which sits on the floor, with a door width at the end. The girls bedroom is the size of three bunk beds all squashed in together with a walkway also the size of a door width.

When going for a walk (Jalan Jalan) be sure to watch where your stepping or you might just fall down a hole!.....yep, nearly happened to me at night!! haha! All of a sudden the footpath ended and there was a massive rocky drop down to a rocky creek.

Meri taught me how to wash clothes the other day. We wash clothes in the bathroom using rinso and a big tub on the floor. Using the water from the tiles basin you wet your clothes, then add some rinso, wash by hand, rinse three times and then hang outside to dry.

Of a morning we have breakfast (Makaan Pagi), clean up and then start to prepare the vegetables for lunch! This takes quite some time as we’re cooking for 12 each day!

As the bathrooms and the room we wash the dishes in constantly have wet floors, you can imagine the tread marks in the house throughout the day, so the floors get washed frequently throughout the day. This is done by using a bucket of water and a cloth on your hands and knees.

Introduction to the House and Indonesian Culture Pt 1

On my first morning in the Denpasar home I was given an “Australian Breakfast” which consisted of white bread, margarine, and chocolate sprinkes! I told the children that in Australia we call that “Fairy Bread.” ;)

The Denpasar home has 8 bedrooms, all with their own bathrooms, a large kitchen, and a spacious dinning and lounge area. We were told last year that this is the optimum design for DM orphanages.

In Denpasar I was confused on what I did with my rubbish as I couldn’t find a rubbish bin anywhere so I asked my trusty partial English speaking friend who lead me to a lot of land directly across the road where we throw all rubbish. I explained in Australia you get fined from the police for this. J

One of my favourite chores in the Singaraja home is washing the dishes! It’s so different from how we do it in Australia, as majority of the other daily chores are also. All the dishes get taken into a room and sat on the floor, they get rinsed and washed on the floor and all the water is thrown over a ledge into a drain which leads straight out to the road drain. When inside the room you can look straight out to the road by looking down this open drain. Only cold water is used when washing dishes, but somehow, with the awesome washing powder, they come out squeaky clean! J

Showering and toileting is also very different and a big culture shock to start with. In the bathrooms there is a squatting toilet and next to it a big tiled basin full of water. This water is used to flush the toilet with and also to bathe with. There’s a jug that sits on the side of the basin, and you tip it down the toilet to flush, or pour it over yourself to bathe! When I arrived at the Singaraja home I was very excited to see this shower on the wall in the girls room! YAY! J

Young Entrepreneurs

The children set up a little stall out the front of the house where they make and sell avocado and or apple smoothies for 3,000rp which equates to about 40c! Yunus made me an avocado one yesterday and it was awesome! J ENAK! (YUM!)

I’m still unable to make a coffee without most of the children wanting one too, woops! Go the Tant Pour Tant coffee! J They all get huge smiles on their faces and say Terima Kasih! (Thank you!)

My cooking lesson today was interesting! Each day as we cut up different vegetables they tell me what it’s called in Indonesian and I tell them what we call it in Australia. Today Anita told me we were cutting up broccoli and I told her in Australia we call that cauliflower! lol!

Day Trip Around Singaraja!

Our first stop is at ‘Bapa’s’ (Dad’s/Yunus’) office! One of the Mercy Indonesia Radio Stations! Here I discovered Miss Carolyn Billing a regular on their play list! woo! :D

Our next stop is at a natural hot spring in Lovina! The children had a ball here!!! mmmm natural massage on your back! Yes please!!! :D Here I tried a true Bali Style coffee!......VERY sweet is all I can say!....I think I prefer my Tant Pour Tant coffee in Launnie! :D

After a swim at the hot spring we went to the Lovina beach for a Bali style picnic! YUM!

Then we were off for a 30 minute drive towards Denpasar to see the Gitgit waterfall! Here we got stuck in the pouring rain for 20 minutes! BEAUTIFUL!!!! what a moment!!! it was a nice break from the constant heat of Indonesia!

After a visit to Gitgit we journeyed on a bit further to Lake Bedugul where we saw a traditional Bali offering ceremony.

Off to Shop & Explore the Singaraja Area

This morning I got a call from our friends in the Denpasar orphanage, although a bit difficult as we spoke different languages hahaha, it was still really nice and we were able to communicate a little bit!

Tomorrow I’m off to hire a car and a driver for the family so we can go out on a day trip full of shopping and sightseeing which the children are excited about.

Last night all us girls went for a walk to the night market where we brought fresh fruit and vegetables! The culture is so different here, as apposed to Australian markets, half of the produce is set out on mats on the ground. One stall wasn’t getting much business as the Lady was asleep on top of her cash tin! hahaha! Had to get a photo of that! J

Trip Overview

The day we drove from Denpasar to Singaraja I was escorted by a van full of children from the Denpasar orphanage, only to find out on arrival that one of the boys in the Denpasar home Dwipa is brother to one of our children in the Singaraja home Amanda.

Arriving at the Singaraja home I discovered the fence we painted last BTB trip was still in good condition, the whiteboards have been well used (currently for Indo/Eng translations & lessons), and the backyard that we cleared has well grown fruit (Buah) trees! The CD player sure gets great use, it’s nearly always on. We hear lots of Zions Hill, Chris Billing & Carolyn Billings CD’s! There still a board set up in the lounge room filled with photo’s from our last trip which was lovely to see!

On the way we had an hour wait until the money exchange place opened so off we all went to McDonalds for ice creams! Everyone was pumped about this!

The home has a beautiful atmosphere, the children all contribute to house chores each day and not once have I heard complaining. They are so full with love for one another and it’s just beautiful to see and be amongst!