2015
Slipping into the Bali routine
21 October 2015
Making brekky with Jazz - made pancakes on our first day, of course. Then the school run in the car, followed by coffee at Casa Luna. Later in the morning Josh and I go on the motorbike to a nearby hotel pool and do laps. Mother and son doing exercise together- now there's a first! Except he is faster than me and does a lot more laps. I am getting in my half kilometre a day, while he does almost a kilometre. He has just discovered the joys of exercising when wet, something I discovered 15 years ago, thanks to the inspiration of Ian Thorpe in the Sydney Olympics.
Bali has a water problem - the water table has been severely lowered by excessive demand, especially by modern development, tourism etc. To deal with it, it seems, as with the electricity supply, the local authorities cut the water supply to certain areas at certain times. We had no water for three days!! Yes, three days. That is a health and safety issue for homes relying only on town water. It finally came back on yesterday. This meant no showers, toilet flush or dish washing, laundry, etc. We used buckets of water from the swimming pool for all these functions - even teeth cleaning. Third world problem, first world solution! We managed fine, though I had to wash my hair after swimming in a hand basin at the hotel where the pool is. I guess hotels hereabouts have their own wells and don't rely entirely on town water (called by the acronym PAM in Indonesian - I have a friend called Pam who comes here regularly too - they love joking about her name!) - otherwise tourists would be very put out. Tourists will need to be educated on water use and a lot more rainwater collection carried out. Surprisingly little of this, probably as they don't have the type of roofs suitable for collecting water - they are either grass thatch or tile.
When Jazz is home from school we do some times tables exercises together and a bit of Indonesian once she's had some down time with her iPad! Something to be said for the way we learned our tables by chanting as kids. Not sure how they are learning them now, but Jazz struggles with a few individual multiplications.
Yesterday I succeeded in luring her down to the hair salon for a trim. They somehow cut a bit more off than Jazz intended, though she'd given the go-ahead to the amount to be cut. (I stayed right out if it.) When it was beautifully blow-dried she claimed she looked like "an English gentleman"!! (Where did she pick up that image?) Not at all happy with her new look and will never, ever, ever set foot in a salon again! She refuses to let me take a picture but in fact she is very beautiful and it is an excellent cut, framing her gorgeous face perfectly. She is wearing a woollen beanie to school today!
Starting to catch up with some friends and festival contacts as from today. Lazy days are over. Off to the pool again now.
When Jazz is home from school we do some times tables exercises together and a bit of Indonesian once she's had some down time with her iPad! Something to be said for the way we learned our tables by chanting as kids. Not sure how they are learning them now, but Jazz struggles with a few individual multiplications.
Yesterday I succeeded in luring her down to the hair salon for a trim. They somehow cut a bit more off than Jazz intended, though she'd given the go-ahead to the amount to be cut. (I stayed right out if it.) When it was beautifully blow-dried she claimed she looked like "an English gentleman"!! (Where did she pick up that image?) Not at all happy with her new look and will never, ever, ever set foot in a salon again! She refuses to let me take a picture but in fact she is very beautiful and it is an excellent cut, framing her gorgeous face perfectly. She is wearing a woollen beanie to school today!
Starting to catch up with some friends and festival contacts as from today. Lazy days are over. Off to the pool again now.