Day One

So finally.... I am here! Guess I should start at the beginning of the day.

Started super early, waking up at 4.30am. Mum, Dave and I all headed to the airport to be checked in by 6.30am. No problems at Adelaide airport, little bit of a line/wait but no dramas really. Had a tasty breakfast (please refer to a facebook photo from this morning), bought myself a puzzle book, then it was over to customs.

I know I'm a wuss and all, but I started to get those creepy-uppy feelings of being mega alone at this point. And let me just stress to you, I wasn't even on the plane yet. Yup, still sitting in Adelaide airport, and feeling as though I was already a world away. Once the plane was boarding though, all those thoughts had disappeared- it also helped that almost every single person I spoke to today was extra nice, the man at immigration asked if I'd like a stamp to collect, because you don't really need one when you leave. Hell yeh I want that stamp Mister.

So, on the plane- didn't have any issues, the Virgin flight staff were as amazing as I had come to expect. I will fly with them whenever it is feasibly an option, such an easy way to travel. Anyway, 4 and a half hours later and we are flying down the tarmac at Ngurah Rai Airport, and as far as travel time goes, it felt like the fastest trip I've taken to Bali or back ever. Kept myself well occupied with magazines, free foxtel and my Book Club book.

Once we were inside the airport, I walked straight past VOA (which was a really nice feeling actually) and in doing so bypassed all the people who had pushed past me in the corridor so that they could get out first. I still don't really get the whole pushiness thing. Seriously, we were the only flight that landed people?? Well, straight to immigration and I swear the exact same man has called me up to his incredibly high counter top as last years trip. And possibly the year before as well. Either that or all three of these men have the same "No polite responses, and absolutely no smiling at the foreigners" policy. It's definitely not airport-wide because the customs guy a the exit was nice- even after I couldn't understand him asking me if I was alone. Oops, and thank you to the older Indonesian gentleman behind me for helping me with the translation :)

Outside, not so hot. I guess that's easy to say seeing as it was 41 degrees back home. It's a sticky kind of hot, but not a lot of actual sun, and heaps of cloud cover. And after finding my driver and then waiting at the airport entrance for another half hour to pick up another volunteer called Carla, we realised the cloud cover was getting thicker and heavier. And yup... it's been raining pretty much ever since we hit Ubud.

Spent most of the afternoon (from 12.45-5pm) at the Starfish Language School. Dagmara is one of the friendliest/busiest/most amazingly inspirational people I have met. Tomorrow morning we have planned to go to Green School to take on some ESL students and run some lessons. We are also going out for dinner tonight with Ina (another one of the teachers) and Carla. Should be fun, but I am soooo hungry!

Ah, but here's the fun part- my new home! Dagmara drove me to the Villa on the back of her bike. I imagined being on the back of a bike out here to be really scary, but I found it to be really nice- I was hardly holding on and had my hand luggage and all. I think I might be looking into a little, low-powered scooter myself, which will make getting to the school easier, and to the shops and restaurants of course ;) Don't freak out Mum and Dad, I'll be super careful!

The villa is just as amazing as the photos on the website though, if not better in many ways because I think the website makes the rooms look a lot smaller than they really are. It's super spacious, the pool looks amazing, the furniture is lovely, the bed is comfy! I couldn't have asked for anything more here... Looking forward to my first night here, should be interesting too since I just saw the biggest Gekko in the world. Literally, it could have been a baby goanna. And it's in my villa.... somewhere. :)

In the clear...

Virgin Blue resumed all it's flights to Bali on Saturday afternoon, so it would seem as if I am in the clear to leave tomorrow morning! Phew! Although I've obviously not been directly affected by the flight cancellations, I have been indirectly affected. Within a few short hours of Virgin cancelling the Adel-Denpasar flight last Friday, every seat on my flight is now taken! Now, I have no reason to complain at this point because anything could happen. But my hopes of having an empty plane and lots of room to spread out are definitely out the window. 

Getting through Ngurah Rai airport is probably also going to be considerably difficult. More people means bigger lines, which means longer waiting time... Lucky for me, I already have a visa so I can skip that line. :)

On a different note, I had some farewell drinks last night with some friends. It was really strange saying goodbye to them. Actually, my exact words were...

"See you in March!"

Volcanos and Ikea

So, having only recently received news that my visa has been approved and is on it's way to me right now, last night a news update informed me that a volcano was sending ash across the flight path to Bali and that some flights were being cancelled/diverted if already in the air. I've been keeping an eye on it overnight and today, and a bunch more flights have been cancelled as well. It seems only Jetstar and Virgin flights have been cancelled, and all the AirAsia and Garuda flights are continuing to fly- either Jetstar and Virgin are showing extra precaution, or the AirAsia and Garuda aircraft and somehow different and unaffected by ash. I'm used to this kind of impending disappointment- I once had to sell my BDO ticket (to which I was probably more excited about at the time than about 5 of these Bali trips combined) because I caught the chicken pox. I was 18yrs old. Disappointment and I go way back, so I know not to stress over the things I can't change. My flight is on the 31st, and flights up until the end of today have all been cancelled, with flights tomorrow all on notice and to be updated...well... soon actually.

Here's an amazing photo of what the volcano, also known as Mt. Bromo, looks like from one of the residential areas nearby.

There's more information (and rightful reference to the above photo) at this URL... SMH.

Since my flight is still too far away to confirm, there's really nothing I can do at all except keep an eye on what's happening and work with whatever does happen. I'll get to Bali eventually, there are no doubts about that.

On a much happier note, I had a lovely Ikea date with Emily today. Ikea is so much fun. The following are photos of us enjoying Ikea...

Mmmmm... tasty Swedish meatballs... :)

It's all true. Emily uses a Squigee to clean her glasses.

...and her face.

The last challenge was that we had a rather long-shaped bookcase to take to home. We were going to do the old diagonal job and hang it out the front window, but just getting it in the car was going to be a hard enough task. Instead, we took one for women everywhere and successfully tied it to the roof racks. And yes, it got home in one peice.

In Exactly One Week...

I will be one hour into my flight! Getting a little nervous now... but excited too! :)

List checking...

So here are the details...

Days until I leave: 10
Things left to organise: Nothing really.

I set my Visa application off, and while I'm a bit worried about the timing of it all and getting it approved and back in time, I am also thinking positively. In other words, Mum and I have back up plans in place. :)

Besides waiting to hear about my visa application, it all comes down to the little stuff- making sure I have all the necessary items (hand sanitisers, sunscreen, underwear), packing, organising transport from the airport, talking with my visitors so that they know how much fun they are going to have, collecting important contacts like local police and medical centres, as well as getting those contacts to my family back home. It's all nitty gritty stuff, but it signifies that beautiful, beautiful cherry on top of my organisation-cake.  It was a tough cake to bake, and it took a long time to collect those ingredients and mix them just so. But something tells me it's gonna be a cake I'll remember for the rest of my life.

Too much talk about cake right?

I'm also organising farewells now. As I mentioned earlier, my friends Steph and Matt are heading to Europe roughly the same time as I am in Bali, so we are throwing a joint farewell on the Saturday before I leave. I know it's only a month away, but for my group of friends who are used to seeing each other twice a week... it's going to feel like a long time.

Contemplating starting the "photo" part of this blog very soon, starting with the packing process complete with list of the essentials I am taking. Perhaps one day somebody I have never met will stumble on this blog while planning their trip to Bali and get lots of tips from it. Maybe? ;)

This Week...

the forecasted weather is 30ish degrees, and storms. Everyday.




Amazing.

The Great Unknown

Two things:

-Visas.
I get why they need to be so complex and difficult, but damn it's hard. Visa on Arrival I can handle, but now that I'm not classed as a tourist, I need to get a different kind of Indonesian visa- the kind that you can't just pay for when you land. I've been trying to contact people here and there but all the consulates and embassies seem to be closed for the new year and holidays still. Still have some time up my sleeve to work this out, thankfully.

- New Phone.
I'm not a phone person. I mean, give me a computer and I good, even other gadgets and I'll be fine, but phones have always been a bit out of my range of tech-savvyness. So, I took the plunge in a big way yesterday when I bought my new iPhone 4. It's pretty amazing, but it's going to take some getting used to for me- a person who swears by a good phone that just sends messages and makes phone calls, nothing more and nothing less. I feel like my world is about to change. Oh, and the lovely man who helped set it up for me unlocked the phone too so I can swap an Indo sim card in for cheap calls while I'm away.

Resolutions And Stuff

The end of the year/beginning of a new one always makes people nostalgic and remember the things that have happened over the last 12 months. It also makes people think about the future and what they hope to achieve in the next 12 months. I kind of touched on the last 12 months and a few of my favourite memories of 2010, but I thought I'd write a little more about what I hope to achieve this year. Sorry if it's a bit boring for a post, but my first resolution will hopefully explain why I'm doing this.

Resolution #1: Increase regular bloggings to at least 2 times a week.
They don't have to be long. But I want this blog to be a decent recount of my little adventure, and being that the adventure isn't going to be that long, I figure I'm gonna need to bulk it out. So, if the posts are boring, too bad!

Resolution #2: Learn to play the keyboard. Properly.
I tried when I was in year 4 or something, and gave up because there weren't enough keyboards on stage at the Christmas Concert and I missed out. I was upset, and it took me about 10 years to try again. Last year, I bought a dodgy keyboard from ebay, which was subsequently lost to the flood of my bedroom in 2010. This year, probably on return from Bali, I will buy a decent keyboard and I will spend a decent amount of time learning how to play it well. It's about the only instrument I can feel really comfortable behind, like maybe I could get somewhere with it with enough practice.

Resolution #3: Start respecting my body.
More gym. More healthy eating. Get more sleep and 'stop burning the candles from both ends' according to my parents. Less junk food. Pretty simple, in theory.

Resolution #4: Make the most of my year.
I've mentioned it a few times on here already, but this is my last year as a student, and possibly as a 'recreational' worker. I want to really enjoy my time in Bali, which shouldn't be hard. I also want to really throw myself into my job, but in an enjoyable way. I figure if I can make resolution #3 work, then enjoying work and succeeding at work shouldn't be such a hard task. All I really need is my energy and enthusiasm...

Resolution #5: Maintain relationships with my loved ones.
I felt like a had a decent balance of friends and family in amongst my other commitments and I really hope to keep that up this year. Things have been harder these last two months with my new job and getting used to that, and going overseas for a month will also throw a spanner in the works, but I hope that I can find that balance somehow anyway. I suppose this blog will possibly help for the month I am away.

Those are really my main goals this year. They seem quite simple, pretty straight forward. Hopefully I can keep them all!