Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Sleeping The Job - No Problem Miss

So from my lounge window I can see workmen replacing the roof on my neighbours house.  Amidst many gasps and holy shits (all mine) I realised this crazy country has no WH&S.  These guys are on the roof, no safety gear balancing quite happily.  One guy stood on one foot, lent out and painted the edging.  Now this wouldn't be too bad except that that foot was balancing on the edge of a very high balcony.  I was transfixed by the workmen for hours, half expecting to have to run out and put my first aid training to use.  Hubby's advice to me that night as I expressed my disbelief to him was simply "close the curtains babe".  Clearly after two years as an expat he is more accustomed to this lack of self preservation than I am.

Two days on and I am hanging out my washing (have yet to hire a maid).   My clothes line is about 3 steps from wild jungle so I am a little jumpy of what might be creeping around.  I hear a noise behind me, coming from under the house.  (The house is high set so has heaps of open space under it).  There I see two men, mats rolled out sound asleep.  Hmmmm do I turn the hose on them.  As I discreetly pegged my delicates out of their line of vision, I snuck a glance over to them.  Sure enough these were two of the same team of dare devils that was replacing the neighbours roof.  I snuck back up to the house and after a quick call to hubby, I was informed that it is quite normal for the locals to be sleeping in the middle of the day.  That I should leave them be, they won't do any harm using the shade of the house.  I must admit I felt more than a little uncomfortable about this situation, but decided to listen hubby's advice for once. 

I now know to expect visitors under the house for a siesta between 12.30 -2pm and while the roof is under construction next door I keep the curtains closed (so as to keep my sanity).  I can only imagine the scene back in Australia if I had employed a tradesman and came home to find them taking a nana nap on the job.  Ohhhh I have so much to learn about this amazing, crazy country.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Not So Incy Wincy Spider

A storm hit last night.  Not your average run of the mill thunder and lighting job but a full on window rattling, house lighting up storm.  We have a tin roof so as I snuggled on the sofa with hubby I was enjoying the sound of rain on the roof.  Then it started the lighting lit the room up as if a light had been switched on.  If this hadn't got my attention the thunder claps were so loud the glass shook in the windows and I nearly wet myself.  Obviously I was not the only ones having issues with the noise.  I hopped off the sofa to check on Princess P (who was sound asleep - she can sleep through anything) and as I did something dropped from the light fitting.  It was a huuuuggggeee spider.  Seriously this things body alone would have been the size of a 50c piece and the legs just added to it's scariness.  As I squealed it turned and ran back up the wall and into a vent.  Hubby was hardly concerned, I however lay in bed later imaging it crawling across me in the night.  I will be on the look out for this monster of a creature and will have my camera ready to grab a photo.  Then me and my good friend google will try to work out what the hell breed it is and if it is likely to try to devour me in my sleep.

Friday, April 20, 2012

On A Road From Hell

So after travelling through 3 countries for 16 hours myself and princess P finally made it to Ballikpapan.  After an evening of celebratory drinks, great food and good company the feeling of sleeping in a real bed was devine.  Trying to sleep on a plane with princess P draped over me meant I managed about 4 hours sleep in total.  The next day was spent shopping for supplies that are unavaliable in Sangatta.  This adventure in itself took all day as it isn't as simple as popping down to Woolies or Coles, we visited several shops and were loaded to the hilt. 

Our driver arrived promptly at 8am the next morning, loaded the car and we were on our way.  The road from Balikpapan to Sangatta is similar to the rode to Paluma (for my Aussie friends) and the Parapara (for my kiwi friends).  It is a 6 hour trip and add to this the road slips, suicidal drivers and pot holes that could swallow a small car you can understand my trepidation. 

As we bounced and wound our way along the road - me wondering what the hell have I got myself in for, I became aware of the look of awe on Princess P's face.  As families of 6 perched themselves on scooters and slipped between small gaps in traffic defying all sense of safety Princess P watched on.  As I cringed and squirmed as I watched our driver overtake on hills and blind bends Princess P pointed to landscapes, mosques and all manner of other things that caught her eye.

Two hours into the drive we stopped at imigrasi (immigration).  They already had our passports (whole other story - handing passports to a random person at a foreign airport and watching them walk away with them), so I stupidly thought this would be fairly straight forward.  Two hours later after been fingerprinted and photographed I was feeling more of a criminal than an ex-pat.  Princess P was making the most of the situation, lapping up the constant stream of admiration from the local woman - "ahh so pretty, like a doll, so beautiful". Princess P's very blonde hair and blue eyes attract alot of attention where ever she goes in this country.  She also befriended a very cute local boy aged about 5 and though there was no common language they managed to have a great time sharing her DS and playing Super Mario.  The little guy looked very disappointed when Princess P had to leave, there were hugs and I am sure he stood waving till long after Princess P was in the car and driving down the road. 

So imigrasi done we had four more hours driving ahead of us.  I knew I couldn't handle the stress of looking out the windscreen anymore so cranked up the ipod and spent the next four hours hoping for the best. 

Over the noise of Lady GaGa blasting in my ear I heard a rather loud bang and knew something was up from the look on the drivers face (he spoke very limited English, I speak even less Bahasa).  Our front tyre had blown out.  With all our belongings unloaded on the side of the road so he could reach the spare we waited.  We drew quite a crowd - apparently seeing a white woman and child was a novelty in the very small village we had pulled up in.  After half an hour of being touched and talked at I was beginning to feel like a zoo animal.  Luckily the tyre was fixed and off we went again.

Seeing hubbies office was one of the best things I have seen in a long time.  The drive was over and we had survived it.  We will do the drive many more times while we are here and each time we will be placing our lives in the skill of our driver.

The adventure has begun ........