New Years

So this week has been a little tumultuous. I started off being ill, which wasn't fun. I was up for most of the night on tuesday. Slept away most of the next day, and in the meantime got pretty dehydrated and couldn't eat much so I was a little out of it. That threw me for a bit afterwards, only now getting over it and feeling back to health. Meanwhile, I wasn't very happy for the last couple days, which is a common theme in the group. A lot of the Canadians have been down recently. In the wake of Christmas people are feeling homesick, which is normal, but even the Indonesians are starting to feel homesick. We put a good face on for the ceremonies, but that good spirit seems to be waning under the pressure of the community.
A lot of us still don't feel like part of the town. People here are treating the Canadians like tourists, and our Indonesians like translators. I thought that the cat call from people would stop, and that every celebration we go to wouldn't turn into a photo op but they still do. I still feel like I'm not a part of the family where Ilive. Most of the communication we have is them getting me to eat or them getting my laundry or my shower ready. They are nice, but I have no idea who they are, and while Hendri has emersed himself in the family, I'm often in my room reading which is better than having food and drink forced on me. Saying no doesn't work too often, unfortunately. Everyone has been having these problems, and we all seem to have different things that bother us. Some of us hate the pictures, some hate the people yelling at us and staring, others are upset with the slow movement and lack of motivation and organization in a lot of the people here.
I find most of it pretty annoying, but it helps to think of everythng as a sitcom, all these little botherations with a laugh track. It wasn't working very well when I was sick, but I'm dealing. Apparently people in the other group are leaving (unconfirmed) but I doubt anyone will from ours or at least I hope not.
Couple stories that are the highlights of this week. We made pizza one night, but couldn't eat mine as I'd filled up on the ingredients. So I brought it home and kept it in my room for later. There are few fridges in the town so I figured it was safe wrapped in a plastic bag on top of our dresser. Late the next night, I had some. We did a good job considering how few ingredients we had for the process. As I turned the pizza around out of the bag, a cockroach crawled onto my hand. The next morning, as I was playing sudoku on the edge of my bed, a mouse crawled out from under my bed and over some of my clothes on the floor. Didn't know their were mice in the house.
Rainy season is in full swing now, and will be for the next 3-4 wks. It starts around noon, then its anywhere from light mist to monsoon. I come home wet a lot, though I don't have as far to walk as others. We still don't have a steady schedule for work or group. We were supposed to start work next week, but apparently that's wrong as the kids are still out of vacation between semesters. We are going for a hike into the mountains next week, and this week we go to see the other group and will get to see a beach for the first time. That should be pretty sweet, we're camping for both trips so I get to sleep out on the beach. I need the exercise and swimming will be the safest option. Funny fact, very few Indonesians can swim well.
Tonight is New Years Eve. We have a small get together planned, but it will be very different from what most of us are used to. Still, it should be some fun. On that note,
Happy New Year to everyone, hope you all celebrate the new year well
Justin