It stopped raining yesterday. That's the big news. The floodwaters covering our lawn and the road leading to our house have receded, and the sun has come out again. We almost had to cover ourselves at night as it was actually a bit cold during the rain. Of course it won't last. The monsoon season has started early this year and is likely to get heavier.
We still haven't bought up much for the house as we plan to move soon. Nobody stays long in this house. It has quite a reputation. Another teacher, Christine, lived here at the beginning of the year and had so many problems that she moved within about five weeks to a single-storey house in the next street. After her there was a couple, Paul and Sue. Paul apparently broke his contract to go to a better job in El Salvador. (We've heard they are a bit disturbed by the number of guns there - very different from peaceful, boring Brunei.) To be fair, most of the problems have since been fixed up, and the landlord, who used to be very slow to respond to calls has improved dramatically. It is too late though. Yoong has made up her mind that we are not staying. The main problem is the blocked drains (throughout the compound - not just our place), which fill up with stagnant water and breed mosquitoes. The landlord has promised to get it cleared now that he has been told we are definitely leaving. Tania, at the other end of the street (who closed off the whole of her upper floor and lives downstairs), is also leaving, the Malay family across the road is going, and next door has been vacant since before we came, so the owners are obviously worried. We insisted on having fly-wire put on our bedroom windows to keep the mosquitoes out, and they did eventually do that for us. A lot of people sleep with closed windows and air-con on all night, but we prefer fresh air.
We had a big storm a couple of weeks ago and all the electricity went off right in the middle of cooking dinner. We thought it might be just a matter of pulling a switch somewhere so we rang Christine, thinking she may know what to do, having lived here before. The housing officer sent round an electrician, who was unable to fix the problem that evening, so we ended up staying the night at Christine's house, and moving all our perishable food to her refrigerator. Strangely enough, her electricity went off too as soon as we arrived. The same electrician came round and, fortunately, managed to fix hers fairly quickly. The next morning he came back and spent a few hours fixing ours up. It was quite an experience. Now we make sure we have a supply of candles in case it happens again.
Another disadvantage is that we are very close to a mosque. It is a beautiful sight, especially when it is lit up at night, but we get woken up at 4.30 a.m. by the first call to prayer for the day. Actually I often sleep through it now, but Yoong finds it hard. It is very loud, especially as we now sleep with all the windows open.
The house we hope to move into is also double storey, currently being renovated. The rooms are smaller, but there are about seven bedrooms! There are also at least seven air-conditioners, but they may not all stay. I actually prefer the very spacious rooms where we are now. But the other house has no blocked drains and it is close enough to town for us to be able to walk out. We don't get enough exercise at the moment because we tend to drive everywhere. We used to go for early morning walks on the beach, but after being badly attacked by sand-flies a couple of times we have become wary of this. A pity because it's very nice. Yoong went on her own one morning and there were a lot of people doing net-fishing. She came back loaded up with fish that she was given. (The locals are very friendly here.) We sometimes walk on the beach in the evening too. The sunsets are fantastic.
We've seen some more of the sights too. A week ago, we did a walk to a waterfall with Damien, a new teacher at my school, even newer than me. It was about an hour's drive from here, then an hour's walk to the fall (and about 45 minutes back). It involved wading across creeks and climbing over rocks, a bit rough for Yoong, but a lovely walk, apart from the leeches. Yoong had a leech on her glasses and managed to knock it off in time, and Damien found one on his watchband before it could get to his arm. I was wearing sandals, as I didn't have anything else I could use. I took them off and checked carefully before the drive home, but there must have been one hidden there because when I got home my foot was covered in blood. Sure enough, when I saw Damien at school, he told me he had found a very swollen leech on the passenger side of his car, with a big smile on its face. I didn't feel a thing at the time, but it left an itchy bite that is still not quite healed.
Damien was supposed to start next year, but was brought out early because the other teacher posted to my school with me did not pass the blood test that we had to do a few days after we arrived, and had to return home. (He had worked in Africa for several years.) It was a pity because he seemed very enthusiastic. His departure was very hush-hush. He was just never seen again, and there were reports that even the clothes he left behind were burnt.
Damien worked in Japan before this, and his wife is Japanese. His wife and children will be joining him at the end of the year, so he will be moving to Bandar, and there will be yet another new teacher at AAC.
Last Friday we had our first trip to Miri. We went with Tania, so we could find out about all the red tape involved in getting a car across the border, getting ourselves across and bringing back our quota of alcohol. As Tania doesn't drink, we could bring back her allocation too. (Each person is entitled to a dozen cans of beer and two quarts of either wine or hard liquor. No one seems to know what a quart is so you can bring back bottles of any size.) This is the main reason people go to Miri, but apparently there is a lot of nightlife, and there is a wider range of eating-places than in KB. If we go on our own we may stay the night.
They say that $10 in Brunei becomes $20 when you cross into Sarawak, and, if you go as far as Kalimantan, it becomes $40. We expect to make a trip to Kuching during the three-week end-of-year break, going overland from Miri. We may take buses rather than drive. A lot of people fly, but I'd prefer to see places along the way. At some later stage I would like to go as far as Tarakan to see where Dad was in WW2.
Last night we went to a Beatles party at the home of one of the teachers. Lots of Beatles music and a Beatles quiz, which we did okay in but didn't win. It was a lot of fun, and we met a few more ex-pats.
Over all we are enjoying life here. More relaxing than Singapore and I spend a lot more time with Yoong as there are no extra activities at school. The Tanizaki family from Singapore are coming to visit for four days later this month. Ann is French, Tani is Japanese, and Kumiko, their daughter, is more American than anything else as they lived in Miami for a long time. They stayed with us in Melbourne, and we stayed with them and their relatives in Le Mans, France.)
I hope you will also be able to make a trip here. Brunei is not a popular tourist destination but there is quite a lot to see and do.
Well, life here is just so peaceful. Raymond is very lucky to be paid almost as much as in Spore and only working for half a day. And living in such good quarters. Would you believe that the Housing Dept is negotiating to put us in a SEVEN bedroom house for next year as the lease for our present property will fall due by the end of the year. The new property is nearer the city and we can walk to restaurants for our meals, which is good exercise for the both of us. It is directly opposite the High Court so friends will not get lost looking for us. We have to be very thankful for all that. But what are we going to do with all the bedrooms?????
We have made a lot of friends - but I do not know if they will be long term friends. Most of them are teachers from all over the globe and Shell people. With oil in abundance here there are also the army people (to guard the stuff). I was told that they keep very much to themselves. I met a few army women at the Panaga Club and have not met any since.
A week ago we had a complete blackout and had to stay the night with a friend as we can't use fans nor air-conditioners without power. The electrician was called but he did not know what the problem was. When we returned the next morning the electricians were there. They were there from 8-11 and still were not too sure what was wrong. I hope they have really sorted out the problem as I do not want to experience a complete blackout again.
I have to stop walking on the beach, for a while at least, as I am now covered with sand fly bites. I saw them settling on me but the bites only appear after a day or two. Believe me they are not very pleasant.
We went to a waterfall yesterday with a young colleague (from Perth) of Raymond's. The journey there was like an endurance test. We have to wade through water which is not too clean and apparently contains leeches!!!!. I got no joy out of all that. The guys enjoyed it and I assured them that they can do the next one without me. Raymond had a leech on his foot when we arrived home and he had a hard time taking it off and the bleeding was pretty ugly to look at. He bumped his head (quite a common occurence) and fell into the river twice, fully clothed - exhilarating experience!!
The young teacher apparently is a heart-throb among the kids and among the single expat women here. His wife is Japanese and she and the children will be coming next year to join him. He was given a salted egg to eat at school and he ate the whole thing just to be polite. He swore he wouldn't like to see another of those eggs again and couldn't imagine how an egg could be so salty, especially the yolk. Poor fella! I told him that it would have taken us a month to eat that egg as we only use a bit of it over porridge. And he told us that he's mopped the floor. Just mopped without sweeping!! Even Raymond knows to sweep before mopping. These orang putihs love asia and embrace it wholly to the extent of marrying into it.
There are lots of single women expats here. I do think that they are very lonely, albeit fiercely independent and strong. Most of them are rather pleasant.
Would you believe that I am applying for a job as well? Will be seeing the lady this Thursday.]