Sick and tired.

Sick and tired. Sick and tired. Sick and tired.

I'm sick and I'm tired, and I don't mean that in any English metaphorical way. Yesterday morning I woke up to a throat that had been assaulted by sandpaper throughout the night (this time purely metaphorical). I got up and got a glass of orange juice. It was off.

I could live with that. It was just orange juice after all, and it didn't really pain me to not have a glass of juice in the morning. The rest of the day followed as per usual: 7:30 pick up, making roller coasters with year 8s, trying to watch some video lectures, catching up with Rutger (who got in a motorbike accident on Saturday) and so on.

Whatever ailment/affliction/infection/sickness/illness/virus/disease/epidemic I had kicked in around lunchtime. Cue drowsiness, nausea and grogginess. Cue unprecedented desire to go home (that is Sydney) and sleep knowing that someone would be watching out for me.

I don't know if the hippie-ness of Ubud has gotten to me, but for some reason I decided that I would let this illness pass naturally, without any pharmaceutical products like panadol or ibuprofen etc...

If only I could reverse that decision now.

I woke up this morning at 4 in the morning...

http://www.ted.com/talks/rives_on_4_a_m.html (Watch this if you like poetry slam and generally pretty funny things).

Albeit only for a little while, but it was the first poor nights sleep I have had in Bali. You know those days where you wake up and your whole body doesn't even feel like it's yours? Where it feels like your body is set in aeroplane jelly and every movement is laboured and unrealistically slow? That was this morning. And the pain in my head upon sitting up was more than intense. As I write this blog right now, there is still a dull thud in my head that leaves me feeling groggy.

Needless to say, I didn't go into school today, instead sleeping and lying down for all but 5 hours of the day.
I diagnosed myself this morning with the flu. A strain yet unknown to me, but one that I have overheard induces body ache and vomiting.

Possibly the worst flu I have ever had in memory.

Or maybe just the first one I have had without the care and attention of my mother.

SNAKE!

At the moment, I'm sitting in a Warung (the Bahasa word for shop, restaurant, cafe / whatever else it could be) drinking my watermelon juice and patiently waiting for some chicken (mmm). Okay it just arrived and I'm salivating despite having eaten some pasta (that I made) earlier today.

So walking here, I almost stepped on a snake. It was just there slithering along being a snake and I almost stepped on it. There have also been frogs, lizards and dogs that I have nearly stepped on. Bali is just full of random animals roaming around everywhere.

Lately I've been caught up trying to come up with an educational and fun (not the easiest mix) lesson for year 8 science on energy conversions. Decided to do an amazing race around campus. There are things in the school like a gravitational vortex generator, solar panels, biogas and other things that relate to it. It's my role as an intern to be the "good cop" to the students - kinda be their friend but get them to learn. At the moment I think I'm doing a pretty good job...

Hard, hard work.

I never appreciated the work that teachers do until now. Granted, some teachers do less than others, but I appreciate the fact that teachers put in a lot of effort into planning lessons to get the best out of the student (most of the time). Speaking of effort, Monday was Earth Day, and the whole school had basically a big party day filled with activities. Woo for sustainability! Here are some photos.

Cleaning up the neighbourhood

The kids came up dressed in green or animal costumes! How cute!!

Faber fixing up the medicinal garden beds

Making paper!

The plan for Saturday is to hike up Mount Batur, one of the volcanoes in the heart of Bali. Will keep you updated.