let the rain fall down...

Friday 26th September 2008

when it rains here in bali...it really rains! there is something about tropical rain that always, always amazes me. i have never experienced it elsewhere. it comes down in such torrents and with such ferocity it feels like the very heavens are weeping uncontrollably. it is a sight to behold...albeit one from behind closed doors. getting caught out in that kind of rain is certainly not fun and one can be drenched to the skin in seconds!

however, when the show really starts is after the rain. once the rain eases off, the whole jungle becomes alive with the sounds of those obviously highly contented by the rain...mainly the frogs! they start up a chorus in obvious thanks for the drenching they have received and it can continue on for many hours afterwards. it is a sound that has become comforting and one that i enjoy listening to. it reminds me how alive the jungle is. the multitude of life it houses and the preciousness of each and every living soul that inhabits it. enjoy the chorus!

spiderman! spiderman!

Monday 22nd September 2008

i had such a funny incident the other day in class...one of the children came tearing out of the class into the playground shouting at the top of his voice in rather an anxious tone...'spiderman! spiderman!' alli could think was...what on earth is he shouting that for? when i went into have a look...what did i discover? the most beautiful praying mantis, harmlessly making his way across the classroom floor and who had probably been terrified by my screaming student! he (or could it have been she) was just so incredible. i picked him up and rescued him to a stick in the fence...but first, of course, explaining to the children that he was completely harmless! they were pretty dubious at first but eventually came round to him when they saw me handle him. praying mantis are just fascinating...i could have sat and watched him for hours...doing his little dance and his little gangly walk. very precious...

a bug's life!

Monday 11th August 2008

ok, so what do you do when you come home and you see the scariest looking creature just hanging out on your mosquito net...you be a complete and utter girly-girl and go in search of campus security and plead with them that there is a massive bug in your bedroom and tell them you won't be able to sleep unless they help you take it away! don't ask me how i struck up the courage to actually photograph it...i mean my heart was really pounding i kept thinking that mid-photo it would just make a dive at me or land on me or something to such effect. i thought for a nano-second of putting my finger near it so that you could get a proper idea of its' size but then saw that horn on the end of it's whatever and decided against it! then of course, when the security came, he just tapped it off the mosquito net and picked it up and put it outside. 'ini tak bahaya, ibu' ('it's not dangerous, miss) he says with a twinkle in his eye as he laughs at me hiding behind one of the bamboo pillars...ya, ya, ok...i know, i'm a right over-reacting psycho, totally useless and out of my depth in this jungle existence but c'mon...it does look pretty freaky, for crying out loud it's got hairy legs - SERIOUS hairy legs!!!!

so you see, as you all sit in your rooms, wherever you may be and wish that you were on the other side of the planet, sunning yourself on a glorious beach, stop and think for a moment...do you have bugs of this magnitude sitting on your beds to welcome you home each day???

oh ya and size -wise, this guy was as long as an index finger and as wide as two and a half fingers together...now that's a SERIOUS bug!

after a quick bit of googling...i have discovered this is a rhinoceros beetle...an apt name indeed considering the size of that horn you can see! and from the looks of it they can grow up to some pretty large sizes! as for me, i'm just glad i have a mosquito net hanging around my bed so that this fella didn't think he was getting into bed with me for the night!