Volunteering abroad: A journey of an English teacher (2/2)
November 24, 2016
I had been racking my brain for the whole week. Looking at all those organizations' web pages open in my browser was giving me a major headache. I finally had to make a decision on where I would volunteer, and despite the fact that Volunteer Programs Bali (or simply VP Bali) was one of the most expensive options, it really seemed like the best option. I was lured by their impressive social media strategy, position right in the heart of Ubud, and apparent commitment to the volunteers' well-being. And so it became the last one standing among my soldiers.
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| Our students performing the Balinese dance |
The expectations and visions that I had established prior to my trip were in the end by far exceeded. How does it feel like to be a volunteer in Ubud?
Accommodation & Living
The volunteers all live on one street and are scattered among three smaller homestays, all within a two-minute walk from each other. With some exceptions, we lived in pairs and thus were never really alone—and even though I lacked privacy many times, it was nice to always have a roommate to turn to. But you cannot be friends with everyone—and in case you do not establish the best relationship with this particular person, there are approximately 20 others to hang out with.
The great thing about living in a homestay was that we literally lived in a local family's house, or well, a small family pension. Wayan and his wife Nyoman were the heads of the household, living there with their two sons, a daughter-in-law, and their adorable grandson Putu. They took good care of us—made us breakfast every morning (or at noon, oops), cleaned the rooms once a week, and booked transport to any place in Bali that we wanted to visit.
(And while they are always polite, smiling, and seem happy, there is one dark side to the Balinese way of life—public outbursts of emotions are considered a big weakness, and therefore many fights and annoyances are suppressed rather than confronted or talked through. This anger trapped inside accumulates often over long periods of time, and can lead to a very ugly explosion.)
Living with this family for two months enabled us to notice the little peculiarities and perks of Balinese life. Most apparently, people do seem happier. They don't have that much, and to be honest, they also don't seem to have much to do. Our family cleaned for half an hour in the morning, made us all breakfast, fed the birds, played with Putu, made offerings, and that was pretty much it. And while such routine would drive me crazy in no time, they seem happy. Happy with the simpler way of life, little stress, and strong family bonds.
Another conspicuous difference was the position of men in society. The birth of a boy is always celebrated because he is eventually expected to bring a bride home. She will then become a part of her husband's family and essentially a new source of income by helping with the household. Even in the richer and more liberal families, the bride does not automatically get a warm welcome but needs to earn her place. When sitting at the table, she is often not allowed to speak until she proves herself.
The most interesting thing to me, however, was a child's upbringing. Despite that special bond a mother has with her child, in Bali, it is normal for the grandparents to raise the child. Our homestay was no different—Wayan would always take care of our little Putu, feed him, wash him, play with him. To my chagrin, it can get to such levels that the mother becomes less capable of taking care of her own child. For instance, Putu once started crying in the arms of her mother, and the poor desperate thing, unable to appease him, ran to Wayan for help (who could make Putu laugh again in no time).
Fun at school
VP Bali's classes are anything but boring. We never really teach without the new lesson being presented in the form of a game, but aside this creative learning process, kids enjoy a lot of special events almost on a weekly basis. This includes picnics with free food for everyone (a huge success, obviously); a Finnish day organized by two Finnish volunteers when we played only fun games from their homeland; a Halloween party; or a treasure hunt. And this way, we sort of established a Thursday Funday concept, when almost every Thursday, the whole school would not have a class but play games together.
This, of course, required a lot of planning from the side of volunteers, and would often be organized or thought of last minute. However, things don't run as smoothly in Bali as they do in Europe, and if you need some props or help from the staff, you need to arrange it in advance. Many times it would also lead to small hilarious misunderstandings and, consequently, to a serious need of improvisation.
This, of course, required a lot of planning from the side of volunteers, and would often be organized or thought of last minute. However, things don't run as smoothly in Bali as they do in Europe, and if you need some props or help from the staff, you need to arrange it in advance. Many times it would also lead to small hilarious misunderstandings and, consequently, to a serious need of improvisation.
Exploring the Culture
Apart from teaching the kids, VP Bali made a lot of effort to educate (and entertain) also its volunteers. These little fun activities brightened many of my already sunny days. Over the course of two months, I have seen several Balinese dance performances by our lovely students and towards the end of my stay, they even taught the dance to us, volunteers. (Of course, the kids were even having much more fun than us, seeing how clumsy we all were.)
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| Girls dressed in traditional Balinese clothing and performing the Balinese dance for volunteers |
We were also shown how to prepare offerings from bamboo leaves and flowers—an integral part of the Balinese religious way of life. Offerings are made to the good as well as bad gods and spirits once or twice a day, and even though we didn't know much about the religious meaning of the offerings, it was still amazing to try it on our own and get closer to the culture we were living in at the moment.
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| Trying to make the beautiful bamboo bowls... |
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| ...and failing miserably! |
We were also once invited to a wedding of a nephew of Komang, one of our staff members. (Since the wedding was partially paid for from our program fees, we didn't feel so awkward about crashing a party like that.) The bride and groom were beautiful; they were both dressed in colorful Balinese clothing and wore heavy flower crowns. Komang told us that they had to start assembling the crowns at 3 am and they could not be taken off until very late in the evening, making for a very heavy and painful thing to wear. (Since weddings are big in Bali, we also had to wear sarongs and lace tops, which, in the end, created a beautiful rainbow.)
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| Volunteers at the wedding |
The ceremony itself was really odd to all of us and almost alluded me completely. The couple and their closest family gathered together to pray on the hard, stony path without any warning—and this was the actual ceremony during which the couple was wed. While they were praying, the rest of the audience did not pay attention at all; everyone was eating and drinking; there was an old, very old man singing some Balinese songs; people were talking, laughing, and constantly moving. But Komang told us that this is normal, and just as much we were in shock how Balinese weddings go by, she laughed at us when we told her our wedding ceremonies are conducted in total silence as everybody watches the bride and groom to say their I do's.
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| Bride and groom |
Awareness
And as an added bonus to the educational activities, VP Bali also started their recycling efforts in order to educate children about the importance of not throwing the trash on the floor. It is not that they are not well-behaved or naughty; the kids simply do not understand that they should not be littering because there is nobody to educate them about the dangers of trash everywhere. And so we started cleaning up the school campus three times per week all together and additionally organized recycling events, during which the kids could create various funny little games or utensils from waste.
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| A rather common sight in Bali |
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| Students cleaning the campus |
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| Yogi making a shark from an old plastic bottle |
Amazing farewells
And to wrap us such an unforgettable experience, we would always have big farewell parties for the volunteers leaving that week. The kids would perform, we would play games and have fun. It is a tradition that on the last day of a teacher, their kids would decorate the whiteboard, make them goodbye cards, and would only let them in the classroom when all of this has been done and they are ready to throw confetti (which they make from scrap paper) at them. It was also like this with my two classes, and I was given flower crowns and a bunch of amazingly sweet cards. "Thank you, Dana, we love you" and "Don't forget we" and "We will miss you" and "I wiss you could stay" were some of those I got.
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| Girls dancing on my last day |
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| Saying goodbye to Yogi, the cutest of them all |
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| Trying to dance, emphasis on the trying |
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| Reactions to our hilarious and terrible dancing |
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| The three winners of the dancing competition and the bags we got as an award |
And then it was time to say goodbye to all the kids that I had spent teaching for two months—but even to those that I never really saw at school before (so many unfamiliar faces from other classes came to me to say goodbye and give me their cards). It was more difficult than I thought, and even though we managed to do a lot of things on that day with my kids, it all flew by so quickly that when the time came to say our farewell, I wished we could have at least another day together.
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| Farewell! |
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