Had class from 9AM-12PM, where I had Alternative and Complementary Medicine. The time went by surprisingly quick, since the lecture was more interesting than last class. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch at the classroom; then time to head off to the NGO. Like I mentioned earlier, the other class I am taking is to perform research with a local NGO. In our case, we had to drive an hour away to a nursing home; no one spoke English, so we had to bring a transl...

Today we ledt at 9AM on what we thought would be an hour long trip, which turned out to be over 4 hours to get to the cremation ceremony. Highlights of the drive included: lush rainforest, lots of rice paddies, monkeys, a totally nasty gas station bathroom (complete with a squat toilet, aka non-western style), and beautiful views of the black sand beaches. We immediately had lunch upon arriving at the village, since we were special guests--super elaborately decor...

Today was very long and not terribly exciting. Woke up, had class from 9AM-12, had lunch, bought an ice cream bar, had class again from 2PM-5. I would like to say that class was super interesting, but it wasn't. Six hours of class in one day is too much! Luckily, most days here will not be that much class. After class, we walked down the street and went to Kafe which sold some awesome smoothies and organic burritos. The only downside was that service was really s...

Today was the first day of class! Took place from 9-12, and was boring. We mostly talked about what public health NGOs each group will be working with--my group will be focusing on the elderly population, and will be going to a nursing home weekly. Startling statistic: my organization receives funding from the Indonesian government (therefore it isn't technically an NGO) to help pay for medicines of the 50 elderly people living at the home, but the funding is now...

Today was even more mellow than yesterday. At 9AM we drove 30 minutes away to Senang Hati ("Happy Hearts") an NGO which houses and is completely run by Balinese living with physical disabilities (polio, blindness, amputations due to accidents, deformities, etc). Their presentation was extremely short, so we had a tour of the vicinity. Twenty people currently live there free of charge, and they engage in various skill-building classes put on by the foundation such...