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Today we went to the Orphanage in Bali! One of the most amazing experiences! But unbelievably sad!
Annie ended up staying out last night at Slamett's house, he's an interior designer and she loved his house so spent the night in his guest room! When I woke up I had 10 minutes to get ready and go so she missed out!
There was 30 of all of Andhika's family, friends and neighbours, including me. His sister had prepared over 200 meals of chicken and spicy rice with vegetables for the 150 orphans and 30 of us going to visit them!
There's nothing she can't do she said it only took a couple hours, just like the other night when she cooked for 60 people plus me and Annie for her neighbours funeral! There was hundreds of chicken skewers piled next to stacks of fried vegetables and buckets full of rice! There all so generous!
Took us hours to drive to the orphanage, 11 of us were all crammed into one 8 seater car! This is normal for them! We unloaded all of the food to the men who carried it inside the building and I caught glimpses of little children running around playing! I'm so excited! Practically already crying however but Andi told me it's rude if I do, I have to stay positive!
We walked into the main building, the common room! Two thirds are girls and one thirds boys mostly average age was around 9 years old! However some older 16 year olds and unfortunately a few really tiny little 3 year olds!
All I could think about was seeing my nephew aiden at home with all of his hundreds of toys, his clothes, and the chocolates and sweets he gets treat too, in comparison to this little boy who has 1 change of clothes and nothing more and still wears a smile everyday! My eyes are filling up!
We sat infront and watched them all preying and holding hands, singing to each other etc! They all have a good time and clearly one another!
All the muslim girls wear light coloured head scarves and boys wear matching, patterned loose pants, the older boys have the matching hat too!
Donation time was next, we all had to stand inline whilst every one of the 150 orphans came around us to thank us! The boys bowed down to me and took my hand and held it to there forehead. The girls took my hand and held it to there cheek for a few seconds, they wish us luck and say a preyer everytime! I found it too difficult to look them in the eyes.
I gave Andhika my last 100,000Rupei note which is £7.50 and instead of putting it in the donation envelope he slyly passed it to one of the girls. This is against rules as it causes friction between the children but nobody knew and she kept quiet!
Everyone eats in this room but boys to one side and girls to the other. I sat with the boys to eat lunch which almost blew my tongue off!
Only got one grain of rice down my neck before half the orphans started circling around me asking me questions! They seemed so appreciative of me visiting and wanted to learn more English from me!
Their English teacher comes twice a week for a couple hours so a few of the older boys speak really good. They said they wanted me to teach them instead as there teacher is German and doesn't know the difference between an English yes and an American yeah!
The girls were really shy though, only a few of them plucked up the courage to ask me questions about England and my travels so far. One of them said 'excuse me sir, but we think your very handsome', so all the girls giggled and hid their faces in their hands! Adorable!
The boys grabbed my hands and showed me around the rest of the Orphanage... The rooms are all downstairs and there like prison cells without bars! Yet they love that they get to sleep together and don't get sad! They think it's a really nice place to stay even though it's bare concrete walls with crumbling plaster and graffitti. I just hope they genuinely are happy which they seem to be, and theyve not just had it drummed into them that that's what they have to say to visitors!
The 'study area' is two rooms both half the size of the classrooms I remember when I was at school! And this is supposed to suffice for 150 students! The door to the study area was covered in graffiti, with a few curse words including; f*** death etc which was creepy to see but again, just sad as obviously some of them must want to rebel!
When the time came to say goodbye, I didn't want to leave; they all grabbed my hands and pulled at me, looking up to me asking if I could please come back tomorrow! This is when I nearly broke down in tears, I found it so hard to say no, so I told them maybe, yes see you soon! And felt like such a bad liar!
We got back home around 4 and then we decided to go see Tanah Lot temple. Took over an hour on Andhikas bike to get there in the traffic and we stopped in a rural area for noodles and egg and to get the bike washed!
Arrived at Temple, the most beautiful place in Bali! Set on a cluster of rocks in the sea you have to leave shoes on the sandy beech, walk through water then up the steps where you can be blessed by the monk! Christina Aguilera came here on her honeymoon too! Sold!
We didn't have time to see the monk though...Too busy getting my Tyra on by the sea! The sunset is so nice but, I do not appreciate the ginormous crashing waves protruding from the rocks!
Left there at 7:00, got home for 8 chilled, got ready went out! Same same but drunker!
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