Me in Central Java

I am on a mission with S'pore Red Cross team3. I am well. Recently we experience slight to moderate levels of ash in the air but overall, situation is o.k. The people we met are really warm and most friendly. Community spirit is very evident and strong. You see young people helping elderly strangers with sincerety amd respect It was a very pleasant surprise to see this amongst the Javanese. Something you (extremely) rarely see in S'pore.

My only problem here is I don't like the team leader. Egoistic, proud and political guy. Never again do I want to go on a mission with him. Its sad because we are here to help people and you have this guy who seem to have his own agenda. Thank God, I have Thelma in the team. She is a very senior nurse with a nursing home and we get along well. The other 3 nurses in the team are cliquish coz they were from same batch in NYP. The doc is quite selenge and....young la. By this I mean he is immature la...but at least he mixes with the locals well. And he ries to have fun. But many times he will get Team Leader frowning at him. Poor guy...
Thelma is similar to Sharifah, a retired nurse whom I went to Acheh with last year. I had such a great time with Sharifah. She is in her 60s but she is so much fun. She does not behave her age. There's always something interesting happening when she is around. Always managed to "bond" with the right people to get what she want..shopping, tour of city, etc...hehe. Hey, we cabn't be working all the time. We are only human. We need breaks what.....
She and Thelma have so many stories to tell....and I love every one of them :)

See ya 'all soon.