23rd May 2012, by Jasmine

After a long flight from London I had finally arrived in Bali. My first impression of the IHF centre was how different it was to London! I arrive at the centre at about 3pm and it is very hot and i’m very tired! The centre is in between two villages so it is very quiet and the only noises to be herd during the night are the waves and the occasional rooster crowing! My first day teaching was very exciting. Classes start at 1pm but the children’s smiling faces start arriving at 12pm. They run around the big back yard in the centre and look very happy to be here. At 1pm they run to where there classes are. My first class that i taught were 5 and 6 year olds, they were so small and cute! The lesson was on animals. I would write down the name of different animals then show them a picture, then i would get them to call out any other animals that they knew. They all wanted to write on the whiteboard so we played a game and they climbed up onto the front desk and wrote their answer. Class went for one hour then at 2pm they ran to their next class. In obne of the classes this week they started chanting “swimming, swimming”! The class were about 15 children so the chant was getting louder! Finally when class was over and the teacher said they could go they all jumped in the pool screaming and laughing.

The centre is very child friendly and i can picture myself as a kid again running around outside around the ponds and running up and down the stairs.

Life here is very peaceful but when the kids arrive the house comes alive and is very noisy, as soon as they leave there is mostly silence. At the moment there are two other volunteers, Sophie and her mum Jane, there is Ho who has been here for two months and is leaving next week, there’s Arnau who has lived in Indonesia for 2 years but is from Barcelona, who has also been the director for the last few weeks, then the new director Micah arrived yesterday from the U.S, there is also Azgus (pronounced Agus) who is the care taker of the house, he looks after the centre and us volunteers and the workers. His duties are very broad and he makes sure we are comfortable.

When i’m not planning classes, i go for walks along the rocky beach. The tide is high in the morning so i sit on the rocks or try and walk along them but that is a little bit tricky. In the afternoon at around 4pm the tide has gone out so i walk along the black sand to the otherside of the beach.

It’s currently 12pm so i better go plan for the next class!

Jasmine

8th April 2012, by Sy Lap Ho

I accepted to be a Work Study Volunteer for Bali Center, Indonesia with the assignment for 2 months, beginning from 1st April 2012 until end of May 2012.
However, I tried to come one day earlier for a glance at the island that my timeline will be spent a stage, where recorded by the year 2010 with exceed 2.5 million visitors came from many difference places over the World, and where the population is around 3.9 million, among which, about 30,000 expatriates are living and working, all of them are sharing an  area of 5,632.86Km2 land, decade thousand Km2 of sea, beautiful beaches, and peacefully.
My flight with AirAsia departures from Bangkok at 6h30 in the morning 31 March 2012 and arrived Denpasar 11h30 local time at the same day. It was on Saturday, stayed at Kuta beach and I was really enjoined the first weekend in the “Island of Gods”.

Afternoon 1st April 2012, Shinta – the Center’s Director and Agus – Driver, picked me up from Kuta, I would highly appreciated Shinta and Agus for their spending weekend time for me. We have arrived center at about 5pm. IHF Bali located on South East of the island. You could always hear the sound of waves every night and day, feel salty from the winds and enjoy sea view at anytime.

On Monday 2nd April 2012, according to the calendar, class scheduled to start at 1pm, however many kids had arrived at 12pm, it seams they are very keen on learning and the center very attract them with things to play, some kids were using color pencil for drawings, while some others were using laptops with internet connection for downloading music and exploring social networks, some of them were reading books and some of them were practice traditional Balinese dances. In the next everyday, the kids always came earlier almost 1 hour before the class starting time, the house always full of laughs and smiles during has kids. Those have been making all of us feel the contribution of time is remarkable; we need more efforts to improve the center’s activities for the benefit of children. In my thinking, Bali very potential for “Pass It On”

1st April 2012, by Hossein

I feel pity. This is my last day in Bali. As the organization needs my
presence in Aceh I should leave here. Although I just am here for
nearly 20 days, I find myself in especial feeling about IHF staff in
Bali and more with kids which coming to center. Unfortunately I even
will not have a chance to have a farewell with the kids which I really
love them, especially class three (pear)I will never forget beautiful
Melinda, smart Ninda, self-confident Gita, pro-active Ari, kind Meri,
loving Arie, funny Devi and friendly Sintia.

I’m also so thankful from Shinta which learn many things to me. And
her brilliant tolerance which helps me to cope the duties, as this is
my first experience to working in foreign country in English which is
different from my mother tongue language. Special thanks to her.

Although I am still with IHF family, but I am sure that I really miss
all the people in Bali, especially children.

29th February, by Shanshan

It seems that I could still feel the hot tropical breeze from the night when Shinta and Agus picked me up from the airport, but I am leaving this lovely center in one day. I really enjoy my stay in the centre: the reflection of coconut trees and blue sky in the mirror of the bathroom, frogs croaking in rice field at night, the garden under reddening evening cloud, and so much more. Of all these enjoyable moments, the most unforgettable is the laugh and happiness that fill the whole centre when kids come at noon. Some of them like to come even one hour before the class, so that they can read the English books (they love books with many drawings) and play card games in which they can learn number and color while having fun (the UNO game, for example). Once I showed them the Angry Bird game in my itouch, and they love it.

These kids are adorable and active in classes. I taught kids from grade 1, 2, 4, 5, and senior classes. At first it took me one or two classes to find the right level of English levels to teach. Watching other volunteers teaching really helped. Young kids from grade 1 and 2 are amazingly good at apprehending the vocabulary by watching drawings, pictures, videos and actions. Elder kids prefer a translation in Indonesian, and I brought an English-Indonesian dictionary to class. What is most impressive is how fast they can learn by participating in the class activities. For example, in one class I let them do the color-filling on different vehicles, and they learn the sentence “I color/paint the vehicle with different colors”. I was impressed by their sense of color combination. In the next class, I taught them traffic rules (Go, stop, turn etc.), and let them do the role play game in which they acted as the vehicles they painted in the previous class. Little “vehicles” loved this game and the class became a play room. I was glad that I put this game in the last section of the class. In addition, when they were separated into teams and competed with other teams, everyone was paying attention to the content of class and they learned team work and obtained a better sense of what I taught.

After classes, sometimes I walked around in the nearby villages, or jogged on the beach beside the centre. Many people I met are friendly and said Hi/Hello to me with a big smile. They can barely speak English but their smiles grew bigger when I told them that I worked at “YaYa Sen” (Indonesian name of the center). It is very easy to make friends with Balinese people. They have a warm and generous attitude for guests/visitors, which is quite unique and impressive. Eni, the Math teacher in the center, brought us to her home at dusk one day and it happened that her grandpa was practicing a local bamboo instrument. The music was a charisma that washed away the tiredness of the day.

The past two weeks at IHF BALI centre is quite a memorable and enjoyable period in my life. The smile on children’s face has a magical power that makes me relax and happy. I believe that the power is bestowed by this lovely place, BALI.

1st March 2012, by Shelley

It is another beautiful day today. After giving classes to children, I played with them by the sea. I really enjoy getting along with those children, because they are so clever and lively.  They are eager for knowledge and are curious about everything new. In the class, they copy the new words consciously while listening to you and they learn faster than expected. Every time I get along with those children, I feel carefree and comfortable. It is really a great experience for you to teach the children here and bring your pleasure to them.

23rd February 2012, by Vianney

Last Thursday was a very hot day in Bali. I know that it is a common thing in Bali but even my kids were telling me “It’s hot kak Vianney”. Anyway, my day was very normal I taught class 3 (Class 3 is my favorite class, I taught them every week since I arrived in Bali on January 5th, there is a very good feeling between us) English and after my class they have mathematics with our local teacher Enni. At the end of Enni’s class it was around 4 pm. The children asked something to Enni and then she asked me “Do you want to swim with the kids?” I immediately said yes and jumped in my swimsuit. The kids were very excited. Enni told me later that they really wanted to share this moment with me. Because they know that I will leave soon so they want to share a lot.

So we all went to the beach near the center the kids were running, laughing and screaming. And when I went to swim they were like “oh he’s really doing that’s so cool” So they all “changed” so they could go in the water. And we played for like an hour, swimming, jumping, trying to catch small fishes. And at the end there was even a sand battle, which was very fun. Enni was literally dragged in the water by the kids. At first she didn’t want to go in because she didn’t have any swimsuit, but also because she cannot swim. Because even though Balinese people live on an Island most of them cannot swim! But she ended completely wet and in the water.

I would like to thank the kids of class 3 and Enni for sharing this with me.

22nd Janaury 2012, by Eli

This week at the Bali center we have a full house. Not one or two, but five volunteers have come from China. It has made quite the busy center. It has been a welcomed addition and an adventure teaching them about helping the kids. For almost all of them, it is their first time outside of China, so their eyes are wide open and amazed at the sites and sounds of Bali.

This week at the Bali center we had a gang of new volunteers arrive. 5 Chinese volunteers arrived Monday along with a volunteer from France. It is a packed house and the kids didn’t know what to make of all the new volunteers ready to help them. It has been a adjustment period for the new volunteers but they are settling in nicely and taught their first classes yesterday.  We look forward to their help and the kids seem excited about seeing some new faces

The French volunteer Vianney and I traveled to Mt. Batur, in central Bali last weekend. We did a sunrise hike in the morning, hiking for an hour and a half up the volcano to be able to see the 6am sunrise. That is one of my favorite parts of being in Bali is the ability to travel and see so much, so close to the center. Bali is unlike anywhere else in the world and being able to see this unique island during our free time is something that I can not get enough of.

This is almost my last week at the center so I will be sad to leave. The time here has been absolutely amazing and one I will never forget. The children here are what make this place amazing and being able to play and teach them on a daily basis. I know this center and the children will continue to thrive due to the love the community has for the “yayasan” , which in Indonesian means center. Thanks for the great memories IHF!

9th January 2012, by Eli

This week at the Bali center, we welcomed back the children from their holiday with a huge number of children this week.  Man, were they excited to see us. They ran up there walkway kicking off their shoes and talked to other children and the teachers at a million miles a minute. It was great to see their smiling faces again, even if it felt a little overwhelming to have the center teeming with children again. Classes were fun , as each child had a little more vigor behind his answer and was able to keep his attention focused on us a few minutes longer, which makes the classes better for all the students

The adventure this week was when Shinta had to leave for the day to pick up our new volunteer, Viennay, leaving me as the sole teacher. I was nervous heading into it because while I was teaching one class, I wondered what trouble the other children could be getting into around the center. But to my relief, the afternoon went smoother than I could have imagined and the children who I had never taught before earned an A+ in my book for being so happy and making the classes awesome.

8th January 2012, by kate

I arrived in Bali three weeks ago and I’m sad to say it is my last night here. It has been such a wonderful experience for me thanks to all the amazing people. Whether it be the people who live around the area, the cute little kids or the awesome volunteers/director, they’ve all been wonderful and incredibly friendly, making my time here fantastic.

I mainly taught two classes, class 5 and juniors. Class 5 was great but a little big which at times proved a bit difficult but we managed. I think I was also a little to lenient with them because towards the end they became much naughtier and harder to control. The juniors class was only two girls which was fantastic and gave me plenty of time to work with them and improve their English.

Outside of my teaching duties much of my time was spent relaxing and taking in the beautiful scenery and quiet way of life. Each day I enjoyed various vegetable and rice dishes which were yummy and kept me eating healthy. I truly am going to miss this place all the people who make its existence possible. Goodbye Bali centre, you’ve been great!

25th December 2011, by Eli

This past week at the Bali center, we had a great time with the kids. The classes were smaller because the children are on holiday, but they still come as happy as ever. We now have 4 volunteers at the center so it’s nice to have a full house and the kids get a kick out of meeting the new volunteers.

The highlight for the week was Shinta teaching her class how to sing ” you are my sunshine.” Shinta taught them how to decorate suns and make hats out fo them, which the kids loved. It was very cute to hear them sing the words, some louder then other, and mostly at different times. After a few tries the children really got it and were belting out the lyrics in unison, all wearing there self made sun hats.

All the volunteers here took a house trip to Ubud for the weekend to celebrate the holidays. We rented a couple motor bikes and caravaned there. We went to Monkey Forest Sanctuary and walked around. For Christmas day, we met up with some past volunteers and went out to a great lunch overlooking the beautiful rice fields. It definitely felt like a little family getting together in paradise to celebrate the holidays!