22-Apr-2022, the photo at the top is where we left of many weeks ago.

After more than two months of traveling to Europe and doing several business trips (installations), with a 12-hour flight, 3-hour transit and another 5-hour flight, I am finally back in Bali. Unfortunately, no business class flight this time, but Cathay Pacific is a very good airline and I had a comfortable journey.

Even though being exhausted from the flight (lack of sleep), I am not going straight to bed and rest. Instead, I have a quick shower and attend a Toastmasters meeting in the evening. Toastmasters is an international, educational organization that builds confidence and teaches public speaking skills. It is not for me but Prabha is delivering her first official speech and Ayu invited me to come. Prabha did an amazing job and I had a fun and energizing evening as well. It is not my first TS meeting so I kind of know what to expect. Not surprisingly, and even though I am only a guest, they invited me to the front of the group and asked me to share a short story about a hate/love story from my own experience. In school I always struggled with presentations and standing in front of a group, I hated it! But this time I think I did pretty well and I didn’t even hesitate to go up to the front. It was a fun experience in a group of wonderful and kind people.

After a few days of acclimatization in Bali and doing several yoga classes I am picking up where I left off many months ago… BACK TO WORK ON “MY” LITTLE BAMBOO HOUSE.

Monday – Despite my jetlag I manage to wake up at 7 a.m. because I am full of excitement. I am ready to go but… the rain is heavy this morning and I am forced to wait for a couple of hours. Finally onsite, we set up some scaffolding and we start with the first layer of the Pelupuh ceiling (smashed bamboo). The first layer is mounted “upside down” to create a beautiful ceiling inside the building. There are several interruptions today with the rain, at 4 p.m., being one of time. But a (re-)start is made and I am happy about this!

Effective working time on the roof: 3 hours.

Tuesday – No rain in the morning in Sanur, but this time it is raining in Belega. We commenced work at 10 a.m. Today is a good day and we manage to finish the entire ceiling (on one side – the North side). Made (the expert builder) isn’t always around but I know what to do and I can keep going on my own. Applying the bamboo ceiling all the way to the top (both tips of the roof), is very challenging and requires a lot climbing and balancing skills. Confident in my skills, and with a desire to work hard I climb on top of that six-meter-tall roof and slap that bamboo on like it’s nothing 😀.

Effective working time on the roof: 5 hours.

Here is a short video of me working on that tall roof:

Wednesday – In the morning we take a good four hours to build-up more scaffolding. The integrity of the scaffolding is questionable at best (rusty and broken at some parts), and we struggle to find matching parts (not all racks are the same size or fit due to damages) but we don’t have any other choice. In the afternoon we start applying Pelupuh tiles upside down and over the edge of the roof. This is done to create an extra overhang all along the edge, for extra protection against the rain. We manage to get about a quarter done before the rain starts at 3 p.m.

Still relatively early in the day, I rush home, take a shower and manage to be on time for a yoga class at 5.

Effective working time on the roof: 1,5 hours.

Thursday – This morning I am full of energy and ready to really get a move on with the construction, hoping to get in a good flow. But I got thrown another curveball. There is always something when building here in Asia; if it’s not the rain or rebuilding the scaffolding, or running out of material then there are problems with the power. Made and I spent the first hour faultfinding in why the power keeps turning off. Turns out to be a short-circuit in the compressor. Happy to be finally back to work and we finished the single line of tiles on the roof edge. We make a start with the final layer of the roof. First a layer of thick plastic continued by Pelupuh tiles on top, fixed with a nail gun. We manage to get a few rows on before the rain starts.

All these bamboo “tiles” are cut by hand on a specific length and this takes a lot of time. While Made cuts all these tiles (hundreds of them), I fix them with a nail gun to the roof.

Effective working time on the roof: 5 hours.

Friday – A new day with new chances and new possibilities. The goal is to finish one side of the roof. Made and I believe it’s possible. But it turns out Made is needed elsewhere. Ketut is helping me, he cuts the Pelupuh tiles and I fix them on the roof. Work is going well and smooth. Fixing these tiles per se is not difficult, but working on such a steep angle and bending over on the roof, getting a good grip, is very challenging and not the best position for my back. It is a lot of work, but before lunch I manage to get a few rows on. If I can keep this up, I will finish all of it today and I will be very happy about that!

But of course, I should know by now, there is always something! It was a great morning but that is also were it is stopped unfortunately. Apparently, somebody had forgotten to pay their electricity bill and the power was cut off around lunch time. I put the tarp back on the roof and I decide to leave early. It is a beautiful sunny day, might as well enjoy the most of i

Effective working time on the roof: 4 hours.

As for roof, it is really starting to come along and looking beautiful. I am excited to see the end result but we also still have a long way to go, the whole other side of the roof also needs to be build. Although it does feel like I have spent an entire 40-hour work week onsite, effectively we only worked about 18,5  hours. I hope I can increase the effective working time by 50% next week, that would be a nice achievement.

Here is another short time lapse of the roof and a few other videos:

~ THE END ~