Klub Kokos

News - Staff & Guests

December 2001 Newsletter

Road Improvements
Ceremonies
School News
Staff/Guest News
Featured Recipe
(Gulai Ayam - Spicy Madurese Chicken)

Children are such an important part of our lives wherever we come from in this world. This is particularly the case in Bali, and now the staff at KLUB KOKOS has another little sister within our extended family. We were very happy to announce the birth of a healthy baby girl to Komang and his wife on August 31. While they currently reside in Denpasar most of the time because of his wife's employment, with the baby, Ni Iluh Patricia Grace, now being more than three months old we see her visiting at Bangkiang Sidem, staying with Komang's aunt's family for part of the week. With her parents both being practising Christians, it is planned that Patricia Grace will be baptised next Pentecost (Sunday May 19, 2002) at a ceremony at their church in Denpasar.

Yan De, Moyo & Tut Su experience working conditions at KLUB KOKOS

This year has been the first time that we have added some trainees to our staff at KLUB KOKOS. Tourism and hospitality courses are very popular types of education in Bali, where so much of the more affluent southern part of Bali depends on tourism for it's economic strength. As a part of their course students are required to do some months of 'work experience' before they graduate. We have been hosts to two trainees from a Gianyar Senior High specialising in Tourism for the past two months, Yan De and Tut Su, from the villages of Keliki & Pejeng, while a third trainee, Moyo, from a local Ubud Senior Tourism High School is with us for four months. Moyo lives only a little to the south of KLUB KOKOS, and will probably be seeking full-time employment with us once he has finished his course at school in June next year.

One of our guests catching up on some of the latest global news through print-outs of web articles

The world of travel has been truly saddened by the horrific events in the USA on September 11, as well as the aftermath of war on Afghanistan and all of the associated global tension. Even in our little corner of the world at KLUB KOKOS we were quite affected by what has been happening. In the immediate aftermath we had guests from different parts of the world that craved information about what was happening, and our connection with the Internet meant that we were able to give constant updates on the situation to our guests through print-outs of web pages from CNN and other sites. The US and Australian Embassies were also very active in keeping us informed through emailed bulletins to pass on to our guests.

The two teams that played off in the first round of the KLUB KOKOS Table Tennis Tournament - Staff in red, Builders in gold & the referees in white

Of course, as in so many other parts of the world, Bali was very quiet tourist-wise throughout October and November. To brighten the quiet atmosphere caused by very few guests staying with us, we decided to hold a table tennis tournament using the new table that we bought for the floor above the new gallery. The staff had been keenly practising for some time, so they challenged the gang of builders that were involved in building KLUB KOKOS to select six of their members for a play-off. Throughout November rowdy supporting of either side could be heard as they fought to see who would be the victors. Although Alit led the Staff team admirably by remaining undefeated throughout the minor round, overall victory went to the Builders on the completion of this round last week. Each of the winning team were presented with their own table tennis bats, and the top two players from the Builders team (Dewa Neru & Pak Bawa) and Staff team (Alit & Nengah) are now playing off with the top two players from an 'Extra' team (Made Sudarsana - painter and bamboo xylophone instructor here at KLUB KOKOS - & Gusti Nyoman - younger brother of Gusti Aji) that appeared by popular demand soon after the onset of the minor round. This second round is currently being played with greatly improved form, and excitement is running high as these six players fight it out to determine who will play off in the finals in mid-December.

With the great interest that this tournament has stirred within the local community, at the conclusion of the competition next week KLUB KOKOS will be presenting the community of Bangkiang Sidem with their own table tennis table. We hope that this will encourage another interest for the younger members of the village, who have little to entertain themselves.

[next - Recipe for Gulai Ayam - Spicy Madurese Chicken]

This page was last updated on December 7, 2001