In Reply to: advice and opinions wanted posted by ella_oz on Friday, 27. January 2006 at 17:25 Bali Time:
My daughter followed me when i went to live in bali for 18 months. She came for a weeks holiday as I settled in ....and fell in love with an Indonesian artist. She was half way through last year of Uni. She came back to Australia, quit her two partime jobs, but arranged with perserverance, to do subjects ONLINE with her university from Bali. She came back to Bali, lived with im in "costs" (?) in Denparsar, Kuta, with me for 8 weeks, then his family in Blitar for 11 weeks, then house sitted for a teacher at the Aust.International School in Bali, etc etc. All the time, doing study on line in various cheap internet cafes. The little horror was sick a few times (No health insurance of course) and good old mum paid up. She is now coming back to finish the last three subjects by June and may go and live there. They are still together, many ups and downs, mostly through the lack of funds.BUT...what I am trying to say here, is the wonderful experience she has gained. She speaks Bahasa Indonesia fluently and two Javanese dialects fluently.I am proud of her, although I have had to back up financially many times. She has gained so much, does the Malaysian run for visas , gets bikes, the bis, everything that is cheap. My advice is to let her go with love and support in your heart. We both have been there through the Tsunami,bombings etc, and try to make smart choices. Obviously I love Indonesia, but had never been before and at my age, lived there on my own. The only proviso I would stipulate with her is TRAVEL INSURANCE for health, that and with her return ticket and if you can bail her out if necessary, let her make her journey. It is hard I know, as a Mum, I can see the pitfalls and coming home will be difficult for her and unsettling after so long there, but it is her choice, her future. The relationship thing, if she lives there , it is soon make or break it because of the financial hardships and she will learn. Incidentally, my daughter really loves her partner, against all odds, and he her.Ive never been treated with so much respect. He has no money, as I said , is a fine artist, portrait painter etc, but no tourists, no moneyk, but they work around that. I am hoping she gets her degree, does a quickie on english teaching and then tries for a job as English Teacher or Pysch. teacher in International School over there.Good luck, my thoughts are with you.