In Reply to: Solo female in Bali for the 1st time... posted by travloverr on Tuesday, 16. December 2008 at 00:45 Bali Time:
get onto Lonely Planet or Rough Guide and you will find a number of backpacker places, called losman and often part of local family compounds. The guides also give you an idea which ones have pools and other lux items, approx prices and their locations. The losman that have been around for years usually take care of their guests and often give better opportunity to meet other backpackers and also local people especially if the losman is in a family compound.
As for volunteer work, this is difficult to find and technically not allowed on a tourist visa and really a week is too short to be honest.