A Quiet weekend in Ranau

The rambling rector rose at La Ferme des Vallots this week

Yes, I haven't had a quiet weekend in Ranau for a long time and it seems strange to be on my own again after having Lisa's company for over 5 weeks. The day before we left for the Rainforest Festival we recorded 11 tracks at the small, corrugated iron shack known as the  Ranau Music Studio. We hardly practised and our choice of songs was governed by how easy the chords were as  we hadn't played for ages. The technician, if we can call him that, managed to lose half a track, but the "finished" result is ok apart from the very bad guitar playing by me. Lisa has a beautiful voice and sings Shake it Out (Florence and the Machine) as good as Florence, I think. Anyway it is a very special souvenir of our time together in Sabah and if anyone has suggestions for the title of the "album" please let us know. I thought Umbilical Chords but that has been voted as too gross!

In the recording studio!

  The time in Sabah is now drawing closer to the end and my flight is booked for the 30th September and we have the names of shippers to organise the sending of our things back. We are now in the "handover phase" which means basically trying to help the teachers to organise and set up the things they want to continue after the project finishes such as workshops etc....Being a bit of a cynic I suspect the teachers are pretending that they will continue with many things and when the "orang putihs" have gone they will abandon all of those ideas! I could be wrong but it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall.

Saturday market in Ranau

The bundles!

 This weekend I have started clearing and chucking out paper and thinking how can I have accumulated so much in such a short time. I also have got the sewing machine out again after ages and have made a few things. I am intending to sew presents for my teachers and use up some of the material bought although 'm bound to buy more! I did a tour of the Ranau market on Saturday morning and came back with the usual vegetables and fruit plus 2 tops and 2 pairs of Gap trousers from the bundles market to add to my collection. I just can't resist a bargain and all of those clothes cost about 5 euro. I love the camaraderie with the other rummager's and they all think that orang putihs don't do things like that along with some other strange misconceptions such as - we don't eat spicy food - we don't breast feed our babies - we have low moral values etc.... I hope that I have shown some of these clichés to be false! Anyway I am missing my lovely home in Normandie today. Three of the family are at home, the sun is shining, the roses are out, school is finished, Wimbeldon, strawberries, cherries and parties are in the air.......