Where to even start? I just got back from a 10-day round Bali excursion- 5 days were spent in a small village near Tabanan, and 5 days were spent in north Bali, near Singaraja. Now, so much is happening because lots of holidays are coming up here!

I had a great birthday- thanks for everyone who sent cards! It was a relaxed day- we only had class in the morning, then I went to Ubud to work more on my batik, do yoga, and go out to eat with my friends. The next morning, we left with 9 Balinese students (English majors) that we had already met on our Denpasar trip to go to a small Balinese village. We took a long, winding, nauseating car ride most of the way there, but then got out and walked for about an hour and half to actually get to the village. It was an interesting walk, especially since we riled up all of the territorial dogs on our way and had to cross a river that I nearly fell in. There are beautiful rice fields surrounding the village because it is a really agricultural area. The village that we went to is actually the home of the academic director for my program, so she welcomed us to her house and gave us young coconut to drink. We were then randomly assigned host families for the next 5 days and all went to our new homes. My ibu (host mom) was really sweet, and really beautiful in a sort of proud, hard-working way. I wasn’t expecting much, but the room that I stayed in was pretty luxurious compared to what I had been thinking; it was small but the bed was fairly big. The downside was the fact that I could hear rats running around on the roof, and a large creepy gecko whose calls would echo loudly in the roof at all times of the night. I also didn’t have the luxury of a sitting toilet like I have in Bedulu- but I got pretty used to using the squatter and now it’s not such a big deal. I think that all of the water in the village comes directly from the river, hence its brownish color. The highlight of the evening was walking in the rice fields with friends and catching fireflies. When there are no lights around, the moon looks so impressively bright.

I am now realizing how hard it is going to be to talk about my stay in the village because there is so much to tell. Maybe I should just tell some of the highlights?? We’ll see how it goes…

One morning, all the students took a walk in the foresty area near the rice fields and collected food and herbs for lunch, and some things for offerings. We got a bunch of crazy stuff like ferns, water spinach, cacao plant, lemongrass, and breadfruit. During our little excursion, we came across what I will call the “man hut” (the hangout place for the guys of the village), and also saw someone rubbing the skin of a large dead, pig, and starting to roast it with a flame. It was then that we found out we would be having “babi guling”- roast pig for dinner. I did eat some and it was okay, but my complaint about all Balinese meat dishes is that they are so dry. Oh well, at least I tried it.

Funny story: Balinese people like to feed you a lot and often. I should have realized this the first morning in the village when my ibu brought me what I thought was breakfast- sweet potato fritters, and I ate 4 of them to be polite. Apparently, that was supposed to be my snack before breakfast, because after I was done I was called into the kitchen to eat breakfast- presented to me as a giant mound of rice and 3 plates of food. The moral of the story: I was fed a LOT at the village. Seriously, if I had to stay there for the whole semester I could easily come back 50 pounds heavier. One morning I asked my ibu if I could help her cook to see the magic that goes on in the kitchen. Turns out she doesn’t even have an electric stove. She sits on the floor and chops all of the ingredients on a cutting board (that’s actually a tree stump), lights a piece of wood on fire and puts it under the cement block that is the stove. Then she puts a pot on top of the hole in the block and directs the head towards it to cook everything. It was pretty badass, but not so sanitary which could explain some of the digestive issues I had in the village. But then again, there’s a lot of things that could explain that. Maybe the babi guling?

The last full day we were there, we all worked in the rice fields. It was so hot- I made sure to put on plenty of sunscreen. Also, people that work in the rice fields usually rub coconut oil on their skin so the mud won’t stick to them, but I didn’t put any on because I figured I would probably just roast in the sun. Anyway, they are before the planting stage right now, so we had to clear any grass or plants on the surface of the rice field. This involves getting barefoot and stepping into the rice field- which is basically a 2 ft deep pool of mud at this point- and using a hoe to clear everything out and push it underneath the surface. We used hoes that we borrowed from our families and worked hard to finish the rice field. Then, it was time for races across the field that turned into everyone tackling each other. To make a long story short, we were all so covered in mud by the end of that that we had to bathe and wash our clothes in the river.

A lot of the fun of being in the village was the night entertainment. It’s part of the reason why the villagers love hosting the students- because there’s always so much entertainment at night at the Balé (open-air local meeting place)

- One night we went to listen to the Gamelan, or the traditional Balinese music group. I don’t know much about music, but from what I have read it is very unique. There are only 5 notes in the scale, so a lot of the variation comes from different rhythms and layering the different instruments. The students got to try some different instruments too, but it is so difficult and we sounded terrible. I have decided that the only thing I am capable of playing is the gong.

-Another night, we went to the Joged dance, which is a social flirtation dance. The gamelan provides the music as a dancer comes out and performs traditional Balinese dance. After a few minutes, she will go up to someone that is watching and ask them to dance with her by bowing to them. Even though it is technically a flirtation dance, because we were all guests she invited up everyone (one by one). First she picked a Balinese boy, and then a Balinese girl, but then she picked me! I was so embarrassed- first of all because I was probably a foot taller than the dancer, and second of all because I can’t really dance anyway, let alone in the traditional Balinese style. After trying to copy her movements for a while, I realized that I didn’t know how to get out of it, and she wasn’t giving me any cues to go sit down. Eventually I just bowed down to her and told her thanks and escaped to my chair. Phew. (I think it was the paleness that made me stand out- one of the Balinese students asked me, “In America, is there anyone whiter than you?”)

- The last night we were there, they set up a Balinese shadow puppet show by calling in a dalang (puppeteer) and his crew to perform for us. I had really been looking forward to seeing this, but the fact that he showed up 2 hours late (so I was already tired), and the whole dialogue is in both ancient Javanese Kawi and Balinese (of which I know absolutely nothing), and they are usually stories from the Ramayana or Mahabrata (kind of hard to follow because I’m not so familiar with it). It was a great experience, and I got a video of a couple of parts of it, I just hope I can see another one when I’m not so exhausted and can try to figure out what’s going on. The voices are probably the best part- entertaining even if you don’t know what’s going on.

I was sad to leave the village homestay; it was so exciting and more of what I expected this whole trip to be like. But we did tour a little bit of the north coast after that, staying in Lovina and meeting more Balinese students from Singaraja. The best parts about that were:

- Going to a muslim community (northern Bali has much more religious diversity) and seeing tons of adorable kids that were so eager to talk to us and play with us, but really afraid of us at the same time.

- Going out on a boat at 6 AM to see wild dolphins off the coast of Lovina

- Buying DVDs and watching them in the hotel restaurant (the only place with a TV)- at least now I’ve seen Gran Torino and Slumdog Millionaire!

- The last day of our excursion, I hiked Mount Batur, an active volcano right next to a crater lake, and with a great view of the holiest mountain in Bali (Mt. Agung). We started our hike at 4 AM so that we would be able to watch the sunrise from the top. So we hiked up the entire mountain with our two Balinese guides using flashlights. Once at the top, we cooked our breakfast (eggs and bananas) using the steam of the volcano. Sweet! It was surprisingly kind of cold at the top of the volcano. For the first time besides when I had a fever, I felt cold in Bali! Watching that sunrise was so amazing though, especially since we had our backs to Mt.Agung and the crater lake the entire time we were climbing, so to turn around at the top and see this impressive mountain and lake with the sun rising behind it was literally one of the most breathtaking landscapes I have ever seen.

March 18^th was Galungan, the most important religious holiday of the Balinese calendar year (210 days). It is supposed to represent the victory of dharma over adharma in the context of the Majapahit (Hindu) kindom defeating an evil, anti-religious Balinese king a long time ago. Making large sacrifices on this holiday is very important, so the day before this, many pigs were slaughtered as animal sacrifices. But once they have symbolically offered these sacrifices to the gods, it is always okay to make use of them after. So I have been eating a lot of pig for the past couple days, although I did turn down the blood sausage because I have tried it once in Bali and that was enough. On the day of Galungan, my family got up and put on the traditional Balinese dress. They put a ton of offerings at the family/ancestor shrines in our family compound, including a lot of handmade offerings from bamboo leaves and flowers, holy water, a roast chicken, fruits, cakes, and incense. I asked my family if I could join them to the village temple, so I put on my traditional clothing and went with my 3 sisters to the temple. They asked me if I would pray with them, so I did. To do this, you have to put all of the offerings on a table in front of the shrine, kneel down in front of it and put a stick of burning incense in the ground. You then rub your hands in the smoke of the incense and put them to your forehead. Then you take a flower, rub it in the incense smoke and hold it while you pray, then put it behind your ear (this you do three times). Next you get blessed with a sprinkling of holy water and must drink the holy water 3 times by cupping your hands and sipping from them (No, thankfully I didn't get sick from drinking the holy water). Before leaving the temple, you press grains of rice to your forehead and collarbone and take the large offerings (like cakes or fruits) back from the shrine so you can eat them later! We went to two different temples to do this, then came back home. The rest of the day, lots of family visited and I was given lots of delicious fruits (snakeskin fruit, oranges, and bananas), and the closest thing to American cake I have had here. It was such an interesting experience to be here for the holiday. There are several more coming up in the next couple weeks. I will be sure to talk about NYEPI soon- it’s a holiday to scare away the demons, and people are already shooting off cannons randomly to prepare for it.

I am getting nervous for my Independent Study project, which starts the second week of april. I have to choose a topic, figure out where in Bali I need to go to study it, find a place to live, and then actually do it. Luckily I have academic directors to help me figure some of this stuff out. If you have any suggestions for an anthropology-related study topic I am always open to suggestions.

Petualangan- Adventure!

I have definitely had an adventurous week.

The weekend before last, some of my friends in my group decided to go hiking and camp out in this temple that is on the side of a mountain. I wanted to go so badly, but for the sake of my sanity I decided to explore Bedulu more by myself and stay with my family for the weekend. Since I have been in Bali, I haven’t had time to just relax and use free time like I want to. I haven’t really even been by myself much at all. I ended up working a lot on my batik and using the internet, which was nice. I also visited a couple of nearby temples by myself. They are pretty modest temples, which means there aren’t really tourists there. Also, the day that I went wasn’t a special day in the Balinese calendar so I was actually the only one there at both temples. It was a sort of impressive feeling, being there all by myself, and interesting to be somewhere without a ton of tour guides trying to show you around. However, I went there for an assignment and was supposed to interview someone, so I will be going back on a holy day when there will actually be people there to ask questions about the temple (Pura Puser ing Jagat).

On Wednesday, we headed to Denpasar (the capital of Bali) to attend lectures at Udayana University and meet Balinese students studying English. The hotel that we stayed at was so amazing- we were so spoiled! It had air conditioning, a big pool, a TV with English and French channels, and HOT WATER!! For the first time in Bali, I took a warm shower with actual water pressure- I almost forgot what it feels like. Meeting the Balinese students (we talked to 2 different groups) was fun too because they were all so nice; honestly I felt more welcomed by them than I ever did by any French students that I met. Their English was so good it was kind of embarrassing to try to speak some Indonesian to them (although I am improving!) It was really amusing to learn what American music is popular here- mostly things that were popular about 5-10 years ago at home (Linkin Park, Sum 41, other mediocre alternative/punk bands). The second group was all so fashionable- I actually felt a little behind the times in my modest dress that I brought. Also, all of them get to class by motorbike, so the entire back wall of the classroom was a storage area for motorbike helmets. Some of them have facebook too, so I gave them my name/email to look me up online. I also got some HP (cell phone) numbers so maybe I can hang out with some of them later! Foodwise, the stay in Denpasar was an interesting mixture- one night we went to a traditional Balinese warung, so I had this coconut chicken mixed with vegetables that was great. But one day we also got some pizza from Pizza Hut, which is not the same in the states (fish and chips pizza? Yuck)- I kind of wanted to hurl after I ate it. At the hotel, I had mostly toast and fruit for breakfast, so that was a nice American break to the spicy salty food I have been eating every morning. I also tried a popular snack cracker here in many flavors, but the weird one was pisang keju (banana cheese)- the cracker is sweet and banana flavored, and the cheese in the middle is sort of like cheese from a ritz cracker. I hate to admit that it’s actually kind of good. However in stores I have seen durian flavored cookies also and don’t even want to go there after my gag reflex episode with the durian I tried in Kerambitan.

Friday, we moved to Sanur, which is sort of on the edge of the really touristy part of Bali. Although I feel kind of guilty about it now, I spent most of my time there recovering from the super-busy days of Denpasar. We had a papaya party at the hotel to help everyone get over the constipation epidemic that almost everyone in our group got at the same time. I also went shopping at Hardy’s, a cheap department store/grocery store where the security is ridiculous- people follow you around ALL the time, and they staple and seal the bags after you buy something. I found flip flops there that fit me, which was a good surprise. I went to a different department store in Denpasar, and there wasn’t a single shoe in the entire place that was big enough for my feet-everything was 1 or 2 sizes too small. I also decided to buy some Balinese red wine there (made in Singaraja), even though it was kind of expensive. That was a horrible decision…the wine was so terrible! I mean, maybe I have been spoiled by spending too much time in France, but honestly this had a vinegary sour taste and I couldn’t even finish a glass of it.

On Saturday, our free weekend started, and some of us decided to go to Uluwatu (which is in the south, on the peninsula that sticks out of the island) since we were basically halfway there by being in Sanur. We got transportation to Padang-Padang, which is a smaller but nearby town that we heard was the favorite place of SIT students a couple years ago because of the amazing beach and laid-back atmosphere. Once we got there, it took us forever to actually find the beach. It was beautiful and hidden, but pretty small, and there was a photo shoot going on there, and it was the first white sand beach I’ve been to in Bali. Also, we were all tired and needed to find a place to stay before we could enjoy it. We saw a sign for a reasonable looking hotel/homestay and headed in that direction. The first place we found was completely deserted; all the windows were broken out and the place was totally empty. The guy in our group (poor thing always stuck with 8 girls) saw another hotel or homestay type thing and decided to look farther down to check it out. So we all set down our stuff for a minute to wait. While we were all looking out at the beach and trying to drink some water, I suddenly saw a furry creature out of the corner of my eye and assumed it was a dog and wasn’t too concerned (i am actually getting better about that). When I took a second glance, I realized that it was actually a monkey and that it was going near our stuff. We all made noises to try to scare it away, but it got sort of nervous and took one of our bags and threw it down the cliff! Luckily it was just a shopping bag with a couple of purchases a girl had just made from the department store. But a couple of seconds later, more monkeys started appearing, probably 6 or 7 in total. We freaked out a little bit and grabbed all of our bags- we didn’t want our wallets being thrown down the cliff or stolen. We had a box of donuts from earlier that morning, and my friend threw it away from us so all of the monkeys would go over there and fight over the donuts instead of our stuff. That part was actually really fun to watch but we definitely ran away pretty fast. We called the guy in our group and told him we would meet him back on the road and that he would have to fend for himself against the monkeys. It was then that we decided to go to Uluwatu and stay there instead of Padang-Padang. There was no transport and it was too far to walk, so we paid these people to take us in the back of their pickup (very common in Bali). For the Balinese people, we must have been the butt of some joke because they would all laugh at us when they saw us drive by.

Uluwatu is a really neat surfer town, but the waves are so brutal and huge that you can’t really surf there unless you are already experienced. So in other words, no surfing for me. The beach was the most beautiful I have seen so far, with a bunch of cliffs and caves along it. There was a lot of coral, and a lot of creatures that I have never seen before, like tons of little crabs and other random sea-creatures. I watched yet another sunset on the beach during my time in Bali…and I hope I get to see a lot more too.

There is also a temple there that I really wanted to see, but that didn’t work out so well because I got a fever in the middle of the night and was probably pretty dehydrated from all of the intense walking we did that day. (Don’t worry, I’m fine now!) So the next morning I just slept until check out time in our hotel and then somehow endured a 2 hour car ride home while feeling really nauseous the whole time. Of course, when we were dropped off at the house where we have school (it’s pretty much our standard meeting place) it was the biggest downpour I have seen so far in Bali; the ditches alongside the roads were flooding so much it was becoming unsafe and almost impossible to drive. So I couldn’t really walk home in that and slept for a couple of hours there. By the time I got home, I told my ibu that I was a little sick and tried to explain that I had a fever by telling her I had hot skin but felt cold. She felt my forehead, (apologizing first because it is rude to touch someone’s head- the sacred part of your body) got a worried look on her face and said “ohhh, panas sekali!” = very warm! She was so nice to me and made me tea. I knew I must have been really sick because the tea they make is usually about 50% sugar- possibly worse than sweet tea in the south, but at the time it tasted so good. My ibu and two of my host sisters sat at the table with me, worriedly watching me eat a little bit of rice. The next morning, they made me rice porridge and tea and brought it to my room for me. I woke up to my ibu, bapak (host dad), and host sister-in-law peeking in to make sure I was okay. Even though I felt a lot better, I went to the doctor that afternoon to make sure there was nothing seriously wrong. I actually went to the hospital because a girl in our group needed to return crutches there, and the local clinic didn’t open until the evening. My fever was down by then, so basically all they needed to do was a blood test to make sure I didn’t have dengue fever or any other tropical diseases. So I am feeling a lot better except for some digestive issues- but that’s Bali for ya.

I am super excited- tomorrow for my birthday I think I am going to play cards and go eat at KAFE, one of my favorite places to eat in Ubud :). Then on Friday I am going to my village homestay and the round-Bali trip to Lovina, Singaraja, and Mount Batur!! Can’t wait!

I'm actually living in Bali!

As many of you know, updating this blog is somewhat difficult but I will really try to keep it up. I am staying in Bedulu, which doesn’t really have internet access anywhere, so I have to go to Ubud to get online. Ubud is about 15 minutes away by bemo (the public transportation system), and it only costs 3,000 rupiah (30 cents) if you are a good bargainer. The thing is that I am so busy all of the time that I usually only go into Ubud about twice a week, so that means I am usually only on the internet for 2 hours/wk or less. It is kind of refreshing being on a sort of technology fast, because I hardly use my computer, and I don’t watch TV at all. The downside is that it is harder for me to keep in touch with you all, and with what is actually going on in the world, because I don’t have my daily cnn.com reads or NPR to keep me informed. Oh, and I don’t think any internet connection I have had so far will let me upload pictures into this blog.

Lately, I have been trying to get settled in with my homestay family which is fun but harder than expected. I have already talked about it some, but I will add things as I find out more. It isn’t really considered necessary or required to introduce family members, so I am still trying to figure out exactly who lives in my family compound. I talk most with my ibu (host mom) and my 18-year-old host sister that is studying English, whose name I avoid saying because it is difficult to pronounce. They are great at helping me with homework when I need it, and I appreciate it a lot. My host dad works as a cook in a hotel and I’m pretty sure he works at night because he is usually not here then- so I haven’t really spoken to him much besides basic greetings but he seems really friendly. I also have a 23-year-old host brother and another 17-year-old host sister. There is also another girl that I was never introduced to and was very confused about for a few days, until I found out that my host brother got married about a week before I came- so that is his wife. Also, the family dog Pu that I mentioned before (as well as the other dog Olem that I just found out about) is finally getting used to me and usually only barks at me when I come home, instead of giving me the threatening bark-growl all the time. However, the mangy stray dog that is randomly still in front of my house will not give up on his serious bark-growl-snarl. I had to laugh when I told my family that the dog made me nervous, and they told me that I have to “be brave.”

So basically, I’m trying to make an effort to get to know everyone in my family and it’s more difficult than when I was in France because of the language barrier, but also because there isn’t really a specific “family time.” Balinese people don’t really eat meals together, so dinnertime conversations are out. Usually I sit outside my room and study, and someone often comes to talk to me there- like my ibu or host sister. The other day I decided to make more of an effort and asked if I could help make dinner, and ended up making a yummy, basic vegetable dish with cabbage and spinach. I had to push a little bit, and I think it was because my ibu didn’t want to make me work. So I had to explain several times that I actually like cooking. She did let me help, and I had a lot of fun learning the names of all of the ingredients and the basic cooking style. When language communication becomes a problem, we usually resort to laughter. I definitely need to take a picture of the kitchen too, because it’s hard to explain what it’s like. It’s actually outside, ovens don’t really exist here, and the stove they have is pretty powerful but almost looks like a camping stove. I hope I learn how to make more Balinese food so I can treat everyone to that when I get home!

While I am in Bali, I am required to choose one traditional Balinese art form to study and practice. I have chosen batik- the fabric dying/painting that is done to make beautiful sarongs and wall hangings. I recently had my first lesson, which is at this batik maker’s house in Ubud. It’s kind of like a circus there because there are dogs and chickens running around, and there’s also a giant pig in a pen nearby that is always making weird noises. I started my first project, which is pretty small but nonetheless a complicated design. I have already sketched it onto the fabric and started to cover my sketch in wax. This is so hard- you have a tool that you put melted wax into, which you have to control well enough to follow the lines of your sketch. When the wax gets too cold, you clean out the tool and put new wax in. Sometimes I feel like a toddler trying to color, because it’s like I don’t have the fine motor skills to properly control the tool. Also, I very stupidly burned myself within the first 10 minutes of using the wax. Soon I will start dying the fabric, and after that you take off the wax to reveal your design. But one thing I do have to remember about that place is to NEVER use the bathroom there again. The first time I was there I really had to go, so I asked where it was, fully conscious that there would be no toilet paper. What I did not expect was the disgusting floor that I probably contracted some foot disease from, as well as the poor lighting that is not sufficient for people who are not accustomed to using squatters. Oh yeah, no soap either. I bathed especially well when I got home that afternoon.

I’m also taking yoga classes here at the Yoga Barn, which is the most amazing yoga studio I have ever seen. The studio is on the 2^nd floor, and it’s open air with a view of the nearby rice fields and palm trees. I have been going to a vinyasa flow class, which is all about following your breath through series of movements to create energy in the body. After all yoga classes, you usually have a short relaxation period which is normally my favorite, but here it’s been difficult because I can either feel bugs landing on me or want to scratch a bug bite that already exists. So instead of relaxation it’s more of a will power mind game. I have taken yoga classes on and off at many different places for the past couple years but I have never really done it regularly, so I hope that I will be able to keep it up while I am here so that I can build more strength and continue when I get home.

The other day, I got to see a balian (traditional Balinese healer) in action. A girl in my group had possibly stretched a ligament in her food over the weekend and wasn’t interested in paying the expensive fee that the doctors at the clinic were asking for. Apparently going to the balian in a group of 3 is not good, so I was asked to go with two of the program sponsors and my friend to make 4 of us. Balians often work from their houses, and each one specializes in something specific, so this one was a bone healer. He spent a minute or two just looking at the foot, and then feeling the area around the ankle where it had swelled while rubbing some sort of oil on it. Then he explained what was wrong with the bone-how it had moved slightly, and how he put it back in place. The next step was replenishing the blood flow in the foot, which was done mostly by massage. All of this he did while telling stories about Japanese tourists coming to see him that found out about him on the internet, and also an American that told him to come to the US and get rich from his healing abilities.

Just some random stuff:

- I don’t know if I have commented yet on the ridiculous amount of chickens there are running around Bali. I think every family has a least 10 chickens at any given time, which makes me take the bird flu a little more seriously. So, the other night I was having a dream that I was talking to Carrie. Suddenly, her voice became really annoying and I couldn’t take it anymore started walking away. Then I woke up from my dream and realized that the chicken screeching outside my window had been Carrie’s voice in my dream.

- My family grows passion fruit in the family compound, so that has been a wonderful treat. I can’t decide what my favorite fruit here is yet- there are too many good things that are so cheap. I can buy rambutan for about 1 cent apiece.

- I haven’t been missing TV, but I do miss watching movies every once in awhile. So I’m super excited because our program center just bought a tv and dvd player, and movies here are so cheap (although most of them are probably not legal/bootlegged)

Adventures

Phew…I know I have only been here for a week and a half, but I feel like I have already been here for months. That is why this blog is going to be difficult to start; I feel like so much has happened that I can’t possibly explain everything. I will try to hit the main points, but some of it I will just have to tell everyone later when I get back.

So I did survive the flight- I am so glad that it was the nicest airline I have ever flown on and that the food was actually decent. I mean, we’re talking salmon in a white wine butter sauce for dinner and cup ramen for a snack. Also, you can choose from over 100 movies and tons of TV shows (Kitchen Nightmares!) to watch and start them whenever you want, so that was great too. One girl in my group actually got thrown up on by a kid within the first hour of the 13.5 hour flight from LA to Hong Kong. I was feeling pretty sorry for her. But I’m going to move on, because the flight was not very exciting, especially compared to everything else I’ve been up to.

For a week, I stayed in a palace (Purih Saren Kangin) in Kerambitan. Our academic directors/people involved in the program picked us up from the airport in Denpasar and drove us to our orientation location. It was an interesting experience getting there because I didn’t know that you drive on the left side of the road in Bali, so being half asleep I naturally thought that we were going to crash into something every time I looked up. Also, I am still getting used to the insane amount of motorbikes that are on the roads, and the lack of stop lights. We did get to the palace safely and settled in our rooms. I kept joking that when I get home I will probably have to buy one of those “nature sounds” cd’s just to fall asleep, because at the palace I got used to hearing animals and birds all the time, and literally woke up at 5 AM every day to the sound of roosters crowing. Also the geckos (which are good because they eat mosquitos) make quite an interesting sound.

Lucky for us, there was a royal wedding going on while we were staying at the palace, and we were invited as special guests to nearly all of the wedding activities, which can go on for a span of 4-5 days. The second night I was in Bali, I put on a sarong and attended the wedding celebration, which involved the performance of some semi-sacred Balinese dances (including people in trance) accompanied by the local gamelan (traditional music group- Nathan, if you haven’t heard gamelan music, you MUST check it out). I wish I had been more awake, but it was such a great introduction to Balinese culture. Not much happened in terms of wedding activities for the few days after that, because the couple went into confinement in the family temple for 3 days, but after that they had the actual ceremony that we were invited to as well. I will post some pictures of this- and you all should note the pig head on the family shrine, which was not all that comforting when meal time came around and every dish had pork in it. I wish I would have understood more or what was going on, because there was a lot of symbolism that I missed out on, but the people in the palace were all so welcoming and it was overall a great experience.

During the orientation period, we had bahasa Indonesia language class for 5 hours each day. The language structure seems simple, but I tend to get a lot of sounds mixed up within words and end up saying something totally different from what I mean. To practice our language, we were sent to do various things by ourselves- like go ask random people questions about themselves/their family. Each person was literally dropped off in a random neighborhood and left there for an hour. Our academic directors were trying to prove their point about the ridiculous level of hospitality shared by all Balinese. Everyone on the street smiles at you and usually greets you, and walking up to people and asking fairly personal questions is okay and even polite. Most of them believe that “being alone is pathetic” so if they see you, many of them will come up to talk to you to keep you company or just to find out about you. For another practical language practicing activity, we were sent to a market to buy the traditional Balinese dress, pakain adat. This was to practice numbers and bargaining, and also getting used to the public transportation system, bemos. You wave a bemo down by giving a certain hand motion, and as they stop you have to tell them what town you want to go to and bargain for the price (which usually is way too high because they know you are a foreigner). If you agree to the price, then you get in the van, which usually looks like the mystery machine from Scooby doo. When we get back, I should have a bemo story night just to tell all of my weird experiences riding in these old, broken down vans, because I think I could accumulate a lot over this 3 ½ month period.

So before I left, Lisa was telling me that she read that the Balinese don’t eat with their left hand, and that it is impolite to give/accept things with your left hand. We were both trying to figure out why that is, and the best thing that I could come up was something similar to the roman belief that the left hand is evil. It actually turns out there is a much more practical reason for this. Balinese people do not use toilet paper. The toilet or squatting hole is in the same room that is used for bathing, so there is a basin with water that you can wash yourself with, and they always use the left hand for that. So now I understand why using your left hand is so rude! Oh, and in case you are wondering, toilet paper is available here and I have been purchasing it.

A few days ago, I moved into my homestay in a fairly small town called Bedulu, about 15 minutes away from the Ubud, an important (although sometimes disgustingly touristy) cultural center. I have a host mom that is an elementary school teacher, a dad that is a cook at a hotel, an older brother that I think works at the hotel too, an 18 year old sister that goes to college in Denpasar, and another younger sister that nobody has really introduced me to yet, and a dog named Pu! Their house is absolutely beautiful! My room is so big, and right outside it there is a fountain/fish pond thingy that runs all the time (think “nature sounds” babbling brook). Sometimes it is hard to communicate, but everyone has been really nice to me so far, and I am very happy to be staying with a family. One of the girls in my study abroad group is actually staying in a house compound that is linked to mine, because the two families are related by marriage (my other host sister lives there with her husband and family).

So I guess that is a pretty good summary of what I’ve been doing, but I can’t end without dedicating a little paragraph to the amazing food that I have already come to love. I have been really lucky with food, and have only had one mild case of what we call “bali belly.” Basically, I eat a lot of rice, sprouts, green beans, fried onions, fried eggs, spicy chicken, tofu, tempeh (my new favorite food!!), peanuts, and coconut. Every meal is usually some sort of combination of these elements, and is always spicy. There really isn’t any difference between what is served as breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which is fine by me because it is all amazing. My favorite sweets so far have been pisang goreng (fried banana!) and a ball made from sweet rice paste with coconut and brown sugar on the inside. The fruits here are also heavenly- rambutan (hairy fruit), mangosteen, and snakeskin fruit are in season, ridiculously cheap, and delicious. Durian is also in season, and although the Balinese say that it “smells like hell but tastes like heaven,” I believe that it tastes exactly like it smells- absolutely rancid. When you open up the spiky fruit, it emanates a rotten smell that I don’t think can be separated from the taste. Of course, the smell is so strong that all of the markets take on its odor, and one cannot escape its wrath.

One last thing- about the dogs here. There are mangy, stray dogs EVERYWHERE (as in, you will see at least 5 if you take a 10 minute walk) that bark all the time, and there is no wonder to me that there was a fairly recent rabies outbreak. Most of them will leave you alone, but there is one that sits outside my family’s house and scares the living daylights out of me because I can tell it is not afraid of me at all and growls when I get near the gate, sometimes charging at me. It’s just going to have to learn who’s boss because so far it has been a daily struggle. And to give parents peace of mind, the hospital in Denpasar (less than an hour away) has post-exposure rabies shots available if necessary.

I will write more soon!