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!