Wednesday, August 5, 2009
August in Bali!
Hello all! Here are some updates from the past month....I hope this blog finds you all well!>.....Again these are snipits starting back in July so excuse the time gap differences...Today because we were supposed to go to Java and it got cancellde/moved till tomorrow one of the long term volunteers suprised us and decided to take us out for massages- ammmazing literaly 15 dollars for a 2 hour massage with a flower bath and two warm showers life was good.. This week was really hectic..two days ago it rained and i had to bike in the rain to work and then was wet for the rest of the day. on tuesday when i showed up at work no one was there until like 11 (typical bali ) and then on our way to work hit a motor bike (typical bali) then the driver preceded to get out of the car and left the car in reverse so we started to roll backword and no one knew what to do and everyone was screaming so i had to jump in the front seat and attempt to drive!!!!! it was quiet a adventure.... glad that i had some reaction or it would not have been so funny. In other news- i have been going to many schools to learn how they teach environmental education and it is a really big deal apparantly to have a white person in the school and everyone stares and laughs at me...fun... did i mention that in indonesian my name means ...shit!!! so every school we go to i have to introduce myself in indonesian and to make matters even more hilarious say my name which everyone proceeds to dieeee laughing. .... a few days later...
Again everything is great here. Was in jogya over the weekend (about an hour plane ride from here) and stayed with a 2 yr vol boyfriend- it was so much fun we went to some famous temples, hiked a volcano, ate so much good food- hanging out on mats layed out by the warungs that stay open on the streets with 2 in the morning listening to great music and sipping on warm ginger drinks - what a time... to much info to put in the email but i took a lot of pics and got so much jamu (indonesian medicine)/ ginger there so cool! this week i am busy working with the ngo- loving having a bike and am able to cruise as i please around the city. Teaching is well we are busy putting together a magazine for the kids.
today at my NGO my coworkers decided to let me loose and take on my own group= was not so much of a disaster but it was really scary having 30 indonesian kids stare at you and i have to try and explain a project about water conservation in indonesia...but i succeeded with a bit of help!!!
My family is good- i have ceremony this weekend with them at soiree college...so many ceremonies. Oka continues to preach to me about sharing and being a part of the world together - he loves to talk philosophical in the evening after he watches the news it is funny. i really hope to get out fishing/ snorkeling this weekend with purnama....
I have just had a lovely morning - my research was cancelled until this afternoon so the morning has been free... I awoke around 6:45 which is the standard rising time here due to as you know the chickens, the praying ect and set off for my jog. After a brief ugly trek on the hot and busy streets of denpasar (7 am is the end of the peak traffic/ offering and food buying around here) I arrive at a "track" that weaves through miles of rice fields- so beautiful in the morning i just cannot get over it-- i run by cows (sacred here so they are beautiful beings that roam freely throughout the fields) men working with there machetes and women carrying massive bundles on there heads- I just cannot get over this place... upon returning home Oka is always in awe of how red my face is and quickly prepares my breakfast for me... breakfast is always a interesting game around here usually it is warm milk, tea, fried banna, some Balinese cake and maybe some leftover sate from last night...it is very difficult to eat right after running and i always tell oka i will just have tea but regardless he always brings it all....so usually i will have the tea and suck it up and gulp down the "milk" which i have no actual clue what it is--- I am currently sitting here my mouth is just watering for waffles and fresh fruit at the beach....oh how i miss blueberries and peaches!!!!! But there is also so much amazing, fascinating fruit here i try to have one new thing a day. Yesterday I had a rujak "salad" which is pineapple, rujak (to hard to explain what this fruit is) cucumber and some kind of brown sugar and spices sauce...delicioussss! ok well this is really rambling but i I had such a great weekend i have so much to tell.....!
I will start with Friday....in the morning i traveled with a friend to a coral reef conservation site which was so cool and got to learn all about the reef and how they are restoring it. In the afternoon we had bahasa (language) class with some friends in legian and sat on the beach and did a bit of surfing....fun fun fun. We ended the night with a discussion from another NGO called Walhi that works with the environment, i am learning so much here and it is just so cool...
On Saturday I spent the day with Suari my host sister. After relaxing with my milk and tea in the morning (i am currently reading kite runner, just finished three cups of tea love them both) I got all dressed in my traditional balinese garb and went to suari's univerisity to begin the long day of prayer., the ceremonies were to celebrate education. After riding side sadle on the back of her moterbike we arrived at her university (prayer destination #1) then we went to have es telor (meal # 1) which is ice, cocunut milk, avocado, rujak and some other fruits yum. Then we went to Suari's boyfriends house or equivalent of i think her boyfriend i duno and had tea and crackers (meal # 2) we then all piled in the back of there old car which i thought was going to blow up (please note i am about 6 inches taller than all of these people and in a very tight long sarong and in basically a corset underneath all my clothes). We arrived at temple number two of the day and prayer again (i will have to demonstrate for you what praying actually means in person but it has lots of flowers, lots of holy water and lots of rice sticking to the face). After this stop at praying i found out that Suari's boyfriend mom is a lecturer at university for agriculture which i was very interested in learning more about. We then all piled back into the car and went to the center of the university and went to our third and final temple for the morning / afternoon and prayed again. After this we went to have more es telor and i said i did not want any and they were very confused, got to talk tot he lecturer about her work which was cool... that evening i went to a wayan topeng show which is a traditional javanese dance/ play in Ubud it was beautiful and so much fun. Suari was praying until 3 in the morning!
On Sunday we had the day off and convinced a friend of ours to take us to Uluwatu and padang padang/ blue point. Our friend used to be a sponsered surfer so he knew all the cool spots in the morning drove to padang padang where there was a surf tournament with all the famous surfers apparantly (or so my hawaiian friend said) and the surf was low so everyone jus twas hanging, snorkeling and enjoying the beauty of the cliffs and water and fishermen (took so many pictures not to worry!). After hanging there we heard the surf was up at blue point and so we trecked (literally it is in cliffs) over to this hidden surfer nook to watch some of the best surfing i have ever seen it was so cool. Around 5 we headed up to Uluwatu which is at the point of the bottom of the island and put on our balinese clothes and sat up in the temple and watched the sun go down and monkeys tried to steal all of our belongings!
Last night when I got home Oka and two of the elders came and got me from my room and insisted that i come with them to this balinese dance to celebrate the wellness of a neighbor. I have not laughed so hard in a long time...picture me holding hands/ cuddling with two old ladies as they grabbed my hands and made me dance like the balinese dancers. Then the real dancer was pulling men up to dance with her and trying to lift there skirts up it was so odd/ hilarious... great way to end the evening...
made pasta from scratch last night with a local "chef" whatever that means he is a boyfriend of a long term vol and after work am going to finish making with jenny and having it for our friends balinese birthday tonight! tomorrow is another full moon so a busy week ahead....hopefully involving some more snorkeling/ fishing with purnama....pictures include sunset at uluwatu with the monkeys, purnama suari and i with the fish, suari her boyfriend and i praying, scenic beach pictures and some friends ive made here.
thats all for now
Again everything is great here. Was in jogya over the weekend (about an hour plane ride from here) and stayed with a 2 yr vol boyfriend- it was so much fun we went to some famous temples, hiked a volcano, ate so much good food- hanging out on mats layed out by the warungs that stay open on the streets with 2 in the morning listening to great music and sipping on warm ginger drinks - what a time... to much info to put in the email but i took a lot of pics and got so much jamu (indonesian medicine)/ ginger there so cool! this week i am busy working with the ngo- loving having a bike and am able to cruise as i please around the city. Teaching is well we are busy putting together a magazine for the kids.
today at my NGO my coworkers decided to let me loose and take on my own group= was not so much of a disaster but it was really scary having 30 indonesian kids stare at you and i have to try and explain a project about water conservation in indonesia...but i succeeded with a bit of help!!!
My family is good- i have ceremony this weekend with them at soiree college...so many ceremonies. Oka continues to preach to me about sharing and being a part of the world together - he loves to talk philosophical in the evening after he watches the news it is funny. i really hope to get out fishing/ snorkeling this weekend with purnama....
I have just had a lovely morning - my research was cancelled until this afternoon so the morning has been free... I awoke around 6:45 which is the standard rising time here due to as you know the chickens, the praying ect and set off for my jog. After a brief ugly trek on the hot and busy streets of denpasar (7 am is the end of the peak traffic/ offering and food buying around here) I arrive at a "track" that weaves through miles of rice fields- so beautiful in the morning i just cannot get over it-- i run by cows (sacred here so they are beautiful beings that roam freely throughout the fields) men working with there machetes and women carrying massive bundles on there heads- I just cannot get over this place... upon returning home Oka is always in awe of how red my face is and quickly prepares my breakfast for me... breakfast is always a interesting game around here usually it is warm milk, tea, fried banna, some Balinese cake and maybe some leftover sate from last night...it is very difficult to eat right after running and i always tell oka i will just have tea but regardless he always brings it all....so usually i will have the tea and suck it up and gulp down the "milk" which i have no actual clue what it is--- I am currently sitting here my mouth is just watering for waffles and fresh fruit at the beach....oh how i miss blueberries and peaches!!!!! But there is also so much amazing, fascinating fruit here i try to have one new thing a day. Yesterday I had a rujak "salad" which is pineapple, rujak (to hard to explain what this fruit is) cucumber and some kind of brown sugar and spices sauce...delicioussss! ok well this is really rambling but i I had such a great weekend i have so much to tell.....!
I will start with Friday....in the morning i traveled with a friend to a coral reef conservation site which was so cool and got to learn all about the reef and how they are restoring it. In the afternoon we had bahasa (language) class with some friends in legian and sat on the beach and did a bit of surfing....fun fun fun. We ended the night with a discussion from another NGO called Walhi that works with the environment, i am learning so much here and it is just so cool...
On Saturday I spent the day with Suari my host sister. After relaxing with my milk and tea in the morning (i am currently reading kite runner, just finished three cups of tea love them both) I got all dressed in my traditional balinese garb and went to suari's univerisity to begin the long day of prayer., the ceremonies were to celebrate education. After riding side sadle on the back of her moterbike we arrived at her university (prayer destination #1) then we went to have es telor (meal # 1) which is ice, cocunut milk, avocado, rujak and some other fruits yum. Then we went to Suari's boyfriends house or equivalent of i think her boyfriend i duno and had tea and crackers (meal # 2) we then all piled in the back of there old car which i thought was going to blow up (please note i am about 6 inches taller than all of these people and in a very tight long sarong and in basically a corset underneath all my clothes). We arrived at temple number two of the day and prayer again (i will have to demonstrate for you what praying actually means in person but it has lots of flowers, lots of holy water and lots of rice sticking to the face). After this stop at praying i found out that Suari's boyfriend mom is a lecturer at university for agriculture which i was very interested in learning more about. We then all piled back into the car and went to the center of the university and went to our third and final temple for the morning / afternoon and prayed again. After this we went to have more es telor and i said i did not want any and they were very confused, got to talk tot he lecturer about her work which was cool... that evening i went to a wayan topeng show which is a traditional javanese dance/ play in Ubud it was beautiful and so much fun. Suari was praying until 3 in the morning!
On Sunday we had the day off and convinced a friend of ours to take us to Uluwatu and padang padang/ blue point. Our friend used to be a sponsered surfer so he knew all the cool spots in the morning drove to padang padang where there was a surf tournament with all the famous surfers apparantly (or so my hawaiian friend said) and the surf was low so everyone jus twas hanging, snorkeling and enjoying the beauty of the cliffs and water and fishermen (took so many pictures not to worry!). After hanging there we heard the surf was up at blue point and so we trecked (literally it is in cliffs) over to this hidden surfer nook to watch some of the best surfing i have ever seen it was so cool. Around 5 we headed up to Uluwatu which is at the point of the bottom of the island and put on our balinese clothes and sat up in the temple and watched the sun go down and monkeys tried to steal all of our belongings!
Last night when I got home Oka and two of the elders came and got me from my room and insisted that i come with them to this balinese dance to celebrate the wellness of a neighbor. I have not laughed so hard in a long time...picture me holding hands/ cuddling with two old ladies as they grabbed my hands and made me dance like the balinese dancers. Then the real dancer was pulling men up to dance with her and trying to lift there skirts up it was so odd/ hilarious... great way to end the evening...
made pasta from scratch last night with a local "chef" whatever that means he is a boyfriend of a long term vol and after work am going to finish making with jenny and having it for our friends balinese birthday tonight! tomorrow is another full moon so a busy week ahead....hopefully involving some more snorkeling/ fishing with purnama....pictures include sunset at uluwatu with the monkeys, purnama suari and i with the fish, suari her boyfriend and i praying, scenic beach pictures and some friends ive made here.
thats all for now
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Bali week...3?
Hey All! All is good in Bali. I am busy at work (my NGO which is called PPLH) has me dedicated to a specific project on water... considering they speak hardly any english and i very little indonesian i have spent the last few days doing research fun, fun, fun. I am planning on taking/ exploring rice fields (they are everywhere) and coral reefs in order to put together a brief project for my NGO on where local communities can help there water situation here.....i will not bore you any longer with that but essentially it is a bit boring right now but in the end i think will be cool. I am also visiting schools with my NGO and learning about ways that they teach students about environment/water (there really is no enviromental education around here really)... The rest of my days are spent teaching english to 20 adorable little kids. I have been suprised how much i like doing this and look forward to my evenings at the school with the kids....tonight we will sing old mcdonalds and learn about animals!
Earlier this week I made it out to Le Meridian to have dinner with Andy and Kikko (friends of the parents)...while it was a bit of a culture shock because the meridian is ridiculously beautiful, we had a lovely meal and it was so so nice to talk to people who first simply speak english and also who I know!!! We had a great meal and I liked seeing another part of Bali. This weekend I hope to maybe make it over to Ubud to hike the rice fields with them. I also have two temple visits on saturday for yet another ceremony and then we will have a fish dinner on the beach (fresh fish is so abundant here)- more about the ceremony and praying below...
Earlier this week I made it out to Le Meridian to have dinner with Andy and Kikko (friends of the parents)...while it was a bit of a culture shock because the meridian is ridiculously beautiful, we had a lovely meal and it was so so nice to talk to people who first simply speak english and also who I know!!! We had a great meal and I liked seeing another part of Bali. This weekend I hope to maybe make it over to Ubud to hike the rice fields with them. I also have two temple visits on saturday for yet another ceremony and then we will have a fish dinner on the beach (fresh fish is so abundant here)- more about the ceremony and praying below...
I have been doing a lot of things here that are related to ceremony and tradition...there are so many ceremonys here. Every day they are celebrating something (today i have to / am going to a baby shower at 4) Last sunday i went to this insane kite festival where these massive kites try to stay up as long as they can ...we were the only bole (white people there) and everyone stared at us but it was really cool right next to this beautiful black beach. Last week was mostly spent in indonesian classes...we went to ubud for class twice which was fun there is so much to see around there i hope to spend some mroe time....lots of art, cute shops and so many cool hiking spots.
On thursday ouro classes were randomly cancelled (very balinese) and we went to the beach all day ! Last night and on friday i went to two really great concerts ...one reggae and one technoish the music scene here is really cool and i have met some really cool bole and indonesians this way.... i have pretty much been trying to attend as many events as possible because there are so many amazing things about this culture....
On wednesday , friday and saturay we had these rad discussions about youth and culture followed by prayer (had to get all dressed up in traditional wear it was really special)....
it is really interesting i have really enjoyed seeing some of the touristy spots in bali but my favorite times so far have been in grimy denpasar with the community learning about the culture and participating in there events / i love the music here.
There has been a lot of drama in my house lately. One of the brothers slept with a (i think prostitute- from what i got from my indonesian understanding) and got her pregnant so now he is marrying her to but at the same time has two kids and is having a baby ceremony for his other kids today (where i am going next)... then tonight purnama (puju real name) has caught a fish and we will go to my house tonight to try laku (blood jack fruit and rice!)
Even with all the drama my family continues to take such good care of me and are constantly amusing me.
I think that is all i have for now == the days are so long and so much happens i am healthy and happy but always tired and the damn roosters may be getting to me a bit...
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Bali week 1
Hi all here is a update of some snipits of a intense first week- I apologize if it seems kind of all over the place I have just been compiling thoughts and emails ... I wish I could upload some pictures because this place is truly beautiful! Love and miss you all....
SO i finally arrived in Bali on Thursday night which was actually Friday night here. Friday to Sunday I was in a rural village in Bali- it was beautiful and relaxing and fun to get to know the group and our hosts were so gracious and we all had a good time laughing at ourselves and the language barrier...we watched a traditional cock fight and hiked through the tropical forest to a beautiful waterfall. On Sunday we drove to Denpasar to Taman 65 the community I am working/learning in and around. We all were dropped off at our homestays after this..here comes the intense/fun part... My homestay is the farthest away from Taman and the most "rural" and when i say rural i mean I pea in a hole and to shower i dump a bucket of freezing cold water on my head. The plus side of this is that I have the nicest father and sister that speak very good english and could not be nicer but it is definitely going to be a challenge. Last night becca a friend here dropped me off on her motor scooter at the wrong house, i was so lost and discombobulated i had to go to a house and nock on there door and ask where i was it was one of the scariest things i have ever done especially because my indonesian is pretty weak (upon returning to my room i broke down)... did i mention i found bugs in my bed and had gotten lost earlier that day trying to walk to my house and was found by the sister wandering on the side of the road? it was a really long day and it is hard because i am so far away from the rest of my group.
Last night was my first night there and it was interesting....i was awoken multiple times by there roosters which live right outside my room...this i expected because we had this over the weekend but i did not expect the 4am prayer that blasts over a loud speaker. Thankfully my father and sister (this is what they insist i call them) woke me up at 5 to go see the sunrise and "get some fresh balinese air" the father explained to me as we watched the sun come up how the white caps on the waves are white horses that come and go and sang a prayer to bless my family and his uniting as horses. It was truly beautiful... this is a beautiful place but the culture shock has me totally exhausted and overwhelmed.
Since then Everything has been good here. my host family i am so lucky to have. My father has 9 brothers and sisters so there are always people around trying to talk to me. Last night they thought it would be really amusing to try and make me get drunk...picture me sitting on the floor with 5 men older than 35 drinking... it was so funny/ interesting. I am starting to get better at asking questions and am finding out so much about this culture and my host family... The mother has passed away so the father is also constantly asking me questions about how to raise his daughter well :) so cute...we sat up on top of the house yesterday morning (because he told me i was to white and needed to get some sun) and prayed and listened - he is really a sweet sweet man, he likes me and thinks i am very funny -
Today i am going to study. Tommorow we meet our NGOs and I really want to be ready to do the best i can to understand and help them. Saturday we are having a 4th of july celebration on the beach and i will miss you all greatly! Then sunday Pugu (fisher boy part of extended host family) wants to take me to the "real" dreamland which is a secret but famous/ best surf spot here in bali!
SO i finally arrived in Bali on Thursday night which was actually Friday night here. Friday to Sunday I was in a rural village in Bali- it was beautiful and relaxing and fun to get to know the group and our hosts were so gracious and we all had a good time laughing at ourselves and the language barrier...we watched a traditional cock fight and hiked through the tropical forest to a beautiful waterfall. On Sunday we drove to Denpasar to Taman 65 the community I am working/learning in and around. We all were dropped off at our homestays after this..here comes the intense/fun part... My homestay is the farthest away from Taman and the most "rural" and when i say rural i mean I pea in a hole and to shower i dump a bucket of freezing cold water on my head. The plus side of this is that I have the nicest father and sister that speak very good english and could not be nicer but it is definitely going to be a challenge. Last night becca a friend here dropped me off on her motor scooter at the wrong house, i was so lost and discombobulated i had to go to a house and nock on there door and ask where i was it was one of the scariest things i have ever done especially because my indonesian is pretty weak (upon returning to my room i broke down)... did i mention i found bugs in my bed and had gotten lost earlier that day trying to walk to my house and was found by the sister wandering on the side of the road? it was a really long day and it is hard because i am so far away from the rest of my group.
Last night was my first night there and it was interesting....i was awoken multiple times by there roosters which live right outside my room...this i expected because we had this over the weekend but i did not expect the 4am prayer that blasts over a loud speaker. Thankfully my father and sister (this is what they insist i call them) woke me up at 5 to go see the sunrise and "get some fresh balinese air" the father explained to me as we watched the sun come up how the white caps on the waves are white horses that come and go and sang a prayer to bless my family and his uniting as horses. It was truly beautiful... this is a beautiful place but the culture shock has me totally exhausted and overwhelmed.
Since then Everything has been good here. my host family i am so lucky to have. My father has 9 brothers and sisters so there are always people around trying to talk to me. Last night they thought it would be really amusing to try and make me get drunk...picture me sitting on the floor with 5 men older than 35 drinking... it was so funny/ interesting. I am starting to get better at asking questions and am finding out so much about this culture and my host family... The mother has passed away so the father is also constantly asking me questions about how to raise his daughter well :) so cute...we sat up on top of the house yesterday morning (because he told me i was to white and needed to get some sun) and prayed and listened - he is really a sweet sweet man, he likes me and thinks i am very funny -
Today i am going to study. Tommorow we meet our NGOs and I really want to be ready to do the best i can to understand and help them. Saturday we are having a 4th of july celebration on the beach and i will miss you all greatly! Then sunday Pugu (fisher boy part of extended host family) wants to take me to the "real" dreamland which is a secret but famous/ best surf spot here in bali!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Singapore
Hello Everyone!
I am currently hanging out in Singapore. It has been a long 24 hours and I am still traveling. I am so tired but Asia is absolutely beautiful (stopped in Hong Kong earlier today) and now we are just hanging out in Singapore waiting for our flight to BALI. My travel mates are very friendly and we were lucky and all were seated together on our flight. It has been fun getting to know them, drinking singapore slings and swapping stories.
Hope all is well in the States...Just heard news Michael Jackson died!
Tighe
I am currently hanging out in Singapore. It has been a long 24 hours and I am still traveling. I am so tired but Asia is absolutely beautiful (stopped in Hong Kong earlier today) and now we are just hanging out in Singapore waiting for our flight to BALI. My travel mates are very friendly and we were lucky and all were seated together on our flight. It has been fun getting to know them, drinking singapore slings and swapping stories.
Hope all is well in the States...Just heard news Michael Jackson died!
Tighe
Friday, June 19, 2009
4 days!
Hi ALL- Welcome to my "blog," from all of my research everyone has recommended that this is the best way to communicate. So being that I am leaving in less than a week I thought it was time to set this up and make sure it works! I hope to keep you all up to date on my trip!
Tighe
Tighe
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