As per usual, a lot has happened since my last post. And as it turns out, today is the last official program day of GIEU - it flew by! Don't worry though, I'm staying in Bali for another week to hopefully have some more (mis)adventures so the fun isn't over yet. But the official program bit has come to a close after 4 exciting and eventful weeks...I can't even believe it. We've seen and done so much here and yet it feels like just yesterday we were all getting over our jet lag from the bazillion hour plane ride it takes to get here. Oh nostalgia...
To cap things off in proper form, I made some mock elections for our last lunch today. They've all been earned earnhestly with the help of nonsense and tomfoolery throughout the duration of the trip and I thought the students deserved recognition for them. Some of the better ones include: Most likely to still look fierce while having an allergic reaction, Most likely to survive a kiss from a cockroach (two-way tie for that one), Most likely to still look fabulous (and better than you) while planting rice in a padi, Most likely to scare a vendor away with her amazing bargaining skills, and Most likely to seduce a driver (or hotel worker, or busboy, or whoever...) . Can you get a feel for the type of comrades I have here in Indonesia? Needless to say, the trip has been awesome thanks to my counterparts in crime.
Although I'm looking forward to being home and seeing everyone I've missed for a month, I think I'm really gonna miss these people who I've spent every waking moment with for the last four weeks. It's an odd thing to embark on a trip like this knowing virtually nothing about the 14 other people you'll be going with, and then forming such a tight bond so quickly. And then you have to leave them right when you feel like you've really made some steady friendships. Story of my life, more or less. Go on an adventure where you meet amazing people, then part ways and start the next adventure. It's pretty bittersweet but it's worth everything to have that short period of time with people, bonding like only people who travel together far from home can bond. Sap, sap, sappy McSapperson, okay I'll stop. Just had to get it out of my system. :)
My final thoughts on Ubud, Bali where I've been staying are these: I'll miss looking out the window during long drives and seeing endless fields of rice padi, and peeking into all the colorful shops on Monkey Forest Road. I'll miss seeing Ketut Liyer, the medicine man and his toothless grin every morning when I leave the compound. I'll miss playing with the most vivacious baby girl in the world, Daya, Ketut's great-grandaughter, and her mother who single-handedly cured my crazy Indonesian stomach cramps. I'll miss the times when we drive for what seems like forever in a hot crowded van, only to reach the most amazing lookout point or breathtaking panorama of mountains, volcanoes, or my favorite of all, Lake Batur. I can't decide if I'll miss the food yet...I'm so saturated with it that I feel like I might explode if I see another plate of rice, but then again maybe a week of budgeting and eating peanut butter sandwiches in Kuta to save money for other adventures will make me miss the delicious cuisine I've been eating. I'll miss fresh fruit served with every meal for sure though, and the way Coke tastes better outside the United States for some reason. I'll miss being so connected to where my food comes from and having intelligent conversations with my friends who are studying agriculture and food systems about organic farming and such. I'll miss nearly stepping on the offerings put out every day to honor the gods here in Bali, and I'll miss seeing little kids run around in sarongs and cheerfully shouting things to one another in a language I don't understand. I'll miss the sounds of Gamelan, the indescribable music played on uniqely carved instruments by up to 20+ people at a time, and can put you in a trance if you hear our extremely talented guide play...
I'll miss a lot of things. But I still have one week left to take in some more of Bali, so I'm off to go do some of that. Thanks, as always, for making it to the end of a blog post, I know they get long. I'll be seeing you all soon! :)
<3 Jill
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sari Organic
Today we went to a maternal health clinic called Bumi Sehat (Healthy Earth) which promotes a philosophy of peaceful birth for a peaceful life. Women can come to the clinic for free to get prenatal care and deliver their babies. I love the ideology of the clinic, which is based on a gentle birth: water births, no separation of mother and baby after birth, breastfeeding, etc. (Thank you Laura for telling me so much about midwifery this past year so that I could fully appreciate visiting this clinic) We saw a baby that was only 1 day old...that's the littlest baby I've ever seen. It was so small... An American couple just had their baby there too! It was beautiful to see a new dad holding his brand new little baby all swaddled up in his arms. This is probably the coolest organization we've visited so far; it has such far reaching effects on the community, promoting maternal health and ensuring safe and healthy birthing practices.
After the clinic, we went to an organic restaurant for lunch which is located in a field of farmland and cannot be reached by car. We parked half a mile away and walked down a small stone path through beautifully scenic rice fields to get there, smiling and saying hello to men and women working in the padis as we passed. It was sunny and hot as we ventured down the windy path, and I eagerly welcomed the shade of the billowy tent ceiling of the restaurant. We sat on fuschia and violet colored cushions which were placed on raised-up platforms surrounding a low wooden table. The placemats and menus were made out of wood and reeds, and just about everything on the menu is grown organically (without chemicals) right there in the field surrounding the restaurant. I had lemon fruit tea, which had big pieces of pineapple, papaya and watermelon floating in the delicious mix of cinnamon-y lemon sweet tea, a bowl of to-die-for pumpkin soup which tasted like the perfect blend of sweet potatoes and curry, and the house salad which was tomatoes, red pepper, baby corn, avocado, onion, beets, carrots and sprouts all over greens with olive oil, garlic and lemon dressing...OMG food heaven. Everyone was expressing their infinite appreciation for the amazing food and drinks as we ate, and then a perfect breeze came through the open sides of the restaurant, cooling us off to just the right temperature and we all proceeded to splay out on the cushions and go into food comas.
It was glorious.
I spent the rest of the afternoon watching some men and women make flutes, bamboo instruments, weave baskets and paint. They taught us how too, some of the more focused people in our group coming out with fruits from their labors; a small flute they hand carved or a wind chime they put together with help from the instrument maker. I on the other hand was too distracted by the family that lived in the housing compound we were visiting; a divorced American man with 3 beautiful young children born of a Venzuelan woman who now lives in Bali teaching at the international school. He's been all over the world teaching in similar schools where people living abroad such as diplomats send their kids to school, Pakistan, Taiwan, Indonesia...how incredible. Future career potential? Me thinks yes. He also owned the only "pet" dog we've seen thus far in Indonesia; the rest are feral strays or merely guard dogs who don't like to be pet, so obviously we took out all of our repressed animal love on Bonita, the pregnant golden retriever. I think she loved it. : )
That's all for now; it's been an eventful day and I'm still full from blissful organic food.
Peace & Love from Bali,
Jill
After the clinic, we went to an organic restaurant for lunch which is located in a field of farmland and cannot be reached by car. We parked half a mile away and walked down a small stone path through beautifully scenic rice fields to get there, smiling and saying hello to men and women working in the padis as we passed. It was sunny and hot as we ventured down the windy path, and I eagerly welcomed the shade of the billowy tent ceiling of the restaurant. We sat on fuschia and violet colored cushions which were placed on raised-up platforms surrounding a low wooden table. The placemats and menus were made out of wood and reeds, and just about everything on the menu is grown organically (without chemicals) right there in the field surrounding the restaurant. I had lemon fruit tea, which had big pieces of pineapple, papaya and watermelon floating in the delicious mix of cinnamon-y lemon sweet tea, a bowl of to-die-for pumpkin soup which tasted like the perfect blend of sweet potatoes and curry, and the house salad which was tomatoes, red pepper, baby corn, avocado, onion, beets, carrots and sprouts all over greens with olive oil, garlic and lemon dressing...OMG food heaven. Everyone was expressing their infinite appreciation for the amazing food and drinks as we ate, and then a perfect breeze came through the open sides of the restaurant, cooling us off to just the right temperature and we all proceeded to splay out on the cushions and go into food comas.
It was glorious.
I spent the rest of the afternoon watching some men and women make flutes, bamboo instruments, weave baskets and paint. They taught us how too, some of the more focused people in our group coming out with fruits from their labors; a small flute they hand carved or a wind chime they put together with help from the instrument maker. I on the other hand was too distracted by the family that lived in the housing compound we were visiting; a divorced American man with 3 beautiful young children born of a Venzuelan woman who now lives in Bali teaching at the international school. He's been all over the world teaching in similar schools where people living abroad such as diplomats send their kids to school, Pakistan, Taiwan, Indonesia...how incredible. Future career potential? Me thinks yes. He also owned the only "pet" dog we've seen thus far in Indonesia; the rest are feral strays or merely guard dogs who don't like to be pet, so obviously we took out all of our repressed animal love on Bonita, the pregnant golden retriever. I think she loved it. : )
That's all for now; it's been an eventful day and I'm still full from blissful organic food.
Peace & Love from Bali,
Jill
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Homestays
So we've moved into our homestays in Yogyakarta after a week of living in a (very nice) hotel. The transition was interesting enough, especially because mine was not seamless at all...
Since I'm the Student Fellow for the trip, Agustini asked me to go along with her to drop each person off at their homestay so that I could see them all, and that was really cool! The first person was Jake and his host family's house is gigantic, so we now refer to his homestay as Jake's mansion. Seriously, the house is two stories, marble tile, a fish pond, newly renovated bedrooms, exercise machines, a new kitchen...this place was amazing! Then we dropped off Rachel, Nina, Sarah and Stephen, and everybody else was deposited into their respective homestays. Each home had its own unique charm and the people of each homestay were all so kind and welcoming, greeting us always with a big smile and warm expressions.
Our homestays are divided up into two parts of town, one neighborhood holding 10 of us and the other one 5 of us. When I dropped off the last few people in the smaller group, I realized that each homestay in that neighborhood was more of a guest house where multiple students stay at once, they weren't families accepting one student into their home like most of the others in the big neighborhood. In fact Mas Bambang, our guide in Yogya, mentioned to me that one place was straight up a hotel. So I start to get a little antsy wondering what my place will be like, but at least the "hotel" that Avery and Betsy were staying in was SUPER nice; they each had a TV in their room and air condition, free wi-fi and their own bathrooms. I was expecting great things for my place after seeing theirs, but you all know that if I had a nice, simple, happy experience in mine then I wouldn't be writing about it now...
My homestay was the Bates motel. (Psycho anyone?) We pull up in the rain, making it all the more ominous, and I'm not kidding the only person of all the homestays who did not look friendly was behind this gate. She looked rather annoyed that we were there, and as it turns out she wasn't even the owner of the place who Agustini expected to meet there, but a worker there. It was a hotel, there was no doubt in my mind about this, but prof was trying to pull this off as a homestay. I was slightly saddened realizing I wasn't staying in a home with an Indonesian family, but I tried to perk up and not let it get me down, thinking how I'll have privacy and independence instead. Well, the looks of this "homestay" were not very promising to say the least. Karen, the other girl assigned to stay there, and I investigate each of our rooms, and a slow wave of disappointment sets over both of us...There is no air conditioning or television like the other hotel, and it's probably right around 85 degrees at this point in the evening. The bathroom consists of a toilet and a basin filled with dirty water probably still around from the previous tenant's stay. There is no toilet paper or shower, just a small bucket floating in the murky water in the basin that we are to fill with water and dump over ourselves as a bath. I think to myself "at least the bed will be comfortable" but as I sprawl out across the mattress it doesn't support me but recedes into itself like I'm lying on a bed of quicksand. Yiick.
Now I wouldn't have been so judgemental of this place if I hadn't seen all the other wonderful families and awesome digs that my companions had been assigned to live in. But I had, so I was. And to make matters worse, I started hearing odd noises as I was getting ready for bed. I heard a knock at the door, so I shyly utter "Karen?" but noone was there. I hear what sounds like water rushing from the bathroom, but I can't find where the sound is coming from. I start to get thoroughly freaked out and consider asking Karen if we can sleep in the same room when I hear her call to me from her room next door saying that she's locked in her room! She had the keys and everything but once she locked her door from the inside she couldn't get out. We had to call over the lady who let us in just to get her out; this place could definitely have been the scene of a slasher film or twisted horror movie of some sort...Karen slept in my room that night, scaredy cats we were.
Thankfully the next morning Agustini was as appalled as we were by the conditions of our "homestay" and we promptly moved out. (After a breakfast of fried rice and fly-covered fruit that is) Karen got to move into Jake's mansion and I am now living in a family run guest house that has people from all over the world staying there. Every night I have dinner with the occupants of the house, with new people coming in every day. There's an English girl working on her PhD, a Swiss boy, Filippino man, and German girl all studying Indonesian languge, a Japanese woman who works for the UN, a French couple on holiday, and two recent PhD recipients who will become professors in the fall at universities in the US, one American and one from Nepal. Needless to say, I'm endlessly enthralled in conversation with them hearing about their stories and lives. To my amazement English is our common language, they have all learned it through the course of their educations in whatever country they originate from. It's quite wonderful living in that wordly guest house, and I have an Indonesian family to talk to and learn from as well the guests from every end of the earth. So alas the homestay situation ended up just fine after all...
Since I'm the Student Fellow for the trip, Agustini asked me to go along with her to drop each person off at their homestay so that I could see them all, and that was really cool! The first person was Jake and his host family's house is gigantic, so we now refer to his homestay as Jake's mansion. Seriously, the house is two stories, marble tile, a fish pond, newly renovated bedrooms, exercise machines, a new kitchen...this place was amazing! Then we dropped off Rachel, Nina, Sarah and Stephen, and everybody else was deposited into their respective homestays. Each home had its own unique charm and the people of each homestay were all so kind and welcoming, greeting us always with a big smile and warm expressions.
Our homestays are divided up into two parts of town, one neighborhood holding 10 of us and the other one 5 of us. When I dropped off the last few people in the smaller group, I realized that each homestay in that neighborhood was more of a guest house where multiple students stay at once, they weren't families accepting one student into their home like most of the others in the big neighborhood. In fact Mas Bambang, our guide in Yogya, mentioned to me that one place was straight up a hotel. So I start to get a little antsy wondering what my place will be like, but at least the "hotel" that Avery and Betsy were staying in was SUPER nice; they each had a TV in their room and air condition, free wi-fi and their own bathrooms. I was expecting great things for my place after seeing theirs, but you all know that if I had a nice, simple, happy experience in mine then I wouldn't be writing about it now...
My homestay was the Bates motel. (Psycho anyone?) We pull up in the rain, making it all the more ominous, and I'm not kidding the only person of all the homestays who did not look friendly was behind this gate. She looked rather annoyed that we were there, and as it turns out she wasn't even the owner of the place who Agustini expected to meet there, but a worker there. It was a hotel, there was no doubt in my mind about this, but prof was trying to pull this off as a homestay. I was slightly saddened realizing I wasn't staying in a home with an Indonesian family, but I tried to perk up and not let it get me down, thinking how I'll have privacy and independence instead. Well, the looks of this "homestay" were not very promising to say the least. Karen, the other girl assigned to stay there, and I investigate each of our rooms, and a slow wave of disappointment sets over both of us...There is no air conditioning or television like the other hotel, and it's probably right around 85 degrees at this point in the evening. The bathroom consists of a toilet and a basin filled with dirty water probably still around from the previous tenant's stay. There is no toilet paper or shower, just a small bucket floating in the murky water in the basin that we are to fill with water and dump over ourselves as a bath. I think to myself "at least the bed will be comfortable" but as I sprawl out across the mattress it doesn't support me but recedes into itself like I'm lying on a bed of quicksand. Yiick.
Now I wouldn't have been so judgemental of this place if I hadn't seen all the other wonderful families and awesome digs that my companions had been assigned to live in. But I had, so I was. And to make matters worse, I started hearing odd noises as I was getting ready for bed. I heard a knock at the door, so I shyly utter "Karen?" but noone was there. I hear what sounds like water rushing from the bathroom, but I can't find where the sound is coming from. I start to get thoroughly freaked out and consider asking Karen if we can sleep in the same room when I hear her call to me from her room next door saying that she's locked in her room! She had the keys and everything but once she locked her door from the inside she couldn't get out. We had to call over the lady who let us in just to get her out; this place could definitely have been the scene of a slasher film or twisted horror movie of some sort...Karen slept in my room that night, scaredy cats we were.
Thankfully the next morning Agustini was as appalled as we were by the conditions of our "homestay" and we promptly moved out. (After a breakfast of fried rice and fly-covered fruit that is) Karen got to move into Jake's mansion and I am now living in a family run guest house that has people from all over the world staying there. Every night I have dinner with the occupants of the house, with new people coming in every day. There's an English girl working on her PhD, a Swiss boy, Filippino man, and German girl all studying Indonesian languge, a Japanese woman who works for the UN, a French couple on holiday, and two recent PhD recipients who will become professors in the fall at universities in the US, one American and one from Nepal. Needless to say, I'm endlessly enthralled in conversation with them hearing about their stories and lives. To my amazement English is our common language, they have all learned it through the course of their educations in whatever country they originate from. It's quite wonderful living in that wordly guest house, and I have an Indonesian family to talk to and learn from as well the guests from every end of the earth. So alas the homestay situation ended up just fine after all...
Monday, May 18, 2009
Ketut Liyer
I now have time to explain what happened to me on my first full day in Bali. So let me set the scene...
Only one other student had arrived so far, Nina, and she and I were bunking together in our bungalow style guest house which opened up to a luscious green garden full of tropical plants and chirping birds. We were getting to know each other and Nina asked me what I want to do when I "grow up" - which hopefully I never will ;) - and I said, slightly outlandishly that my dream is to be a travel writer. As you all know I enjoy documenting my travel experiences in a hopefully entertaining manner, so doing that for a living would be magical. Nina and I then went about the day's events, not knowing what to expect as we hopped in the car to visit some of the homestays that we would be staying with in Bali.
We're bouncing from house to house, admiring the compound-style architecture of Balinese homes and trying desperately to interpret what our professor Agustini is saying to the families in Indonesian. After seeing a few different houses Nina and I were slightly exasperated because we couldn't follow the conversation and it was so very hot outside like it is everyday in Indonesia when we drive past a sign that reads Ketut Liyer. "Ketut Liyer!" I say excitedly, recognizing the famous medicine man's name from the book Eat, Pray, Love written by Elizabeth Guilbert. The book is a travel memoir detailing the author's journey through Italy, India, and you guessed it, Indonesia, in the year after her divorce. She studies pleasure in Italy (Eat), devotion in India (Pray) and balance between the two in Bali, Indonesia (Love) and she stayed with Ketut Liyer for four months during her stay there! Ketut comes from generations of healers so he knows thousands of alternative healing methods, traditional medicines and spiritual practices such as palm reading. Nina has also read the book so we giggle with excitement at our mutual recognition of Ketut Liyer's name, thinking how cool it is that we passed his house. But we weren't prepared for what happened about an hour later...
After visiting a few more homestays, we stop the van in front of a housing compound none other than the one that belongs to Ketut Liyer! He is going to be one of our homestays! And we were going to meet him!! We fall out of the car, crawling on top of each other to get out first and spill over into the house, which is a complex made up of several small buildings where the family, elders, and extended family lives all together. Then we see him, the wise, old man nimbly walking out of his room with a huge toothless grin. Nina and I gasp in astonishment and then shyly walk over to meet him, the way that a small child might inch towards something expensive and shiny in a department store, asking permission first before touching it. Ketut greets us warmly and his giant smile is contagious. He is exactly like Liz Guilbert described him in her book: small, wrinkly, and in every way resembling the character Yoda from Star Wars. Nina spots a copy of Eat, Pray, Love on his door stoop, and when Ketut leaves to answer a phone call, we let a little more of our excitement show as we freak out knowing we're about to have an encounter with this world renound Balinese medicine man!
He comes back out and seeing that we speak English, he pulls out the dusty copy of the book and asks if we will read him the part about him. He explains that he cannot read English, so even though Liz Guilbert has left him a copy of her book (with the message "To Ketut Liyer, my teacher and friend" scribbled on the front cover) he doesn't know what she's written about him. He turns to the page where he first sees him name in print, and plops the book in my lap, looking at me expectantly. I can't even believe this is happening - I'm so in awe! - yet I get it together and start reading, with Agustini translating my spoken words into Indonesian for Ketut to better understand. Although he speaks some English, he solicits that he wants someone to teach him better English, which is hilarious because he asked the author of this book to do just that! He read her palm when she was first in Bali doing research for an article, and said "You will return to Bali and live with me for 4 months, teach me English" and she did just that. So imagine my delight when her description of him turns out to be so true it's as if I'm living out the story she wrote about in the moment.
As Agustini is tries to explain to Ketut who Yoda is, Ketut stops the reading and takes my hand to read my palm. I have no idea what to expect; I'm not a spiritual person, nor have I ever had my palm read so I'm not sure I believe anything that's about to be said, but I'm here in Bali, with a medicine man, an ancient healer with powers to see your future, and he's about to make some predictions about my life! How could I not be enthralled? And so the palm reading begins...
He takes my hand in his and squeezes it just so, so that the creases in my palm are more defined. He tells me I have a very long life line, and that I will live a long time - until I'm 105! This is off to a great start I think to myself :) and then he proceeds to look at my brain line (which is "very long" he says, "you're very smart") and some other lines which indicate I'm impatient, and emotional. Although these seem like generic assumptions, I take them to heart, noting that as a recent graduate I've been incredibly emotional awaiting the next step in my life to present itself, or dreading it rather, and I am very impatient, for things as small as waiting in line to things as big as waiting for Mr. Right to show up. He says he sees in my palm that I have strong energy, very good Karma and that I'm an influencer. He says I will get married around the age of 31 which makes me very happy, and he says at age 40 I will become very rich! So don't worry about those student loans Dad, I'll make it big when I'm middle aged ;)
I'm following his every prediction avidly, mesmorized by the reading and yet completely perplexed by it at the same time. The next line he reads is my artist line, and he says "You are capable of doing many different things (referring to an occupation) and doing them well" I smile, especially happy to hear that since I'm a recent graduate going into a shaky job market. And then he says "You're very good at writing...I see you as a writer, or you publish, good writer". I cannot believe it. This old medicine man who has only just met me has just predicted that I'm good at what I love and I'll do it for a living. I felt so elated I could float away on a cloud, and a feeling I've rarely ever felt before, of the most serene calm, came over me. It was so serendipitously wonderful, I wanted to stay with that feeling forever. How did this happen to me? I come to Bali and just so happen to be staying in the same town that Liz Guilbert stayed in, just happen to stumble across Ketut Liyer's name on a sign, he somehow is aligned to be one of our homestays, and as it turns out, who had been assigned to stay with him by the guides in Bali? Me and Nina. It was already determined! For a brief moment I felt as though the universe aligned to give me that moment, and I relished every breath of it. I'm going to be a travel writer... :)
Let's all hope Ketut Liyer's prediction is right, it's certainly a push for me to believe in myself enough so that I feel a cosmic calling to do it now. Anxiety about my future - take that! The cosmos have great things in store for me, and whether I believe in the palm reading or not, I do feel that my first day in Bali was perhaps more perfect than I ever could have asked for. <3
Only one other student had arrived so far, Nina, and she and I were bunking together in our bungalow style guest house which opened up to a luscious green garden full of tropical plants and chirping birds. We were getting to know each other and Nina asked me what I want to do when I "grow up" - which hopefully I never will ;) - and I said, slightly outlandishly that my dream is to be a travel writer. As you all know I enjoy documenting my travel experiences in a hopefully entertaining manner, so doing that for a living would be magical. Nina and I then went about the day's events, not knowing what to expect as we hopped in the car to visit some of the homestays that we would be staying with in Bali.
We're bouncing from house to house, admiring the compound-style architecture of Balinese homes and trying desperately to interpret what our professor Agustini is saying to the families in Indonesian. After seeing a few different houses Nina and I were slightly exasperated because we couldn't follow the conversation and it was so very hot outside like it is everyday in Indonesia when we drive past a sign that reads Ketut Liyer. "Ketut Liyer!" I say excitedly, recognizing the famous medicine man's name from the book Eat, Pray, Love written by Elizabeth Guilbert. The book is a travel memoir detailing the author's journey through Italy, India, and you guessed it, Indonesia, in the year after her divorce. She studies pleasure in Italy (Eat), devotion in India (Pray) and balance between the two in Bali, Indonesia (Love) and she stayed with Ketut Liyer for four months during her stay there! Ketut comes from generations of healers so he knows thousands of alternative healing methods, traditional medicines and spiritual practices such as palm reading. Nina has also read the book so we giggle with excitement at our mutual recognition of Ketut Liyer's name, thinking how cool it is that we passed his house. But we weren't prepared for what happened about an hour later...
After visiting a few more homestays, we stop the van in front of a housing compound none other than the one that belongs to Ketut Liyer! He is going to be one of our homestays! And we were going to meet him!! We fall out of the car, crawling on top of each other to get out first and spill over into the house, which is a complex made up of several small buildings where the family, elders, and extended family lives all together. Then we see him, the wise, old man nimbly walking out of his room with a huge toothless grin. Nina and I gasp in astonishment and then shyly walk over to meet him, the way that a small child might inch towards something expensive and shiny in a department store, asking permission first before touching it. Ketut greets us warmly and his giant smile is contagious. He is exactly like Liz Guilbert described him in her book: small, wrinkly, and in every way resembling the character Yoda from Star Wars. Nina spots a copy of Eat, Pray, Love on his door stoop, and when Ketut leaves to answer a phone call, we let a little more of our excitement show as we freak out knowing we're about to have an encounter with this world renound Balinese medicine man!
He comes back out and seeing that we speak English, he pulls out the dusty copy of the book and asks if we will read him the part about him. He explains that he cannot read English, so even though Liz Guilbert has left him a copy of her book (with the message "To Ketut Liyer, my teacher and friend" scribbled on the front cover) he doesn't know what she's written about him. He turns to the page where he first sees him name in print, and plops the book in my lap, looking at me expectantly. I can't even believe this is happening - I'm so in awe! - yet I get it together and start reading, with Agustini translating my spoken words into Indonesian for Ketut to better understand. Although he speaks some English, he solicits that he wants someone to teach him better English, which is hilarious because he asked the author of this book to do just that! He read her palm when she was first in Bali doing research for an article, and said "You will return to Bali and live with me for 4 months, teach me English" and she did just that. So imagine my delight when her description of him turns out to be so true it's as if I'm living out the story she wrote about in the moment.
As Agustini is tries to explain to Ketut who Yoda is, Ketut stops the reading and takes my hand to read my palm. I have no idea what to expect; I'm not a spiritual person, nor have I ever had my palm read so I'm not sure I believe anything that's about to be said, but I'm here in Bali, with a medicine man, an ancient healer with powers to see your future, and he's about to make some predictions about my life! How could I not be enthralled? And so the palm reading begins...
He takes my hand in his and squeezes it just so, so that the creases in my palm are more defined. He tells me I have a very long life line, and that I will live a long time - until I'm 105! This is off to a great start I think to myself :) and then he proceeds to look at my brain line (which is "very long" he says, "you're very smart") and some other lines which indicate I'm impatient, and emotional. Although these seem like generic assumptions, I take them to heart, noting that as a recent graduate I've been incredibly emotional awaiting the next step in my life to present itself, or dreading it rather, and I am very impatient, for things as small as waiting in line to things as big as waiting for Mr. Right to show up. He says he sees in my palm that I have strong energy, very good Karma and that I'm an influencer. He says I will get married around the age of 31 which makes me very happy, and he says at age 40 I will become very rich! So don't worry about those student loans Dad, I'll make it big when I'm middle aged ;)
I'm following his every prediction avidly, mesmorized by the reading and yet completely perplexed by it at the same time. The next line he reads is my artist line, and he says "You are capable of doing many different things (referring to an occupation) and doing them well" I smile, especially happy to hear that since I'm a recent graduate going into a shaky job market. And then he says "You're very good at writing...I see you as a writer, or you publish, good writer". I cannot believe it. This old medicine man who has only just met me has just predicted that I'm good at what I love and I'll do it for a living. I felt so elated I could float away on a cloud, and a feeling I've rarely ever felt before, of the most serene calm, came over me. It was so serendipitously wonderful, I wanted to stay with that feeling forever. How did this happen to me? I come to Bali and just so happen to be staying in the same town that Liz Guilbert stayed in, just happen to stumble across Ketut Liyer's name on a sign, he somehow is aligned to be one of our homestays, and as it turns out, who had been assigned to stay with him by the guides in Bali? Me and Nina. It was already determined! For a brief moment I felt as though the universe aligned to give me that moment, and I relished every breath of it. I'm going to be a travel writer... :)
Let's all hope Ketut Liyer's prediction is right, it's certainly a push for me to believe in myself enough so that I feel a cosmic calling to do it now. Anxiety about my future - take that! The cosmos have great things in store for me, and whether I believe in the palm reading or not, I do feel that my first day in Bali was perhaps more perfect than I ever could have asked for. <3
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Temples and Nourishment
Yesterday we visited several temples including the biggest Buddhist temple in Indonesia. (Just Google Indonesia and I'm sure a picture of it will show up - with the large bell-shaped structures made of stone with holes in them house stone statues of Buddha) I was fascinated by this place, it's so vast and beautiful and filled with meanings both spiritual and cultural. Our tour guide was excellent too, making jokes that referenced American culture to keep us laughing and engaged despite the fact that English is just one of many foreign languages he's had to learn to give tours. I'm always amazed when people can be funny in another language because it requires you to understand humor from a foreign culture that you may have never known. I struggled with this so much while studying abroad - I felt that I just simply could never be funny in Spanish, that part of me was inevitably lost outside the realm of English.
So amidst the references to celebrities and jokes about American Idol, I learned about the original architectural plan for the temple and the story of Buddha along the way. By the time our sweat-drenched bodies reached Nirvana, or the top level of the temple, we felt like we had accomplished some sort of impossible feat - climbing all those stone stairs in the 90 degree heat. We each reached our long American arms through the holes in the aforementioned bell shaped stone structures to touch the Buddha for good luck and success in whatever we do. Along the way, we were bombarded by Indonesians to have their pictures taken with us, to talk to us, and even to have some of our autographs! Why? Because we're foreign giants, with our average height being easily a foot taller than most people we meet, and our light skin makes us stick out like a sore thumb this close to the equator. It's like we're being rushed by paparazzi everywhere we go! Seriously I've never felt so fabulous in my life (that's a lie, more accurately I've never felt more sweaty in my life) but people stare at me and all of us like we're aliens and shamelessly snap pictures of us with camera phones as they walk by. It's quite odd, and yet I've almost become accustomed to it in the few days we've been here.
That's got to be all for now, dinner's ready in our hotel...more later I promise, and thanks to those of you who're actually reading this : )
So amidst the references to celebrities and jokes about American Idol, I learned about the original architectural plan for the temple and the story of Buddha along the way. By the time our sweat-drenched bodies reached Nirvana, or the top level of the temple, we felt like we had accomplished some sort of impossible feat - climbing all those stone stairs in the 90 degree heat. We each reached our long American arms through the holes in the aforementioned bell shaped stone structures to touch the Buddha for good luck and success in whatever we do. Along the way, we were bombarded by Indonesians to have their pictures taken with us, to talk to us, and even to have some of our autographs! Why? Because we're foreign giants, with our average height being easily a foot taller than most people we meet, and our light skin makes us stick out like a sore thumb this close to the equator. It's like we're being rushed by paparazzi everywhere we go! Seriously I've never felt so fabulous in my life (that's a lie, more accurately I've never felt more sweaty in my life) but people stare at me and all of us like we're aliens and shamelessly snap pictures of us with camera phones as they walk by. It's quite odd, and yet I've almost become accustomed to it in the few days we've been here.
That's got to be all for now, dinner's ready in our hotel...more later I promise, and thanks to those of you who're actually reading this : )
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Week One: The Spider and the Monkey
Ok, so many things have happened since I arrived here in Bali, but I have to tell what's freshest in my mind first, so here is my story about the giant spider and the monkey...
It started off a normal day on my trip to Indonesia, we met with a woman from an NGO, visited one of our possible homestay families, and had a delicious Indonesian lunch. It wasn't until I went with our Balinese driver and friend, Bat Danu, with 2 other girls to pick up their luggage that the day got interesting.
Bat Danu has a beautiful guest house where people from all over the world come to stay. It's situated right off the road and yet the view makes you feel like you're in the most remote jungle you've ever seen, like in the movie Jurassic Park or something. The girls had told me about a rather large spider that they had seen there the other day, so of course I had to witness it for myself (and compare it to King Kong, avid blog-followers will remember from last year in Viet Nam). Bat leads us down through the foliage and shows us a massive spider perched contently on it's giant web between two palms. We're admiring it from afar and taking pictures when Bat Danu gets the fabulous idea to take it down and transport it back to the hotel to show everyone else we're staying with. I thought he was kidding. He wasn't.
Bat takes a stick and swiftly tangles the spider in its own web, pulling it down and then fearlessly grabs it, pinning all its spiney legs behind its body, rendering it unable to move or even sqirm. It looked much less intimidating like that, so we got up close and took some more pictures. Bat asks if we want to let it climb on us. We though he was kidding. He wasn't.
He goes first, letting the spider crawl all over his chest while we sqeal and take pictures. But then I wonder, what's the harm in this? Bat says it won't bite (and if it does it's not poisonous) so I think, what the hell, I'm only in Indonesia once right? I let Bat Danu put the spider on me, and it crawls around my chest up my shoulder and to my neck! (Don't worry, I have photographic proof if you don't believe me). Let me explain, this spider was huge, but very different than the furry and monstrous King Kong from my hotel room in Viet Nam. First of all, this one was black and yellow, so it looked ornate, almost beatiful. Second, it was found in nature, and the Balinese are very in tune with nature, so since Bat Danu had a way this this creature, I figured it was safe to let it crawl all over me. (This kind of logic will probably lead to my demise one day...by way of animal mauling). Rachel and Ashley couldn't get over this, neither of them would let the spider near them so they called me brave. I'd call me obliviously foolish. But now onto the next part of the story....
Bat delicately shoves the spider into a plastic water bottle for transport, making sure to poke a few air holes. (It would've taken a hole the size of a golf ball for this thing to get out) So we drive back to the hotel and show everyone, some are horrified, others fascinated, all equally amusing to show it to. But right around this time, everyone is getting ready to go to the nearby monkey forest, and in the commotion of showing everyone, I lose track of Bat Danu and he ends up leaving the hotel. Not wanting to let Mr. Aracnoid suffocate in his water bottle prison (or even worse, having him escape in my room if I left him there) I just take him with me in the water bottle, hoping I'll see Bat Danu to give him back. I'm not sure what I was expecting to happen, but worse case scenario, the spider dies in the bottle, I'm sad, but at least I tried to deliver him back to his owner. But the spider's "departure" from me was much more dramatic than that, that's for sure.
We all walk along the narrow streets of Ubud, Bali to the entrance of the illustrious monkey forest. Picture a giant playground for grown-up tourists to point and laugh at monkeys because for some inexplicable reason, everything they do is hilarious. "Look! The monkey's scratching it's head! Hilarious! It's looking at a rock! Hahahaha! It's doing absolutely nothing! Bahahaha!" For real, monkeys are just funny. So we all enter the forest, and as if we don't look ridiculous enough taking pictures in throngs and pointing and staring like idiots, the locals are selling bananas at the front, to feed to the occupants of the forest. There are so many reasons why this is a bad choice. First of all, you are not in control of when you feed the monkeys. They are. They see/smell/sense the food, they go for it. Second, when they go for it, it's not like they politely ask for it and you give it to them. They attack you and just take it, like pirates comandeering your ship and taking your booty. Third, once you give them food once, they know you have more, and they stalk you for the rest of the time you're in their sight. So naturally, we buy bananas.
The monkeys are everywhere, out to play, ready to socialize. The forest is dense and monkeys are spilling out of the trees like popcorn popping from kernals; Stephen is the first to try and feed one. We see the monkey spot the banana before it's even fully out of Stephen's bag, and it runs over to him, beelining for the fruit, Stephen shrieks and throws the banana into the brush, just in time to avoid the monkey's wrath. We all laugh, half panicked, realizing the monkeys aren't going to play nice when it comes to food. All the while noone wants to walk next to me because I'm carrying a giant spider in a water bottle. Oh yeah, the long, black and yellow spider that's in my hand, I almost forgot. I almost didn't realize how much it must have looked like food to the monkeys...Oh god.
I don't know which monkey realized it first, but all of a sudden one was just looking at me, knowingly. I was like oh, shit, this isn't going to end well. I try to casually keep walking, like I don't think the little fuz butt is going to try and take this spider out of my hand, but I knew it was. The monkey jumps down from the ledge, runs over to me, and jumps up to grab the water bottle! I yell "NOooo! This is NOT FOOD!" like it'll understand me, but the monkey is undeterred, and his eye is on Bat's spider. Oh no, Bat! What will he say if I lose his spider?! No time to think, the monkey is at it again, this time he doesn't go for the air strike, but literally LATCHES ONTO MY LEG!! (Thank you Karen, for making me change my shorts and wear pants to the monkey forest) The monkey is on me, clamboring up my leg like I'm a tree branch, and I scream and panic like a crazy person because this monkey is ATTACKING ME!! I'm yelling and lifting up my hands, trying to save Mr. Spider's life, but I'm pretty sure the beast will sink his teeth into me if I don't relinquish the bug, and the struggle is shortlived. The monkey snatches the water bottle out of my hands despite my best efforts, and runs like a bat out of hell back into the forest. I'm still in shock while everyone freaks out and asks if I'm okay. The jerk monkey perches right above us to flaunt what he's stolen from me. We watch as he claws at the water bottle trying to get at the prize inside, with Mr. Spider surely in a pure state of terror awaiting his own death.
And that's what happened to me today. I cannot believe a monkey robbed me of my Balinese friend's enormous pet spider...
It started off a normal day on my trip to Indonesia, we met with a woman from an NGO, visited one of our possible homestay families, and had a delicious Indonesian lunch. It wasn't until I went with our Balinese driver and friend, Bat Danu, with 2 other girls to pick up their luggage that the day got interesting.
Bat Danu has a beautiful guest house where people from all over the world come to stay. It's situated right off the road and yet the view makes you feel like you're in the most remote jungle you've ever seen, like in the movie Jurassic Park or something. The girls had told me about a rather large spider that they had seen there the other day, so of course I had to witness it for myself (and compare it to King Kong, avid blog-followers will remember from last year in Viet Nam). Bat leads us down through the foliage and shows us a massive spider perched contently on it's giant web between two palms. We're admiring it from afar and taking pictures when Bat Danu gets the fabulous idea to take it down and transport it back to the hotel to show everyone else we're staying with. I thought he was kidding. He wasn't.
Bat takes a stick and swiftly tangles the spider in its own web, pulling it down and then fearlessly grabs it, pinning all its spiney legs behind its body, rendering it unable to move or even sqirm. It looked much less intimidating like that, so we got up close and took some more pictures. Bat asks if we want to let it climb on us. We though he was kidding. He wasn't.
He goes first, letting the spider crawl all over his chest while we sqeal and take pictures. But then I wonder, what's the harm in this? Bat says it won't bite (and if it does it's not poisonous) so I think, what the hell, I'm only in Indonesia once right? I let Bat Danu put the spider on me, and it crawls around my chest up my shoulder and to my neck! (Don't worry, I have photographic proof if you don't believe me). Let me explain, this spider was huge, but very different than the furry and monstrous King Kong from my hotel room in Viet Nam. First of all, this one was black and yellow, so it looked ornate, almost beatiful. Second, it was found in nature, and the Balinese are very in tune with nature, so since Bat Danu had a way this this creature, I figured it was safe to let it crawl all over me. (This kind of logic will probably lead to my demise one day...by way of animal mauling). Rachel and Ashley couldn't get over this, neither of them would let the spider near them so they called me brave. I'd call me obliviously foolish. But now onto the next part of the story....
Bat delicately shoves the spider into a plastic water bottle for transport, making sure to poke a few air holes. (It would've taken a hole the size of a golf ball for this thing to get out) So we drive back to the hotel and show everyone, some are horrified, others fascinated, all equally amusing to show it to. But right around this time, everyone is getting ready to go to the nearby monkey forest, and in the commotion of showing everyone, I lose track of Bat Danu and he ends up leaving the hotel. Not wanting to let Mr. Aracnoid suffocate in his water bottle prison (or even worse, having him escape in my room if I left him there) I just take him with me in the water bottle, hoping I'll see Bat Danu to give him back. I'm not sure what I was expecting to happen, but worse case scenario, the spider dies in the bottle, I'm sad, but at least I tried to deliver him back to his owner. But the spider's "departure" from me was much more dramatic than that, that's for sure.
We all walk along the narrow streets of Ubud, Bali to the entrance of the illustrious monkey forest. Picture a giant playground for grown-up tourists to point and laugh at monkeys because for some inexplicable reason, everything they do is hilarious. "Look! The monkey's scratching it's head! Hilarious! It's looking at a rock! Hahahaha! It's doing absolutely nothing! Bahahaha!" For real, monkeys are just funny. So we all enter the forest, and as if we don't look ridiculous enough taking pictures in throngs and pointing and staring like idiots, the locals are selling bananas at the front, to feed to the occupants of the forest. There are so many reasons why this is a bad choice. First of all, you are not in control of when you feed the monkeys. They are. They see/smell/sense the food, they go for it. Second, when they go for it, it's not like they politely ask for it and you give it to them. They attack you and just take it, like pirates comandeering your ship and taking your booty. Third, once you give them food once, they know you have more, and they stalk you for the rest of the time you're in their sight. So naturally, we buy bananas.
The monkeys are everywhere, out to play, ready to socialize. The forest is dense and monkeys are spilling out of the trees like popcorn popping from kernals; Stephen is the first to try and feed one. We see the monkey spot the banana before it's even fully out of Stephen's bag, and it runs over to him, beelining for the fruit, Stephen shrieks and throws the banana into the brush, just in time to avoid the monkey's wrath. We all laugh, half panicked, realizing the monkeys aren't going to play nice when it comes to food. All the while noone wants to walk next to me because I'm carrying a giant spider in a water bottle. Oh yeah, the long, black and yellow spider that's in my hand, I almost forgot. I almost didn't realize how much it must have looked like food to the monkeys...Oh god.
I don't know which monkey realized it first, but all of a sudden one was just looking at me, knowingly. I was like oh, shit, this isn't going to end well. I try to casually keep walking, like I don't think the little fuz butt is going to try and take this spider out of my hand, but I knew it was. The monkey jumps down from the ledge, runs over to me, and jumps up to grab the water bottle! I yell "NOooo! This is NOT FOOD!" like it'll understand me, but the monkey is undeterred, and his eye is on Bat's spider. Oh no, Bat! What will he say if I lose his spider?! No time to think, the monkey is at it again, this time he doesn't go for the air strike, but literally LATCHES ONTO MY LEG!! (Thank you Karen, for making me change my shorts and wear pants to the monkey forest) The monkey is on me, clamboring up my leg like I'm a tree branch, and I scream and panic like a crazy person because this monkey is ATTACKING ME!! I'm yelling and lifting up my hands, trying to save Mr. Spider's life, but I'm pretty sure the beast will sink his teeth into me if I don't relinquish the bug, and the struggle is shortlived. The monkey snatches the water bottle out of my hands despite my best efforts, and runs like a bat out of hell back into the forest. I'm still in shock while everyone freaks out and asks if I'm okay. The jerk monkey perches right above us to flaunt what he's stolen from me. We watch as he claws at the water bottle trying to get at the prize inside, with Mr. Spider surely in a pure state of terror awaiting his own death.
And that's what happened to me today. I cannot believe a monkey robbed me of my Balinese friend's enormous pet spider...
Monday, May 11, 2009
First post from Bali
I got to Indonesia safe and sound! That's about all I have steam for right now, I'm so sleep deprived and disoriented but I just wanted say I'm alive and I made it.
I'll save details for tomorrow when I'm a little less cracked out. Good morning in MI and goodnight from Indo! :)
I'll save details for tomorrow when I'm a little less cracked out. Good morning in MI and goodnight from Indo! :)
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