The beat goes on

So it's been a while since my last post.  A few noteworthy things have happened, I've just been lazy in setting them down here. I'll start from the latest thing first. This past weekend, I went to Jakarta to visit my family. I was able to see my three Aunts and one Aunt-in-Law, my Oma, and a few cousins. I hadn't seen three of my Aunts, Tante Essie Tante Enny, and Tante Kiki, since I was four-years-old so it was a blessing to visit with them. I also hadn't seen my Oma since 1994 or 95 so it was nice to see her too. I was only able to stay for a weekend and this small taste of family has made me want to come back and spend more time with them. Perhaps I will visit again at the end of my internship, after mid-April. The visit was a good excuse to practice my Indonesian and after speaking so much for two days and being more immersed in it than I am at Green School, I feel I've progressed a lot! I've decided that I will speak Indonesian here at work whenever I talk to Putu Eka as she has encouraged me to practice with her since day one. I think now I will take her up on it. For this reason, I will now attempt to write a bit more about my visit with family in Indonesian.

Saya datang di Jakarta Jumat malam.Hari Sabtu, kita pergih ke Taman Safari Park di Puncak. Belom kita ke Safari Park, kita makan siang di restaurant, namanya Merimba. Restaurant itu di atas gunung. Kita makan dulu belom ke Taman Safari karna hujan banyak kapan kita datang di Puncak. Sambil makan, kita menununngu hujannan berhenti.

Taman Safari Park ada banyak  binatang. Favorit saya monyet-monyet. Ada keluarga monyet, orang tua sama anak kecil, duduk rapat bersama-sama. Juga ada monyet yang mama membawa anaknya di perut sambil jalan kemana.

Hari Minngu, Tante Meity, Daniel, sama saya ke mall. Saya belih bajuh-bajuh dan kita makan di Pepper Lunch.

Saya datang di Bali Minngu malam, jemputin sama driver namanya Bebas. Bebas tau Meliana. Dia ada dtiga anak perempuan. Satu, yang pertama, ada anak laki dua taun.

Ok, saya pusing sekarang dari bicarah bahasa...

And, I have a headache so it's best to sign off now. More soon...

A Day Like Me

Since being here in Bali, I have always taken trips to Ubud with other people. A few of us on our scooters or myself and Kristen doubling on one. But, on Saturday, I went into Ubud by myself and just spent the time at my own pace, choosing my own adventures. On the ride there, since it was around 1pm, there were droves of schoolchildren walking home from school. It is a beautiful and precious thing to ride by groups of kids in their uniforms walking along a narrow road between rice paddies.

When I got to Ubud, the traffic was pretty congested (there's nothing like sitting behind a bus and directly breathing it's exhaust) but I finally made my way to Periplus, an english bookstore. One of the books I ended up buying is a series of short stories that all take place at the beach.

Later on, I met up with Dagmara and Juan Carlos and we rode to Dagmara's property. It has a lovely view across to a ridge. I think Juan Carlos has designed an amazing house for her. My favourite thing was the grove of young papaya trees. I'd never seen a papaya grove before and it is so interesting how the fruit grows out of the trunk, kind of zucchini/eggplant shaped. I unfortunately did not have my camera but will go back soon.

We also visited a while with the family - Pak Luki and his family - that gave Dagmara the property. We sat in their bale for a leisurely visit and were presented with coffee and ice tea, and many, many snacks.

The day ended with a trip to Kuta in which we got lost going there are on the way back. Long story, but kinda funny.

Hospital Part 2

This past week, my father sent me an email that said my mom was in the hospital getting her appendix taken out. And don't worry, he says, she ok.

Well, since my dad was in the hospital a few months ago, the word hospital in relation to my family can put me in a bit of a panic. Even though everything was fine, it was a simple procedure, I was still a bit shocked. Fortunately, it got my mom on skype and we heard each other's voices for the first time since my being in Bali. Due to the surgery, she's taking a few weeks off. Something that is well-deserved even without the appendix removal.

New Year's Eve

So today is the day before Chinese New Year here in Bali. Since I wrote last, there hasn't been too much adventure worth writing about though I would like to mention a few everyday occurances that are very unique. One is the insect chorus that serenades us jungle-dwellers every evening from 6:55 to 7:07 pm. For those few minutes, we are surrounded by a mad buzzing of cicadas and other insects. A buzzing so loud and overwhelming you can almost slice through it. Another unique daily event is the bringing of breakfast to my tent (and the other interns' tents). Every morning, Pak Nyoman carries a large bamboo basket from his house to our campsite filled with breakfast food. I wake up every morning to his alus (bahasa for quiet, elegant, smooth, almost feminine to western ears, and the Balinese way) "Hello Angie, breakfast." I feel somewhat uncomfortable with this serving of food because it seems to me to support a Balinese to Foreigner servitude which is uneccesary. A third daily occurance is the muslim praying/chanting that I hear from our campsite at 5:30 am and about 10:30 pm, both for about an hour or more. The sound carries across the trees and into our campsite, into my tent, into my ears, into my headspace. The rituals seems so out of place in this predominantly Hindu island. Apparently, our neighbours are a happily mixed community of Muslim and Hindu Balinese. Rare I've been told.

One news note: I've booked a flight to visit my extended family in Jakarta from February 22-24. I'm so excited to see those I haven't seen in years and haven't seen ever.