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.
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