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Published: August 18th 2008
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Java
The beach in South Java Indonesia, Indonesia, Indonesia...each time I think of the word I feel elated...this place is truly a heaven in which I hope someday my soul will rest for all of eternity...
I think all this religion is going to my head...In Yogyakarta living with Dan it was Muslim...the call to prayer spoken at every Mosque around the city at 8, 12, 4, 7 and 4AM, and in Bali with Hinduisum where 1/4 of a locals' life is spent making offerings, praying, preparing and participating in cermonies...spirituality and faiths of many kinds reside within you as you travel through this country as spirits of the unknown are always present...
I am currently in the small mountainous town of Ubud in central Bali, traveling with a woman and her 14 year old daughter from France...we met at my hotel and decided yesterday we were all wanting to come to Ubud..we rented bikes and here we are...they have been traveling together to Bali since Isis, now 14, was 7...8 years of summer bliss...I have met many people like this...especially teachers who spend their summers surfing and turning brown here in Bali and then heading back to Canada, their International schools, or other countries
Spirits awake!
The dance to summon the spirits... where they're from to teach for yet another year just to save more money and head back here to paradise...
As the title of this blog states, their have been too many amazing experiences over the past few weeks to even begin to document...but here are the basics...
I arrived in the evening on a Sunday and was picked up by Dan at the airport who promptly took me to his 2 bedroom city apartment and fed me a declicious 1$ meal of sate; BBQ chicken and rice balls in peanut sauce from a vendor down the street...I have also fallen in love with Indonesian food very easily...The next day I began teaching high school teachers of various subjects from the town of Surabaya at a very posh English school which Dan co-owns...I taught lesson planning and basic English to these teachers, who have been instructed by their government to begin teaching their subjects of Chemistry, Biology, Religion, English, Information Technology and Math in English. This is an effort to increase the English language skills of high school students in Surabaya, and is also practiced in a few other Asian cities, where it has had mixed results...I felt
Crowd
The crowd - totally believing the glass eating demon infested dancers so bad for these 15 teachers, however, as many do not speak near enough English to effectively teach their subjects...however, they were so determined and they apparently have come so far in their 3 week program...
A highly religious Muslim group, cultural differences, practices, and behaviors were very important. "Make sure you look them all in the eyes when you talk. The love attention. And don't touch the men at all, even on the shoulder, but women are very affectionate towards each other and by the end of the week you will receive hugs all the time..." Dan gave me a bit of an overview of appropriate behaviors before I began...they truly were a group of people unlike any I have ever met. I taught for a week and cried at the end as they each went around the room and said lovely things about my teaching and personality as well as complimenting and thanking another owner, Monique, who taught them for the first few weeks of their course...in the evaluations we received, their English was incredibly touching, "Miss Erin is my friend..." "Miss Erin is very nice..." "Miss Erin will miss me..." They even made us sign their
OUr mates
Dan, Ibud Surtani and her husband books, adding emails and phone numbers and a signature...I felt famous!
Every day after school, Dan and I would hop on the motorbike and head to a posh hotel where we would hit the gym for an hour and then spent some time in the pool and the sauna before heading out to dinner with some of his incredible Indonesian and international expat friends...it's true that in an immersed environment, one learns a language incredibly fast...I definitely cannot understand too much, but I think I have a pretty good vocabulary after so much time spent with Dan who has lived here for 7 years and studied Indonesian culture back in Australia at University...
After a weekend of heading out with some of his friends' girlfriends, one of which who is a model and in a national magazine for a competition (good luck, Linda!), shopping, hitting the spa and drinking Starbucks, I rented a motorbike and Dan and I drove through the hills to the beach in South Java...we spent a few nights in a bamboo hut right on the beach, next door to and owned by his friends, Ibu Surati and her family in a small village where
model!
Linda my model friend, Riza's girlfriend and I foreigners like us are rarely seen...we spent days lounging on glorious desolate beaches, beach combing with the children in our family, and two incredible evenings attending a local traditional puppet show and a celebration of the circumcision of a local boy. Both were attended by hundreds of locals who all regarded us as if we were aliens...The circumcision event was the boys entry to manhood and included a very special and very strange dance troupe who danced to call upon the spirits and then acted strangely and were in a trance for a while in front of the crowd, eating glass, flowers, flailing about, and acting otherwise quite silly and fake to the eyes of Dan and I, but completely entranced by the spirits to the beliefs of everyone around us...at the circumcision, it is customary for us guests to bring gifts of money, greet every single person in the boys family, and eat food and drinks provided by them before heading down to the stage to enjoy the dancing...we did so and were treated like royalty...
After heading back to Jogya for a few more days of partying, hitting the gym, and teaching the odd conversation class at
Favourites!
My fave of Dan's friends...Gege, a super cool cat and his model girlfriend, Has Linda... Real English, I boarded a flight to Bali...A friend of mine tells me Bali is the place I was made for...
I have spent the past week in and around the town of Kuta beach meeting endless locals and hanging out with a crowd of Swiss, Indonesian, Canadian, French and English friends I met at my hotel and from everywhere...Kuta beach is the central, touristy, drunken young person place to be, but we stayed just north on the outskirts of the craziness in one of two lovely and cheap hotels...
Each day this week has been a variation of the following events:
At 6am, 3 girls and I wake up, toss on our bikinis, rash guards and boardies and walk barefoot 100 meters through the skinny streets already lined with incense and offerings of bamboo woven baskets filled with food and goodies for the spirits to the mini mart across the street from the ocean where we grab a quick bite and head into the water...after our 'breakfast wave', the last wave, we change, eat breakfast, (free at our hotels), and meet on the beach to plan the afternoon trip...we lounge around, catch some sun and hop
Munchies
Dan and I getting some food before heading out on our motorbikes, toss the boards onto the surfracks built onto the side of our rented bikes, grab the guys and head out to another beach to find more waves...
After a nap on the beach, a ride home hitting up a local surf outlet place or to grab a snack, we head home to shower and meet on the beach with 'bintang' (local beer), and plan where we'll eat for dinner....nights are filled with laughter, new Bahasa Indonesian words, amazing and cheap food and drinks, stories of travel, culture, adventure and romance, and the occasional nightclub for some dancing...
You can see why I'm trying to extend my visa to stay here...
Wednesday is the Balinese 'Christmas,' not really Christmas like we celebrate it, but a special day celebrated once every 6 months where locals head to visit family, spend time in prayer and offering goods to the spirits and deceased family members...a time of reflection and peace...on Thursday we head back to Kuta where I will spent 2 more days, or another week if I can extend my visa, and then onto Yogyakarta once again to catch a flight back to Bangkok where I will
Motorbike?
Heading to get our bags and hit the beach say goodbye to Asia and head off to Europe...
In all this madness I have bought a new camera...when time and access to technology permits, I will post some stellar pics...
What a life...may those who have helped me to be here be blessed forever and ever...
Some Pie June Pa Lagi!!
See you later,
Erin
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