drifting_with_dervla Are We There Yet?

Wow! I cannot believe that it has been a week already since I last logged in. Feels like a lifetime with all the small adventures and projects I've managed to squeeze in.

I spent most of Friday biking around and ended up at the local harbour, chatting away with the Balinese fisherman. They were very warm and played a few gamelan songs for me but almost immediately after, they threw on an Avril Lavigne CD (ewwww!), I'm still not sure how a group of middle-aged Balinese Hindu bachelors got their hands on such western trash! hah... After all the excitement of the harbour, I ended up at a small Indian cafe and loaded up on vegetable samosas and good music all night... what a pleasant place. And the owner has taken a few trips to Kuching himself, so I got a few tips for my journey to Malaysia that I leave for tomorrow out of him. Saturday, I went to Erlannga (a local market) and loaded up on a few pressies for the kids back home... mostly jewelery and bintang (beer) shirts, since shells and beer seem to be the center of Balinese trinkets. After the market, I went to a small pub and found a bunch of auld ozzies watching the South Africa v. Australia rugby game so I had a great time hanging out and drinking/yelling at the tele with the ozzie ex-pats... haha, anyone who sees my pictures will definitely want to see this bunch. Despite the craic of hanging out with the ozzies, I decided to hit the Balinese nightlife and ended up at Hu'u club and had a smashing time dancing to possibly the greatest mix of early 90s music ever.. i mean, name a song and they had it... so i had quite a night! Since Saturday was a rather tiring and exciting day, Sunday didn't amount to much more than a good bike around the local beaches and a looong lunch with a few ex-pats at Benos in Shindu Beach, that shared their stories of enculturation and settling with me... not that it takes much to convince me to pack up my bags next May and come back.

On Monday I met with my Bahasa Guru and had a morning language lesson. Funnily enough, my guru mentioned that her distant cousin is a Balinese Hindu priest, so of course my ears perked up and I arranged to meet with him over the next few days to interview him about general beliefs as well as further explanations of the cremation I attended last week; since I've decided to center my independent anthropology class around the intricate and moving event. After setting up an interview, I parted ways with my guru and went cycling around Sanur and found a Padang Restaurant! I guess I should explain exactly what Padang food is so I can accurately explain my excitement. Padang is Sumatran food that is made overnight and placed in the window for any patron to look over before coming inside. Once you walk in, every customer gets a giant plate of rice and a bowl of water to rinse your hands in (since silverware is rare, if not non-existent in these parts).... and after a quick rinse, several bowls of delicious food are placed in front of you. The food varies from fish soup to beef foot (they taste better than they sound... well sometimes, hah) and you only get charged for what you actually eat. My personal favourites being kare ayam (chicken curry) and perkedel perkedel (a type of potato cake because irish girls always scout out potatos wherever they may roam!) with sambal of course, the local ultra-spicy hot sauce.

Tuesday was another great day as I journeyed to Tanah Lot to receive my official Balinese Hindu blessing. Tanah Lot is essentially a temple that was built on Bali land but due to geological forces and the shifting of plates and all that jargon, the hill that the temple was built on drifted off from the mainland and is now an island of sorts. When you first arrive at Tanah Lot, it takes a few moments to just pan the area and take a deep breath because it is truly a site that cannot be accurately described or taken in with a mere glance or words. The place feels eerily archaic and unearthly as the landscape is like nothing I've seen before. After walking around Tanah Lot for a good bit, I met with one of the high priests and after washing my hands/face with holy water he blessed me, pressed a few grains of rice on my forehead, and placed a flower behind my ear to protect me. It was definitely a reinvigorating event and I feel glad to have been blessed, especially when I am so far away from home and exploring the world by myself. After the blessing, I was asked to hold the holy snake of Tanah Lot which I was definitely nervous about, but then I thought, "when am I ever going to be asked to hold a holdy snake again".. so i balls'd up and held it for a good while and apparently by holding him, the snake's power of knowledge rubbed off on me, so I really hope to be sharper now after that! After talking to the priests and walking around some more, I watched the sun go down over Tanah Lot and in retrospect, I wish I had taken my video camera as the orange and red colours in the sky were so vivid and clear, perhaps because of our location to the equator or even the fact that we were on such holy ground.. but what a site!

On Wednesday, I met with my guru again and we motorbiked around town so she could see my progress as far as interacting with the locals and asking basic questions/directions/etc. and I passed with flying colors, so she invited me to sit in on her University class and I did so this morning. But back to Wednesday... after spending the morning with my guru learning more about bahasa language and Balinese culture... i met with her cousin, the priest, and had an exceptionally good interview. Not my first anthropological interview, but definitely the best. I ended up having to leave my last few questions with him to send back to me when he has time because three hours had gone by and I hadn't noticed because I was so wrapped up in his stories and explanations. He went into further detail about the cremation colours, process, and symbolism and I definitely feel a closer tie to the Balinese people as I now not only respect, but truly understand, their beliefs and customs. I hope to meet with him again soon as I seem to think of more and more questions as I spend more and more time biking around the various temples here in Sanur, Kuta, and Denpasar. Thursday was definitely my first ex-pat type day here in Sanur as I ended up meeting with some locals who invited me along to the local golf club once they found out I used to be a pro golfer before starting university. Gave a few lessons and had a few beers, all in all, a cheery afternoon. After spending most of the day at Sanur Golf Club, I decided that after all the biking, motorbiking, and walking around I've been doing that I deserved my first session of reflexology ever! And you know what? Not bad at all. I had them spend more time on my ear pressure point (on top of the foot) and I definitely can hear much better after years of being near-deaf out of my left ear. I remember seeing Anthony Bourdain (ooh la la!!) getting it done and saying he was impressed that it actually worked, and I'd have to agree. I don't think I'd get it done in the states by some random, but here where the mix of magic and medicine is more prominent, I'd definitely recommend a try.

As for today, I motorbiked to my guru's university and took a tour, attended a class, and then she surprised me with a final since we have already met five times and that's all the lessons I'd paid for. I ended up doing well and got a 99% on my Bahasa final so I'd say I'm now at an intermediate level and not the scared girl with a language dictionary in hand that I was when I got off the plane in Denpasar only a few weeks ago. The University was great and I really enjoyed meeting the professors and students and asking them about the different programs available. I was nearly surprised with how friendly everyone was, the dean even asked me over for dinner so I could meet his son (uh oh)... haha, but I made a great deal of connections and after meeting one professor in particular, I am now the English editor of his website on Balinese Tourism, so I'll have to share that website link once things are up and running. I feel incredibly at home here and I'd say it would be a breeze to set up shop here, but that's something I can't let myself think about until next year as it will only distract me from my studies. But daydreaming about the future is always lovely, especially when there is such amazing people, sights, food, music, and culture involved. I spent a good while at the university and afterwards motorbiked over to the Garuda Wisnu Kenchara (the Wisnu cultural park) and took some amazing pictures. There is a bust of Wisnu (god/Vishnu) there that has got be a few stories high... absolutely breathtaking, and so hard to think of how it was made so long ago. Only a few hundred meters from Wisnu is Garuda (the faithful bird that carried him) that is equally huge and has a wingspan that is maybe half a block long... stunning. And if that wasn't enough, the park also has a huge statue of Wisnu's hands and a holy spring where water rises through minerals that has yet to be scientifically explained... so I gave the auld face and hands a good wash, since I'll take all the good vibes I can get!

Tonight, I think I'll head into town on my bicycle and see what the night brings but I'm packing up here now since I'm flying out to Kuching, Malaysia first thing in the morning where I'll be spending some time exploring Sarawak/Borneo (head-hunter) territory. I'll be taking all of my recording devices with me, so I hope to find a guide of sorts to take me into a traditional Borneo village so I can see some heads for myself! I've already got accommodations arranged but I'll be scouting out the local hostels to see if I can meet up with some students my age so I can get an in-depth look into Malaysia since I truly have no connections there and am diving into Malaysia head-on, like a true gangsta haha, wish me luck!