From School to Vacation

My family got here on Saturday, so for the last few days I've been showing them around the island. I've been able to revisit some of the places I went during my semester, plus go to some new ones. It's a bit of a strange sensation to be vacationing where I was previously studying: for example, when a tour guide today offered up simplified information about family compounds, I almost felt compelled to correct him. It's also a bit odd because while I realize each time I explain something to my family just how much I've learned this semester, I rarely felt "stressed out" the same way I do at Williams. It's almost surprising to be on a vacation now. 


I've also been realizing just how much Indonesian I've learned. I've been pretty consistently bartering with people and setting things up for my family, which is something I thought I might have trouble with. Not the case, though; rarely do I have no idea what someone is saying to me. (There was one incident when I was talking to someone on the phone. The guy I was talking to very rapidly expressed surprise that I was speaking Indonesian, at which point I promptly asked him to slow down. I realized a few steps later in the conversation what he'd said. Whoops.)


We've mostly been doing vacationy things, exploring Ubud and going to the beach. We (my family and I) went to Kuta, where we (the SIT students) weren't allowed to go during the semester, since it's where the bombings were a few years back (though it's now safe), and I can't say I'm sad to have missed it during the semester. The beach was busy and crowded, and we were constantly at risk of being surfed on top of, which was a bit of a bummer. (Steven and Casey went to Sanur the next day and said it was lovely.) Then today we biked from Kintamani, the volcano caldera, to Pejeng, the town next to where I lived all semester. Here are some pictures:

Scarecrow in a rice field somewhere along the way. Usually people just use big cloth banners, but this guy was way more elaborate -- someone even sacrificed a soccer ball to use for his head.

I get the feeling I haven't yet posted a picture of a banyan tree, so here's one. Most of them (if not all) are considered sacred, and they're absolutely enormous. This wasn't my best picture, but I figured Michael in the corner would help give an idea of the size.

 

Rice being sorted from the husks. People plant and harvest the rice by hand, and we passed a bunch of women working on the harvest on our way down.

That's all for now. Apologies for the slightly scattered post; I'm bouncing back and forth between this and helping everyone choose plans for tomorrow.

Nusa Lembongan Roundup

On Thursday, we all presented our Independent Study Projects, which marked the last bit of work for the semester. (I got to read one of my stories to everyone, which was fun.) After that, we had a quick trip to Immigration to get our visas renewed for the last time, which also involved getting fingerprinted. Kind of creepy, but we were assured that it's standard procedure for anyone staying in Indonesia over a couple of months (there's a precise time limit, but I forget what it is).

Once that was all accomplished, it was off to Nusa Lembongan, one of the three small islands off the coast of Bali (still part of the Bali province), for our last excursion. Unlike the other excursions we've taken, where we had classes and lectures to attend, this one was pure vacation, a final hurrah for the group. (The semester ends on the 14th, and has gone by amazingly quickly.) We stayed right on the beach, at a small hotel with fantastic curry.

 The view from the hotel.

Since most of the coast is used for seaweed farming, each day we took another, smaller boat about ten minutes away to a beach better for swimming. Two of the guys and I found a beach even better for swimming that required crawling through a hole in the rock, timing it carefully so we didn't get squished by incoming waves. (Of course, Ary and Yudi then proceeded to find a path over the cliff. Not as fun, though.)

On Saturday morning, we went snorkeling. I found a huge fish with a big protrusion coming out of his forehead that the boat driver said was called a "jacket fish," although I'm not sure why. (Upon a Google search, I think that's wrong. I'm pretty sure it was a "unicorn fish," which is even cooler.)

The next day, we rented bikes and went all around the island. It's not a very big island, and the trip took us maybe three hours, a significant proportion of which was spent hanging out and swimming around in a mangrove...grove (forest? copse?). After the mangroves, we continued on, heading up a huge, endless hill and then down its equally steep side with our questionable rental bike breaks.

 Mangroves!

Aside from the snorkeling and biking, we spent a lot of time swimming and playing scrabble and cards. Then, this morning we returned to Bali, where we're back with our homestay families. Tomorrow and Wednesday are Galungan, a holiday to celebrate each family's ancestors. Almost everyone roasts a pig to celebrate -- not sure what I'll end up eating!

More adventures

Hi all! Apologies for the long delay in posting. On a day-to-day basis, I've been doing a lot of topeng carving. I'm done with the chiseling component of my mask, which means the face is pretty much blocked out and I've carved out the back. The next time I go, I'll begin working with knives to make the face more detailed; after that, painting begins.

I've started walking home from Mas (where the topeng-maker's workshop is) to Bedulu. It's about a 5km walk (or so I've been told) and it's easier to do that then to try to catch a bemo (public transportation) in the late afternoon. Plus, it's a nice walk -- mostly downhill, and on the back streets of Mas I get to talk to lots of people and see some cool temples and sawah (rice fields). It confuses my host family (and basically everyone else), though. My bapak keeps telling me to call him for a ride home, even when I explain that I enjoy the walk. The people along the street assume I'm lost, which can also make for some entertaining conversations.

Let's see, what else has happened in the last week or so? Last weekend I went with Sylvie (one of the other students on the program) to Klungkung to work on our "archaeological sites" paper, which basically involves going to an important cultural/historical site, exploring it, doing some research, and, of course, writing a paper. We went to Kerta Ghosa (which I may or may not be spelling correctly, apologies), which is part of the old palace in Klungkung.

Sylvie walking up to one of the buildings.

The roofs of some of the buildings are painted in the wayang (shadow puppet) style, and all tell a story. This roof has the descriptions of various punishments in hell, plus I think one of the stories from the Mahabharata (although I may be mixing it up with one of the other buildings).

Interior of a roof at Kerta Ghosa

On Wednesday, we migrated to Denpasar for three days, where we went to Udayana University and met with some of the English students there (and also attended some lectures on Balinese culture). Yesterday, we went with them to Bedugul, which is in the mountains. We went to a temple on a lake and a botanical garden: pictures in the next post when I can upload them to my computer. Now, we're on a free weekend in Sanur, which is one of the touristy/beach towns.

This morning, we went to the University for a large ceremony, since today is Saraswati day and Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge. There were a ton of people there, and a full gamelan orchestra, a dance (I forget the name of it, sorry), and, of course, many offerings and a high priest officiating. We got to take part in the prayers, which involved being sprinkled with and drinking holy water, listening to chants (we didn't know the words so we couldn't really take parts) and making offerings ourselves.

Tomorrow, it's back to Bedulu for the week for more class and topeng making. Next weekend we head to Ary's (the academic director) village for a week, then to the northern part of Bali. Stories to come!

More homestay time, with a whole lot of artists' lectures in the last few days. We've met with several dancers (and I can assure you that I am not all that talented at Balinese dance, and that it is WAY harder than it looks), a dalang (the person who pretty much singlehandedly orchestrates the shadow puppet performances), a batik artist, and a topeng mask maker. Starting Wednesday, I'll be studying with the mask maker, learning how to make the wooden masks used in topeng dances.

The topeng maker was fascinating -- his family has, for several generations, specialized in making these masks, and he spent his childhood watching his father work. He wasn't allowed to try, though, until he was 16, because the tools for topeng making are too sharp and require enough coordination that a child can't use them. Hopefully I'll manage them, though!

The topeng maker, with masks in several stages of the process.

Some of the finished masks.

We mahasiswa (students) had a free weekend, so we went to Uluwatu, a region on the bukit (the very southern tip of the island). The ecosystem there was different -- the soil isn't as rich there and everything is sitting pretty much on top of the limestone foundation, and it's drier and hotter. It's also one of the big surfing locales, so it had a more touristy vibe. The beaches were beautiful, though. On Saturday we walked from where we were staying at Padang Padang to Dreamland Beach, which I'm going to go ahead and claim earns its name. We also went to Pura Uluwatu, one of the larger temples in the area, and narrowly escaped being jumped on by monkeys. (Seriously, the monkeys around here are mean -- when you enter the temple there are signs telling you to hide any jewelry because the monkeys will steal it.)

Sylvie and Frances at Pura Uluwatu (imitating one of the better tourist poses).


Part of Pura Uluwatu. Note the evil, evil monkeys.

And to wrap up, to answer the comments from last post:

Mom -- I definitely will give my host family your greeting. I told them that you want to come visit now because of the snow, and they informed me that you are most welcome.

Ryan -- Ubud is kind of like very mini Beijing in the touristy sense, but it's a lot smaller and also I think more artsy. My bapak and ibu totally are rockstars. They speak a little bit of English, but not a ton -- enough to facilitate our communication. Also enough for my ibu to tell me her opinions of the characters on the soap opera we watch together.

J -- not yet. I'm working on it! I hear Jimbaran is the place for seafood, though.

Righto. Don't get too snowed in, all!

Selamat sore dari Kerambitan!

Good afternoon from Kerambitan! (If you're looking at the map, Kerambitan is in Tabanan regency, in the southwest region of Bali). We're staying at Puri Saren Kangin, which is the family complex of a branch of the royal family here. Crazy, right? It's not a palace, just a large family complex with shrines and other buildings all over the place. Also some crazy birds that mimic people, and a cat that has adopted me. (We've named it Bising, which means "noisy" in bahasa Indonesia, because it yells at us all the time, especially when we're eating.) Here are some pictures:

One section of Puri Saren Kangin, where we're staying in Kerambitan. (Click for a bigger version.)

A sawah (rice field) not far from the puri. The mountain in the distance is Batukaru.

Most of our time has been spent studying bahasa Indonesia -- probably around 6-7 hours per day. As a result, it feels like we've been here for weeks, rather than just a few days. Some of our assignments have been things like going around the pasar (market), bartering for random fruit (mangosteen is quite possibly my new favorite fruit, along with another called salak, I think, or something to that effect) and other things. The people around here think we're all hilarious and tease us all the time. Today we went to the market in Tabanan and bought pakaian adat, the clothing worn for rituals and holidays.

Us in our pakaian adat. From left, Sylvie, Lucas, me, Aaron, Frances, and Lukas.

Yesterday we did our "drop-off," which is pretty much what it sounds like. The teachers dropped us each off more than walking distance from the puri, about ten minutes away from one another. We had an hour to spend walking around and talking to people. This confused most people until I told them "saya mahasiswa" -- I am a university student, at which point they started asking me all sorts of questions. One guy gave me his business card and made fun of me for not having one to give him; another told me about his job working at an Italian restaurant in Kuta. (His favorite Italian food is spaghetti.) I also learned lots of people's ages, and met several people named Wayan. Another student on the trip, Lucas, met a kid with the same birthday as him.

We haven't had much free time, what with all the bahasa study, but we have found a few hours to get to the beach. The beaches here in Tabanan are black sand and, it goes without saying, absolutely beautiful.

Would a blog post from Bali be complete without a beach photo? Actually, oddly enough, most Balinese don't like to swim.

We've also gotten a brief gamelan lesson where we learned the main melody for the Topeng dance (the mask dance). I'm not very good at it, but some of the other students on the program were much more talented. When we get to Bedulu, we all get to start an art program where we study with someone in Bedulu or Ubud. We can choose any art form we want -- I'm thinking I'd like to apprentice with the Topeng mask maker. We go to Bedulu this Saturday (we have to find our own way there by bemo, public transportation), and that afternoon will meet our host families. I'm a bit nervous, but things like the drop-off and our excursions into the pasar have definitely helped -- I'm not feeling quite as concerned about being able to communicate. Of course, I'll only really be able to communicate confidently about things like how old people are, where I'm from, and how much various things cost, but that's not too big a deal. Everything is coming quickly, and in the pasar I'm finding I speak a lot more than I think.

I'll be heading back to the puri now, as soon there will be dinner and more class. More updates to come soon, hopefully -- sampai nanti!