...with Bali. with Greg & Katy. With Suryani and her children Suma and Made (“mah-day”). With the sense of humor, lightness, and beauty with which the Balinese seem to carry themselves and relate to one another. With dogs Goa and Manis. with this house. With the shrines and temples EVERYWHERE.
Greg and i went to the market yesterday to get me a few sarongs and it was a riot to watch Greg and the women in the market haggle and play with one another - there accumulated a throng of about 10 women, all laughing at/with (at!) him, hassling him, and he just ran with it and dished out as good as he got. it was truly delightful. after a little tour of what’s what in the area, lunch at a warung (roadside stall-cum-“cafe”), we drove back and happened to pass a cremation, the ceremony and gathering of and for which were in fields on either side of the road. well, last night, after Katy returned home from work (she is the director of a school here), we all piled in to Greg’s VW Thing with the top down (G & K, me, Suryani’s kids , and the dogs) and drove to the beach. a lovely walk, etc, and on the return, i heard and then saw a gathering at the water’s edge , from which the most beautiful gamelan could be heard, mixed with the sound of the waves…it was most likely the very same cremation ceremony we had come across earlier - the last part of a Balinese cremation involves scattering some of the ashes in the river, some in the sea, and a final bit gets taken up and scattered on a rather sacred mountain one can see in the distance from here. it was quite moving to see, and listen to…something particularly powerful and gorgeous about gamelan on a beach, in a “real” context… Greg said he has asked people and the average percentage of their time people say they spend in activities related to their temple seems to be about 30%!!! …oh and i love Balinese cows, too - they are particularly beautiful, and look a bit like a cross between a cow and a deer. one day old calf in the field above the beach…<3
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December 2016
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