My Version of Living in Bali

One sixth of 2016 has passed, here we are in March. I haven’t set a goal or anything this year, as I am quite busy (I know… no one believes that a full time housewife, with no kids can be busy). Never ask us to explain, because there are no words to better express our work in making a house home, even the small space we are currently living. It takes effort so that when the sudden hunger hits in the middle of the night, there is always things that you can process to satisfy your hunger.

So here are my 40 days in Bali, my 40 days without doing anything that requires me to answer and report to anyone.

Here we are in Bali, Beach is something that a must and given the 40 days which equal to almost 6 weekends, we have visited a few different spots in Bali. Don’t ask me if it is nice, it is always nice to be out and have some fresh air (fresh air here includes the pouring rain). It is just nice to look at the vast horizon and no building blocks your view. It is always breathtaking for me. You know me, I am impressed by all the little thing and I take that at as a blessing. Isn’t it tiring to always live with no satisfaction towards anything that you encounter?

And I am setting a goal that we are going for 24 sunsets within a year time at 24 different locations in Bali. Someone has to do the thinking where to go J I, on another hand, will work on the compilation of photos. Teamwork!

 

Food is another good thing here. I am easily satisfied with food, someone isn’t. However, he manages to be impressed by a few restaurant in town. If he is impressed, I am in heaven! It is whole different level of satisfaction. One of the restaurants that made me fly is La Finca. Gosh… the Spanish food there is superb! I also enjoy sitting at Envy, one of the restaurants in Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Bali. When the weather is friendly, you can finish your lunch and just sit there sipping your afternoon tea and listening to the sound of the wave breaking and practically just do nothing! I super love that! The price at La Finca is quite expensive, so that’s once in a while treat. However at Envy, I think it worth every penny you spent! Medan won’t have this kind of quality food, while Singapore will never have the serene ambience. Bali is Good!

 

The good thing of being together is that we are together. Many things that we did a lot alone last few years, we are able to do it together now, that includes simple thing like breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now, morning breakfast and coffee is a must, while dinner at home has become a test and reward moment for us. It is a test for me whether I am cooking well, and it is very rewarding when someone else finish it and ‘clean’ their plate. Those time and heat in the kitchen is made worthwhile. It is also rewarding for the consumer who come back from work and able to enjoy good homecooked food. Isn't it home definition in the most conservative way? Surprisingly I have done quite well in Chinese food, I think. But I wonder if I will ever be able to master the spices used in Indonesian food. I am really clueless.

 

Even in this beautiful Bali, there are days that we just spent lazing around, watching movie, sleeping at home, and do nothing. It is the ordinary day when both of us get to recharge our body and be ready for the upcoming week. Someone was even very kind to buy me the spa session for my birthday while he was working hard a few weeks ago. Thank you, Baby… That was a very good experience!

 

I am also introduced to many different sides of the city, especially the habits of the locals. I gather that Balinese is more polite than people from other cities in Indonesia. I also awed by one of the 'profession' here. It is the seller and buyer of gold jewelry by the road side. They will just have a chair along the street, about 10m -15m distances from one another, and they will just sit there the whole day waiting for people to come to sell their gold jewelry (and maybe something they sell too). That’s pretty boring kind of work, and I wonder if it can give them stable income, but looking at the number of people who do that (sit and wait), I guess it does generate money!

 

Another big thing that I am waiting for is: Nyepi, known as “Day of Silence”. I didn’t know much and not bother to find out more before, because Nyepi is just another public holiday when I resided in another city in Indonesia. This year will be different. It is just two days away, we have already received a notice from the apartment management to inform us not to turn the light on and keep it very quite on 9^th March, from 4pm to the following day. We are also asked not to go out of our house. My partner told me that it will be very quiet that day and everybody who lives in this island, whether or not we are a Hindu, we got to respect that. Even the airport is closed! The night before the Nyepi, the New year, it is said that there will be ritual on the streets while they carry a huge statue (ogoh-ogoh), before actually burning them, this symbolizes the burning of the evil spirits. I have seen quite a bit of them in some of the temples that we passed by, and I am really excited about it. I wonder how it will turn out that day, will it be boring or serene kinda day? But it is always nice getting to know other cultures. It might be similar to the Konghuchu, or it might be totally different, the most important thing here is to respect.

So… here is a glimpse of my version of Living in Bali.

One more thing, I initially planned to take a few months break here, but not doing anything (cooking and house chores excluded) are a bit boring. So I am starting my teaching again by end of this month. The challenge is not in the work itself, I am pretty sure I will do perfectly fine or even good. The challenge is getting up early. Instead of teaching private class, I am teaching at school for real now. The bad news is school start at 7.15. Wish me luck! Next month, I am wearing a few hats at the same time, I am a teacher, I am a wife, and I am a daughter! A few responsibilities on shoulder, but I would like to do all well. J All the best~