in case you were wondering......i have a great

Cappuccino at Casa Luna (the best Jerry the Best!)

travelin' woman
Social Life!  The micro in the macro.
Yes, living "in town" means I walk everywhere and everything is an opportunity.

• literary evenings  (with mostly ex-pats) interviewing authors,readings and engaging conversation
• Theatre and music performances
• convivial times at restaurants with people from all over the world (lots of open seating, bonding over mixed fruit elixirs,Storm micro-brewery ale and great organic food
• Live music at JazzCafe..... with Dancing
• invitations........ to people's homes (balinese and ex-pat) 
• Working with Threads of Life and helping them create a new economic development start up business with natural dyes(www.threadsoflife.com).  

• AND PARTiES

Christmas day I spent at Janet deNeefe's home with about 20 other expats (although i was the only American).  The champagne flowed, the stories expounded, (lots of writers) the food was magnificent.  Janet is Lady Bountiful and opened her home with graciousness and warmth.  After four hours at a grand  banquet table (lovely sit down meal of no less than 12 dishes of curries,lawars, salads,vegetable stews and her famous bakery, "Honeymoon" breads, she announced that she had cars waiting for us downstairs to take us to "Indus" (another restaurant she owns overlooking the Campuan ridge and river) , for live music and dessert.  The party continued there for another 4 hours. During our time there, another monsoon deluge ensued , and watching the misty ridge appear, and the passion flower vines re-appear just added to the magic.
I feel lucky and grateful to be with "this" expat community of people.  They are established with great minds that they use..... literary........ and of course great FUN!
The invitation came from her on Thursday and i thought....perplexedly ....what can I possibly bring???? She has everything..... restaurants,cooking school,has lived in Ubud for over 25 years........ so I went on a wild goose chase trying to find "Banana Grams" (she is a word person, has 4 children) and so many irons in the fire..... It's a great way to relax!  No Luck!  Then i remembered I had seen a flower show and they had orchids...... it took me an hour to decide ( i drove the seller crazy) and then attempted to walk home with a 4-5 FOOT orchid.  
At the party, we were discussing the theme of the next Ubud Writer's Festival (which she founded and runs) and it will be "The Landscape Within".  I suggested Pema Chodron.  She had never heard of her. On Sunday I ran around looking for a book written by her; no luck; I lent her my copy of "Comfortable with Uncertainty".  Those of you  who are familiar with her know that along with being a spiritual teacher her writing is magnificent.
And she tours.
So we'll see.

Trance ceremony at Baksabali

walking up to the temple ; notice the young girls in temple ceremonial costume
We drove about an hour northeast of Ubud.  The Roda family  organized this expedition.  This trance ceremony is quite famous throughout Bali and people come from all over the island to witness it.  It is always held at the culmination of Galungan, the holiday is Kuningan,(the ancestors are told to go back to the spirit world).

throngs of Balinese congregate

from all over the island, people come to witness this
It was in stifling heat, nary a breeze to be found.  I had spent the morning praying in the temple but had gone home to rest for two hours prior to leaving because I still had "Bali Belly".
I was not going to miss this. (I had actually stayed home from a party the night before due to illness). 

procession happening outside of temple
I was crammed into a pavilion I could barely breathe

,

offerings being carried into temple
there were thousands of people all trying to crane their necks to understand what they were seeing.  I could not see everything but after offerings and prayers,

note the headdresses..... the perfume from the flowers is Heady!

young girls in ceremonial costume

young boys and men carry these
that went on for about an hour , there were groups of young boys and men (about a dozen per bamboo "ladder
with offering " attached.   They all held onto this and there were about 6-8 groups.  They encircled the area outside the temple,  faster and faster and faster and then would Collide:  like Bumper Cars!  They would pile on top of one another,  then extract themselves and do this over and over.  This lasted for over 2 hours.  Some of the young men exhibited head rolling and closed eyes, but most were just trying to survive the speed and hold on and not get trampled.  The frenetic electricity was quite palpable in the air.  It reminded me of a Grateful Dead concert circa 1971. 

the black and white fabrics are always on temple statue, referencing light and dark= balance
 It was hard to discern.  I have seen  whirling dervishes in Turkey, central America potion drinking "trips", the "black hat " dance in Bhutan, Sufis in Afghanistan and NYC,
seen the African dancing, with the strong beats and repetitive head bouncing......all very authentic and
all these individuals went Somewhere.  
These Balinese kids were transported by the experience (group), and were "supported" by the "ladder"  ......it all looked very differently than what I've seen before.  A few were carried into the entrance of the temple.  But for me, this is where it really began in earnest.

I

inside of temple
We all move into the temple

man dancing with Kris

This man had been dancing in the courtyard the entire time, alone and devising his own theatrical ritual.    He holds his "Kris" a very deadly curved/wavy and serrated knife.  Balinese warrior knife.

notice the direction in which he points his kris    

  He is inside the temple , and begins an elaborate dance m called the colounargan where he begins to be at "war" with himself, "stabbing" himself (the knife is not real, but plastic) Faster and faster , on point with one leg extended outward  on his knee. Broad gestures , faster and faster.

studied dance of the warrior

He is a warrior.  All this time a priest is blessing him with holy water; spraying it on him with palm fronds

he moves up and down the temple corrider

t 

and he is surrounded by supporters

Other men surround him and support him as it becomes clear that he is succumbing into trance......and

He is held up to the audience so they can see his non-responsiveness 

   

 

travelin' woman  
He falls.  The priest keeps showering him with holy water.
He is not of this world.  I asked for an explanation.  I was told by Rudy (one of the Roda brothers) that he may "see" some black magic/evil things that are in the village and will try and disperse them.
Otherwise, since the beginning of time, we have been trying to go deeper into the mystery.

Street Life in Ubud : Kuningan morning

How more beautiful can you be?

EEEEEEEK!    No Helmet!

Street life in Ubud is very alive and filled with the diversity of the ever present motor scooter, car, bicycle and pedestrian.  Very SE Asian.  There are no lights or stop signs. And when you go out of town and there is a traffic light; they just go right through it!  This is all contrasted by the humanity sitting around on the sidewalks, taking it easy, or the ever present shopkeeper sitting with the wares or the ever- haranguing 
taxi/scooter taxi men asking for "transport?"  "Later" "Tomorrow"  "where you going"  all very politely, but insistently. It's Mayhem!  But at least is is Pleasant Mayhem.
I just want to throw out there an anecdote, my own observation.

she makes offerings in my "neighborhood"

outside Ina Inn, I've watched it "grow"

Jalan Raya- main road in Ubud

outside Ina Inn

offering on main road; rice and food is for the animals

offering on bike for protection (and they need it!)

Jalan Kajeng- Kulingan morning

hangin' out on Kulingan morning

95% of the Balinese people smile with me and meet my gaze as I walk along the streets.  Greeting me with the appropriate saying (for the time of day).

30% of foreigners  smile or greet or have an exchange with their eyes.

Draw your own conclusion.
Mine is sadness.  But I hope to learn from this culture  that there is another way to be.

offerings in the mouth of the naga, Kuningan morning

Jalan Kajeng- penjors

outside Roda home and temple

Jean, Bill, Pung and Susan at Roda home

Roda family member who blessed me

Yes they do a lot of texting here in Ubud!

   

I will relay a story though.  I was having a capuccino at Casa Luna, during a typical monsoon deluge, and studying my Indonesian for class.  In walked a man I knew casually (gay) ; a long time ex-pat from Australia, former teacher who was living an openly gay life here with his Balinese young lover.  He came over to introduce the man to me and kissed me on both cheeks. Since then, one of the male relatives of the woman who owns Casa Luna, has begun to ignore me.   So even in this open culture, there is still ignorance and ill tolerance.  They feel that if you are gay ; you have "bad" karma! This saddens me too.  Pregnant girls without husbands can be spurned.  The child then doesn't have a family (the female traditionally lives with her husband's family.)  Anything that threatens the family unit is spurned or purged.  Their culture depends on  the family compound and the strength that come with this.  There is always a "shadow" side: one cannot experience any light without it's opposite, and reflector, darkness