Saturday, 4Nov06
Highlights: catching up blog, getting Kadek Ayu registered for school at Univ. Dwi Jendra, visiting Tabanan & Pak Putu Swamana
It’s taken some time to fill in all my notes & catch-up the stories,,, and since I’m in Bali- I limited myself to a couple hours of sitting on the patio of my bungalow,,, exercising the laptop.
Arjana bungalows is a little ways off the main road, and as I walked to downtown Ubud, a common theme I heard in several shops along the way is time measured in weeks since the last customers had come in & bought anything. Taking into account a few shop-keepers just trying to pull money out of my pocket via bleeding heart-strings,,, most of them I believed. Bali had a better tourism month in October because of Ramadan & many folks traveling, but tourism on the whole is still far down from years past. It takes a long time to recover from the stigma of 2 bombings in 3 years.
I jumped on a scooter with Kadek Ayu Henni after she finished work & got to see the satellite campus of Dwi Jendra University, where she’ll finish school. Registration was only $100, and she’ll pay the rest as she goes each quarter. In the meantime, she’ll keep working at the hotel to pay for basic living. Dad pulled me aside a little later & gave me a very warm thank-you. I’m just happy to make a small difference in the lives of people I come into contact with. I can’t lift Indonesia out of poverty, but I can make a difference in the lives of regular people like myself,,, one friend at a time. It’s a pleasure to help.
Pak Putu Swamana stopped working 6 years ago as a mechanic & driver to become the religious leader in his temple. There is great importance in the family heritage of spiritual leaders here. His father was the religious leader before him, and his father before him.
Mom is a school teacher & operates a small road-side shop in front of their home on the outskirts of Tabanan to supplement their income. They also raise pigs in the back.
Pork is something I never see in Java. Steak & hamburgers is something you won’t see much of here in the Hindu countryside; maybe in the tourist beach areas only. Cow is a sacred animal here.
Highlights: catching up blog, getting Kadek Ayu registered for school at Univ. Dwi Jendra, visiting Tabanan & Pak Putu Swamana
It’s taken some time to fill in all my notes & catch-up the stories,,, and since I’m in Bali- I limited myself to a couple hours of sitting on the patio of my bungalow,,, exercising the laptop.
Arjana bungalows is a little ways off the main road, and as I walked to downtown Ubud, a common theme I heard in several shops along the way is time measured in weeks since the last customers had come in & bought anything. Taking into account a few shop-keepers just trying to pull money out of my pocket via bleeding heart-strings,,, most of them I believed. Bali had a better tourism month in October because of Ramadan & many folks traveling, but tourism on the whole is still far down from years past. It takes a long time to recover from the stigma of 2 bombings in 3 years.
I jumped on a scooter with Kadek Ayu Henni after she finished work & got to see the satellite campus of Dwi Jendra University, where she’ll finish school. Registration was only $100, and she’ll pay the rest as she goes each quarter. In the meantime, she’ll keep working at the hotel to pay for basic living. Dad pulled me aside a little later & gave me a very warm thank-you. I’m just happy to make a small difference in the lives of people I come into contact with. I can’t lift Indonesia out of poverty, but I can make a difference in the lives of regular people like myself,,, one friend at a time. It’s a pleasure to help.
Pak Putu Swamana stopped working 6 years ago as a mechanic & driver to become the religious leader in his temple. There is great importance in the family heritage of spiritual leaders here. His father was the religious leader before him, and his father before him.
Mom is a school teacher & operates a small road-side shop in front of their home on the outskirts of Tabanan to supplement their income. They also raise pigs in the back.
Pork is something I never see in Java. Steak & hamburgers is something you won’t see much of here in the Hindu countryside; maybe in the tourist beach areas only. Cow is a sacred animal here.
posted by jonathan adventures at 5:06 AM
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