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This morning I woke up wide awake (mostly due to jet lag) at 7AM to the sound of an extremely loud bird singing. Despite the bird, I love the room I'm staying in: a large mosquito net canopy surrounds my bed, our bathroom floor is clean (although our shower and toilet literally share the same floor space), and our room is cool despite the intense humidity. Kimia and I explored our grounds a little before getting dressed, and realized that right next to our room is the family's private temple. In Bali, it is custom for every Hindu family to have a temple area on their own compound. The temple area is amazing: extremely ornate statues surround the plaza, and offerings of flowers/rice/incense are scattered through out the temple area and garden. The offerings, according to the homestay owner, are placed in the early morning because they believe that their gods must be fed before they even feed themselves. After getting ready, Kimia and I were given breakfast on our own private patio (we really got lucky with our room, as I said): we had a crepe like banana pancake drizzled with cinnamon/honey/coconut flakes and a fruit salad (papaya, pineapple, watermelon, banana--all drizzled with like juice) and coffee (kinda like Turkish coffee, very strong. Needless to say, it was really good.
After breakfast, everyone at my homestay congregated with the rest of the homestay people (the uci group of 40 is scattered among 5 different homestays) and walked to where our classroom will be for the rest of our time in Bali. The classroom is located in Ubud's mueseum area, and is outdoor. It has an amazing view, and is surrounded by a garden and a bubbling fountain lagoon. Lots of green geckos everywhere too. We had orientation there for about an hour where we listened to general safety info (don't drink the water, etc) and were then divided into groups of four to fulfill a scavenger hunt. My group and I were extremely busy the entire time, and some our tasks included: find a rice paddy, ask a stranger to teach us some Balinese dance moves, eat an exotic fruit, etc. While walking around, we stumbled on the sacred monkey temple which is a tourist area in which there are hundreds of monkeys that just chill at a temple hidden in the rainforest. It cost 30,000 rupiah to get in (less than $2) and it was totally worth it! The monkeys were super aggressive, some even were climbing on people trying to snatch food or their cameras! Some were pretty cute though, like the babies who rode on their moms backs. While we were taking pics, one of the monkeys stole Por You's (a girl in my scavenger hunt group) water bottle and drank it! It was pretty fun, and Ill definitely be going back again later. We hung out at my homestay until 5, when we turned in our sheet to the supervisors (we find out what group wins tm, and then that group gets an "excellent" prize). We were on our own for dinner tonight, and me and three other girls went to a local place where I had chicken satay with rice (it was good!). Dinner was done by 7, and I walked home and was home by 715. The rest of the night I've been catching up on some well needed downtime. Tomorrow I get up at 5AM, cause we will be going to a local market which is only open from 6-8. Gotta catch up on sleep now!
- comments
Mom Beautiful pics! How old are the temples? And do you really need to get that close to a monkey?(haha)
Aunt Shari Wow, the food sounds great...Now I'm hungry! ?Aunt Shari
Aunt Lissa It's so neat to hear your stories and to imagine what it must be like to be there...your room with the canopy cover, your squawking birdy alarm clock...and boy!...what a breakfast. Except for the humidity, it sounds pretty heavenly. Gotta look out for those little monkeys though! The sacred monkey temple sounds fasinating and at $2 a pop, quite the deal. Keep the stories coming. By the way, you're a really good writer!!!!What's winning "tm?" (or is that a typo?). I love you. Stay safe and have fun. Take good care of yourself and your friends. OOXX