I wake up this morning to buckets of rain pouring down from the sky. I can hear the little creek behind the house filling up with water. I planned to go to an 8:00 yoga class, but there is no way Im going out on the motorbike in this weather. I decide to stay in bed for a while and read the last few pages of my book, “A House in Bali” by Collin McPhee. It was a fantastic read. I bought it the day after I arrived in Bali but it has taken me 3 months to read it, along with all the other wonderful texts that have come into my life since I’ve been here. Collin McPhee was in Bali in the 1930’s to study and record gamelan music. He writes with a wonderful style and I have enjoyed the book very much. I’m sorry to see it end.
I’m thinking of my friends in the US who are all getting ready to watch the big Oscar Awards show today. It’s always my favorite day of the year and I love to go to a party, drink champagne and see what the actors are wearing and who will win. I will go to an internet café later to get online and see what the outcome of the show is.
I look across the street to the flooded rice fields and the green palms swaying in the rain. About 8 motorcyclists have taken refuge under the eves of the closed shop in front of the field. It’s too dangerous to drive, but they know it should be over soon. In a while, the man who owns the shop will come and open the doors and make his prayers and offerings in front of the small temple at the side of the shop. I love watching him do this each morning.
The rain is pouring off the roof of my open air home. The pond in the middle of the yard is filling with rainwater. The beautiful purple, yellow and white orchids that hang from pots on the trunk of the trees are loving the moisture. Rain water splashes onto the floor and I have to be very careful when I walk close to the edge on the slick marble tiles. I love this house and feel so grateful for the chance to live in it. I’m comfortable here and it has become a place of social activity, with people stopping by, coming over for dinner and yoga and tai chi classes taking place here during the week. My friend Wendy will arrive next week from Australia to stay for a month and it will be nice to share this place with her.
I light a stick of incense as I do each morning and evening, place some fresh flowers around it as an offering of my thanks, make a cup of hot chamomile tea with a spoonful of honey and begin to write. The geckos leave little presents of their droppings on the table, so I must clean it off before I sit down and open my computer. A cat has come into the kitchen and knocked over the garbage pail to get at the few scraps of tuna left from last nights dinner that I brought home from the small warung down the street. I get a beautiful meal of rice, veggies and tofu or tuna for about 10,000 rupiah, which is about 1 US dollar.
While waiting for my meal, I walk a half a block down the street to the Banjar, the local meeting place for the village where I live. They play music every night and have been busy making the Ogo-Ogo for the celebration coming up called Nypie.
I feel that some explanation is definitely needed here: The villages in Bali are created in a similar fashion to the Mormon “wards” in Utah. There is the head of the Banjar, like the president of the village. He makes sure all is going well with the people and heads up meetings and discussions for the village. Each Banjar has a music group, or gamelan, as well as a dance group who perform for the villages. There is always a huge temple in the village where important festivals and celebrations take place.
Nypie is a holiday that happens once a year in Bali, on March 5. It is a completely silent day. The whole island is closed for business. Not even an airplane can fly into Bali on Nypie. Everyone stays inside their home, do not use electricity or phones and uses the day to be with family and reflect and pray. Most people fast for the day and have a light meal after it gets dark. What a wonderful thing. It would be great if the whole world would take one day like this. Imagine all the resources we would save in one day, and the personal gifts that would come from it.
In the month before Nypie, each village creates great Ogo-Ogo statues made out of styrofoam. The Ogo-Ogos are fantastic and colorful and great works of art. They are scary demon looking creatures that are meant to scare away all bad energy and forces from the island. They are in many different forms and colors. The one in my particular village is a 12 foot tall woman with great giant breasts hanging down. She looks like she’s flying through the air and is holding a scary looking beast in one of her hands. I don’t know what she looks like because her head has not been placed on her body yet.
Each Banjar has a poster in front of the statues to show who has donated what amount to go towards the making of the Ogo Ogo. I talk to the boys for a while and tell them that I would like to make a donation of 100,000 rupiah. They excitedly accept and ask me to write my name on the board. “Ibu Christine. Chantik (beautiful) namanya” (name) they say. “Terimakasi! Terimakasi!” Which means Thank you. I am so happy to be part of this community and glad to play a very small part.
On the day before Nypie, all the statues in the area are paraded through the streets, musicians follow them, along with all the people from the village. They are all taken to the soccer field in the center of Ubud which is between Hannoman and Monkey Forest streets, and burned in a great fire. I am so looking forward to seeing and taking part this wonderful event.
It looks like the rain has stopped for now and there is the promise of blue sky in the distance. The day feels fresh and new.
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