Let's Build a Kitchen

    I was sitting with my friends at their house, and he randomly said, "Let's build the kitchen."  He had laid the foundation a few weeks earlier and had been gathering scraps of wood and roof to use for the small side kitchen.  And apparently, now he was ready.
   So we started putting it up.  No measuring, no leveling, just trial and error and lots of eyeballing.  It was done in about 1.5 hours.  As we were building it, Supri (the guy with the hat) told me that it's nice living in the village, because no one really cares about how things look.  It just matters it's functional or not.
   It was functional: A tin roof, woven bamboo for walls, and dirt on the floor.  I'll probably be enjoying coffee and food from that kitchen in the next few days...

The Good Ole Days

 Last week I got to head down to our old neighborhood and hang out with some old friends.  We lived in this area when we first came to Bali.  Back then we were just learning the language and trying not to do anything culturally offensive.

These guys were always willing to let the bule (white guy) come and practice language with them.  A lot of them were just teenagers back then...

Now they're all growing up, getting real jobs, some are even getting married.

Great group of guys...

New Arrivals

Every morning at about 4:45am, the chickens in our neighborhood start to wake up and make all the noises that chickens make. Our neighbors right across the street have several chickens, and they recently had about 18 little chicks hatch.

Jaiden and Kenan have really enjoyed hanging out with their friend Bayu (in the picture) and the new baby chickens.

Friends!

Technology is great. Sometimes, people think that we live in a mud hut and all of our friends wear grass skirts and ceremonial headdresses. That's generally not the case... I've been sending facebook messages back and forth to my friend Gede. He sent me this picture of him and his family.

Most of our Indo friends keep up with facebook and twitter. It's been great to catch up with them on facebook, the only downside is that it makes us want to get back to Bali sooner...

Day Trip

We're heading to America on the 31st of May, so we've been trying to spend lots of time with friends before we leave. One of those times was last Saturday, when we went up to Bedugul with our friends, Komang and Dayu. Balinese people don't take fun trips too often, so this was a pretty exciting day for them. We visited a botanical garden, a lakeside temple/park, fed the wild and crazy monkeys, then had lunch up on the mountain ridge. It was a good time.

Dayu likes to talk, and we like to listen. Komang is a great guy, even though he looks like a bit of a thug in this picture. They are planning on getting married in 2011.

Dayu hanging out with the wild monkeys on our way up the mountain.

No Cameras Please

Kristi has been working on perfecting the art of making sumping. It's an Indonesian snack made of rice flour, pumpkin, coconuts, and some other stuff. They're steamed for a long time and wrapped in a banana leaf. They're really good.

I came down to take a picture of the process, and neither Kristi or Ibu Andi were too thrilled about their pictures being taken. So this is all you get to see...

A new friend...

This is my new friend Pak Wayan. I met him on the side of the road, and have since seen him a couple of times.

He lives in a remote area. I made the mistake of driving a car instead of a motorbike to this water source near his home, and it was a bumpy, sandy, difficult ride (I feel like I am gaining lots of experience for a future career in 4x4 racing).

He has a genuine concern for the people of his village, and I enjoy my conversations with him. Hopefully we will be able assist him in getting clean water to the community near his home.

Us with Daniel, Karrie, and Chase at Tanah Lot.

Gita and Jaiden had fun playing while the penjor was being put together and decorated...