HI, today I'm leaving Bali so this is my last blog entry, sad to say :((( .
I still have one more thing to share. I got to go to an elephant Rescue Sanctuary and got to feed them, ride them, wasch them, take a bath with them. We also had breakfast which was great (we had human food of course, not Bamboo.
They have big ins and outs wich means they eat 250 kg a day and their poop is as big as my head!!!
Today I went on a once in a lifetime experience. I got to ride elephants in water, I got to ride them just alone, I got to wash them and got breakfast. All in one package! I also got to see a talent show of the elephants. I learned the elephants were rescued from Sumatra. Some died on the journey here (Ubud, Bali) sadly. They had four baby elephants and 37 elephants in all at the park. 10 elephants were boys. Here is me riding an elephant in the water.
Me and mom having fun on our elephant ride. Elephants eat a lot! They eat 250kg of food a day. As the trainer told me: "big in!! BIG OUT!!!!" They poop is huge.
I was at the elephant talent show. They asked me to come hold the possible answers to math problems the elephant had to solve. The elephant got it right. I wish I had one of those at home to help me with my math.
Today I felt empathetic for the elephants that got hurt. But they can still do all this stuff.
I learned how to make an offering. The flowers have to go in special places in the little basket. Also, only girls can do it. There is also a special way to cut the bamboo leaves. I learned how to do this at a Balinese house that we were invited to. The mother taught us. We gave the offerings to the family's temple. We got a leaf and put it in between our hands and prayed and then we put it in our hair. Hears a video on how to cut the bamboo leaves and some photos of me making the offering.
We also learned how to cook. I learned how to make Tum. Tum is banana leaf. Inside is a little black leaf. On the black leaf is potato, minced chicken and seasonings (I can't remember them all). You put it all in the leaf and then fold it up and put a stick through it and then place it above boiling water to steam. Then you can take out the wooden stick and you can eat it. It holds its shape from being steamed. I did not like it. It had potatoes in it and I don't like potatoes. I suggest making it with rice and chicken.
I am in Munduk, Bali. Tonight i went to the manager's house of the mountain guesthouse we are staying in. He has a girl who is 9 like me, her name is Sophie like me with an e at the end. She is in 3rd grade like me, dances like me but she dances Balinese. We taught each other how to dance. She taught me Balinese and I taught her Jazz. BUT we didn't speak the same language. We taught each other to speak a little English and Balinese. Here is a video of her teaching me at her home.
She picks out all the red stuff out of her food. I pick out all the green stuff out of my food. Her birthday is on April 11th and mine is on March 1st. We are only five weeks apart. She was very nice and sweet. I wish she lived in America so I could see her more.
This is not where I am right now, but it is from where I was a few days ago (Gili Air - so pretty). I recorded video and I thought you would love it because this pool was a bit of a surprise to me. I hope you enjoy.
Hi guys. Today I will tell you some new words in Balinese. Balinese is different than Indonesian even though Bali is in Indonesia. Its way different and the words are way shorter than English. I can't wait to share all the words with you. So here is what I have learned so far.
Thank you = sukseme
Chicken = ayam
Coffee = cipo
fried rice = nari goreng,
fried nudels = mie goreng
your welkom = mu alee.
I know this one was short but I don't know a lot of words yet. sukseme!!!
I have heard Balinese, Indonesian, French, Spanish, and German (I got to practice it) so far in my trip. I have heard British accents, American accents, New Zealand and Australian. I was so surprised by there being so many different accents. Even though they are all English they sound so different.
Today is all about fruit. I am going to talk about mangosteens, and how to cut a pineapple. You couldn't imagine how many new fruits there are here. Mangosteen is my favorite new fruit. I normally don't like bananas, but they are better here. They are tiny, sweet and super squishy.
Mangosteen
How to eat a mangosteen? I didn't know how to eat a mangosteen the first time I saw one. So let me tell you how.
First you put it in between your hands. Then you push super heard. Next you eat it!!!
Mangosteen are round fruit. At the bottom there's a little flower how ever many petals there are is how many things that you can eat.
You can't eat the out side but you can make tea and medicine.
Pineapple
There is a special way you can cut a pineapple. I was sitting and having at breakfast when the guy working offered me how to cut a pineapple. The final cutting was very pretty. He cut out the eyes and it was pretty. Here are photos of me learning how to do it.
*Note - this photo took 20 minutes to upload
Next time I talk about fruit I will go over snake skin fruit and dragon fruit.
Hi guys. Today I will be going to Gili Air, a small island off Lombok. I do not know if they will have internet. I will try to post but it may need to wait till I get back to Bali. I will be riding on a boat to get to the island. The island is only 1 mile around, which is like tiny tiny tiny.
Yesterday we went to two temples. The first temple, Tanah Lot, we went to you could only go in to the temple if you were blessed by the holy water from a volcano lake on the island. You also were blessed by having rice put on your head. It was very pretty and it was by the ocean. Many ladies had baskets of offerings on their heads that they were carrying down to the temple. I wouldn't highly recommend it, but it would be worth it to go. I didn't want to get blessed so it was a bit disappointing.
When we stopped for lunch, right behind was a rice field. We went out to the rice field and tried to talk to the rice farmers. I found how they harvested the rice interesting. It was very very hot in the rice field and it was very hard work. They stood out there all day just for us to eat rice. It was hard to walk in the rice field because if you didn't step right you would fall down. If you go to Bali and you see a rice field, I suggest to check it out.
The second temple, Uluwatu, was way in the south of Bali. The drive was very long. Though we did take a pit stop at the beach in Jimbaran. It was a beautiful beach that has small waves and big waves. There was lots of coral. It did get deep, but not very quickly. There were cute baby monkeys there swinging from tree to tree!
At Uluwatu, I had to wear a sarong, a long piece of fabric, and if you didn't have a sarong they provided one for you. If you did one have on, you had to wear an orange sash so they knew you were there for the dance. The dance was very amazing, but we had to leave early sadly. I could hear people laughing once we left and I thought we missed the good part.
We were very respectful when we went to the temples and the dance by wearing a sarong. I have appreciation for the rice farmers and the hard work they do. So that's why you don't waste food.
Next time I will be talking about clothes. Soon will be part two of "How to Keep Demons Away". And I am also working on a post or two about food!
Gestern ging ich zum Markt und kaufte einen neuen Badeanzug. Dann sind alle von uns in den Pool gesprungen. Ich freue mich das ich endlich das Brustswimmen richtig gelernt habe.
Waehrend ich hier war, habe ich gesehen dass die Balenesen oft Gaben an ihre Goetter machen. Ich habe hehoert, dass die es drei mal am Tag machen. Ich frage mich ob es zum Fruehstueck, Mittag und Abendbrot ist? Ich werde noch jemanden fragen. Hier ist ein Bild von unser Kellerin die gerade die Gaben austeilt.
Yesterday I went to the market and I got a new swimsuit. Then we all jumped into the pool. Good for me, I got my breaststroke down.
While we have been here, I have noticed that the Balinese give offerings. I know that offerings are made three times a day. I wonder if they do it at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Here is a photo of our waitress giving an offering to the spirits while we had lunch the other day. Also a photo of some other offerings at a statue.
Offerings also are given to make demons happy. Those offerings are usually found on the ground. The demons are from the sea and ground in Bali. You can keep demons out of your house with giant scary statues that scare them away. Demons in Bali can only go straight, so another way to keep them out of your house is to have sharp turns. I wonder why they can only go straight. My assumption is that in the water they normally just go straight so they are use to it.
It is very hard to not step on the offerings, but it is important that you do not step on them. If people see you step on them people will be very disappointed and sad. This is how you respect the people of Bali.
If you know the answer to my questions, please comment so I can learn more.
Today I found a really cool thing which was called a Seawalker. We put on water shoes and we took a boat to a diving deck. We got pads on our shoulders to support our helmets. You shouldn't go under water without a way breathe. I didn't get water in my helmet but my parents did. It was funny. We took photos of us behind a metal heart, jumping and feeding fish. Here are a few:
It was very fun. I would highly recommend it if you visit Sanur, Bali.
As a Seawalker there are my hand signs that you need to understand and to be safe. I made a video so you can see the signs and be prepared to do Seawalking when you visit.
I noticed on the beach today they had yellow and red flags. It marks where the water is good to swim. I also noticed people were standing out in the ocean fishing. We walked in the Indian Ocean. It looks like the water gets deep very slowly which is very different than the Pacific Ocean where I am from. Here is me on the pier so you can see how far out the fisherman go. You can see him in the back.
I was a risk taker and enthusiastic by doing the Seawalking.
PS - When you go down, if you are ever going to do this, your ears plug up. Like in a plane. Its a good idea to clear your ears even before you feel it plug. It hurt me more going up then down.
I was so excited to get to Bali. Though first I had to drive 3 hours from Portland to Seattle. I had 26 hours of travel ahead of me!!! I never knew how hot it would be.
My plane took off at 1:30 am from Seattle. We were technically chasing the sun while we flew to Taipei. When we landed in Taipei it was 4:30 am. The flight was 13 hours long and night the entire time. We flew 6000 miles (9500 km). We flew above the ground 30000 feet (10000 m). I flew 550 mph (880 kph).
When iI got off the plane it was way hotter then I expected. It was 85F (29C). It is very very humid (91%). I did not know what humidity was. We lookt up a video on youtube. Its a measurement of how moist it is. Here is the video I watched:
Just when I thought I had learned enough with weather, humidity and distance I had to learn the differences with the money. First, we had to get money at the Taipei airport. $1 was 32NT (New Taiwanese Dollars). Here is 2000NT which is about $65.
Last night we went to dinner and paid 397,000 IDR (Indonesian Rupiah)! What a big bill. But it was only about $26 US Dollars. The exchange rate of $1 is about 13000 IDR. So $10 is 130,000 IDR. I am having troubles with all the zeros.
I was committed by the flight by being patient on the plane. I am committed to adjusting to the weather because it is very hot and it feels like I am in hot pool. I was also curious about the money. I cant wait to see Bali today.
