Groton Bali 2013: 08-05-13 First Day: Dancing and Shadow Puppet Show

First day in Bali started by waking up with the sounds of roosters, which are running and flying along the roads in Mengwitani. My Balinese family lives in a traditional but modernized compound. Ibu Desak and Pak Catra are the parents and they have 3 children, Adi, Dwi and Komang Agus. They are a family of dancers singers and gamelan musicians.

After breakfast, I met the niece of our Balinese family, Kadek, and learned some basic Balinese dance moves. She has been dancing since childhood and speaks enough English to communicate. In the fall, Kadek will be off to college, majoring in an extinct and ancient Indonesian language, kawi. It was surprising for me when I first arrived, seeing how well Balinese keep their culture intact while tourists keep flooding in, and after talking to Kadek, I felt strong sense of obligation to carry on the rituals and traditions that were passed off from her parents. She was simply so proud of their daily ceremonies and prayers and felt natural to do the way her parents did.

Nothing was planned in the afternoon. But lunch took place at 2 PM because Balinese also don’t have any schedule for meals either. Then I took a walk around the village, Mengwitani. It was as cool as spring. T-shirt or a light jacket would be nice. Few local people speak English; that is one of the things I regret the most about – didn’t really learn some basic Indonesian before the trip. Because local residents were so not used to tourists or foreigners in the village, people in the neighborhood would turn around and look at me with a smile; young people on motorcycles often stop and ask me I need a ride or where was my destination (at least I guesses so); elementary school students, all in uniforms and girls putting their hair into two ponytails, were most excited to see me – they yelled “hello” “what’s your name” or “how are you doing” from afar, and laughed at my babbling of English when I replied. Everyone was amazed at a foreign face but they were all so friend

ly and hospitable. I am truly enjoying my stay at this village so far. It’s a well modernized place but definitely traditional and not overly “westernized”.

At night we followed Ibu Desak to her performance as a singer for shadow puppet Play. We had the chance to sit backstage by her invitation. All the puppets for the show were exquisitely designed and overly decorated. They stand for characters in Hindu story , the Ramayana. If I simply stayed with the crowd, I would not see how colorful all the puppets were. Even though in the play people only watch their shadows, every single one of them was nicely painted. When I left the backstage, what I saw on the square also surprised me. There was no limitation of age, gender, education or origin, so many people gathered for such a simply performance. Balinese are very engaged into this kind of community gathering . The play has their full attention and they laugh at all of the Dalang's ((puppeteer's) many jokes.

After we got back it was almost 1 AM. We were all exhausted and fell asleep quickly. Every moment in the future is unpredictable, just like I can’t imagine shortly after I wake up next morning, I will be attending a huge family cremation ceremony called mamukur and a tooth filing ceremony for young people. This a rite of passage ceremony before people can marry. This land is so fascinating!