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that's what i like about indonesia. their biscuits are so highclass.

my friend rob and i befriended an american named brad, who lived in bali 10 years ago, speaks the language and is a wealth of information as well as just a really good guy. we all went out to hear some jazz and sat down at the only remaining table that would seat three. after we settled in we discovered it had been reserved...for rob! perfect! lucky for us the 'real' rob didn't show up and challenge our rob to a fight for the table or anything.

the jazz band was half regular western instruments and half traditional balinese instruments.

this is a gamelon, a xylophone-type instrument hit with little two-sided hammers (you hit with the dull side and i guess scare people with the sharp). this one was played by two people at once.

look! an actual 'laundry list.' i think this was my first one ever. (see part 2 for the best part, though...)

think left in focket...i think that is a pretenders song, no?

we met an american guy who lived in bali during university 10 years ago and comes back every few years to visit. he invited us to a dinner the family he stays with was making in his honor. we went out to their compouund (most balinese live in family compounds, with several separate rooms for members of the family and a common kitchen, garden and temple. most of the accommodation in bali, including where i am staying, call themselves 'homestays' or 'bungalows' and they are in these compounds. here a member of the family is making offerings around the compound.

the family compound, in a small village outside of ubud

'grandma' taught me how to make the little palm-leaf baskets that they put the offerings in. i spent more than an hour learning and making.

guess which one is mine...

i was getting better and clearly excited about it!

on the left is what it will look like when it's complete--filled with flowers and possibly some food (bits of rice, small crackers, slices of banana...whatever the gods might want to snack on). i was really excited when grandma deemed mine good enough to add to the pile of the the ones they would actually use.

some girls looking on. i'm sure they can do these in their sleep.

then she taught me how to make a different one, which is just a special way of weaving a sliver of palm leaf. it was hard!

these are the end results (three of them). they told us that you put eggs inside them. i couldn't imagine eggs so small but since then i've actually eaten eggs that small and smaller.

and then it was time for dinner. it was the first time i had lawar, which is chopped up vegetables with coconut. and, if you want a red one for a celebration, like we had here, pig's blood. the food was delicious!

mmmm good. we all ate with our fingers (except for this dutch woman who was there working on her thesis about community-based tourism. she also didn't eat most of the food since she doesn't (or can't) eat spice.).