2016
Ubud Tales
6 October 2016
Tis the season to be wet! Climate change is happening here too. Bali has not really had a dry season - this year it rained at times right throughout the so-called dry months. The wet season is not due till late October/mid November but there have been monsoonal downpours every afternoon since I've been here. One very dramatic one on Monday that flooded our garden and the fish escaped the pond. Jazz did a great job of finding those that had not made their way back as the waters receded, saving their lives. Despite the downpours, thank god the air is not yet suffocatingly humid as it will become in the coming weeks and months. Love the cool evening air and fresh landscape after the rain stops. Sitting on the verandah after dinner watching the fireflies flitter over the black expanse of sawah is one of my favourite (non) occupations.
The hotel pool where we swim laps is back in commission. We have swum each day this week - one day caught in that downpour, but kept swimming nevertheless. You can't get any wetter than wet. I keep looking down expecting to see exquisite coral and exotic fish, like when we snorkelled in the eastern archipelago we have just sailed through!
Jazz is writing long stories and even a song. What she has read to me is very impressive. She sang the song to me too - extraordinary poetry for a 10-year old. Mind you, the song is a bit grim in its theme of death. Clever imagery. (To paraphrase, "People see me as a bluebird but inside I am a crow".) And to think her last school report said she had yet to develop an understanding of figurative language. She is going to type it up so hope to get hold of a copy. She is becoming quite an eccentric dresser - insists on wearing odd-coloured socks to school and tries to get away with wearing a ghastly navy wool beanie with a Hogwarts logo on it, but they make her take it off in class! Josh succeeded in getting her to have a haircut - first in a year! No shorter, but the ends have been trimmed and it's all thinned out. Easier to get a brush through now.
When I was going through the writers festival online program the other day I found my name is on a main program panel - had not been informed of this by anyone from the festival. I knew I was to interview Ian Burnet on his books and travels in a small evening event at Bar Luna, but not this main event. Happy to take part, of course. Went in to see them at the office to inquire about it. It will be discussing the Emerging Indonesian Writers project that I have translated for these past eight years. The panel will be with Pam Allen, two Indonesian writers and Michael Cathcart of the ABC's Books and Arts radio program. Michael has been coming here and recording his festival interviews for re-broadcasting on his program and has taken back with him the publications of the young Indonesian writers who are given exposure at the festival. Already I had heard from the ABC that he is planning a program on Indonesian literature in which one of my translated stories will be read. And yesterday I got an email from the ABC saying they are doing an online book Crossing Boundaries on Indonesian literature and asking permission to republish three of my translations. (Later: all three were read on ABC.) At long last this project of translating emerging Indonesian writers is getting some recognition on a wider stage! Nice to be part of it.
Busy social day yesterday. Met up with a young American woman who had been given my name by the children's author whose book, The Moon’s Son I translated for the Frankfurt Book Fair last year. He had met Jessica when he had done readings from The Moon’s Son at the international school in Frankfurt where she was teacher-librarian. Anyway back then she contacted me, asking for information about coming to Bali to stay for a while to do some writing, but I never heard back that she had followed through with her plans. Until a few days ago. She has now arrived in Bali, just for a couple of weeks though, after spending the last few months volunteering in schools in Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam. I spent a few hours helping her orient to Ubud and later brought her up to Josh's where we found Scottie and Rama too. A jolly chatty afternoon on the verandah waiting for a storm that never quite happened. Scottie dropped her back to town. Will see her again. She is looking for a meditation centre, the one thing about Ubud I am absolutely no help with!
Then in the evening I caught up with my Dutch friend, Lidwien who has also been volunteering in schools over recent weeks, one in Flores and another in the highlands of Bali. Will put her in touch with Jessica and they can compare notes. I had missed seeing Lidwien when I was in Holland earlier in the year as she was away then too. Lovely meal at my favourite Terazo - after weeks of warung food Lidwien was keen to have something European - relished her smoked salmon penne!
Spent a few hours on Sunday afternoon over at Jasmin's mum's. Two more houses going up in the Taman Petanu Eco village. Although the site is very crowded, the gardens are so lush that you can't see another building from Petra's verandah. Believe it or not, we all spent the afternoon playing cards ("Shit head") with Jasmin. I forget where I learned this charmingly-named game years ago, but only ever seem to play it in Indonesia.
Off to Denpasar with Josh today - he has to be fingerprinted by Immigration which is a regular demand on foreign residents! Then to the Australian Consulate to put in Jasmin's passport renewal application. We neglected to pick up her birth certificate original from Petra on Sunday so are trying to arrange to meet her driver at a point on the way down to deliver it to us. Hope it works out, as it would be a drag to have to go down again another day.
Jazz is writing long stories and even a song. What she has read to me is very impressive. She sang the song to me too - extraordinary poetry for a 10-year old. Mind you, the song is a bit grim in its theme of death. Clever imagery. (To paraphrase, "People see me as a bluebird but inside I am a crow".) And to think her last school report said she had yet to develop an understanding of figurative language. She is going to type it up so hope to get hold of a copy. She is becoming quite an eccentric dresser - insists on wearing odd-coloured socks to school and tries to get away with wearing a ghastly navy wool beanie with a Hogwarts logo on it, but they make her take it off in class! Josh succeeded in getting her to have a haircut - first in a year! No shorter, but the ends have been trimmed and it's all thinned out. Easier to get a brush through now.
When I was going through the writers festival online program the other day I found my name is on a main program panel - had not been informed of this by anyone from the festival. I knew I was to interview Ian Burnet on his books and travels in a small evening event at Bar Luna, but not this main event. Happy to take part, of course. Went in to see them at the office to inquire about it. It will be discussing the Emerging Indonesian Writers project that I have translated for these past eight years. The panel will be with Pam Allen, two Indonesian writers and Michael Cathcart of the ABC's Books and Arts radio program. Michael has been coming here and recording his festival interviews for re-broadcasting on his program and has taken back with him the publications of the young Indonesian writers who are given exposure at the festival. Already I had heard from the ABC that he is planning a program on Indonesian literature in which one of my translated stories will be read. And yesterday I got an email from the ABC saying they are doing an online book Crossing Boundaries on Indonesian literature and asking permission to republish three of my translations. (Later: all three were read on ABC.) At long last this project of translating emerging Indonesian writers is getting some recognition on a wider stage! Nice to be part of it.
Busy social day yesterday. Met up with a young American woman who had been given my name by the children's author whose book, The Moon’s Son I translated for the Frankfurt Book Fair last year. He had met Jessica when he had done readings from The Moon’s Son at the international school in Frankfurt where she was teacher-librarian. Anyway back then she contacted me, asking for information about coming to Bali to stay for a while to do some writing, but I never heard back that she had followed through with her plans. Until a few days ago. She has now arrived in Bali, just for a couple of weeks though, after spending the last few months volunteering in schools in Myanmar, Philippines and Vietnam. I spent a few hours helping her orient to Ubud and later brought her up to Josh's where we found Scottie and Rama too. A jolly chatty afternoon on the verandah waiting for a storm that never quite happened. Scottie dropped her back to town. Will see her again. She is looking for a meditation centre, the one thing about Ubud I am absolutely no help with!
Then in the evening I caught up with my Dutch friend, Lidwien who has also been volunteering in schools over recent weeks, one in Flores and another in the highlands of Bali. Will put her in touch with Jessica and they can compare notes. I had missed seeing Lidwien when I was in Holland earlier in the year as she was away then too. Lovely meal at my favourite Terazo - after weeks of warung food Lidwien was keen to have something European - relished her smoked salmon penne!
Spent a few hours on Sunday afternoon over at Jasmin's mum's. Two more houses going up in the Taman Petanu Eco village. Although the site is very crowded, the gardens are so lush that you can't see another building from Petra's verandah. Believe it or not, we all spent the afternoon playing cards ("Shit head") with Jasmin. I forget where I learned this charmingly-named game years ago, but only ever seem to play it in Indonesia.
Off to Denpasar with Josh today - he has to be fingerprinted by Immigration which is a regular demand on foreign residents! Then to the Australian Consulate to put in Jasmin's passport renewal application. We neglected to pick up her birth certificate original from Petra on Sunday so are trying to arrange to meet her driver at a point on the way down to deliver it to us. Hope it works out, as it would be a drag to have to go down again another day.