1. I set my alarm to wake up at 7:15 because of the solar eclipse (which like every day I've set an alarm so far, was superfluous because I can't seem to sleep past 6:00, nonetheless, insurance). Then I went out to my balcony to establish whether or not said balcony would be adequate for watching eclipse. It was insufficient. Hm. Well. I had to fix this. I scoured my surroundings to try to figure out a better vantage point. Would I need to totally disobey Hari Nyepi Raya and leave the house? Then I looked up and realized that the plants on the roof appeared to be potted and just past my room the first two nights, there were stairs. "A roof deck?" I wondered. I headed over. And to my GREAT delight, found this:
Seriously. I know. Also, as you can see from the dearth of clouds and obstruction, a perfect solar eclipse viewpoint. I ran downstairs back to my room, got more water, made cold nescafe (ew, btw, ew) and went back upstairs to wait.
2. The total solar eclipse wasn't totally visible throughout all of Indonesia--I think only 12 of its 34 provinces would be able to see the total eclipse, with Sumatra having the best viewing. The internet was a little bit mixed as to the eclipse portion Ubud would see, but being 90 minutes north of Denpasar, which was more accurately predicted to see a 70-80% eclipse I figured wasn't a terrible sign. Alas. The eclipse started. It did not, even remotely, get darker. The eclipse reached its maximum and while much of the rest of Indonesia talked about it "being like twilight" or the area "being filled with a blueish hue" and seeing the sun do this, this is what I saw:
What you absolutely cannot tell is that the sun is 70-80% eclipsed in this picture. I have no more to say on this subject other than it is true what they say: one can truly not have it all.
3. I made a list of the things I want to do while I'm here (e.g., go to a cooking class in honor of Sam and Peter, Elaina's herb tour, various temples that seem worth visiting, etc.) and a list of inexpensive restaurants to try.
4. I read a lot. In fact, so much so, that I finished War & Peace. I KNOW. I've carried that book to two different continents now and while I am not sure I'd recommend reading some of it, putting it down for three-nine months, repeat until it's finished, I have to say, bravo Tolstoy. Bravo. Perhaps I'll read it again someday.
5. I wrote a number of postcards.
6. I totally cheated and talked to Lauren. I know. But also, my homestay family had friends over and they were talking and having fun and laughing and I had fomo. Plus, my homestay family was not uber-observant and thus did not turn off the electricity (internet/fans) for the entire day, though I did not go on the internet or my phone for nine hours in a row. Some points?
7. Oh. Lunch. Because there is no fire, there is no cooking, and I had to prepare not to waste away. So I went to the grocery store (there is a market is conveniently next to my school) the day before to procure some snacks. Behold:
What we have here is half a sandwich (nutella and banana) from breakfast I saved like a food hoarder, some garlic roasted peanuts, some crackers, a grapefruit, honey and ginger cashews, a granola bar (from home), left over gummy bears from the plane, cheese from a box that worryingly need not be refrigerated (in fairness, who am I to judge, really? I once drank out of a puddle saturated with Hep A), and a flask of bourbon. Plus. I had in my backpack a knife and a spork! Anyway, I was so incredibly pleased with the success of my snack meal, that once I finished the pulp of the grapefruit, I went down to get a mug and squeezed in the juice and then added some bourbon and cheersed to myself. But quietly.
Also. My lunch was so great, I invited a friend to join me:
8. In the afternoon, it got really cloudy and threatened to thunderstorm (as it often does) and then didn't, which led me back up to the roof deck mostly to watch the dozens and dozens of herons fly overhead to Petulu Village for an hour or so. It was lovely. And quiet. Other than the cacophony of other bird calls, which engulf the city's audio environs when not drowned out by motorbikes and cars. So that was really nice.
9. Then my homestay host surprised me by offering to make me an egg and toast for dinner, which was really nice of him. He also introduced me to his mother, with whom I attempted to talk and then very quickly realized, "oh yeah, not there yet."
10. By 7:00, the sun had set and it was incredibly dark. On Hari Nyepi Raya, you don't turn on the lights after sunset, which is fine, except from not moving all day, you're not even a little bit tired (although I did appreciate the break from needing so many showers each day) and I could neither read or study (either would have been my preference) because when I put my headlamp on to try, my eyes kept not focusing on the words (also I bizarrely seem to have lost my glasses since I've been here, which is sort of an annoying thing to have lost), so I gave up, grabbed my gummy bears and bourbon and watched Downton Abbey on my phone. I'm just a person.
Anyway, it wasn't terrible. And in fact, I think that a whole culture tells its residents to pause for 24 hours is sort of nice. Imagine if America did that--there would be panic! Which, tbh, is probably an indication of how badly so many Americans need to pause more often.
Today was back to school, where I felt totally overwhelmed and sort of dumb--which I knew would happen eventually, though wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. And then I tried to walk to the running group I had found, only, google map was totally off re: how long it would take me to walk there, so I missed it. So feeling dirty and defeated, I bought myself ice cream and a dress, which I am pleased to say, I think I did a pretty good job bargaining for ($5.50).
Things I need to do more: study and use uber.
Meanwhile, I did have this conversation with my [new] teacher, which I think at least some people will find funny:
guru: use "banyak" in a sentence, please.
me: Ada banyak anjing di Ubud (there are many dogs in Ubud)
guru: and?
me: Mereka tinggal di jalan (they live on the street)
guru: Apakah banyak anjing di Amerika? (are they many dogs in America)
me: Ya, tapi mereka tinggal rumah-rumah dan punya nama (yes, but they live in homes and have names)
guru: Oh. Apakah mereka tinggal di kadang? (oh. do they live in cages?)(also, I should point out at this point, Guru is sort of disgusted by the fact that dogs live in homes)
me: Uh, tidak, mereka tidak tinggal di kadang. Mereka tinggal di rumah jalan-jalan. (No, they do not live in cages. They live in homes and roam/travel around)
guru: Jalan-jalan? (Roam around? And he uses his hand to demonstrate "walking around" to make sure I'm using it correctly.)
me: ya, ya. Jalan-jalan.
Guru: oh. (again, makes a face of disgust). Moving on. . .
Dogs: friends not food. #america
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