Setengah

Well, here I am. I'm halfway through my class and subsequently, time here. Two weeks ago I was on a plane and two weeks from now, I'll nearly be on a plane again. So, to celebrate, I'm sitting on my balcony drinking a beer, eating potato chips, listening to Susie's cl@$$!cz mix (speaking of music, Becky, in the indomaret--mini market--that Beiber song that I love and that you love, not sorry, the other one was on--and I definitely lingered to listen, enjoy the air conditioner, and thought of you) and have to figure out how to get to the beach tomorrow since the very cheap and very convenient shuttle bus doesn't run in low tourist season. I suppose now is as good as time as any to get into uber. Plus, I have like fourteen discount/free ride coupons from Ben. Bonus.

Today at school I moved from the beginners' book to the intermediate one. I have spent the preponderance of the week being a little bit grumpy, a lotta bit overwhelmed, and rationally, being too hard on myself. I've been eating with the teachers at lunch most days, which is both nice for purposes of listening to people talk at real speed and trying to figure out how much I can decipher as well as it's insanely cheap (around $1.05/meal). Anyway, yesterday they were talking about how smart they think and I am and how impressed they are I know so many words so quickly. And how great my hair is. ("asli?" "ya, asli." "wow. bagus.") That was nice to overhear. I don't know they they knew that I knew the word for smart nor for hair, but alas, I did.

Also today, first I took a motorbike taxi to school because I was running a little late by being on the phone and ugh, it's just.so.hot. and taxis are so.nice. And for 80 cents, it's never a bad choice. AND I get to stay on the phone longer? A no-brainer, frankly. They're often a little bit more expensive, but I'm leaning into being a good bargainer. Anyway, the driver was (in my opinion) unreasonably impressed with my Indonesian--he spoke mostly Indonesian to me, but also English, meanwhile I only spoke Indonesian in response. Anyway, at some point, he told me he helps operate a school that teaches, among other things, English to children, and that if I wanted, he would give me a job there and pay me "pretty good." Tbh, am going to add it to my list of back-up plans, should my current dreams A and B come crashing down. But I told him, for now, no thank you, I have a job in New York--but as it happens, I know a lot about the rules about teaching kids, so it could be really fun in the future, should I be looking for a job.

When I told Okta about this when I got to school, she first laughed, then marveled at my bargaining skills ("I never pay that little, how did you do that?!") and then agreed that my ability to learn Indonesian is remarkably good and that I should think about teaching. That was also nice. Later in the day, she and I debated Hemingway's sexism in A Farewell to Arms (ugh, not even a debate tbh) and the importance of being a feminist. And in doing so, supporting Hillary. All in Indonesian, of course.

Back to me being too hard on myself, probably.  Am certainly not willing to commit to such a position, but recognize its counter.

This weekend. As if being here isn't celebration enough of myself, I'm taking myself to the beach. Because I made it halfway and because maybe that's where I'll find myself. jk. Mostly because Betsy told me to and she's normally right, PLUS what sort of asshole would I be if I came here and DIDN'T learn how to surf?? Ew, that is certainly not who I want to be. Anyway, I found a couple of places to stay and more importantly, found a place to learn how to surf. I met a friend last night that might come with me. She's from the UK and also traveling alone for the first time. Or she might stay in Ubud because it's lovely. Who knows.

Well, now that I've been here for two weeks, here are some things that have made my time immeasurably more enjoyable:

- this balcony and its accompanying giant room;
- the waterbottle that Sarah gave me for Christmas that allows me to drink tap water and attempt to get as much water as I need per day without ever having to buy any;
- my ability to remember huge swaths of information easily and quickly;
- imessage/emails/correspondence;
- facetime dates, even more so;
- the omnipresent smell of incense throughout the city;
- the thousands of herons and monkeys that just hang out here;
- downton abbey;
- the patience, friendliness, and professionalism of my teachers; and
- the widely available cheap and fantastic food.

And in my next/last two weeks here are the things that I hope to do:

- climb Mt. Agung;
- visit these sort of far away, sort of near, sort of famous temples that I'll need to do next weekend;
- buy myself a reasonable, but number of prezzies (mostly at the market and via bargaining);
- go to a museum and take a tour in Indonesian;
- go to a Balinese dance show at the Ubud/Bali Royal House;
- figure out if there is a cooking class that doesn't overlap my other classes and take one;
- drink some smoothies;
- maybe, if I'm feeling luxurious, take myself for a glass of wine at this fancy wine bar that overlooks the valley (but not for food, because that would be crazy, just for wine);
- have ice cream for dinner at least once (whatever, I'm finding myself, don't judge); and
- walk through this artists' village that people rave about in a way that makes me think it's probably not that cool, but, makes me feel like I should probably see it for myself.

Anyway, other than that, every day this week I came home, did homework and/or studied for two-three hours, went for a very hot and very miserable run, took myself out to dinner, then went to bed. So, here are some pictures of food. (I briefly considered posting a selfie, but per my opinion, only pictures of me doing something awesome, tough, or patriotic are worthy of internet posting--so you'll have to hope that I get a picture of me surfing for real proof that this is me typing and actually here.)

Oh, this is just my daily homestay breakfast.

I think this is one of the places that my shaman took me. It was amazing. 

I saw a Balinese woman order this and so followed suit. No regrets. 

Like $2 gado-gado. Awesome.

Not feeling super well, I just got a Green Tea Frappe and these chicken/rice spring roll type things. Predictably, delicious.

K, bye. Am going to the beach now.