Looking Back to Move Forward
No, I didn't die of the bird flu or run off and get married to my Balinese boyfriend. The last six months in Bali just went by in a blur.
The lack of blogs posted from January to June attest to the fact that my life in Bali became significantly busier after January. Work, friends, and *gasp* a boyfriend. Hanging out with friends playing djembe and guitar, taking trips to different places all over the island...that was basically what I did after working til afternoon everyday. I got into the flow of things, the laidback lifestyle, mostly as a result of spending most of my time with the boy (name: I Gusti Putu Arya Vidya Danta, aka John). Things got a bit rough as the town's favorite gossip subject, so I moved to John's village and stayed with his ultra-cool and openminded family. Of course, my two Balinese "moms" weren't too pleased about that, but I did my best to placate them and live my life as an independent, free-to-choose woman.
As my year in Bali was drawing to a close, I began to really think about my next step. At the time, I wanted nothing more to get back to the Western world--hot water, more options for women, and great Mexican food were at the top of my list of reasons I wanted to go home. However, after all I had invested in my life in Bali, I wasn't quite ready to give it all up. To keep my options opened, I applied for a few teaching jobs around the island. And, whaddya know, I got a callback from a private English teaching company. After being offered a job and one-year contract to work with them, I had to make a quick life decision--another year in Bali or starting my "real life" of debt, job searching, and graduate school back in the States. Well, what would you have done? Though incredibly homesick and ready to leave, I took the job.
Now I'm back in the States for some quality catching up time with family and friends. At the end of August my new company flies me back to Bali to begin my new and improved Balinese life. Everything I've experienced and learned in the past year will hopefully make this coming year more comfortable and enjoyable. I won't be living so much like a Balinese as I did in the past. I'll probably only eat rice two times a day instead of three. And goodbye small town, hello bigger town! I'll hopefully be living nearer to all the other Westerners who have fled their native lands searching for something in Bali. But I'll still have to live close enough to my old town to visit once in a while. Balancing the traditional Asian with the Western. Because that's me.
The lack of blogs posted from January to June attest to the fact that my life in Bali became significantly busier after January. Work, friends, and *gasp* a boyfriend. Hanging out with friends playing djembe and guitar, taking trips to different places all over the island...that was basically what I did after working til afternoon everyday. I got into the flow of things, the laidback lifestyle, mostly as a result of spending most of my time with the boy (name: I Gusti Putu Arya Vidya Danta, aka John). Things got a bit rough as the town's favorite gossip subject, so I moved to John's village and stayed with his ultra-cool and openminded family. Of course, my two Balinese "moms" weren't too pleased about that, but I did my best to placate them and live my life as an independent, free-to-choose woman.
As my year in Bali was drawing to a close, I began to really think about my next step. At the time, I wanted nothing more to get back to the Western world--hot water, more options for women, and great Mexican food were at the top of my list of reasons I wanted to go home. However, after all I had invested in my life in Bali, I wasn't quite ready to give it all up. To keep my options opened, I applied for a few teaching jobs around the island. And, whaddya know, I got a callback from a private English teaching company. After being offered a job and one-year contract to work with them, I had to make a quick life decision--another year in Bali or starting my "real life" of debt, job searching, and graduate school back in the States. Well, what would you have done? Though incredibly homesick and ready to leave, I took the job.
Now I'm back in the States for some quality catching up time with family and friends. At the end of August my new company flies me back to Bali to begin my new and improved Balinese life. Everything I've experienced and learned in the past year will hopefully make this coming year more comfortable and enjoyable. I won't be living so much like a Balinese as I did in the past. I'll probably only eat rice two times a day instead of three. And goodbye small town, hello bigger town! I'll hopefully be living nearer to all the other Westerners who have fled their native lands searching for something in Bali. But I'll still have to live close enough to my old town to visit once in a while. Balancing the traditional Asian with the Western. Because that's me.
posted by Angie at 12:30 PM
