Saturday, December 29, 2012

Christmas Day

Daniel here,

We weren't sure that anything could beat the Christmas Eve party the people at school threw for the volunteers, little did we know they would one up themselves the next evening. The students at school organized a huge Christmas party for the students and for the volunteers. The students prepared traditional Balinese food (nasi, bakso, urab, and es bua) and the volunteers prepared western food (potato wedges, chicken wings, and macaroni and cheese). Needless to say, all of the food was amazing. The students also prepared two traditional dances that they performed for everyone and then we all danced gangnam style and a traditional balinese dance (we had no idea what we were doing). It was a riot. The next day(Wednesday) we went to a Hindu temple in Keramas for the full moon ceremony. The ceremony lasted about 20 minutes and consisted or sitting on the floor and praying with different flowers in our hands 5 different times. A priest then walked around with holy water and they dripped it on you 3 times then you drank the water 3 times then you washed your face with the water 3 times then took a handful of rice and put a few grains on your forehead and the bottom of your neck. We then got some martabak and terang bulan and ate dinner at one of our friends house. The whole night was a pretty amazing experience. Today Ayu and her family offered to drive us to Amed for the day and night to do some snorkeling. It is a beautiful, small, and quiet beach town on the northeastern edge of the island. It's really nice to relax and enjoy the quiet peaceful side of the island. Everything is really cheap at the hotel and at restaurants around town. Tomorrow it's back to Slukat to learn the angklung (Balinese musical instrument) for our New Year's Eve performance. Look for our next post in the new year.

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