Since our stay in Indonesia, Lisa and I have been off the typical tourist track. Last week, we spent about a week in Sanur, a popular tourist area outside of Denpasar. For part of the week we caught up with our CEOs and spent some time working with a nonprofit organization based in Ubud called Kopernik, which provides life changing technologies to last mile customers. Towards the end of the week, we spent our time catching up on notes and data. While working in Indonesia, Lisa and I have had very little time off given all the traveling and meetings. Last week we had a few days off and we indulged in the typical tourist activities. Bali is absolutely full of tourists this time of year, especially from Europe and Australia. Bali is also the most visited island by western tourists in all of Indonesia. The tourism industry, although not as big as agriculture, is still massive component of the economy within Bali and is concentrated mainly in the south.

Working with Kopernik was great and different from what we have been doing previously since Kopernik is a nonprofit entity which sources the filters. Kopernik provides other technologies like solar lamps and cook stoves to last mile consumers and an affordable price. It was nice to learn about the organization, how they function, and how they are able to provide crucial technology to communities which are often isolated. We were able to brainstorm and meet with various program coordinators in their office. The next day, we traveled to Desa Ban to visit a kiosk which sells Nazava and chatted with them about sales practices. I really liked Kopernik’s training for kiosk owners and support for tech agents. Not only are communities benefiting from the new technologies which are now in reach, but sales agents are learning valuable business skills and making livelihoods.

While in Bali, Sally (another GSBF fellow working in the Phillipines) came by to visit us and spent the week with us. We also met up with Amy and Paty, two friends of Lisa who recently graduated from Santa Clara and are journeying around south east Asia. It was really nice to spend time with the girls! I must admit it felt strange to indulge in the luxury of tourist side of Bali when for weeks we have been so far removed from that part of Indonesia. I almost felt like I was committing a crime by buying food over 20,000 Rupiah. We also checked out the infamous region of Kuta. Kuta is known for being a tourist hub filled with unruly drunk tourists who disregard the locals. Kuta was definitely an experience for us and not like many of the places we have seen in Indonesia so far. With all the free flowing alcohol, bars, and women topless in the beach, I forgot I was even in the most populous Muslim country. It’s funny how much of a contrast Bali is from Jakara. In Jakarta, I have seen cafes and restaurants with curtains up covering people eating because of Ramadan.  Although it was nice to have a few days off, it was weird being on the tourist track and being served to at fancy restaurants by people your own age. Being waited on was always feels so weird to me, because back home I work retail and I am always on the other side of the coin, waiting on others. I did feel a little annoyed with how rude some tourists were to locals or how blatantly entitled they felt prancing around in a place where they know very little about the culture and people. I think ultimately what I am getting at is there is definitely a right way and wrong way to be a tourist. You should not travel to countries for a cheap holiday and act in a way you wouldn’t on the streets of your own country. But I’ll stop there before I start to ramble. Our last week of research will be in Papua in which we work with an nonprofit church group which assists resellers in running kiosks that sell Nazava. Stayed tuned for a post on that!

We spent the second week of July in Lombok in the Sukarara Weaving Village. While in the weaving village we worked with the Bali reseller we were working with in the previous week and joined his resellers in Lombok. We spent most of the week shadowing him and his agents in Lombok in order to gauge how sales have been the past few months and new opportunities for growth.

While in Sukarara we stayed with a family that was absolutely amazing. Pak Owan and family took us in and were very kind to us. I especially loved playing with their daughter Fuji. She was the funniest little kid I have ever seen. She had tons of fun copying my English phrases and I would try out my Bahasa on her. I think I picked up the most Indonesia here. Fuji is also very popular in her village. Nearly every day we were there, we met with one of her many friends and played games. I taught the girls “Ring Around the Rosie” and the “Cha Cha” and they taught me a few Sasak dances and songs. They also loved taking selfies with my iphone and playing Barbie games on my laptop all week long. Every night, we had iftar (breaking of the fast) with the family. The iftars reminded me a lot of what iftar is like back home for me during Ramadan. Ramadan is probably one of the only times of the year in which my entire family sits down together and shares a meal so being away from home I was longing for that experience. It was nice to be a part of that familiar experience, even if it was just for a week. Also hearing the taraweeh prayers at the various mosques and children playing with noisemakers every night reminded me of my time in Somalia.

Half way through our stay in Lombok, the presidential election occurred. The election which was scheduled for the 9^th of July was between two candidates Probowo and Jokowi. It is now the 21^st of July as I type this blog post and we still do not know who the president is. Both candidates declared victory early on which made it difficult to determine who really did win. Also tv channels are supporting certain candidates so polls are skewed towards the candidate in which they support. I am really interested in finding out who won the election and the suspense has been killing me! Given Indonesia’s size and growing economy, the president of this growing democracy will be a very prominent leader in both the Muslim world and among emerging economies. Lisa and I took election day (national holiday) to scope out the beaches with our boss for the week. Lombok has some amazing beaches with less tourists than Bali. Every single beach we went to was breathtaking.

Throughout the week working and promoting water filters during Ramadan was definitely a difficult task. The villages we traveled through were for the most part virtually shut down. There were very little shops open and almost everyone was inside their homes. Schools and offices were also closing earlier than they typically do. Even though given the difficulty of promoting the filters during Ramadan when a majority of the population is fasting, we were still able to sell a significant amount of filters to people in various villages in central Lombok.

The last day of our stay in Lombok we were treated to a lovely tour of the Sukarara Village by Fuji and her friends. Lisa and I were guided around the city by five very enthusiastic girls. At every turn, the girls introduced us to other members of the weaving village and pointed us out as “touris”. Every now and then, they would suggest we take pictures of various sights along the stroll. We also stopped by and saw traditional weavers creating various items that they sell through the village cooperative. I bought a few bags and a wall hanging from the cooperative. I thought it was wonderful that the village was preserving its weaving culture but also allowing others to experience it and also attain income for the village. Occasionally the village does get tourists from around the world, who stop by and check out some of the wonderful weaving items.

Finally, after buying some items and walking around with the girls, it was time for Lisa and I to pack up and hit the road so we could catch a boat back to Bali from Sengigi. The family wished us “Selemat Jalan” which means safe travels and Fuji was really upset to see us go. We exchanged email information with the family and they told us were always welcome in the village if ever we return back to Lombok.

The week in Sukarara was also the first time during this experience in which I genuinely tried to practice my Bahasa. I watched tons of Indonesian television with Fuji and even started following a drama series about a girl who is turning into a monkey. I would also wake up about a few hours before work and go on a stroll around the village and send greetings to neighbors in the few phrases I knew. A few times people actually thought I was a local and told me I look like I could be Sasak.

Overall, Lombok was an extremely wonderful experience and really helped to get me over some homesickness I was feeling. It has been hard being around “less Ramadan” these past few weeks but being in Lombok really got me in the Ramadan spirit. Missing much of the fast has also been pretty spiritually taxing but I hope to make it up soon, inshallah (god willing). I have been fasting since I was about fifteen years old so Ramadan is a very important month for me and it has feels weird not participating. I almost feel like an outsider looking in. I know health wise though fasting would not be an option because my body is still adjusting to all this traveling! Fun fact by the end of this trip Lisa and I will have boarded an airplane 16 times. Yeah, 16 times.

For the past few days we have been in the Karangasem regency in Bali about a 1.5 hour drive from Denpasar. We are currently in a homestay in Sidemen surrounded by gorgeous views of rice paddies and a nearby river.  Karangasem is beautiful and is very lush and green, more greeney than this city kid has ever seen. Karangasem is also drastically different then the crowded streets of Bandung in which we first started our work in Indonesia. The population in Karangasem is approximately less than 500,000 according to the reseller we are working with here. The regency for the most part is divided into villages and there are hundreds of villages. Each village has its own leadership and village center. The village center is the administrative hub of the village and also close to the nearby schools and banks. The villages for the most part are rather empty with only a few shops and warungs (restaurants) on the street corners. Village life is very communal and cooperative. Coming from the west, it is always strange for me to see people working together cooperatively, as horrible as that may sound. The homes we visit as well are also very communal in nature. It is common to see shared showers and living spaces. Typically a housing complex has about 2 to 4 homes with a temple in the center. Nearly every single home has a temple. Even some of the lower income homes we saw had some variation of a temple in their home.

Which brings me to my next point about religious life in Bali. Religious life has probably been the most interesting aspect of life to observe during our time in Bali so far. In Java, it was common to hear the adhan during the five daily prayers or see women in hijab. Although Islam is a very dominant part of life in Java, I do not think it played a huge significance in Javanese culture in the way that Hindusim does for Balinese culture. In Bali, Hinduism is very ingrained into culture and everyday life. Nearly 90% of the population in Bali identifies as Hindu according to national data. However, only 3% of the total Indonesian population practices Hinduism, making Bali really unique.

During our first day in Karangasem, we went to the village of the reseller in which we are working with for the week in Kebung. The village itself was virtually shut down because there was a religious ceremony going on which only occurs every 100 years. We attended the temple for the ceremony and it was definitely an interesting experience. I must admit, I initially felt very uncomfortable, being in a Hindu temple during the start of Ramadan, participating in a ceremony in which I did not believe. I also felt a little awkward participating in the ceremony because I felt like I was intruding on something that was sacred to someone but had no significance to me. Eventually, however, my awkwardness and hesitation cooled off and I was able to take in the ambiance. I decided to not take any photos because I thought that would be pretty invasive. At the ceremony, everyone was wearing white and traditional temple sarongs. I clearly didn’t get the memo and although I was able to borrow a temple sarong to wear around my waist my light blue shirt stuck out like a sore thumb. Throughout the temple, there were shrines and animal and plant sacrifices. There was also music and dancing from the Hindu holy book.

From talking to people, I learned that people spend a lot of their income for religious obligations. The reseller we are working with said he spent approximately 1.5 million rupiah this month on the preparations for the ceremony. Preparing the sacrifices also has a financial and time burden which I found interesting to observe. During our week here, I have seen people participating in wedding ceremonies, cremation ceremonies, and temple ceremonies almost daily. Prior to coming to Bali, I did not know anything about Balinese Hinduism and only had a vague understanding of Hinduism, in general. From being here for week, I can gather that Hinduism is a very important part of life, culture, family, relationships, and business for Balinese people.

Today, we attended a womens group, which is called a PKK meeting for Desa Budakeling, which is a village in Karangasem. The meeting was run by the village heads wife and was attended by over 20 women. The women were very interactive and enjoyed the presentation. From talking to the resellers, apparently women are the main driving source for sales in this region because of their concern for family well-being and health. The resellers said that they actually target women’s groups as prime resources for attaining sales in villages. Tommorow, we head to Lombok with a Bali based reseller with operations there. We plan to stay in Lombok for a week before returning to Bali for another week.

In general, being in Bali was probably the first time in this trip in which I felt a complete sense of culture shock. For instance, it was weird being in a small town environment. I also felt out of my element in the Hindu temple because I knew very little about that faith. However, I think this type of culture shock is necessary to learning and is a humbling experience and I welcome the opportunities in which I am forced to see through a different perspective, as cliché as that may sound.

Hati Hati (Take Care), my new favorite phrase in Indonesian. It literally translates to liver, liver but also means to take care. I have seen it written all over street signs to indicate treacherous stretches of road.