Om Swastyastu

Om Swastyastu is a local Balinese greeting.  Roughly, it means "We pray you will be kept healthy and happy through the mercy and blessings of God."  It's a nice way to start a conversation.

We were greeted and blessed by the families in the village of Tunjuk, visiting their school, homes and rice fields.  This was a day packed with so many neat experiences that we've been struggling to put it in the Chronicles.  So, we're going to do this in parts.

Tunjuk is a tiny village in the western Balinese district of Tabanan.  Really tiny.  We couldn't find it on a map and we're not really sure how our driver did.  But it is big enough to have an elementary school which serves 150 students in the area for 1st through 5th grade.  The education is free, but the families must pay for their child's uniform and school books.  Class starts at 7:30 am and ends at 12:30.  They say it is really too hot for school in the afternoon.  The students learn Balinese, Indonesian and English in school and they were eager to practice English with us:

 

We also got to watch the boys' football match -- barefoot in the mud, but utterly enthusiastic!  

Sophie and Anna were struck by a couple things.  First of all, this school is not like their school.  The school grounds aren't quite as well taken care of -- no one seems to cut the grass, for example.  In fact, there's not much grass.  Also, the students have to wear uniforms, but apparently not shoes, even when they play football.  But, like, all kids, they are very interested in new people from different places. 

Next, we walked across the street to a local family home.  A typical Balinese home actually has multiple buildings on the property and multiple families -- some buildings are for sleeping and at least one is for ceremonies.  Ancestral worship infuses daily life and most families make offerings to their God and family spirits at least once a day, which means they also spend a lot of time making these small offerings -- from young palm leaves, flowers and rice -- every day.  They taught us how to make them, too, but we weren't as fast.

Anna & Sophie make offerings.

Ed makes a temple platform.

The family we visited also runs its own farm with, of course, their cows, pigs, chickens and oxen right on the premises.  Close quarters!  They grow rice with a cooperative of other villagers to efficiently use the irrigation system, but they also plant chilis, cacao, lemongrass and other spices.

Sorting rice from hulls.

Not pets.

Moooo!

Because they are very busy during the day (and because it gets so hot in the afternoon), they cook all their meals in the morning in a small kitchen with a bamboo-burning stove. 

Cooking over bamboo.

Then, they head out into the fields.  That's where we went next.

More pics of the family home here.  See you in the rice fields.