January 2002

This'll be kind of short, but I want to say a few words about Christmas and New Year's Eve here in beautiful Bali.

 

First though another nice story about Bali and how wonderful the Balinese are.  As a lot of you know, I LOVE silver jewelry.  Bracelets, etc.  So, I've purchased a few things on this trip (they make really beautiful things here).  Anyway, I didn't have any silver cleaner so some pieces were getting a little tarnished.  I've been looking and asking about silver polish at every opportunity.  But, no luck.  First of all it's sometimes hard to explain things in English even to someone that is Balinese but speaks English well.  So sometimes, at one store, they would say 'oh, try this other store', etc.  Still no luck, I must have looked and asked at, at least, a dozen places - jewelry stores, grocery stores, department stores, even a hardware store.  So I was about to give up and email my next visitor to bring some when I thought I'd try one more place.  In a mall (yes, they have malls here), I spotted a nice Home accessories store with lots of nice silver things, so I went in there and asked.  They went in the back and brought out some silver polish!!  I said "I'll take it, how much?".  They said that they couldn't sell it as it was theirs and they needed it.  They said to try a place on the other side of the mall.  I did and came back to say 'no, they didn't have any'.  They asked if I had tried the department store in the mall and I said I had and that I was told they didn't have any.  So they said they would go up and look for me.  They asked for 20,000 rupia ($2) and so I waited.  In about 5 minutes the guy came back with Brasso.  I said 'no, it doesn't say silver on it and I don't want to take a chance'.  So the nice girl went in the back and returned with their bottle of silver polish and gave it to me.  I asked how much and was told, 'it's a gift, no charge'.  Sweet!!!

 

Christmas - many restaurants here have a special Christmas dinner, some with Turkey and other Indonesian items, some with duck, etc.  I've attached the menu for the place and friend (Ken) and I ate.  It was good, but 'not like Mom makes!'.  I've also attached a picture of a Balinese Christmas tree I spotted in a hotel.  I hope you can read the menu!

 

New Year's Eve - the Balinese don't have any special New Years like we do.  The Balinese calendar celebrates it on a different day (twice a year actually).  But with so many westerners here, who can pass up a great party.  So a week or so before NYE the vendors are out selling brightly colored horns.  And for several days before and after NYE you can hear people (kids mostly) blowing these horns.  At midnight the island really lights up - fire works and lots of horn blowing.  The major tourist hotels all have special NYE dinners and entertainment.  I spent the evening at a friends house for a quiet party with about 8 people and had a nice time (I do miss the NYE parties at Jim Pire's however - his are the BEST).

 

So that's it for now.  Working hard here at my new job.  (well 4 days a week actually).  But it is really fun being in charge and having folks ask me questions (that I can usually answer or, at least, fake!).

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January 21

It's been about 3 weeks since my last update and the only new things I've been doing are WORK.  Yes, still working at Vision Tech Asia.  Still loving it.  It's just sooo amazing that I had to come all this way to find my perfect job!  And perfect it is.  Really a great boss.  We love working together.  Our strengths really compliment one another.  He is preparing for a trip to the states in March, so we've been busy preparing for that.  I've been working on a Vision Statement and Mission Statement for the company and a Corporate Profile.  We've been deciding on a stationary, business cards, etc. changes and how we will be packaging our new marketing material.  It's been fun doing research on the internet about our competition and how they present themselves.  Then of course, we meet with clients and potential clients.  I've been instrumental in putting the proposals together and he reviews them.  I'm actually authorized to make a few changes to the one I'll be sending out today, over my signature!  Paul is on a business trip to Australia this week.

Then, Christina Gere is visiting me right now.  She's headed to Amed tomorrow to start her PADI diving instruction.  I'll be joining her on Thursday to do some diving.  Plus, my friends Chris & Ben Burt will be here Tuesday for a week.  They and Bill Dalton will be meeting the two of us in Amed on Thursday to dive, snorkel, and just relax.  We'll be staying in the Presidential Suite at the Hotel Indra!!!   It'll be fun to catch up on all the Bay Area doings with Chris & Ben.

Still driving without mishaps!  Still enjoying it.  I'm feeling pretty confident about finding my way around Bali, finally.  But of course now that I feel a little confident about driving my little Suzuki, I've started drooling over the Toyota Land Cruise.  It's still a 2 door, but 4WD and about 11 inches wider than my tiny Suzuki.  I've attached a photo of one that was parked at Melati Cottages where I park.  They really take care of their cars here (kinda like LA where it's illegal to have a dirty car).  Anyway, I want to wait 3 1/2 more months before changing.  At that time 3 major events happen:

1.  My initial 4 months at Vision Tech Asia will be over and Paul & I will review where I stand with them.  If all is still going well (and I am sure it will be), then I'm in for a nice pay raise and may consider moving closer to work, because

2.  My 6 month lease on my Ubud house will be up.  It's a great house and I love the Ubud area.  However, there's only 1 bathroom, and it's downstairs.  So when guests are here I need to sneak thru the lower area (with the guest bed) to use the bathroom at night.  A little bigger place would be nice.  Plus, it's about a one hour commute to work.  Even though I have a driver, it would be nice to be closer.

3.  I will have a little more money.  And I think a little larger car would be called for.  So, for now, I'll just drool when ever I see one of these Land Cruiser beauties!

One last thing before I go.  I have an answering machine on my home phone.  So, just in case you decide to call and I'm NOT here, you can leave a quick message :-)

That's it for now.  I'll be in Amed for 5 days and won't be able to answer my emails. 

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