Honk if You've Never Seen a Bule

Took a walk around the neighborhood today and met a few more friendly types. Apparently, people out here are in the habit of honking when they see a bule. Makes me feel kind of a like a beautiful woman. But it's a bit unnerving. I keep thinking I'm in the way, somehow; but no, I'm just there. But that's not what I mean by friendly. That's just a bit weird. I did, however, meet a couple of folks at various markets who actually smiled and talked to me, which was nice. One supported my suspicion that there must be a reclaimed drinking water warung around here somewhere - although she couldn't say exactly where; while another chatted for a minute about where I was from and what I was doing and so on. Oh, and I found Pall Mall Menthols. Just when I thought the entire island was empty of the things - as happened with Marlboro Menthols. So I bought two packs and made her promise to order more. Not that she'll do so. Also found a car wash place, a motorbike wash place, and a number of food warungs that looked halfway decent, and smelled so, too. There is an IndoMart, a Circle K and a gas station. There is a tool shop, a helmet shop, and any number of laundries. Tomorrow I will stroll in the opposite direction, accompanied, no doubt, by a fanfare of horns.

Newness

Finally beginning to seem like home in the new house. Felt impossible for the first couple days. Actually scary. So much stuff, and so little room. But we've managed to pretty much  push it into place, in part by buying another big piece of furniture, oddly enough.

So, just have to get used to the new neighborhood now. Always confusing - especially so here in Bali. Streets don't seem to have been made according to any plan. Rather, probably a house was built, a street was laid down leading to the house, another house was built, a street was laid down leading there, and so on. It's a maze.

Need to get accustomed to the people here, too. They do seem different than in Sanur and other familiar haunts. There, many of them are involved in the hospitality industry and so they're -- well, hospitable. Not quite so friendly out this way. I get a lot of stares, because they don't see very many bules, and if I try to talk to them, they seem to panic.

So, new things to learn, new places to explore. Keeps life interesting.

Moved and Done With

I surely do hate my anonymous comments on Blogger. Every day they show up, and never have anything to do with the entries on which the comment has been made. Free Provigil! Cialis by special order. Viagra. Gabapentin. Or just a lot of gobbledygook in Russian, possibly pushing porn. It's irritating, depressing, annoying. I would say "please stop," but I know they won't.

So anyway - We finally made the big move to Renon. What a pain in the ass. I hate moving. When you first get all your stuff in the house, it seems like nothing will ever be back in place again, your life has turned to chaos, you're uncomfortable, you can't find anything, nothing is the way it's supposed to be. But, obviously, that passes -- because the next time you move, you experience the same feelings all over again. Ah, I wish we were still in the old house.

Little by little, you and your surrounding adapt and the house seems like home.

We Found It - Really!

Okay, I'm gonna go out on a bit of a limb here. But I think I can say this with a fair bit of assurance - or more than fair, really - a pretty damn good bit of assurance: We've found and rented a house!

Yes, in lieu of some strange occurrence - strange even for Bali - we've successfully rented a house in Renon and will move in at the end of next week.

This is a small house, smaller than the one we are currently living in, but a nice house, seemingly in good condition, and in a nice, quiet neighborhood (no two-legged chickens), and close to my wife's workplace. Sempurna! Well, lumayan baik, anyway. It is also close to Sanur, where I most often hang out when I'm not in the house.

This one also has an outdoor kitchen. We had one of those some four years ago, and they seem to work out okay. Kind of pleasant, really, since the inside of the house gets so deadly hot here in Bali. And a nice yard, too, where we can set up a little table and some chairs for sitting and chilling in the evening.

So, move won't be fun, but we should be settled in within a another couple of weeks and able to get back to the (more or less) peaceful life.

The Chicken Next Door

Yesterday, we thought we had found it. The house we had been looking for. A house fairly near my wife's workplace, with two bedrooms big enough to actually be used as bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a back patio for washing and drying laundry and a driveway big enough to park a car in. Gee, were we excited.

But my wife had a reservation. Sharp girl that she is, and one familiar with the  life of Indonesia, she had noticed the presence of a café next door to the prospective house, and determined that we should return late at night to see what, if anything, was going on there. It could be a chicken club, she noted. These are the two-legged sort of chicken, regularly for sale in Denpasar.

Sure enough. We returned to find the establishment lit up with flashing Christmas lights, booming music pouring from doors and windows, roaring motorbikes in the lot, and about 15 cross-legged women on display in the front of the property. In short, a chicken club.

Now, we don't have anything in particular against chicken, but we do like to sleep during the night. Have to, really.

So nix that one.

Today, we looked at yet another house. It has some of the specifications, lacks others. For instance, on the plus side, it is close to my wife's workplace. On the minus side, the two bedrooms are tiny. It does have a nice outdoor kitchen, and a nice bathroom (by Bali standards). And no chicken. In fact, it would seem to be a quiet, family neighborhood.

So we'll put in our bid and see what happens.

More to come, I'm sure.

Cop Stops

The policemen I meet here, at their ritual dragnet stops on the Bypass, generally like me for three reasons. 1) I have a local driver's license, 2)  I'm an American and 3) I'm retired.

Polisi: "Oh, local,  local!" At this point they generally hold up the license for all to see. "Local! Ini bagus!"

..

Polisi: "Where are you going?"

Me: "Pulang" (going home). I still don't understand why where I'm going matters.

Polisi: "Where are you from?"

Me: "America."

Polisi: "Ah! Obama!"

..

Polisi: "What do you do here? Have business here?"

Me: "No, sudah pension."

Polisi: "Sudah pension!" They generally tell another officer or two. "Hey, sudah pension!"

..

Polisi: "What did you do in America."

Me: "I worked at a hospital."

Polisi: "Ohhhh, orang kaya!" (rich man). "Doctor, ya? Big, big money."

..

I wish.

The Arrogant Landlord

So, yesterday afternoon, my wife called a guy about a house. 

"When can we see it."

"Tomorrow, at noon."

"Noon it is, then."

She arranged for me to meet her at work at around 11:30, and from there we would drive together to the house.

When I showed up at her workplace, she was on the phone with the landlord.

"Bapak, this is Louise. We're coming to see your house now. 12 o'clock, right?"

"Right. See you there."

So, we arrive a bit before 12, and he's not there yet. He's not there at 12:15, either. Or 12:30. Or 1:00.

So we head back to her workplace and stop for lunch along the way.

The man calls while we're eating.

"Where are you?" he says. I'm waiting at the house."

Sigh. This is so typical. It's not really odd at all. It's normal. It's part of the frustrating farce of looking for a house, and a landlord, in Bali. It's known as rubber-time. As a friend of mine points out, it's as if these people believe that other people have nothing in particular to do but stand around and wait on them. He has heard that this is 'part of the culture', and we ought to be sensitive to that. But he's not buying it. And neither I am. What it is is a passive-aggressive disrespect, a homegrown form of arrogance that strikes people as being a badge of merit, showing that they are 'important' people.

But, of course, it's nothing more than annoying.

And so the hunt continues, of course - quite against a current of unreliability, indecisiveness, bad manners, carelessness, laziness and, as I said, arrogance. One month left to find a place.