and thus ends my third consecutive new years spent on the lovely island of bali. this year was different from the rest. first of all, it rained every single day. i am the same shade of white i was when i left, which is mildly depressing. i mean... come on.... 10 days in bali and no change? that’s borderline embarrassing. but it did mean i got a lot of sleeping, reading, and eating done. sleeping 16 hours a day never killed anyone, right? but i’m sure that had i spent more time with my eyes open, i could have devoured more than the 5 books that i did. and speaking of devouring things... i LOVE all the eating opportunities on bali. we had traditional balinese suckling pig, turkish kebabs, $20 burgers from hard rock cafe, italian pizza and gelato, french salads, and just about everything in between. it was a good reprieve from salatiga food, which i had been getting sick of (the most international restaurant we have here is kfc. they serve fried chicken.... with rice). but by the end of our time in bali, i was ready for some nasi and tempe goreng!
something else different about this trip was the group. now, after two years here, i’m used to people coming and going. it’s a pretty transient community that i live in. the size of the bali new years group fluctuates every year (15 my first year, 8 my second year, and 6 this year), but this year we had the added element of two strangers on the trip. see, yohanes and i were the only ones from salatiga. but our two very, very dear friends, peco and tiff, who live on sulawesi now, came as well. and they brought two friends with them – faith and sam. strangers to me at first... but not for long. i’ve never gone on vacation with total strangers before, and it was interesting to see how quickly we all bonded. we clicked instantly, and it was absolutely amazing to spend 10 days with some amazing friends from my own culture. we held nothing back in our conversations, and we UNDERSTOOD each other. and i’m not just talking language.... but the ability to relate to each other’s fears, ambitions, life experiences, and the like.... sometimes i spend so much time with indonesians (whom i love equally as dearly) that i forget what that’s like - the feeling of knowing that someone fully understands and even FEELS what i’m saying without me having to explain it in minute detail. it made for some good times, some hilarious jokes, some deep discussions, even some tears. and lots of refreshment.
though the group always changes, there have been three constants throughout the past 3 balinese new years. yohanes, peco, and me. the three musketeers. i miss the days when all three of us lived in the same city and spent just about every free minute together. but God has called us all to different things. and He is using each of us in different ways. but boy, it is awesome to get to spend time with the two of them every year in bali! i think that no matter where life takes us, these two will always and forever be two of my dearest friends.
(the three of us on new year’s eve, 2008)
(and the three of us on new year’s eve, 2010. not much has changed. and we didn’t even plan to stand in the same position!)
so all in all (and rain and all), it was a great vacation. we all shook hands and agreed to meet back in bali in 2015. this year is a year of uncertainty for almost all of the six of us. so we decided not to commit to TOO much for new years eve 2011.
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