A Birthday Like None Other

Adam's 28th year was brought in with a Balinese bang!

Our Balinese friend, Guli, invited a couple of bules (white people) to his family's temple ceremony. Thankfully, we were two of these lucky bules along with our new Colorado Springs friends, Rich and Danielle. The date of the ceremony was scheduled for an auspicious day on the Balinese calendar and just happened to fall on Adam's 28th birthday.

This kind of invitation is the ultimate travel experience for Adam and was quite the birthday gift to start off a new year!

Guli

This ceremony celebrates the birth of the temple and is celebrated every six months through two cleansing ceremonies in the clan temple and again in the family temple. We had no idea what this meant and what we were in for, so cheers to another #nuventure!

After arriving at the family's compound, we sat chatting with the men. 

We sampled sweet Balinese coffee, rice cookies, purple sweet potato and spicy chicken. Yum!

All six senses were bursting with new and foreign stimulus all day. From our first step into the compound, we were constantly adjusting and soaking in all the new visuals, sounds, and smells that come with preparing for and taking part in a Balinese ceremony. Just imagine this scene: roosters constantly crowing, incense burning for the offerings being sent to the heavens, constant ringing of the priest's golden bell as he prayed,  the tonal pitch of eastern hymns, mischievous boys running and screaming around the temple,  and the vibrant colors in the decorations, the attire and in the fruit and flowers.

We were soaking all of this in whilst being creative in our communication with Guli's family through broken English, laughing, and enormous smiles. We wanted to make sure his family knew we were so thankful to be there with them on such a special day!

The family temple decorated for the second ceremony. 

The family temple located right in the compound next to the bedrooms. 

The ladies started taking the offerings to the clan temple. 

Everyone preparing the offerings in the family temple. 

While waiting for the ceremonies, Adam learned how to massage and condition cocks for cock fighting. 

We made our way to the clan temple for the first prayer and cleansing ceremony. As we were sitting on the bamboo mats in the clan temple, Guli was guiding us through the Balinese prayer ceremony we were about to experience. Just before it started he said, "I hope after today you will be better Christians."

The family slowly trickled into the clan temple. The priest had started ringing his bell and the singing of prayerful songs had started. 

How beautiful are these women? Waving flower petals and wafting their prayers to heaven. 

We are so bad. We're supposed to be praying! I'm not a good influence:)

We loved how the boys could just play and be themselves during the ceremony. 

The women, the colors, the offerings. Ah! All are so lovely! 

Big contrast to Adam's Southern Baptist upbringing. This would be begging for a good switchin'!

Guli's uncle chummed up with Adam all day. He's holding a grilled chicken with the head, beak and talons still intact. It's snack time after the ceremony. Dig in!

Small piece of Guli's family. 

While waiting for the second ceremony, we sat and chatted again. Everyone was amazed by Rich smoking his pipe. Never seen a pipe before!

Everyone's watching curiously!

The men were preparing a fire cracker to explode during the next ceremony to scare away evil spirits. 

A fire was lit under three bamboo stalks right outside the family temple. Everyone laughed and made fun of each others' shock when each one exploded.  

The women are still bringing in more and more offerings for the ceremony in the family temple. 

And more...

The entire family squeezed together on the ground for the ceremony to begin. 

The priest prayed, rang his bell, led us through prayers and drenched us with holy water. 

Guli's uncle led the songs of prayer and guided us through the singing. 

So many offerings of cakes, fruit, flowers, rice and chicken. 

The camera just can't capture it all. Heaps of offerings were on the tables, in the temple's nooks and crannies, and on the ground. 

After the ceremonies, it was time to eat! Guli presented Adam a cake from the offerings as a birthday cake. Balinese folks don't have birthdays, but are familiar with Western traditions.  He asked, "Should we light the candles?"

The family all followed us out to wave goodbye. Ah! What an amazing day!

The day ended and we crashed into bed with yet another day of our minds exploding from all the learning and our hearts full from the love we received from another beautiful Balinese family.

Family photo!

The next morning I woke up in a groggy stupor and realized I had no idea what had happened on Adam's birthday. I was in absolutely every moment. I saw it all, took in all the noises, smells, tastes, brilliant colors and smiles. We even took part in the same ceremony twice. I still had no idea what was sang, what was prayed, why certain colors were chosen, why they have three ladies praying instead of four, etc, etc.

Before I started googling the heck out of Balinese human temple ceremonies, I had a revelation. I was there. I don't need to google it. I don't need to know absolutely every intricate detail of what was said, what was sang or the purpose behind every small hand movement. The purpose of the day, the temple birthday and Adam's birthday, was celebrating life. Even though we all come from such different lives and backgrounds, we came together to celebrate. We united in celebrating life living in a world of the seen and unseen, the known and the unknown. To what we see and know, we all give thanks and for the unknown and unseen, we all get on our knees and pray.

Cheers to another year, Adam, of new, unknown adventures!

Drenched in Balinese Culture: Putu (Part 1)

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Our first 24 hours in Ubud, Indonesia changed the trajectory of our nuventures this summer.

The morning started off groggy as we were whisked off at 8 am to a Tinggly cooking class with a local Balinese family. Six hours later on the car ride back we were absolutely silent from the pure exhaustion of full bellies and our minds bursting from the newness of the day. Our entire beings- minds, bodies and souls- were worked from every angle as we were drenched, soaked and fully immersed in Balinese culture. What we had learned over the short time with this family had challenged every bit of life we have ever known. Our time there was one of the most impactful cultural experiences we have had yet on our nuventures.

I have been struggling to write this blog over the last several days, because I can't condense this wonderful experience. There is too much to share about this beautiful culture we have only just begun to understand. So, I have decided to break up our reflections into sections.

Welcome to Part Putu (the first)!

The taxi's twists and turns through narrow alley ways brought us to the family's compound entrance. As we climbed the concrete stairs and crossed over the threshold, we knew we were in for an adventure. We really didn't know what to expect. We only knew there would be a Balinese family and some sort of cooking class involved. The experience redefined our nuventures!

An entrance into a family's compound. 

Made, our hostess, immediately calmed any nerves we had as she walked toward us welcoming us in with her bright and beautiful smile while gesturing us forward. As we met, the normal start to a new relationship began in broken English. “Where are you from?”

“America”

We have begun to reply this way, because we have received many confused faces in response to the "United States." However, eyes light up when people hear "America." Normally, the next question is, “Ah! America! What part? New York? Los Angeles?”

We have also started responding with “Colorado.” Folks aren't too familiar with Georgia.

Made’s expression lit up, “I’ve been to Denver!”

Can't believe this!

“What?!?” Here we are standing in a strange family’s yard in Bali, Indonesia and Made and Adam are playing the name game of who they both know in the accounting world in Denver, Colorado. The world doesn’t get much smaller than that!

Here we are standing between the family's temple, the human temple, a family's house to the right, sleeping rooms ahead and the kitchen to to the left. 

We spent the first bit of the day excited to hear all about Made’s US adventures spending months in Colorado and Hawaii. Just crazy! Now, she lives in Ubud, Indonesia and is married with two adorable kiddos. She was excited to tour us around her family's compound before we started on the cooking.

To me, the word “compound” sounds so harsh and confining; a word you would use to describe a section of a prison. Oh, no. To the Balinese, this is just the English term for their home. Their compound is the center of the universe where the most important pieces of life happen. This is their home.

Front porch and front door into a brother's home. Look at the detail!

In the Balinese culture, an entire family lives in a compound together. However, each family has their own separate home on the property. Normally, when a son gets married, he and his wife move into a house on his parent’s compound and they start their family there. Made's husband has several brothers. Each is married and now has their own home within the compound.

Opposite from western culture, in some Balinese families, the youngest son receives most of the inheritance instead of the oldest. We learned the implications of this as the youngest son had the first and highest house in the compound. The oldest son's house was the furthest back on the property. Interesting...

Another brother's home. 

One way to know a Balinese person’s placement in their family is by their name. We had already met a lot of Putu’s, so this was a revelation for us! It turns out, Putu, Wayan or Gede is the name for every family’s first child. Made (our hostess' name) or Kadek is the name for the second child. The third child is Nyoman or Komang and the fourth is Ketut. These names are the same whether the child is a boy or girl. Since there are a lot of Putus running around, they are distinguished by their last name or a nickname. Interestingly, if a family has more than four children, the naming cycle repeats and the fifth child will be named Putu Balik meaning “another Putu.” We just met a man that is the third Made of his family! There were so many kids, the names cycled through for a third time!

The family's temple. 

We were still standing at the entrance of their compound and our minds were already blown and reeling!

One of the most important areas of the compound, is the family’s temple. Everyone in the family comes together for ceremonies often. As we continue to learn more about the Balinese culture everyone says, "Many, many ceremonies!"

The "human" temple with beds and a tv!

Ceremonies are always taking place for every kind of event you could imagine; the new moon, full moon, blessing everything in the compound made of iron, birthdays, even weddings! Every six months birthdays are celebrated, but are very different. They don't celebrate the day you were born and Made thought we were crazy when asked if they have birthday cake. She said she has never experienced a birthday cake in her life!

Made's auntie came out of the kitchen to say hello. She let us sneak a peak into her kitchen while she was cooking!

Wood fire stove.

The "countertop."

As we were all speaking in broken English to each other, we heard Made say the word "placenta." We were shocked. Made had great English, but placenta is a pretty intense word to know. I mean, I can count on my fingers the amount of times I have had a conversation about placentas. Adam and I both repeated, "placenta?" She said "Yes, yes. We give offerings to the placentas every day." The world placenta was confirmed again!

We learned placentas are a very important part of life for the Balinese. The placentas from each birth are put into a coconut shell and buried near the entrance of the family’s house and marked with a flat stone. The four sons' placentas were buried to the left of the front steps and the one daughter's was to the right of the steps. This tradition is believed to attract spiritual guides for each child.  A Balinese friend of ours, Guli, later described the placenta as a "brother" and no matter where he goes or travels, he only dreams when he is at home where his placenta is.

One of the family's front porches and front door. The placentas were buried right below the porch. 

As Adam and I were learning all this, we were nodding our heads a lot and just trying to keep up as our minds were reeling. Everything Made was explaining as her normal way of life was so drastically different than anything we have ever known. Trying to get grips on this new way of life, I asked, "Made, what did you think about life in America being so different from here?” Since Made had spent so much time in the US, I was so curious to know her perspective.

Made snagging a lime off of one of the trees. 

She laughed, was a little hesitant and explained her take on the differences.

She essentially explained that Americans spend every day working because we are so independent. We aren't with our family, so we have to work to have food and a home. She continued to say that if she didn't work for a week, she would be okay because she lived with her family and would still have food from their land. Summing it up, "Americans spend their days working and a Balinese day is spent with the family."

Wow! The honest truth! I'm sure my look wasn't too different than this...

Want to know what happens next? Read on to Drenched in Balinese Culture: Made (Part 2) here!

New Zealand Campervan Catastrophes

Our five month camper van road trip in New Zealand has been a journey we will never forget. With a bed in the back, we have vowed we will be tent camping no more unless we are in the backcountry. Hey, we camped in a tent for four months on our US road trip. We did our time.

Last day with our good ol' camper van, Bernie. You treated us well for all five months and killed those 16,000 km. We'll miss ya, boy!

We woke up to new, stunning New Zealand views every morning. We are sold! Forget a house, we are dreaming of living in a campervan! We were outside all the time. We fell asleep next to bubbling brooks and woke up to views we would never have in a house or hotel. We had most of our meals outside soaking in beautiful vistas of coastlines and mountain ranges for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We have even stumbled upon the southern lights and an eclipse just because we have been more in tune with nature. It’s been incredible!

Waking up to mountain tops covered in snow! Ah!

We have had our fair share of catastrophes and fails, though. How 'bout that time...

We had our nightmare on the Forgotten HighwaY

We should have known we were setting out for bad news. The name is the Forgotten World Highway for a reason. There’s nothing on it. Well, to be honest, we knew there were four campsites along the route, so we thought we would be okay.

We passed the first two in the daylight and thought we could make it to the next one. One thing we have learned about New Zealand is the distance on maps is incredibly deceptive. In reality, it takes three times longer than you estimate due to the winding and curving roads. Well, this was just the case this time, too. We underestimated our timing.

By now it was dark and we finally got to the next campsite option. Our headlights hit the locked gate. No access. Okay, moving on. We made it to the next site. This is it! We are home for the night. No, no campsite here. It was midnight at this point, we had been driving for hours and Adam finally just pulled over at a rest stop in the pitch black. I looked over and our van was situated on a decline with a cliff only feet away.

As we got into bed, I asked, “Is the parking break on?” My mind was racing of the what if’s. Ladies, you get this. Adam, knowing me too well said, “Lindsey, if we roll, we’ll roll into the tree." Oh, great, we'll just roll into the tree on the edge of the cliff. Hell no! I scrambled out of bed, jumped into the drivers seat and steamed down the never ending Forgotten Highway. Adam stayed in the back snuggled up all cosy in bed.

Driving further and further there was nothing. We were in rural New Zealand and good luck to anyone trying to read road signs in the dark. I kept politely asking for Adam to help me find the next campsite. Silence. “Oh, you’re going to play that game?” I have never been so livid. He always expects me to navigate for him and the time I’m powering through to get us to a safe spot to sleep, he’s not helping me! I’m talking to him, he’s not responding.

I know he’s awake. I turn on the music just to ensure he can't sleep. Again, I ask him to help me. I’m missing turn offs and signs for new camp sites because I can’t see the gosh darn signs. He’s still not talking. I crank up the music, loud, blasting it as loud as the knob will go. It's so loud, I can’t even think straight. I’m fuming at him! I keep missing turns and I don’t know where to go. I keep pulling over to look at maps, but keep missing signs. Oh, sweet Adam is still in the back, cuddled up, cozy and silent. Can you believe him?!?

At this point I’m crying from frustration and exhaustion. I don’t know where to go and when I need Adam’s help, he’s not showing up to help me. Desperate, I just pull into a motel parking lot and fall into the bed in the back of Bernie. If we had a house, I would have kicked Adam out that night. The couch wouldn’t have even been an option.

And the night we were attacked and kicked out of our campsite by the vicious flock of keA

Don't be fooled. Kea fly in gangs, consume rubber, can run as fast as your small terrier, and have beaks sharpened for war. Quite intimidated and outnumbered, we were run out of our campsite!

Remember that time we were invaded by thousands of ENORMOUS beetles

How peaceful and calm this looks. Our experience was the complete opposite: Hysterics followed by chaos!

So, we pulled into a green, grassy campsite in a beautiful gorge with a river flowing through and a historic bridge as a backdrop. I started pulling out our camping chairs and tv table to get ready to make dinner. I unfolded our little pink camping chair and immediately went peddling backwards screaming! The chair was covered with tens, hundreds, thousands of black beetles all 2 inches long! (Okay, I know I’m exaggerating, but there were tons! They were HUGE!)

I screamed and started freaking out at Adam. My fright turned to rage and even got stubborn Adam to clean off every one of them as he laughed hysterically. He started flicking them off the chair right next to the van. “What are you thinking?!? Not next to the van!!!” I made him go as far away as possible to execute those buggers. I had the whole campsite gaping at my hysterics.

Dinner was delayed as I pulled everything out of the van and scoured every nook and cranny of every item in every box until I was satisfied that every single beetle had been exterminated. Adam had left the pink chair out all night at a beach the night before and these nocturnal beetles found comfort in the seat of the folded pink chair in the morning. Unknown to us, we shoved the chair and the hundreds of beetles into the van and transported them all day! Disgusting! Thankfully, they were subdued during their transport, so many didn’t escape the chair’s boundaries. Thank God I found them before they became active that night as we slept right above them! Ah! I cringe at the thought.

My meticulous cleanse wasn’t thorough enough, though. We found remnants of other beetles throughout the van in the days to come. You bet no item has been left outside or will ever be left outside ever again!

Oh, and how many nights did we compete to see who could kill more sandflies and mosquitos?

And the time we found a wee bird in our push bike wheel. We felt horrible. 

Can't forget the Flood of 2015

All right, so Adam, our beloved, intellectual, college edumucated CPA, has a history of making terribly illogical decisions when storing large amounts of liquid. On our US roadtrip, he insisted on storing a gallon of Gain washing detergent in a Ziploc bag stored in the exact spot that we were shoving our gear in and out every morning and every night. Ziploc, I believe in you, but not that much. Turns out, I was right. The bag exploded.

Round two: New Zealand. With Bernie, we inherited an unused thick plastic camping bag that boasted it could hold 5 gallons of water. I doubted that from the moment we layed eyes on it. We already lived through this. So, we argued. Adam didn’t budge, so I gave up. The bag made it the first two months. Surprisingly, the plastic bag got a hole in it! What? Can you believe it? Poor Bernie’s carpet and everything stored under the bed were soaked for weeks.

Every chance we got we hauled everything out of the van and had it air dry. Wonderful Nancy and David on the sheep farm even tried a heater and fan on it for days. We won’t make that decision again. I’m putting my foot down.

Oh no. We are following a truck load of 45 porte-johns up a mountain pass. If anything goes wrong, things could get really sh!$&y!

These are the true, imperfect tales of #nuventures. I hear they say, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I'll hang onto that.

These accounts are unbiased, with no name calling or blame, and are objective in all aspects.

"I'll go climb the tree. This will be the perfect picture! Ugh, ugh... hold on a sec. Wait, ugh. I'm getting there."

Learn New Zealand Vocabulary

Heading to New Zealand, hey? Good on ya! You speak English, hey? Sweet as! Just to be sure you and your mates will have heaps of fun and your mum won’t be worried, rattle your dags and get keen on learning your Kiwi English! When you do, you’ll be good as gold! If not, don’t get your knickers in a wad, she’ll be right.

We have a brand spankin’ new English vocabulary after five months of road tripping New Zealand in our not-so-flash campervan, Bernie, and tramping through the fern filled bush. The drives around the country were filled with hours of admiring thousands of shorn ewes in green paddocks, being spontaneously welcomed into generous Kiwi homes and served heaps of tea, biscuits and mince pies. It's been a corker!

We hope our stories and pictures have inspired you to explore New Zealand for yourself or return to the inspiring views! We have loved it here in this magical country known as Middle Earth. Make sure to use the US vs New Zealand English dictionary below to prepare for your trip. Don’t forget your sunnies, jandals and togs for the beach and your jersey for the cool nights, hey!

Tongariro Crossing, North Island

American mustard: mustard

bach: vacation home

biscuit: cookie

bogan: redneck

bonnet: hood of a car

boot: trunk of a car

Mount Cook, South Island

brekkie: breakfast

bush: forest

capsicum: bell pepper

car park: parking lot

cheeky: sassy

cheers: thank you

Moeraki Boulders, South Island

chemist: pharmacy

chilly bin: cooler

chippies/crisps: potato chips

chips: French fries

college: private high school

chook: chicken

Nugget Point

corker: very good

corgets: zucchini

coriander: cilantro

cotton buds: Q-tips

dags: dingleberry

dear: expensive

Hokitika, South Island

entrée: appetizer

ewes: female sheep

fizzy: carbonated soda

flash: fancy/ high class

flat: apartment

fortnight: two weeks

Route burn Great Walk

“Gold as!”: “Awesome!”

“Good on ya!”: "Congratulations"

gutted: bad luck

heaps: a lot

hens: chicken

hey: used similar to the Canadian “eh”

Queenstown

holiday: vacation

jandals: flip flops

jersey: sweat shirt

keen: excited

knackered: exhausted

knickers: underwear

Manuka Mire, Invercargill, South Island

kumara: sweet potato

lolly: hard candy

loo/toilet: bathroom

mate: friend

maths: math/mathematics

mince: ground beef

Roy's Peak, South Island

mufti: when students don’t have to wear school uniforms

mum: mom

munted: broken beyond repair

nappies: diapers

naughty: mischievous

paddock: field

Cave Stream, South Island 

partner: girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse

petrol: gas

pie: meat filled pastry

plaster: band aid

pram: baby stroller

push bike: bicycle

Arthur's Pass, South Island

“Rattle your dags!”: “Hurry up!”

rubbish: trash

“She’ll be right”: all will be okay

shout: pay for something for you

slip: rock slide

sunnies: sunglasses

Pancake Rocks, South Island

“Sweet as!”: “Awesome!”

tea: dinner

tea towel: dish towel

togs: bathing suit

tomato sauce: ketchup

torch: flashlight

Sunset at Pancake Rocks, South Island 

tramping: hiking over several days

tyre: tire

university: college

walking: hiking

wapiti: elk

wee: little bit

Fiordland National Park, South Island 

windscreen: windshield

yarn: chat and jokes with mates

zed: “z”

A huge shout out and thanks to the Foresters for sharing NZ with us and teaching us our Kiwi-isms!