Drenched in Balinese Culture: Made (Part 2)

If you are just jumping into our series onDrenched in Balinese Culture, make sure to read Part 1 here! This culture is the complete opposite of everything we have ever known.  Part 1 describes the head spinning differences we learned within our first short hour on a Balinese family's compound on our Tinggly experience!

If you already read the first bit, you are one of our biggest fans! Thank you so much! Cheers to Made (Part 2)! Enjoy!

Picking up where we left off, the first hour of our morning was hearing all of the shocking differences between Balinese culture compared to everything Adam and I have ever known. Our minds were reeling in the midst of hearing and seeing the family temple, their human temple, buried placentas, and the dynamics of an entire family living together. To get a grip on it all, I asked our hostess, Made, to sum up the difference between American culture and Balinese culture. Made was hesitant, but honest with us when she answered, "Americans spend their days working and a Balinese day is spent with their family."

I was smacked in the face with her honest answer!

I'm sure my face went something like this!

I wasn't offended at all, because I was totally prepared for that kind of answer. It doesn't mean it didn't hurt to hear, though. Everyone in the world knows that American working culture is tough with little or very few vacations. We have spent the last year hearing from Europeans about their lovely, annual six week holidays and their four month honeymoons. When we say Americans get two weeks per year everyone gasps! "What?!? Only two weeks?" We are a bit embarrased and definitely envious of our European friends! So, Made's honest opinion of the true differences and priorities of both cultures was valid. It makes me a bit sad, though, because we are and have been surrounded by Americans continually striving so hard to find the absolute balance between their faith, family, health, friends and work. Just the effort that goes into the balancing act is stressful in itself! We have all felt stretched too thin and pulled in every direction. To hear Made call us out, well dang. I'm sure my eyeballs hit their size limit many times throughout our day with her.

Made continued to tour us through the family's compound. Through every small bit of conversation, we were slowly putting the pieces together and seeing the fruits of communal living manifest themselves around us.

Another auntie waved as she came by to feed the pigs. The family raises pigs and cows to be sold. Made shared, "We don't need all that meat." All I could think was BACON!

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Making our way to the chicken coop, Made's face cringed at the thought that we eat chicken eggs. "No. We eat duck eggs." If they take their chickens' eggs, the chickens will stop laying. No good! They need the baby chicks for future chicken dinners.

So, when in Bali, do as the Balinese do. We tried duck eggs. Now, we ain't no egg connoisseurs, ya hear, but by golly they taste just the same!

Their ducks lay 100 eggs a day!

We were also learning this family was full of entrepreneurial spirit and had been very creative in finding different forms of income. As we continued walking down the path, we waved to men in their jungle. Had to be uncles working on the banana trees, right? Made laughed, "No, I don't know those people." The family has so much land covered with banana trees, they sell the leaves as another form of income. "Everyone always needs banana leaves for all of the ceremonies, offerings, and cooking," she explained. "Ah!"

We heard about members of her family as taxi drivers and painting class instructors. Then, we toured the family's rentable guest house and swimming pool overlooking their rice terraces. Just beautiful! The family even rents access to the river on their property for white water rafting tours to use. We already heard they sell cows, pigs and banana leaves. Oh yeah, we can't forget the cooking class we are currently experiencing and we hadn't even stepped into the kitchen yet!

We were still gathering ingredients along their hillside on our walk to see the rice terraces. 

Seeing the family's creativity in using their strengths to find income inspires Adam and I. Along our nuventures, we have been traveling and seeing new places but it has also become a journey of dreaming about our future. We continually dream and brainstorm ways of diversifying our income so we aren't fully dependent on one source. Also, we are always thinking of ways to make passive income on the side as an extra boost each month. This is all in an effort to have more time for our family now and our family to come. We dream of working and making incomes remotely so we can travel for a month to Canmore, Alberta or to take off for the summer and road trip to see our families across the US. We want that to be "no big deal."

We have met so many fellow travelers and families along our journey that have been creative, figured out how to diversify their income, are working for themselves and have control of their days. We want that, too. We want to be able to go for a bike ride in the middle of the afternoon or get lunch with our kids at school and not have to explain ourselves to anyone.

We are working on giving this lifestyle a go. We may fail or we may decide the lack of a schedule and structure doesn't really work for us. We may realize we are working so much more time for less money than we did while working for an employer. Who knows how we will fair in taking new leaps of trying freelance work or developing passive modes of income. It's scary, but we know what we are working and hoping for in our future. More time. More time to do what we want, when we want, with the people we want to share time with. Made's family and their different lifestyle inspired us.

With those revelations all wracking through my brain, I snapped back to the task at hand as Made continued to lead us down the path guiding us toward their rice terraces.

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Want to check out the lush, green rice terraces or just get some comical relief from our conversation with the women harvesting? Read on to Drenched in Balinese Culture: Nyoman (Part 3) here!

Drenched in Balinese Culture: Ketut (Part 4)

After a jam packed day of constant culture shock we finally made our way to the kitchen for the Balinese traditional cooking class from Tinggly! Get yourself ready to have a mouth on fire! Brings me back to ATL's Varsity shouts of, "Whad'ya have!?!" Three, four, five or six chilies?

To read the cultural revelations we had prior to the cooking class, check out Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.

We arrived in the outdoor kitchen exhausted from all of the learning and drenched with sweat from our trek up the rice terraces in the day's humidity. Our stomachs were ready too, as Made had been teasing us throughout the entire morning by picking ingredients along the way and letting us smell the delicious aromas. We were excited to get our cooking on!

As we walked up to the kitchen, Made's nephew was fishing in the family's pond!

Just waiting for a bite.

We heard a "Woop, woop!" He caught a fish! We were all yelling with excitement. Made turned to us,  "Do you want it fried or grilled?" I was confused, "Oh, no! He caught it! He should have it!" Again, completely different cultures. I was thinking he did all the work, the fish was his prize. Made brought me back to her culture of community. "No, it's for everyone! We'll all have it!"

Stinkin' adorable!

The menu for the class was soup, coconut salad, corn fritters, pork steamed in banana leaves, chicken on lemon grass skewers, banana fritters, sweet potato rice and now a side of fish!

Everything was cooked on the wood fire stove!

Amazingly, all of the ingredients were pulled from the family's garden and compound, except the salt, pepper and coriander. Incredible!

Lemon grass, ginger, tumeric, chilies, peppers, garlic, coconut, salad (red onion), kaffir lime leaves, corn... 

Made explained that we must know the two most important aspects to Balinese cooking. One, you must have fresh ingredients. Two, you, "Chop, chop, chop," all the spices together in one big mix and then use bits of the mix for each part of the meal. A little in the soup, a little with the pork, some with the chicken, etc.

The big question finally arrived. "How many chilies?" I gulped and my eyes got big again. Adam has been force feeding himself the local spicy food for every meal to get acclimated. I, on the other hand, cheer him on and have been taking my time preferring the "local" French bakery over the spicy Balinese food sometimes (okay a lot of times). So, we settled on three hot chilies instead of the normal six Made usually makes for her family. I know, I know, I'm the weakest link. I'm getting there!

We used grinding stones and pestles throughout the cooking!

Start chopping the onion, garlic, and chilies for the spice mix. 

Made and her sister-in-law didn't trust Adam chopping. They were afraid he would cut his fingers off, so they took over and made Adam start on the coconut shavings. 

Chop, chop, chop until the spices look like dis. Then, you start mixing the spices into the chicken by grinding it together and the pestle and stone. 

But first, mix in the salt, palm sugar, and the kaffir lime leaf. 

Coconut shavings for the coconut salad. 

I was working on smashing the garlic, salad (red onion) and the chilies for the corn fritters. 

Corn fritters comin' right up!

Mix the pork with the spices. 

Made showing us how to wrap the chicken around lemon grass stalks for the grill and how to roll the pork into banana leaves for steaming. 

Rolling the pork in banana leaves. 

Adam on the lemon grass chicken skewers. 

Can't forget the staple: rice with sweet potatoes!

Looking good!

The pork ready to go on the stove to be steamed!

Chicken's going on the grill. 

Now, we wait. 

Once the food was complete, Made created fifteen separate offerings of flowers, rice and other bits of all of the food we had prepared as a way to give thanks and bless the meal.

The offerings with flowers, food, rice and holy water. 

She set the offerings all over the food preparation area near every resource that helped make the meal. One was placed on the stove, one near their natural spring, another near the pond, one in the tree where the lime came from, one near the bathroom, another at the kitchen entrance, and one in the area where we were eating. With each offering, she placed both the flowers and the rice down, lit an incense and flicked holy water on the offering for the blessings.

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It was amazing to watch this tradition! We have learned that about 30% of a woman's daily time is dedicated to preparing all of the blessings and offerings. That is a lot of time focusing on giving thanks!

It was now time to eat! We were so full from taste testing along the way, but we couldn't help but stuff ourselves to continue consuming the goodness.

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Coconut salad

Soup

Corn fritters

To truly get the local eating experience, just find a seat on any flat surface and dig in with your hands mixing everything with the rice! Yum!

This was all I could eat after all the taste testing. 

With our bellies full, we relaxed, were treated with tea and coffee and had the treat of meeting Made’s mother-in-law and adorable kiddos!

We interrupted Kadek's corn snack with our photo shoot!

Beautiful Grandma and Kadek. 

Adam and I looked at my watch and then at each other. It was only 2 pm! We were worn out and exhausted. We had only spent six, short hours with Made and her family, but we tried to keep up and soak up the intricacies of Balinese culture. I felt so heavy like I had been totally immersed into a whole new way of living in every aspect!

Our final walk through the compound. 

The car ride home was silent as we both looked out our respective windows watching the kites fly over the rice paddies. We were lost in our own reflections. We wanted to remember each moment of this amazing day forever! One thing we both knew, we were addicted to learning more about this beautiful Balinese culture. We think we could settle here for a while!

It's kite flying season on Bali. The wind is just right, so all the kids build their own kites and fly them over the rice paddies. He's on his way!

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!

Feeling a bit Tinggly in Thailand!

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We have been feeling pretty Tinggly here lately with all our Nuventures! Adam and I are partnering with Tinggly as their ambassadors testing and reviewing their worldwide inventory of experiences. We are pumped to be a part of their unique mission: gifting people with amazing experiences all over the world!

When we got married, we dreamed of future holidays and adventures together on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Alps or cruising Thailand in a long-tail boat. (Now, we can check one of those off our bucket list!) We decided we wanted to start a new tradition for ourselves. Instead of giving each other physical gifts each holiday, we want to simply spend time together and make memories in amazing new spots around the world.

Thankfully, we discovered Tinggly. A perfect fit to what we are looking for! Instead of giving a gift that someone may never use, Tinggly provides hundreds of experiences all over the world for people to gift to one another. The receiver is then able to choose which experience they want, wherever they want!

Our first assignment: the James Bond ISland Tour, Krabi, Thailand

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 And, we were off getting Tinggly! We quickly realized our first adventure's focus was more about the journey rather than the destination. We jumped in the minibus, escaping the tourism of Krabi, and drove the country side seeing the real Thailand. We whizzed by local markets selling brooms made of wild grass, trucks fully loaded with palm bunches on the way to make palm oil, and perfectly aligned rubber tree farms. Then, we hopped into a long-tail boat through Phang Nga Bay. Adam and I were speechless. We were overwhelmed by the dramatic scenery of the limestone cliffs and towering islands bordering the bay.

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As the long-tail boat skirted the edges of the islands, the cliffs just seemed to be dripping above us.

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Our main goal was to set our sights on James Bond Island. The island is famous for it's debut in 007's The Man with the Golden Gun. Look familiar?

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After this spot, we jumped back in the boat and were on our way to the floating village of Panyee.

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Panyee was the highlight of our adventure. The village was seriously floating with homes, shops and restaurants on stilts. No solid ground underneath, only water!

After lunch we snuck past the tourist shops and wandered the village alleys. We dodged kids riding their bikes, playing soccer, and tackling each other on the three foot wide sidewalks used as their playground. They didn't have soft, cushy grass along the path, but six foot drop offs into the water on either side. Homes and bars that we passed had wooden slats for the floors. Drop anything, your ring, your keys, your fork, your pen and it would be gone in an instant into the murky sea water below only maybe to be seen again at low tide.

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How many times have they cursed the holes in their floors? For the kiddos, I'm sure that is all they know. No fear to fall off their bike into the water below. They will just find the village ladder and climb right back up!

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Later, we visited the reclining Buddha statue in the Suwankuha Temple, otherwise known as Monkey Cave. Monkeys welcomed us in while the bats soared over head between the stalactites as we went deeper into the cave.

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A bit creeped out by the bats, we monkeyed around with the fury locals outside the cave until we were almost caught in a scramble over bananas. The monkeys changed in an instant with terrifying growls, fangs gleaming and crazy speed over the rocky terrain. Monkeying around turned into giving some serious distance and respect.

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Tinggly's experience took Adam and I on an all day Thailand adventure. We hung out with locals, played soccer with the kiddos on their floating village, pondered and reflected on Thailand's amazing culture, got a shocking view of the wildlife  and gazed at the amazing landscape Thailand boasts.

Get your Tinggly on and gift someone you love with their dream adventure!