after the drama with my computer, and happily finding someone that could drive the virus out and install new insides to it, i needed to go to another computer man to reinstall new insides. i went to my local tejakula hotspot (wireless internet cafe) and the man worked on it for about 10 hours, receiving a big $5 in return, and suggested i return again the following day since it was already midnight and there was still work to be done. i had had enough of it so i just let it go and figured i would manage with it the way it was...but each day i discovered something else that had disappeared with the formatting and that i needed in order to breathe with my computer everyday; blogging, photographing, studying kabbalah, e-mailing, and browsing....so...off i went again last night after dinner, to the tejakula hotspot!
the owner a young man, only arrives at 7 p.m. most evenings, after he has finished his regular job, but when i got there at 8:30 and was surprised to find the young girl there instead of him, and sign languaged my disappointment and confusion and need, she sign languaged me back that he would soon return ...so i sat down and waited...dripping sweat after the walk and the still air that filled the small internet cafe, wondering whether to ask her to turn on the ceiling fan, even though she herself was wearing a long sleeve sweatshirt on top of a t-shirt....hmmm,.,.i let it go...all the balinese sitting behind the computer screens in their partitioned off booths seemed quite content too...so it was just me.
every now and then i glanced up at the clock as it ticked away wondering how long i will peacefully accept the circumstances believing that everything is perfect and the timing is right and all is exactly the way it is supposed to be at this very moment....every now and then wiping the sweat from my face, back and neck and glancing around again to see if maybe someone else also thinks its a bit hot and lets use the fan...one 20+ fellow smiled at me and said in quick perfect english "it's very hot for you." "yes." silence.
each time another motorbike parked in front of the open fronted room (no door) that faced the main street, i thought, aha, maybe it is him...but it was usually another young teenager, smoking a cigarette, or wanting to buy some (they also sell cigarettes, make cell phone calls for you, sell soft drinks...). finally "the boss" arrived, and we smiled at each other, since i am a regular there already. when he finished doing the urgent things he came over to ask what he can do for me, and i told him that i need hebrew back on my computer...and that i have indonesian. he smiled, "ah, yes, when i install, i forget and put indonesian" smile smile smile. and then for 2 hours he tried to get hebrew, which apparently is not the most popular or even recognized language here in indonesia where israel is not even recognized as a country that exists....so also no hebrew as an option on all of the paths he diligently tried to improvise in order to help me.
second problem: (2 hours later) that ever since he reinstalled the insides, i cannot download my videos that i film anymore! and that is most important! he knew it was most important, since the last time that i spent an all nighter there with him, it was the night before the new year celebrations and the chanting in the temple opposite the hotspot went on all night instead of the usual half hour, and i was so thrilled that god had arranged for me to have to sit there all night, and thus enjoy hours and hours of the once a year chanting close to the source! and as he worked on my computer that evening, waiting for programs to slowly (very slowly) download, i kept standing at the entrance with my camera shooting into the night sky with my camera on "movie", using it like a tape recorder just so that i would have recordings of the chanting to later listen to and possible imitate and enjoy. he and his wife and father, who had all gathered there with us as he worked on and on to help me, wondered what i could possible be photographing in the pitch dark? and i eventually explained that i love to hear the mans voice that is singing these long slow drawn out mystical chants about the meaning of life and our connection with god (my liberal translation of what i hear since i do not understand a word of balinese or indonesian, but can just feel the vibrations entering straight into my veins.). they smiled....ah, yes.
so, he understood the importance that my videos will be on my computer. "please give me your camera so we can see" oops....didn't think to bring it! ugh...so i quickly pressed on the picasa icon to just try and explain to him how all the photos download or upload or whatever it is, and it is just the videos that don't. and as i am saying that, he points one of his long thin delicate fingers to something on the screen and gently says," here are the movies. they are now transferring, it take long time, need patience." sure do! videos from yesterday were only know appearing on the computer, even though it had been on for almost 24 hours....i love it! so all the gamelon music and chanting was not lost after all!!
but when he caught a glance at my photos, of ogoh ogoh and the music and dance festival, he asked if he could copy them onto his computer too. of course! it hadn't dawned on me that someone without a camera and who had been stuck in the internet cafe or at work all day and night would enjoy these colorful memories of the happenings in his village. me being very computer illiterate thought it would be a few minutes and then i can finally go home since it was now very late and i had been up since before dawn...but....yep, just like it took a whole day to get them on my computer....to copy them also took a very long time, since he wanted the videos too....
he asked if i could please come back the next night so he could copy all my photos, but i told him i was leaving in one more day for another city and then back to israel...so, instead of going home and showering and having something to eat finally after a long day at work, he just lit up another cigarette and took his USB stick and started quickly choosing what albums he wanted. and as we sat there we began to talk.
i asked him if he is a dancer, since his hands and feet sure look like one, and he laughed and said "oh no, for dancer you must have inside you special feeling," "so, do you play an instrument?" "yes, some guitar, organ, and harmonica" .
"and how what do you work at during the day before you come to the internet cafe?" "in the government, family planning...i go to peoples houses 5 days a week and teach them about contraceptives." I asked if he also makes sure to go to the junior high and high schools and he said he does. good to know...since there are a lot of very young women here with babies that found themselves after their first flirtation, pregnant, then married, then unhappy (universal theme not praticular to bali, but at least nice to know they are doing something about it)
"and how did you have enough money to buy 7 computers for this internet cafe?" "from the year 2002 i lost my WINDOWS and i not know what to do. so i ask friend:what to do for WINDOWS and i try, and other friend tell me something and on and more. i buy DELL, you know DELL? I buy parts and put together computers, much better, also cheaper, but very good computer. Now i want to bring hotspot to all of Tejakula village." "Great! when?!!" "Have no time, this is hobby, need time to do geographic measurement, so tall towers at right distance, ""But don't put any antenna es next to the resort! It isn't healthy." "Need tower to be taller than coconut trees. Must measure" so, my sweet computer guy loves computers and wants his village to have wi-fi...so nice...he doesn't really think about it for the money but because he wants his village to grow with the progress in the world.
i told him i want to come live in tejakula. he listened to that sentence and then asked me "why do you like Tejakula?" Oh....i know that every single person that i am in contact with is god in disguise...and here i was, faced with a very simple and straightforward question....why do i like tejakula....hmmm....no beating around the bush here...really...why do i like tejakula? how to put into words the feelings i have inside of me from the moment i drove down the main road the first time and they had decorated the streets with the palm decorations and everyone was out on the sides of the road in their temple clothing with the offerings on their heads getting ready to celebrate the opening of the newly renovated temple, and i went driving through them all, with my window open, in the old broken down bemo van, the foreigner coming into town....and i felt i had just entered a fairy tale...
"The people are always laughing. everyone is friendly, i love the chanting and the temple life, i love the sea, and the fishermen, the gamelons, everything is slow,simple."
"You trust in god?"
"Yes"
"Ah."
"In bali many religions: hindu, moslem, christian, and you?"
"Jewish"
"Jewish..."
by now, all the photos had finished downloading and i was ready to walk back home, the gang was still drinking and smoking and sitting on the steps by their motorbikes laughing and talking, men only of course, and as i was slipping my tongs back on my feet to start my walk home, the one that spoke to me previously asked" do you prefer to walk or would you like a ride back?" "oh! if you want to take me for free, i would like a ride, if not i will walk." "Yes, sure." and i hop on the back of his motorcycle and we ride down the main road a bit and then down the narrower dark side road that ends at the sea. i start up the conversation in the back asking him how he knows english so well? from "transport" (being a driver for tourists) and now he is learning italian and he knows also some german. and he likes the sound of american english. i asked this 20+ year old how he did when he was in high school.... "not so good" yeah, and now he is motivated and enjoys learning alone how to speak foreign languages and it is nice to see. the same thing happened to me on the beach the day before as i walked back from the festival. a young 14 year old girl proudly approached me with her friend and said "hello, what is your name" "eileen, what is your name" " Itu" "How long are you staying in bali? and then after a while i asked her "How do you know english?" "I like hearing and speaking it so i take every opportunity when i see someone that i can speak english with so i do. it is fun." good for her! she will go far. it is that inner drive, not because of the english, but because they want to succeed and discover the world and enjoy it, like mitha who wants to win the english storytelling contest for bali junior high students, and be a tour guide or elementary school english teacher.
a few minutes later we had reached the 4 steps that lead down to the sea and where i have to cross a tiny stream of water and go past the fishing boots into my entrance at the resort. he says he will keep his light from the motorbike on the way so i can walk and see. i laugh and say that i have a flashlight, thank you anyways,,,and start to feel my way down the steps to the sand. once i crossed the little stream with a jump i waved him goodbye so he could see that i was fine. he waited. i walked another few steps and reached the fishing boats and looked over to him. he waited, when i reached the entrance to the resort he gave a little beep "goodbye" on his horn and drove off....that is tejakula....that little extra act of kindness and concern and parting comes from a place much larger and deeper than i can describe here.
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