serendipity

i've said it before, but will say it again, that i once saw a movie in the 70's called "oh, lucky man" and there were only about 7 actors in the entire movie, but they kept appearing in different roles throughout the movie. and even though i don't remember much of it, it made a big impression on me. and every time i meet someone here in bali, a little while later, i meet them again, in totally different circumstances, and suddenly remember that they were the other person and are now in a new role. maybe this happens all over the world, and it is just that i love bali so much i am enchanted by the slightest things, but for me it is an intense case of serendipity/synchronicity...whatever you want to call it and it surprises me each time and makes me laugh. probably the balinese think that all of us westerners look alike, just like i think that alot of them look alike...so it is even more surprising that i have met someone and then succeed in recognizing them again, in totally different circumstances, since my perception has not yet fine tuned to their physiology....well, enough with the long introduction. in a village of over 11,000 balinese, i seem to meet up with some of the same people i have met over the past year in the strangest circumstances.

the day i decided to start walking to the early morning market, it was more to just get an idea who is selling what, where. whenever i saw a few people gathered around a kiosk, i went up to it too to see what was being sold, or what they were waiting in line for. that is how i found my flower seller...a sweet husband and wife couple that at 4 in the morning have women lined up in order to buy little bags of flowers and grasses for the daily offering for 10 cents. while i stood there waiting for my turn, one of the children that was sitting near their feet, said "hello" to me. all of the children are very friendly and like to practice their english whenever they see a foreigner. so i smile and say hello back. but when i turned to the child to return his hello, i suddenly saw it was my star hoola hooper from a year ago on the beach. he is about 9 years old, and picked it up in a second, without any verbal communication between us, within half an hour i had taught him everything i knew. he used to come to the sea where i was living then to swim with his friends and would have a go at the hoop and then leave. and here he suddenly was, grown up a year later, with a big silver chain around his neck and wearing a red basketball outfit but his smile and twinkling eyes gave him away ( together with the fact that as soon as i looked at him he started pantomiming hoola hooping :) ) we laughed at the sudden meeting of us both in the middle of the village.

a few weeks ago i went to the city an hour away to buy a rice cooker. after going to a few shops that did not have one, i tried another street and immediately found what i was looking for, just as i was paying for it, in a tiny electric store for balinese people, a young man spoke in indonesian to me. i didn't understand and just ignored him and continued taking out my money. he continued to speak to me and i heard the word "tejakula" which is the name of my village, so i said that "i am from there" and he said that he knows, he has seen me on the street. and then i put two and two together and realized that maybe he was driving back and i could join him instead of taking multiple rides on public transportation. we rode on his motorbike and halfway there a friend of his with a big van recognized him on his motorbike and stopped to offer me a ride since i was holding a huge box and a car would be more suitable way to make it safely home. while i drove back in the car with our purchases, i conversed with the driver who spoke great english with an australian accent, since he lives there, even though he is from the village. i decided to ask him why he thinks some balinese are so deceptive about trying to get money from foreigners. the conversation was enlightening and by the end of it he introduced me to his cousin that was sitting next to him and was recommended as "a local that is honest and that if i ever need help, i should call him." when i got out of the car i took his cell phone number and wrote the name "honest" next to his name, since everyone has one of the same 4 names, so at least this way i would know which gede i was calling. then a week later, after having been ripped off by my landlord, and forgetting that i had an "honest" man i could have called for help too, i was walking to my new abode, stopped to look at some paintings at a small shop, and who is the owner and painter....yep, mr. honest!

the first day i went to an internet cafe here in the village a year and half ago, i could not succeed in communicating with the woman running it and was frustrated that i couldn't figure out how to get on line with my computer. we were each in little cubicles, and i stood up and said in english "is there anyone here who can help me in english?" and a sweet teenager came and guided me through it all and ended up walking me to another internet cafe that was more suitable for me. as we walked, we spoke, and became friends. he was one of my guardian angels, always showing up just when i would arrive to bali each time, in strange circumstances, and it was so nice to meet him each time. the day before i flew to bali again this time, i received an email from him saying that he wonders if i am still in bali since he hasn't seen me for a few months. (and indeed i had left the village for 4 months in israel, but he didn't know) i thought it was so cool how intuitively he had written just when i was flying back there the next day. two weeks later i was sitting waiting for gamelon practice to begin, as each woman of the 22 would either zoom up on her motorbike to the parking lot we were sitting near, or else get dropped off by a family member. since it was night time already i couldn't see the faces, but suddenly someone was shining their headlight at me and happy to see me, being blinded by it i couldn't figure out who could be so happy to see me, and sure enough,sugik, was dropping off his aunt for the rehearsal, even though he had never done that over the past year i had been with the orchestra. it was fun putting his face together with the woman that i knew from the gamelon orchestra, and also catching up on his life a bit, having graduated from high school now and was about to start university.

there are some women in the orchestra that i was immediately attracted to, but had no idea why, and one turned out to be the internet cafe owners mother! another time, when i was trying to call up the owner to help me with my computer, and i didn't have a cell phone, i started walking down the street and the first person i saw i asked if they would be willing to make a phone call for me (in indonesian and sign language) and the woman happened to be one of the 22 from the orchestra that recognized me, on this little side street.

since orchestra practice is meant to begin at 7, i get there a little early and watch the men playing badminton at the same community center. one of them knew a little english and would speak with me every time i came and sat there, and we became friends. the first day when i was walking to my new surroundings, on the other side of town, i suddenly saw him selling rice, and was happy to be able to buy some red rice from him, and got to see him in a different context.

the same thing happened the next time i was watching the badminton game and there was a man selling drinks at a small kiosk in the corner. i laughed as i realized it was the same man that the morning before had been all dressed up in his government uniform working at the municipality and signing my document for the bank.

the first week i arrived this time here, i was checking out different restaurants where i could buy carry out food. the last one of the 7 that i tried was a man that spoke fluent english and made a big pitch for his restaurant. i bought some items but wasn't sure it was a place i would return to. a few days later i was at a temple ceremony, and out of the hundreds of people there, a man was right next to me, and smiled in recognition. i smiled back, having no idea who he was and how i know him. they wear a kind of bandana on their forehead at the temple that totally changes their appearance from everyday to ceremonial! i kept wondering, why does he look so familiar to me? and the next day, as i was passing by the restaurants again, there he was, and suddenly i could put two and two together and realized it was him at the temple smiling.

after a few days of being here i realized i would need a bank in order to deposit all the cash i had brought for my stay, and also a safe deposit box for my passport and camera, etc. i knew the manager of a neighboring resort and had intended to go over and ask her if it is possible to rent a safe by her. and as i am standing there in the bank, i look to my left, and there she is, standing next to me, finishing her banking also.

the next time i went to the bank and decided to use an ATM card so i wouldn't have to sit there for an hour just to withdraw some money, a lovely woman walks in the door right behind me, gives me a big smile hello and asks me how i am? i say fine, and have no idea how we know each other, but i just know that we do. once she finished her transaction she asks me why i don't come round anymore to visit at her resort, and i suddenly remember that she is the chef/waitress at my girlfriends resort and i had just called her that morning and made plans to visit in 3 days...

i walked into one of many cell phone shops here in the village and only one young woman visiting her friend that works there, knew english. she helped me out, we got to talking, she looked so familiar, but i had no idea how we could possibly know each other. and then at the end of the conversation she reminded me that she was the woman that had adopted me and my friends at a full day ceremony at one of the temples 4 months earlier!

on my morning walk back from the village to my home i say hello to the sellers sitting in front of the shops that i pass, and as i pass each day, we continue to say hello to each other and make small talk. the other day, as i stopped to wave at a little baby and grandmother, since the balinese love to teach their babies and children to say "hallo" to foreigners, i asked the young woman next to the grandmother if she is the mother. she said no, the auntie, and we spoke a bit, and in the end we both remembered that we had met at the cremation a year earlier as we spent a few hours together sitting at the cemetery, and she had been working as a massagist in southern bali. and now, here she was, living on the main road that i pass everyday, and needing a job and wondering if i could recommend her to a resort i know of.

while walking through the forest back and forth twice a day, the villagers see me through the trees and will sometimes make a fake voice and say hello, high tones, or silly, it is their way of playing around and teasing. one family would call out to me from a distance of about 25 meters through the trees to say hello each day if we both happened to be out in the forest at the same time. it was too far for me to recognize their faces, but i figured that one day we would eventually meet each other up close. a week later, as i was visiting my friend who is building a house, he introduced me to his neighbor, the priest. i smiled, recognizing him, since he leads most of the ceremonies i go to, and is really silly looking with a huge grin, kind of goofy in his body, and big ears that stick out to the sides beyond his white priest cap. the first time i saw him on a motorbike out of context of the temple it made me laugh, but now i had gotten used to it. when i asked where he lives, since he is a neighbor, my friend pointed in the direction of the forest where i always am greeted by the husband and wife with the silly voices. i laughed, and said "that's YOU?!" and he gave his silly grin and nodded, and i told my friend that we already know each other, from the forest, but we just hadn't "met" yet!

the list goes on, and makes me laugh, but the last one i will mention is one of the kids that i used to pass on the road i would walk on once a week into the village. out of all the kids, he always had a big smile and liked to say "hello!" to me and we had exchanged names...so i would always say "hello gede!"...now, living on the other side of town, i was walking along a new road, and suddenly out a group of 4 kids, ( i pass tens of kids everyday, that call out hello...) one of them smiled at me and said "hello!" i mechanically turned towards him to answer my usual "hello" back, and after i did i had a double take and said "gede?!" and he smiled even bigger and nodded his head as we recognized and met again a year later.

well, after writing this long blog about serendipity,,,i was wondering if maybe i just had a better memory, none of this would seem so unique and out of the ordinary, because i would just know who the people were in the first place!