another opportunity to perform with the women from the gamelon orchestra at the temple! and this time i wanted to "blend in" with them, and not be "the tourist" (as if i could actually blend in! ha!). and since they all wear identical sarongs and kabiyas, and gold jewelry and attached black bun in their hair, i wanted to too! i knew the day would come, so while i was in israel still, a few months ago, roaming and living in 6 different places over the 4 months i was there, i found a long black wig that was left by a former resident. i tried it on, and laughed. and then thought...i guess it's here for me to use...so i put it in my suitcase and brought it with me to bali for just this occasion.
we all were having new sexy red kabiyas sewn and sarongs and sash, but they were for the second performance at the art and music festival. for the temple, they were wearing last years "uniform" in green, and i didn't have one. they said i should just wear a white one, and it is fine...but i wanted to be like them, in green.i resigned myself to the fact that i will wear white, and then while saying goodbye to my landlord at her shop, the woman that plays next to me in the orchestra was there. we said hello. my landlord asked if i have the clothes for the performance, and i told her i will just wear white....and suddenly the other woman said that she will not be coming, so i can wear her green kabiya. i was thrilled at the "synchronicity" of it all, and that we are both the same size!
so that night i went to her house and took the outfit, tried it on and was grateful it fit, and put on the wig too! i went to my landlord, who is a former beautician, and asked her what we can do about the big bun that i need in the back. she said she had one and that the next day, before the performance, she will fix it for me. i was so happy i would be "blending in"!
the next day, i got all dressed and put the wig on, and sat in her grocery store by the check out, so she could help customers while fixing my hair. once the big black bun was attached, i sat there for a few minutes, making my face up with blush on and lipstick (first time since i was 14 years old!) ...but i started to feel how the wig was being weighed down and falling off from the weight of the big black bun! what to do now? so i took off the wig, and we just attached the bun to my short hair. the way they attach the bun ( and they all wear a fake bun they have attached, they even have names for the type of fake bun, since there are different sizes and styles!) is to take your real hair, make a little pony tail and then the bun is attached to that.
well....with hair about 2 cm. long, there wasn't much of a pony tail on my head, but she managed somehow, and the bun was on! great. next were the gold hair pins and gold foil flowers in my hair! and off i went....hmmm..not realizing that "off i went" means that i jumped on a motorbike with my friend and we rode 10 minutes to the temple. i hung on to the bun with one hand, and to the offering i was bringing with the other! better i fall off the bike and not the bun fall off me! each of the women that arrived after us, and that saw me, all commented "you are very beautiful". i had seen myself in the mirror,,,and even took a nostalgic photo...but i don't think i would have called myself beautiful!
then we walked through the courtyard of the temple, and the men that i know from different circumstances all stopped to tell me "you are very beautiful". and they meant it! i couldn't believe how an entire country believes that a woman with a black bun wearing a kabiya and sarong, is very beautiful, period....that's all you need. well....it was very flattering, even if i didn't think i was beautiful. but as we began to play for the next 2 hours, i started feeling a little sinking feeling that the bun is sinking into my shoulders, and no longer attached to the little pony tail on my head. in between each song i tried to kind of push it all together again, but, it just got worse. not knowing enough indonesian to ask one of the women around me for help, i just kind of pantomimed the falling bun, and they all assured me that "you are beautiful".
finally, before the last song, we had a water break, and i just removed the falling bun and asked the woman next to me to please attach it again...well...the giggles and shock of all the women, that i would remove the bun in the middle of the temple there, had them all hysterical. and even more hysterics because the woman trying to attach it to my pony tail was saying "but there is no pony tail to attach it to!" and laughing about my short hair and what is she supposed to do with it now!...(all in indonesian..) she is a clever woman and found a way to put it on me in any case. and the song was played, we exited, and i got home on the motorbike still in one piece, but realized i need a better solution for the next time.
then yesterday, as we women waited for the gamelon rehearsal to begin, and the gossip and chatting is the fun of the evening, the woman that attached my big bun started to retell the story of how suddenly she saw me with the bun in my hand! and everyone had another good laugh. this time i am going to invest in about 100 bobby pins, if i can find out where to buy them, and attach the big black wig on and we shall see! at least there will be a pony tail to attach it to...whether it will be on my head, or in my hands again remains to be seen...
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