3 Curios

"My mother has a talent"

I walked into the kitchen and saw a bowl with three porcupine needles in it….i realized that instead of shooting bats the previous night, ketut must have shot a porcupine and brought the needles for the kids to see. Sure enough, when we met later on, he said that his friend had shot a porcupine and the meat is in the fridge. He was going to bring some to his mother now since she enjoys porcupine meat and will awaken in her nice memories from her childhood. "She used to live near the mountain and there were many porcupines there. My mother has a talent to catch porcupine." "Really? How?" "She would take a big papaya or bunch of bananas from the garden and throw them on the porcupine….it was so heavy, stuck onto the needles, that the porcupine couldn't move. "

"This is how he refreshes"

I was sitting with the sister in law on the weekend as usual. She is with the two kids.  And her husband, who works during the week, spends his free time by cock fighting. If he wins, he comes back with two cocks; one dead one; the loser, and also his winning cock. Then she cooks the loser. If he returns with an empty bag, it means he lost…no cock coming back home.. I asked her if her husband is at the cock fight now. She said no, that a new head of the police department was voted in last week, and he has stopped all of the corruption with the cock fights, which has always been illegal, but the police turned their heads, as long as the payment was right. "no cockfights??!!" I couldn't believe it. Almost all of the men in bali are involved in some way with the cock fights. They are either raising cocks, or betting on cocks, or fighting with cocks…."so what is he doing if he isn't at the cock fight?" I couldn't imagine what all of them were doing without the adrenalin hit from the fight, without all of the talking and business involved in it. "He is sleeping." "yes, but now that the law is being enforced, what will he do with all of the time he used to spend at the cock fights?" "Oh, he is not worried. Every couple of years there is a new head of the police department and each time they close down all of the fighting. It lasts for a few weeks, and then everyone goes back to cockfighting again and paying off the police." "But this was such a big part of his life, no?" "it is how he refreshes himself.""so how did he refresh himself this week without the fights?""oh. we have a plot of land, so he cut the grass and planted vegetables." I laughed! It sounded a lot more refreshing to be out in nature doing something constructive rather than with a bunch of men and cigarettes watching cocks kill each other.  "And he will pay off the load we are taking, with the money, instead of gambling with it".  Sounds good to me!

"i guess someone needs a small bicycle"

 

The kids and I went down to the sea as usual and left the small old bicycle near some trees as usual, and began our adventure of playing in the waves and collecting seashells. After an hour or two we returned to take the bicycle home, but it wasn't there. I was a bit surprised, as were the kids, since they had never had anything taken from them before. No one was around, and it was a pretty windy wild day at sea and we were the only ones there, so we didn't even know who could have taken it. I assured the kids that I will go along the beach later and see if any of the families that live there may have taken it by mistake, and will bring it back. They were fine with that solution. I was happy, since neither of them had wanted to ride the bicycle uphill back home, and I wasn't looking forward to schlepping i't back either. So the disappearance of the bicycle suited us just fine.

Later on, when his father returned home, I told him that someone had stolen the bicycle while we were playing in the sea. I suggested it must be one of the families that lives by the sea, and I can go there tomorrow and see if the bicycle is there and tell them it is ours. He was silent for a moment, and then said "I guess someone needs a small bicycle. That is okay. Let them have it if they need it." I looked at him in disbelief. "you don't want me to go and find them and speak with the people?" "I have never heard of someone taking something that belongs to someone else. They must need this small bicycle. So when I have money I will buy my son a bigger bicycle. He is not upset about the bicycle. It is okay."

As usual I was surprised by the response, which has such a different perspective to life than I have ever seen. I laughed. Shook my head in disbelief, and said "you are amazing. No matter what happens, you always see it in a positive light! "