Bali and little things

I have just finished one of my favorite lunches in one of my favorite cafes. I had Nasi Campur…rice, a corn fritter, tofu and tempe, green beans with coconut, and sweet potatoes. Fresh orange juice. It was less than $2. I have that content feeling…well, who wouldn’t! I love that it is so easy and delicious to find yummy tofu and tempe here. The rain is doing its torrential downpour thing and it has me thinking about the sounds here. Scooters and chickens, locusts and morning doves, rain hitting the roof dripping down. Because the rain comes in big buckets, it has a different music to it than Seattle rain or maybe because the windows are wide open all of the sounds are coming in. Back in my room the fan has its own sound too. There is almost a meditative air here.
This morning when I sat at my desk I noticed some ants in the ashtray and took them out to the deck. As I blew into the ashtray, they jumped out like parachuters abandoning ship. I could here them screaming in my imagination. Made me laugh. Seattle ants don’t know how to jump or fly. And then I looked at the cough drop I had left in the container. The paper was chewed through and half the cough drop was gone. These are some serious ants and I wonder if I should leave them something to eat so they don’t get after my toes while I’m sleeping! (Just kidding Mom). A truck just went by, well three actually loaded with men dressed in their ceremony clothes…white with a touch of red. They load up and get taken to wherever the ceremony is. Other times I see couples on scooters. The man in his sarong and tied scarf on his head. The woman sitting sideways in her lace blouse and sarong with sash. Just a lot of little things that come together to compose a tranquil atmosphere.
Walking to SOS, I watch the prayer women and men dressed in their ceremony clothes setting their offering in front of the Buddha and the houses and the stores. Small baskets that would fit in your hand woven of leaves with tropical flowers and rice inside. The incense burns and prayers are said splashing holy water and they move to the next location. The smell of lovely incense reminding me constantly of prayers here. Working in the office chickens cluck by in the outside hall with their chicks. I wonder how something so entirely different can feel so comfortable in just 2 weeks. How when I wander down these foreign streets can it feel so natural to be here? The rain is stopping-- time to walk to the office.