The Power of Learning

Wednesday, August 8

What a morning with cats fighting noise! I seldom see cats around in Bali, unlike dogs I meet in every meter, but I was awoken by the cat noise this morning. It was still very early – for a good life in Ubud – at 4:00. I was half awake half asleep but I replied to a text message as if I was fully awake. It was funny. Glad it sounded well when I checked in the morning.

I felt light and happy when I got up. I opened the three boxes I brought from Jakarta and unloaded the contents. I am most happy to have the Nias stool from Bukittinggi. Glad Vic had ‘pushed’ me to buy because I don’t think I would. It has good proportion and it goes very well in the house. I know this house is going to be full of chairs and stools from different part of the world. I love both.

I had easy morning. Time went slow nicely. How I want to freeze time so can enjoy and do more. But of course Mbok Yan was prompt as usual. She came over around 8:30 to give me a greeting massage – massage she gives when I just arrive in Ubud. She is nice. She shared a lot about her business venture and family situation while I dozed off a bit. I thought I don’t need massage but once her hands landed on my body I knew – I had stiff, hard like rock, body.

It was really good. I walked Mbok Yan out then sat by the pond in sun with my body still gleaming with massage oil. I tied the sarong and let half of my back being exposed to sun. I stretched my body like yoga and meditated for a while feeling the sun touching skin. Oooh.. Life cannot be better!

I realized today when I wore my new dress that I start to feeling comfortable wearing local fashion, like tourist. Why? It’s comfortable (can be itchy too if we are not lucky), fashionable, affordable, and maintenance free. I feel safe wearing them. And before I know it, I had bought three old batik skirts on my way home.

I stopped by Pak Syech’s batik shop and had a nice discussion with the family. The eldest is sort of fashion designer now. He starts exploring his interest to make things out of batik and its leftovers. He asked my opinion about wearable fashion and what to do with some of his creation. I suggested him to also walk in the market to see what's hot then explore. He also works with his father to research color in dyeing. I learned from them, they learned from me. I could not stop less than 10 minutes as I had planned.

I made another trip to Tegallalang to find stuffs I don’t know for sure I need, as always. I stopped by some shops and found more creative persons to work together. I often met nice individual who has original idea. Balinese are amazing, how many times I have to share about this fact. Not just Balinese, art people from other part of the world can amaze me too. I met Roberto from Italy in two shops that gave us a chance to chat and learn about each other’s business. He is a wholesaler (he has about 200 pieces of each) and I am very much a retailer with one of a kind thing. He doesn’t want the headache of retail business but I laughed at his headache of keeping 200 pieces of same thing that don’t sell. It’s nice to know how people work.

I bought my first CDMA card today. I had bought the special cellphone a few days ago in Jakarta. I was just astonished by the rate the operator offers. No wonder everybody uses.

I learned a lot today. About self needs, how to create colors, how to do wholesale business, how cellphone-operator rate works, and how to deal with good friends. About the latter, I realized that it’s easier for someone to ask for help than to offer. I asked a good friend for a simple help but no response yet, instead, he asked me to help which I positively responded in no time. I don’t mind helping if I can. It’s just funny to realize.

Photo of a business sign in Tegallalang.