I admire your spirit to live in a small town…
She is Indonesian. Have lived in France for a decade, she wants to live in a province like Toulouse but in Indonesia. Although she already has a house in Seminyak but she still dreams a village life. She aims for Ubud but it seems she is still collecting ideas to convince herself. I met her the other night in a get-together dinner with friends from Jakarta. She was interested in me right away learning that I have lived in Ubud over two years after lived in Jakarta 20 years. Over long lunch in the venue today, she wanted to hear more about living in Ubud.
Like responding to “tell me about yourself,” I also find it difficult to answer “so what do you do here?” or “how do you spend your time?” It bothers me if people think that I only have fun by touring cities and meeting friends. But I also understand since they might not know how much time I spend at home making accessories, doing the boring bookkeeping for both shops, and ‘online trading’ between trips. And when I said that I could buy air tickets from being an inang-inang selling accessories while traveling, they thought all I have in mind is purely business. My new grand auntie snapped at a poet when we talked about "what I do" that then he expressed his thought. No! No! She doesn’t do art just for money!! I had been speechless already. Or, I was not interested to elaborate it further.
For money? Of course. I just chose different path than most people do. I don’t do 9-to-5 that means I have taken bigger risk of not having a steady flow in my bank account. But sure! I have all the freedom to travel and spend time with friends if my bank account allows. This part has become part of my speech about living in Ubud. You have to have something to busy yourself to fight quietness and loneliness. Facing solitude because the town doesn’t offer much during the day especially the night. My new friend seemed to still consider what she could do in town.
I was 'interviewed' by my friends a lot today. By my friends and grand auntie who was still in euphoria of finding me. She handed me the precious batik from our ancestor in the venue. I had pictures taken with her and the batik with such an odd background (festival venue!). I take it as part of the romantic moment. I’m touched by her excitement. It was nice to catch up again with my new grand auntie. She asked me to “tell me about yourself” that I told her to just ask whatever she wants to know from me. It’s fun! I like her.
We were in a big group having long lunch because a session was canceled and we were too lazy to move to other venues. Said the Festival is not well organized this year. I heard many complaints. I could also feel that things didn’t go as smooth as previous years. I don’t think much about it since I live in Ubud now but I could feel for people who travel to Ubud for the occasion only. Many flew from Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong where they have annual book festival too. So for people who travel from those cities they experience at least two book festivals every year.
I attended two sessions in the morning. The first session was in line with the Festival’s theme this year: compassion and solidarity. It’s a bit odd discussion about ‘suffering’ that I don’t see its connection with literary work. It’s fine though to talk about spiritual stuff. The second speaker was children book illustrator and writer from Australia. I could see that she is well known from her works that have been translated into some European languages. She is fun person. She told us how she got into the profession. She said she was just lucky to get the job as illustrator when she was broke and heavily pregnant. It opened a big door. Yea… we never know what we could end up with if we never knock on the door. It’s inspiring! The last session is about mentor and protege in writing. Another world I just discovered. This Australian young lady was just lucky to have a chance to be mentored by a Nobel laureate from South Africa. Said the selection to get the opportunity is purely by luck because the selection is done by a sort of 'word of mouth.' Isn't it interesting how we got good things from the Universe?
I had nice short dinner with friends in a resto by Ubud Palace’s stage. The Festival held an event on the stage but it was not so interesting so we left after dinner. Maybe this year is more for friends thing rather than books.
Listening gives us time to observe our surroundings.