Arieh here. We landed in Bali on Dec. 18th and went straight to Ubud, the arts and cultural centre of this island. We landed at Noon and did not have a place to stay in Ubud. We decided that we had plenty of time so we arrived, ate lunch and then went strolling up the street we stayed on 7 years ago. We actually found the homestay we stayed in then but did not go in to check it out; there was an issue with water last time--not so hot and sometimes not at all!
One of my goals before the kids arrive tomorrow was to take a wood carving course (or whatever). Well, I found a woodcarver to teach me for the last 3 days and have now completed my own mask. Well, I probably did 50% of it. The "course" was in the small "woodcarving" village of Mas, just outside of Ubud. The differences in techniques between Canada and Bali are phenomenal. In Canada one would use machinery to shape a block of wood, then more machinery toperhaps rounds some parts, a vise would be used to hold the piece when using chisels (extra pair of hands for ease and safety), and then more machinery for some sanding. In Bali, no machinery; pure brains and brute muscle.
The block of wood is split with a mallet and awls (wedges). The rough parts are taken away with a small hatchet (axe). Use the wrist only; not the arm! Tough on one's primary hand when one is not used to weilding an axe. More hatchet strokes to skin the bark, roughly shape the face, and round some rough edges. Chisels now. Not round handles for easy gripping--no, no--flat and rectangular and harder on the hand muscles. The chisels are used for the medium level work and are about 2-3 cm. wide--some straight, some curved. Used for rounding edges. When chisels are used the device used to hold the wood is quite unique. In Canada, it would likely be some sort of vise. Here in Bali it is.....your feet!!. So, against ALL I have been taught about safety and woodworking, here I am using a very sharp chisel working at this piece of wood and the chisel is inches from my bare feet. Needless to say, I work very slowly--not to ruin the wood nor to gash my feet (or later on my fingers).
Val joined me for "lunch" the second day of my course. Mas doesn't have a lot of eating places within walking distance, so we hopped inot an inter-city taxi. We disembarked where I thought there would be something to chose from and there wasn't. We had one choice and it broke all the rules of eating while travelling. Almost on the street, flies buzzing all around, fruit out of the refrigerator (which we could not even see), cutlery/silverware in a basket for the flies to alight on, etc., etc. Nonetheless, we ordered. After all, we are in Bali, home of two bombings and no one comes here because of that--why should a potential little food problem make me go hungry?? What we ordered broke MORE rules--chicken, although it was barbequed. It's not Avian Flu that is a problem; it is the fact that the chicken was sitting out. It had been pre-cooked and was re-barbequed for us. I also ordered Nasi Goreng, which is a friend vegetable/rice dish done in a pan with who knows how old the oil was. While we were waiting, I asked Val how many and which of our friends would eat at this place. I am proud to say we could only come up with 2, maybe 3 names (and I am not entirely convinced they would eat where we did). Barb G. (she would have ordered vegetarian), Ernie G. and maybe Brian Y. I was, in fact, incredulous that Val nominated Barb first. Am I wrong about all our other friends (and relatives)? In any case, I am writing this more than 24 hours after that lunch and neither of us had a problem.
Let me describe the location of my course. I found Molog my asking around in the village. Met him on a Wednesday and, after negotiating, we agreed on a start of Thursday for 3 days. He used to do statues and now does only face masks. Apparently (acccoring to pictures) he has taught others before. He's a small operator, working out of his family compound right on the cement floor (and that where I sit too). Everything is there--wood, tools and shade. As well there are loud chickens and little chicks (some in cages, some not), ducks, and a dog or two all running around. Don't forget the little kids running around and the grandmother drying rice in the sun. BTW, these compounds are usually made up of multiple families (either related or not) and ALL of them have some sort of temple area for the compounds own worshipping needs. In fact, when I asked my wood carving teacher why each compound has a temple, he described the temples as the head, the compound as the torso, and the village as the rest of the body. In other words: No temple, no head and hence, no life.
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