At a Ramen Shop

Katrinka and I ate lunch at a little ramen shop today in Sanur tucked back off street in a guest house garden owned and run by an old Japanese guy with a beard. Two Japanese men sat on stools at his counter and ate and talked with him. Both other couples that were there while we were there had a Japanese. I heard a local man talking Japanese to his wife. He'd lived in Tokyo and owned the Japanese retaurant where Katrinka and I ate a week ago in a more touristy area - oh yes, we remembered seeing each other. I spoke a little Japanese with them but can't do that well at all right off - Indonesian words start coming out. Super frustrating. His wife who spoke English and Japanese but little Indonesian said she doesn't go to her husband's Japanese restaurant. I told her this place is the honmono, real thing. Right she said. I gave her the name of Zen Is Right Here in Japanese and the publisher (Zen wa Ima Koko - Samgha) and told her Crooked Cucumber is coming out in Japanese in two months. Had a fun time talking with the owner for a moment but couldn't get far. Talked to a waitress  who was new to Bali. Poor woman had to communicate with the owner in English and a little Indonesian he knew and she had learned a few Japanese words. She'd just arrived from Jakarta. I asked what religion she was because I could see she was Chinese Indonesian. She said Catholic. I told her we were Buddhists. She said that really she's a Buddhist too but at the school she went to she had to sign on as either Muslim, Catholic, or Protestant, and choose Catholic because, like Buddhists, they use incense.