How Rude!

 

Greta Thunberg mocks world leaders' words at Youth4Climate

Corpses

 Katrinka and I went to the nearby Santrian Hotel for a BIWA meeting late this afternoon. BIWA is Bali International Women's Association. There were about thirty women and four husbands. I was brought along because the purpose of the meeting was to talk about what to do, what needs to be done, if one or both of us died. It's most common for someone to die and the surviving partner to not know what to do, not have access to bank accounts, passwords. Those present were mainly women from Australia. Indonesian women know what to do. One thing we learned is you've got to call the police right away. Any delay can put one under suspicion. And an ambulance can't take away the body without a certificate from the police. There was talk of burial, cremation, insurance, how the Aussie consulate won't be much help, all sorts of stuff. Toward the end I asked what about those who want to keep the body for a day or two or three. The woman running the meeting seemed confused by that question. I said there are those who want the body to stay at home for people to come and be with. A lot of Japanese do that. I've been to Japanese homes to visit what was once someone I knew. It's a Jewish tradition. Not a Muslim one at all. I said we were Buddhists and a lot of Buddhists we knew in America follow that practice. A Chinese Indonesian woman, Sari, a former president of BIWA further explained the practice and said people in Bali were quite comfortable with it. She mentioned ice. I said I know people who've used frozen pea bags - no melt to deal with. I said one thing that's important is having someone around who knows how to prepare a body for lying around for a few days as they tend to run away so to speak. I'm going to talk with our landlord and with the Buddhist priest who officiated at our wedding, Katrinka's going to contact her friend Kim, a midwife and nurse practitioner who wrote about this for a local rag. And we should make sure we each have the other's passwords etc and have crossed our T's and dotted our J's. I'll let you know what we learn.

Hindu gender

 Today, Gus (pronounced goose), said that Bali is more tolerant of gays etc than other islands in Indonesia. He said that Hinduism here recognizes three gender categories: male, female, and in between. It's not mentioned in brochures or ads but Bali he said is far more tolerant than any other island here. Women can wear bikinis at the beach. But it's best not to brag about the openness here because there are elements here that pressure the government to clamp down on customs different from theirs.

Vaccine Cards

 The other day in Denpasar, I had to show my vaccine card showing I'd had two shots in order to enter a mall. Our visa agent came over and took photos with his smart phone of our cards. Now one is required to have proof of two shots in order to get a visa. I assume this doesn't apply for those who can't get the vaccine due to medical conditions.

Climate change: Good News

 Young people very worried - BBC

Boring Same old same old

 UN says world on track to achieve dangerous levels of heat

Only the Best People Here

 Bali won't be welcoming to backpackers? - Want to keep the island clean. Hmm. Cleanliness begins at home. They're doing better here though every day. I wonder who puts more money into the hands of locals, Chinese tourists or backpackers. We'll see what happens. 

Climate Activists being murdered

 227 climate activists known to have been killed in 2020 - BBC

Banjar

 A fellow named Wayan is coming over in a bit. He works at Music Mix in Denpasar and helped me select a new mic and monitor speakers for my studio. He's gonna check out the studio and advise me on how to upgrade it and use the new equipment. And he's a from Sanur where we live. He's head of the banjar where we used to live. That's impressive, like being the head of a village. Sanur has a number of banjar and it's part of Denpasar, the south part extending to the beach.

Here's a good rundown on what a Banjar is. 

A Momentous Occasion!

 

Happy birthday to my wonderful sister Susan!

That's Susan on the right with her very neat daughter Camille at Spirit Lake near Spokane not long ago visiting my son Kelly and ex Daya.

Testing

 Katrinka keeps up with the Bali Covid news which is helpful because she knows when it's cool to go where and do what and when it's forbidden. We were with driver Komang today and Katrinka said that the governor of Bali got tire of the Jakarta-based national goverment continuing to extend lockdowns so he opened things up. Not sure how much but the beaches are all open. Many of them have been sort of half open because restaurants on the beach could be open with some restrictions. So I asked Komang if this were true, if the Bali governor actually went against the feds. That's not done here like the US. Komang said he's testing it. We'll see if he gets his way.

To me, closing outdoor places like parks and beaches is not a good idea. Forces people to meet indoors.

On the Local Front

 Jackie Pomeroy's Covid-19 report for Bali September 6 - on Facebook. Katrinka keeps up with this daily post with solid data reporting - not saying the data is accurate or not but seems to be the best that can be done now.

Navicula

 

Check out the podcasts with Navicula, a socially engaged Bali band that's been around for over two decades.

Uh Oh - We're doomed

 

Climate-above-all plea by US fails to stir China - BBC Science

Yes it's Disgusting

In sending messages to each other in Indonesian there are many occasions where a simple affirmative is called for as in, "Are you coming today?" The typical answer is iya or ya meaning yes. I never write iya, always write ya. And there's a reason. In Japanese, iya is used a lot. It means unpleasant or disagreeable.

Remember the Chevy Nova? It was renamed for places where Spanish is the main language because in Spanish no va means doesn't go.

One Covid Question

Answered well on Quora