Ika has a friend I will call Kadek ( real name not used) who told us about a great opportunity. She had been offered a chance to work in a Balinese restaurant in Tokyo Japan with a whole crew of other people from Bali.
The fellow organizing this was a Chinese Balinese guy and he has visited her family in Denpasar to confirm everything was legit. Kadek quit her job and was ready to go. That was back in January, she is still here.
We kept hearing news of maybe next week, maybe 2 weeks time etc. and the longer it all went on I told Ika that Kadek will still be here in August. Kadek told us that a group of 25 Balinese people, male and female had been chosen to be the first group to go and open this new restaurant, a sister restaurant of one already open. The organizer had flown the whole group to Yogykarta for 4 days on a training / bonding trip, all expenses paid. Kadek said that she and the rest of her new colleagues had to pay 4.5m rp initially for visa processing fees and administration but they would get some of it back later. She also said that she was receiving 1.5m rp every month while waiting to leave.
The other day Kadek came over and told us she thinks the whole thing was a scam. She has received only 2 months payments of 1.5m rp and so is out of pocket 1.5m rp. But what about the trip to Yogya? I asked. With the airfare and hotel bill there is no way the guy could of made money on you. Kadek then told us there was a second group of people, maybe 25-30 who were also waiting. They had paid 7-8m rp each and had not yet gone to Yogya. The first group was the hook, the second group the fish. If the guy had made 7m rp * 25, he made 175m rp ($19,230).
Kadek said the guy was a super good talker and strangely did not have an office, preferring to meet somewhere in Nusa Dua and also strangely always wearing the same outfit of shirt and pants. Many people were upset as they lost money, wasted time and effort and quit their jobs. One guy was a chef at a big hotel apparently and was very annoyed he gave that up for nothing.
As Ika says, here in Indonesia everybody cheating. There are some real dogs over here and I am not just talking about Indonesians. Euros, Australians and other people do not mind sticking it to each other when they get the chance.
I hope Kadek gets a job soon and puts the bad encounter behind her.
Its Kuningan today meaning the day when Balinese ancesters return to heaven after coming to Earth for Galungan. I visited Tanah Lot on the coast where ceremonies were being held. The big place is Serangan, between Kuta and Sanur.
I asked one of the staff, Tina, at Internet Outpost if she had an upacara (ceremony) today and she said she was sebel (ritually unclean) because her grandfather had died on Galungan. Balinese Hinduism has periods of being ritually clean and unclean. After the birth of a child the parents cannot attend big ceremonies or worship at the family temple for something like 42 days. Its the same deal with Tina and her family since there has been a death in the family. I was reading the other day that twins are considered extreme bad luck if they are mixed gendered. The Balinese have a morbid fear of incest and a set of twins male and female is an unholy union in their eyes. In that case the whole village is sebel. The house where the kids are born must be burned to the ground and then rebuilt. Expensive village ceremonies must be undertaken to cleanse the village and the father of the twins is held responsible and must pay.
Strangely the higher castes do not have this fear of mixed twins and the Brahmana caste, the highest, considers it good news.
The lowest position in Balinese society is a janda (unmarried mother). She is ritually unclean and cannot participate in ceremonies, worship at the family temple or have her ashes buried at the family graveyard. If a fellow finds himself in the position of fathering a child to a Balinese girl and does not marry her he can expect to hear (and feel) the wrath of her male relatives.
Selamat hari raya Kuningan
Subscribe
|
Print
|
Share             
|
Initially it was thought I was carrying twins as everyone including my OB thought & still thinks I am BIG for 15 wks!
Anyways Dede said if one of each the girl must go live with his family in bali as she cannot be raised with her brother & they later are married! As they are believed to have already done the deed & therefore are a couple!
I told him I’d not be sending any of my babies to bali to be raised… He just nodded!
There are somethings that as a westerner I really will not do, that includes sending one of my kids away! hee hee, there is only one! so phew no probs!