Here's a quick update.  I'm leaving tomorrow to scout out some possible towns to live in for when I move next year.  There will be a bigger update when I get back but until then, I'll leave you with a bunch of random pictures from the past few weeks.  

FOOD

Yes, my food IS staring at me....I ate it anyway and it was good.  These crunchy little fish are a popular topping for meals.  

Who knew?  This is a "curry" plant.  My Indian friend makes all his curry from scratch....even getting his curry from this curry branch.  I think it's cool :)

Spicy Chicken feet anyone?

These days, coconut water is huge in America because of its health benefits.  Luckily for me, they grow everywhere here.  This guy was only $1.  I always thought the inside was milky but it's just water-like. Not very sweet either.  At least for the young coconuts (which this is).  

Once you finish drinking the water, you can scrape the inside and eat the coconut meat (sometimes it's sweet).  I think this is where we get our "desiccated coconut" from. 

PEOPLE

My roommate and I 

They love their food as much as we Southerners love ours.  The girl on the left is my language helper

We had a culture night in which the students on base presented their cultures.  These ladies are from another near-by island.  Their dress and dance are similar to what you see here on Bali.  Beautiful!!!

All the staff had a half-day at the beach in which we ate traditional "nasi bunkus" which translates as "rice wraps".  It's how they eat their "to go" food.  

I noticed an interesting cultural difference while on the beach.  The Westerners were "laying out" in order to become more tan (which is considered beautiful in our countries)

The Asians all covered up in order to NOT get more tanned (the more white the skin, the more beautiful in their countries).  It's funny how we all want what we don't have, hey?

We had a nice dinner one night and here some of my friends.  I love having so many different cultures!

LANGUAGE CLASS

Here we are on our way to the "pasar"....the open market.  There's the Turkish, Scottish, English...and me! Guess which one has been in Indo the longest??

We went to the open market as part of our assignment.  We are learning how to barter with a shop owner on the price for clothes.  I love the colors in this picture

Bartering is common here.  We ask the price, they give a price expecting you to offer a lower price.  Then the process begins of back and forth of "too much!" and "too cheap!" until you both either come to an agreement or you walk away.  

Here's me.  I didn't buy anything.  Everything is way too small.  Most Asian women are TINY so their "Large" would be our "Small".  It's rare I find anything that actually fits

Today was our last day of Level 2 class.  We get certificates and everything!  This has been my teacher for the last 2 levels.  Unfortunately, I wont' be able to take the next level as I will miss 1/4 of the class due to my scouting trip.  

That's about it.  

I have just one main request: my trip these next 11 days.  

Thanks!