A Special Night in Tulamben Bali

Hello Friends and Fam, Just a quick update. Andrew and I have been in Bali almost 2 weeks and have had so many amazing experiences. We have done 6 dives, including a night dive. We went under water around sunset while it was still light and dove for an hour, when we rose we were swimming under the stars. Pretty amazing. Anyways, we had a cab driver who Andrew and I bonded with a little bit and he has taken us under his wing and showed us some traditional Balinese customs. He picked us up from our night dive to take us to a Hindi temple, they were having a “ceremony,” what we might call some sort of special church service. He surprised us with a set of the traditional Balinese clothing to wear. He was so excited to share this experience with us. He drove us up into the mountains where hundreds of motorbikes and cars were parked along the gravel road. Once we found a parking spot we tried to find his family. We were late to the ceremony so we missed the music but what a great experience. Ketut (taxi driver) took us to his home afterwards and invited us to eat dinner with him and his family. He lives in a house with his wife, two daughters, his mother, his sister and her 3 kids. We ate on the floor, the family used their hands to eat but since we were guests we received spoons to use. What a priceless night! Ketut is one of the four names given to the Balinese people. Your 1st born is always Wayan, your second born is Madee, your third child is Nyman, and your forth is Ketut. Some times there is a female version but these 4 names are given to each Balinese child. What happens if you have 5 kids you ask? You start over with the 1st name, Wayan. I asked many people if this was confusing at all, since you could possibly have 3 or more people with the same name in a household, they all responded with "no, of course not." Interesting custom for sure. We leave for Ubud today. A village in the mountains with lots of yoga, art, and good food! The photos are of Andrew and I in our traditional dress. 3rd photo is of me waiting for our favorite restaurant to open, yes it looks like a shack behind me. The rice fields. And finally, me putting my yoga practice to use at the pool. Enjoy!

Day 4 in Indonesia. Andrew has already made the proclamation that Bali is his favorite place! So I suppose I should keep a good journal of the trip for him! We arrived in Denpensar, Bali at 3:30 pm local time, completing a 35 hour trip. Fhew! When we arrived at our accommodation house we were greeted by our charming and helpful hosts, Ana and Aljosa. We planned to clean up and get a bite to eat but succumbed to a "quick cat nap," insisting that we would only sleep for 20 min and go get some dinner. Well that didn't happen. We woke up at 1:00 am. So since dinner was now out of the question we went back to bed. After that we really adjusted to the time change well. We had 2 days in Seminyak. I shopped, and hit the beach. Then we got on a local ferry to the island of Lembongan. We have an amazing local style hut for the next 6 nights. Open air bathroom and a balcony off our room. We rented a scooter for $6 a day and our dinners out have been around $15 each night. Gotta love it!! (If you know me well, you know I'm cheap, so this makes me happy ;) We were hoping to scuba dive today but I have a pretty bad cold so we will hopefully dive tomorrow. Fingers crossed! There are 20 different dives here on the island so we need to get going! Andrew is away at a surf lesson. His new years resolution this year was to learn to surf so he has 4 months! We've met some great people so far. In the hut next to us is a couple from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. How ironic! They are living in Japan, teaching English. Glad we could go out with them and have so much in common. Anyways, I need to go put another layer of aloe vera on my sun burn. We'll keep you posted!

Hodnefield's Roam

As I sit in the Sioux Falls Regional Airport, waiting for a delayed airplane to arrive, I figure, this is the perfect time to blog. Andrew and I just had a few days at home this past week. Spent time in Jackson, MN and Okoboji, IA. It was perfect weather and a great opportunity to see family and friends. Today, we are on the brink of beginning the next AB Hod adventure. We have 3 weeks until we have to be back at work so we decided to vacation together, a location that has been on our list for a while now. Bali, Indonesia. This will be a 33 hour trip, so, as I can't say I am thrilled about that, what I AM looking forward to is our 14 hour lay over in Tokyo. We have never been to this part of the world so our eyes are open to new experiences and culture! While in Bali you can find me in the mountains of Ubud doing yoga, Andrew will be at the beach surfing, and we BOTH will be doing as much scuba diving as possible! I'll keep you posted! Here we go...