Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Today began much the same way as yesterday. The Muslim call to prayer broadcasted over the mosque’s loudspeaker at 3:00am and 5:30am, jolting our family awake. I couldn’t go back to sleep after the first prayer sounded, then caught a few more winks between 6:30-8:30am. The noise woke Andi up for the day, so he got up and worked at his computer in the early morning. “What is that sound?” one of his co-workers wondered during their conference call meeting. Andi explained it was the neighborhood mosque’s notification to the community to eat before sunrise and then begin to their daily fast at 5:30am.

“Can’t people set their own alarms to wake up themselves without alerting the whole town?” I complained to Andi as we walked to the gym this morning. I was tired, cranky, and felt the beginnings of a cough/tickle starting in my throat. Ugh.

We tried exercising at the gym earlier today to see if that helped with the heat & humidity. It did; it wasn’t as hot or as busy at the gym around 10:00am than it had been the previous day around 5:00pm.

When we returned from our workouts, I quickly showered off and put on clean clothes. Andi made manicure & pedicure appointments for Tory and I today at a salon in Kuta. We are both in desperate need after traveling around in sandals the past two months. What a treat this would be!

The salon, called Nail Candy, had four young Indonesian women working inside. The woman in charge warmly welcomed both Tory and I in the door, and told us to take a seat. She was so complementary of Tory, doting over her and asking us questions about where we lived and how long we’d been traveling in Indonesia. Her English wasn’t perfect, but she tried her best to make a connection. “America? Oh, I always wanted to go to America,” she said dreamily.

After a while, the customer sitting next to me was starting to get antsy. “How much longer is this going to take?” she asked the gal doing her pedicure. The girl didn’t speak English, so the manager rushed over to answer the question. The salon was clean and the staff was personable, but I’d agree that the service wasn’t fast. Luckily, Tory and I had nowhere else to be today.

We’d agreed to meet Andi and Aden for lunch, but our appointments ran well past Noon. Andi stopped by to deliver Tory and I sodas and waters while our appointment finished. For $650,000 Rupiah (equivalent to $39 USD), Tory and I each got gel pedicures, plus she also got a manicure. I tipped the ladies $5,000 IDR ($3 USD) and the manager was thrilled.

After our salon appointments, Tory and I walked a few blocks to meet Andi and Aden at a restaurant called The Hut. The boys took the liberty of ordering for us, so we ate lunch right away. Andi had a pumpkin curry with rice, and ordered a chicken sandwich for me. Aden had fried rice with chicken, and Tory ate spaghetti.

The four of us walked back to our villa, climbing the steep hillside in the heat of the day. Argh! We were dripping head-to-toe in sweat once again.

Aden immediately jumped into the pool as soon as we walked in the door. I reminded him of our deal — today was a school day. After some prodding, he eventually climbed out of the pool.

We did his school work in the comforts of his air-conditioned room. Meanwhile, Andi walked down the street to get a haircut. It was an interesting experience, he said, but the barber was really nice. He wanted to shave lines into the side of Andi’s hair — ha ha ha! Nope.

Storm clouds rolled in around 4:00pm, dumping rain onto the town of Kuta. None of us wanted to walk to get dinner in the rain, so Andi ordered food from a local restaurant. Instead of using the cumbersome take-out app this time, he messaged the restaurant directly and placed his order. Then, the restaurant sent a delivery driver to bring us our food.

The driver arrived on a scooter wearing a poncho. He stood there in the pouring rain, kindly requesting Andi go through the boxes to see if our order was correct. We weren’t going to do that! It was pouring rain. “I’m sure it’s good!” Andi assured him, and gave the driver a $3 tip. The scooter driver was thrilled.

The four of us sat on the sofa and ate our dinners while watching episodes of Schitt’s Creek together. It struck me in that moment how lucky we are to have had this time together traveling as a family. At home, there’s hardly a chance we’d all be lounging around in the evenings; the kids preferring their bedrooms or friends over spending time with their lame parents. Tonight, we laughed about bugs crawling all over and the sounds of the call to prayer broadcasting over the mosque’s loudspeaker.

Speaking of bugs— I know we’re traveling in a tropical place so bugs should be expected. However, the amount of ants crawling along the countertops, flies buzzing about, and gnats constantly landing on us is about all we can take. After dinner, Tory watched the show crouched on top of the coffee table. “I just can’t with the bugs,” she said. “Argh!”