I travel to learn, but the farther I go from home, the more likely I am to find myself in the role of a teacher. In Bali, that cultural exchange is fairly smooth because most Balinese people speak some English in order to work in tourism, which is the island’s biggest industry.
We’ve met plenty of Balinese people on our trip. None of them have been to the U.S., but all of them have questions about America. Typically, the first question we get is, how long did it take you to get here? When we explain that it took us two flights that should’ve taken about twenty-five hours, but ended up taking two days, the reaction is amazement that any trip could take so long and gratitude that we’d make such a long journey to visit Bali.
But after the initial travel question, the real questions begin. For this dispatch I thought it might be instructive to share the frequently asked questions of our hosts. Here it goes.
What do Americans do on the weekend?
Is it true that there are homeless people in America? Why don’t those people return to their villages and live with their families?
Does it snow where you are from? Does snow hurt your skin?
When is the rainy season in America?
How far from Los Angeles to New York?
Do you have a dog, or a cat?
Do you have a gun?
Everyone still loves Obama, right?
Does Arnold Schwarzenegger still run California?
When will there be a new Arnold Schwarzenegger movie?
Have you seen Eat, Pray, Love?
How big are your roads?
Have you been to Texas? What’s it like?
Will Joe Biden come to the G-20 in Bali?
Americans are Christians, right?
Are you on Facebook?
Have you seen TikTok?
How big are your mountains?
Do you have a motorbike, or car?
When did you get electricity?
Do you eat at KFC?
I was going to close this post with some pictures, but the internet is spotty at the moment, so I’ll leave you with just one picture from one of the many temples we’ve visited. Almost every temple, and many homes, have a structure like this at the entrance. It’s known as the Gate of Heaven.
If you go on social media, you’ll see some more photogenic examples, but I chose this one for two reasons. First, it’s a fairly typical example. Second, the sarongs wrapped around the statues tell you something about how the Balinese relate to Hinduism. Just like the humans visiting the temples, the gods must also practice modesty. But rather than carving sarongs into the stone, the Balinese wrap their gods in clothing as part of a larger practice of humanizing objects.