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Posted by - ® Mark (Admin) on November 6, 2005 at 5:12 pm:
My Balinese in-laws flew all the way from Bali to stay with us for a month and a half, so we had something special lined up for them last night; a fireworks party and huge "baby guling" (BBQ suckling pig). It was also a celebration of our baby daughter's birth (October 1st), Francheska Dewi Austin - what a task that was to get her named "Francheska" - if the name is not in the Portuguese name book, you have to get special written permission to call your child what you want to! They said we could call her Francisca, but we wanted Francheska as that was the name we decided upon for our son, before we found out he was a boy (the doctor first thought he was a she), three years ago.
It was also a celebration of the work being finished on our "new" house in Portugal (we had to do this in two phases, the first a year ago, the second has just been completed - except for the grape vines which we are putting up granite columns for in December). And finally November 5th is the traditional night for fireworks in the UK (this year was the 400th anniversary of the "gun powder plot" to blow up the English Parliament by Osama bin Guy Faukes).
Funny, Bali related, my wife's parents brought with them tons of Indo food! I read one package and the ingredients ended "and other spices" - hmmmm, I wonder what they are ;-). I also got my sacks of Bali coffee beans (I blend with Colombian every morning and make myself a large expresso - I do not drink any caffeine for the rest of the day, it takes me that long to come off the ceiling).
While we were celebrating there were riots in Singaraja last night; many cars got burned. What was it about? Petrol prices? No! November 5th celebrations? No! Repeat attempts to have the terrorists executed? No! It was rival Hindu and Muslim groups; You would think they would try and work together to help Bali by painting a picture of peace, not make matters worse, but there you go. Where were the police? I hear they eventually attended and helped disperse the mobs, but it seems the police officers sheltered for a while before! God I hate these frauds in uniform. When my wife and I drove to Spain one day (to go shopping), we forgot to take our passports. And of course we got stopped that day! But the Spanish police were superb (friendly, courteous and professional). Because I had my driving license they allowed me to go home and return with both our documents. They even made tea for my wife and shared their biscuits with her. If this had been Indonesia, I have no doubt I would have been fined by some grining Charlie in brown. It really did make an impression on me, the difference that is. My wife asked me why they had not asked us for money! I think that says it all. I only hope Bali gets a real police force one day.
Anyway, see our Baby Guling and some fireworks on Travlur's Picture Gallery (link below);
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