I have never been so happy to have a day off than I was today. This week has left me absolutely spent. To start it off, I met the CEO of the company, since Bianca has joined me in the office now too. I was surprised by his ability to start his own company at such a young age, which is an inspiration. He also mentioned that one of their American employees will be joining us for the company trip whom I can meet, and he said if we do well enough he hopes to start a branch in America that perhaps we could help with if we impress him. It was an interesting enough hypothetical to let ruminate. Then, things went south when I accidentally agreed to sign up for the cook off. I had plans with my roommate to go to happy hour, so I figured I would cook after. Well, one of our friends mentioned to us that Nutmeg and Clove was near a beach, and naturally we were beach deprived and decided it was worth the walk. We ended up by a pond with boats, docks, but no beach! Disappointed by our failed mission, I suddenly realized I had a cook off to prepare for! We got back and I had 30 minutes before the grocery store I wanted to go to closed, so I ran through two and a half gigantuan malls and got there with 15 minutes to spare. I frantically grabbed cucumbers and tomato, italian dressing and parmesan and made it out just in time. Walking through the streets, my hands full of garden vegetables, was a humbling experience. I made cold pasta salad because it is so quick and easy, regardless of how I knew everyone in the office would complain about it’s lack of protein. “Where’s the protein?” they’d say. Working with startups, technology, in high-pressure environments means being carnivorous in work endeavors as well as eating habits. The whole granola lifestyle is not prominent here like it is in the states or Australia. All in all, I miss Wegmans.

Now Wednesday rolls around and after all of my efforts I ended up forgetting the food in the fridge. Whoopsie daisy! (Ariana and Alexa this is a movie reference). How disappointing. However, if I hadn’t forgotten this darn pasta salad, we wouldn’t have gone out to get more chicken and I never would have tasted the most delectable Korean fried chicken I‘ve ever had in my whole life. Truly life changing. I enjoy running errands for the company like this, such as getting the food. An errand on Thursday involving a client and their landlord unintentionally put me in the midst of a long-time feud. Feuds will likely last for a long time because pride is another thing that seems to be characteristic of Singaporeans.

On Friday we departed for Bali! There were just a few minor obstacles along the way. For one, we accidentally booked the trip during Bali’s Day of Silence, which is a major New Years holiday for them in which they have a massive parade and ceremonies on Friday. On the drive down we could see many people lifting very large floats using logs and preparing them for the parade! When we had settled in, we went out to explore and made our way through the crowds to get to the markets before they closed. We caught a glimpse of the floats and the dancing and I felt immediately immersed in Bali’s culture. I noticed that Bali is very welcoming and open to tourists about their culture and history. Tourism is a huge market in Bali as well. Then, as we anticipated, on Saturday there could be no one in the streets; essentially it was a day of rest and distance from distractions for the locals. As we weren’t allowed to leave the hotel, we made the most of it and the entire day was filled with fun activities at the hotel. Morning yoga on the roof (this was my favorite), cooking class, pool, swimming, mocktail class. The mocktails were absolutely delicious and the bartender had me and a girl who only spoke Italian (the only word I could remember was grazie) crushing up leaves and fruits and measuring juices and of course topping them with little garnishes. Then, after I gymed and Ariana and Alexa were done with their massages, we ate dinner at the first-level restaurant, and had the same hibachi chef who did the cooking class with us earlier! Each course looked like a piece of art and I felt like I was a judge on a cooking show being presented with a dish. Of course I had no critiques.

My favorite day was Sunday. Here’s where the fun really began. Monkeys! We went to the monkey forest first. Alexa and Ariana were reluctant to have the monkeys climbing on them but I was looking forward to this the whole entire trip. The monkeys were so mischievous and energetic and the second they saw a peanut they were going for it, jumping on you. They would just lunge and in a second I had two baby miscreants on my shoulders. They are the silliest and most expressive animals and they didn’t want to jump back down! I would love to bring one home with me as a small little souvenir. Hi mom and dad, hope this didn’t ruin the surprise anniversary gift. I think our dog could use a friend 🐒

Now onto the rest of the tour! Driving through the streets of Bali is like a game of mario cart, where instead of swerving bananas you’re swerving motorcycles and dogs. The dogs kinda just roam around (my dog Manny would be in heaven here). I did, however, feel very safe in this real life mario cart because our tour guide told us that although lane lines aren’t followed and it’s kind of a free for all, the locals are very used to it and there are very few accidents. I didn’t ask for statistics because I’d rather take his word for it.

During the tour we went to the rice terraces, a jungle swing, a waterfall, a temple, and a coffee plantation. We saw the process of how coffee is made, and the big excitement; special coffee made from cat poop! (Kopi Luwak). None of us tried this type of coffee for this discernible reason, but we got to see the animal and crush up the grounds that will be used for coffee. Lastly, we got to see a lot of the local art. We went to a jewelry workshop, a woodcarver, and the house of a local family of artists. Art was hanging on every wall of the buildings and it was a beautiful property with lots of trees and vegetation, their pet birds singing, and a family temple. We each left with a painting to bring home from the trip as a souvenir of our travels, and the ultimate win was that Alexa, Ariana and I successfully avoided getting sick from their water!!