First Day in Bali

February 27th (Day 1 in Bali)

Today was our first day in Bali, and we started class 2 hours late, since we arrived so late last night.  We all woke up and had a nice breakfast, and then we were off to our first class. In our first class today, we learned a lot about the Balinese culture, especially the do’s and don’ts.  We learned about how you only take or give something to someone with your right hand, and how you shouldn’t touch someone’s head, and a lot of other interesting facts and information.  After learning about the culture, and about the island itself, we learned about the Gamelan music.  Once we had some knowledge of the music, we got to pick up some instruments and we began to learn how to play some of the music we had been discussing.  This was pretty difficult since a lot of us play the same parts, but half play the part a beat after the others.  After finishing up our music lesson, we went to lunch.  We had a one-hour lunch break, and then we went back to our lessons.  In the afternoon classes, we learned some more information about Bali and about how music is such a big part of religion.  We then had a short dance lesson, and learned a couple of moves.  The dancing is very intricate and difficult.  It is also quite strenuous and painful.  It is so intricate that even your neck has to move a certain way, and your hands have to be bent a certain way.  After our classes were over, we had the rest of the day off to enjoy the beach and play some basketball and ping-pong.