Bali, Indonesia

Every day in Ubud, Bali, people set out these little offerings called cadang, if I got it right. They are made of stripped palm leaves and filled with some sort of dried stringy plant, flower petals, a sweet smelling yellow flower in season, and a food offering of a piece of fruit or a cracker. I caught this woman putting one on a motorbike and waving lit incense over it. She let me take her photo, though I'd rather she hadn't stopped to pose for me. She was very nice about it so I gave her a magnet.

This is the grandson of the painter who worked across a walkway from my patio at Demank homestay. I wish I could remember his name and hope that if he reads this he will leave it as a comment. This young man is ten years old and served as interpreter for his grandfather who is an amazing painter. He speaks four or five languages already: Balinese, Indonesian, Malaysian, another Indonesian dialect or two, and English. He is up on current events and we spoke of political unrest, Metallica and the Miss World contest which is to be held here with sarongs required. Wait...did I hear that right? Anyway, it was quite a conversation. Here he poses with his magnet.

Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Phillipines, Abu Dahbi

On my way to Bali, I flew Qatar Airways and after an eight hour layover in Doha, I still don't regret it. The plane offered comfortable seats with lots of leg room and the food was great. My seatmate was a man who lives in Nigeria and travels once a year to visit family in the USA. His name is Larry and he took a frog magnet home.

The airport in Doha is a really slick affair with a strong resemblance to a shopping mall. I couldn't believe all the perfume displays. A man I dared to approach in the gift shop was wearing the white robes and headgear that I associate with the movie "Lawrence Of Arabia". I approached him, told him of my project and he agreed to take one to his home in Saudi Arabia. The terminal was full of brown skinned people, many in ethnic dress. I found it to be interesting and fascinating.

I presented a magnet without explanation to the girl in charge of the women's restrooms which were never without long lines. She was in the foot washing part of the mosque unpacking boxes and I confess I sneaked a peek into the prayer room while presenting my little gift. Mark one up for Qatar.

I struck up a conversation with a lady from the Philippines. She told me about living on the island Bacolod which is a major sugar cane producer. She also told me of the island with underground caves and waterways, another with seven waterfalls, and another with lava beds and hot springs, all of them big tourist attractions. Her name is Gilda and we did the usual maternal photo sharing of children and grandchildren while waiting for our flights.

I approached a woman in a red headscarf who said, yes, she lived in Abu Dhabi and she took a magnet. I've been trying to get one there for years.

Italy

This post is a continuation of Tom and Brenda's journey. Unfortunately, their i-pod camera did not make suitable distance shots so I cannot accurately represent the beautiful scenery of Tuscany.

They rented a little house in Matraia with a view of distant olive groves and gave a magnet to their landlady. Tom found a wood-fired bakery next door and visited with the owner who spoke no English. I might add that Tom has a wood fired pizza oven of his own and his son is a baker.



Can one speak of Italy without art in the conversation?

Feeding Christians to the lions in a church in Barga.

Driving through Tuscany there were rolling brown and golden hills and then a city way up there, Voltara. The road winds and winds up to it and from it one can see a 360 degree view.

The rooftops of Voltara.

At one time Florence and Sienna were equal in power and wealth. Then Florence won out. Below is the central plaza, enormous public space, with Tom standing in the shadows.

Pictured below is one of the little villages of Cinquaterra. There are five little villages tucked into some pretty rocky terrain overlooking the sea, now sort of a national park. The sea washes against the rocks in a violent way and the bravest of the teenagers actually swim in all that white water.

A Cathedral n Lucca.

Lucca. The old Roman wall still surrounds it.

A beautifully frescoed building in the town of Trento.

Germany, slovakia, Austria and Italy

Several magnets took a trip to Europe with Tom who is a master builder of super-efficient masonry stoves and his wife, Brenda, a retired school librarian who would like to visit the sites on the jig saw puzzles she puts together. Their first stop was in Germany where the camera got displaced so their photos were taken with the i-pad and the quality was a little disappointing, especially the scenery shots.

Slovakia is where Tom shared his knowledge in a workshop where they built several stoves in an old school building. The woman who’s idea it was to have this workshop is an architect and she has now has a magnet.

The workshop gang.



This is a loudspeaker leftover from the communist era. Every morning it broadcast the national, anthem, news, announcements and so on.

 

A streetscene in Bratislava. Note the sign in the lower corner, interesting because the city was known as Pressburg until sometime around World War I.

 

Brenda gave a magnet to a toll clerk on the autobahn in Austria who seemed very glad to get it.

Austria

Italy was the main objective, especially Tuscany, an area so photogenic that its images grace many a jig saw puzzle. There are so many photos and comments that I think it best to follow this post with one on Italy alone.

Tom and Brenda's adventure ended in Munich, Germany at the same hotel they started out in. There they were reunited with their camera thanks to the clerks pictured below who were happy to ham it up for photos.

 

Folkmoot Dance Festival USA

Folkmoot is traditional dance event that brings groups to western Carolina from several nations every year. There are only two such events in the US according to their emcee. This year the featured groups were Mexico, Slovakia, France, Japan, Poland by way of Chicago, Martinique,Thailand and an ethnic Canadian group performing Scottish dances. I think Folkmoot draws its groups from CIOFF as did the Kucukcekmece festival I attended in Istanbul last year.

My daughter and I passed out magnets to performers from France, Mexico, Slovakia, Japan and Martinique.

 These are the stilt dancers from southeast France. It originated with shepherds, hence the sheepskin vests. The stilts were worn by the herders so they could look out over the top of their herd. Or so we were told.

 Thialand. They stayed behind the curtain during intermission so I couldn't give them magnets. I sure do like those brass fingernails.

 Japan had a few different costumes, the kimonos being the most colorful. Wow. The magnet actually went to a female dancer who performed the drum dance.

 Ah, Mexico. You can always count on them to be colorful dances. The females wore wide skirts, each a different color, that swirled beautifully. The male dancers performed a dance that involved fancy moves with machetes that was really fun to watch. I gave a magnet to a girl in a flashy orange skirt who told me they are from Morales.

 These are the Polish dancers, part of an ethnic federation in Chicago. That almost seems like cheating but their dances are indeed authentic as are the costumes. I saw the real Poles at Kucukcekmece Festival in Istanbul last year.

These women are from Martinique. The photo is fuzzy but we weren't allowed to use a flash with the camera.