December/January, 1998
No. 032/VI/97
cover story
Christians
in
Paradise
How Christianity came
to Bali
MC-ing a New Year's
Eve party during a
blackout
bali focus:
nusa dua and
jimbaran
The Origin of
Nusa Dua
A fable
People of a
Fertile Sea
The fishers of
Jimbaran beach
Center Stage
Steve Charles revamps
the Candraloka
Amphitheatre
Nusa Dua Nights
How to survive them
The Sacred
Wilderness
Colonial encounters with
Bali's southern peninsula
arts and
culture
Latter Day
Laksamana
A.A.M. Djelantik's
recently launched
autobiography
Kulkul
new Fiction by Gde
Aryantha Soethama
The Rat Pack
Who are Bali's literati?
beyond
bali
An Eddy in The
Counter of Time
Kayaking off the west
coast of Lombok
Slick and Cool in
Sengigi
Round midnight at the
famed Lombok resort
regular
Fashion
Adventure
Into the blue
Food
Jewel of the southren rim
Jungle Drums
Bali Update
On the Road
Home Grown
Made Adi Putra
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Meanwhile, I tried to cajole nearby guests into some instant lessons in Russian and spent the evening trying to pronounce "Happy New Year" in Russian and Japanese while getting the band's name wrong twice, and being upstaged by a group of children dressed as princesses who howled jibberish into the microphone at the slightest chance.
I did finally find one table in the room who spoke English and tried to make light of the situation, explaining my predicament with all the finesse of a woman who has found dutch courage in a bottle of vodka. He turned out to be the general manager. Fancy that.
I got through the countdown, which was the only time the people in the room showed signs of life as they proceeded to hoot and holler for a good 10 minutes or so before collecting themselves and filing out.
Needless to say, we did not take advantage of the hotel's kind offer to indulge in the coffee shop, but grabbed my date's arm as soon as the event was officially over and high-tailed it out of there to find a real party. Everywhere the signs of the ruinous storms were evident and we finally set the evening to rest with twenty or so other revellers to the tunes of a lounge singer in Warung Tapas.
This New Year's Eve, I think I'll opt for some more conventional way of celebrating. I have to say though, thinking back on that gala event, I recall one of the most hilarious evenings of my life. And as for my date? That was our very first date and last month, I married him. I did take one thing away from that evening; life is like a big wave, sometimes you get dumped on your head and sometimes you land on your feet. Happy New Year, here's to all the possiblities.
by Sarah Keehan
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