Hanging Out a la Balinese
Late in the afternoon, when the farmers had just arrived home from the rice fields, when the factory workers ride home on their motorcycles, and when the children take bath after more than three hours of playing, Balinese usually begin to enjoy their leisure time with various activities, and the most popular activity to spend this leisure time is hanging around in front of the house or on the side of the street.
For the Balinese, the streets in front of their houses are their living rooms. Watching the vehicles go by while chatting with friends or relative on the benches in front of their houses is a favorite pastime for the Balinese. But sometimes Balinese bring their fighting cocks, while chatting they give massage to their roosters and discuss the merits or demerits of the fowls.
photo taken from flickr.com/photos/cafiso/
For the boys, they usually choose the food stalls on the side of the street as a place for hanging around. They do not just chat there, they usually bring their guitars, some of them spend most of the time by flirting with the girls of manage the food stalls.
This pastime, however, is usually not for women. Balinese women usually do not hang around in front of the house. It is considered improper for women to hang around on the side of the street in front of the house. It is ok for them to hang around for a while in the food stalls, but they usually just buy some food there, wrap them up, and take them home, without spending more time to chit chat with the boys who happen to hang around in that food stall.
Hanging around in front of the house, is still favorite activity to spend leisure time in the rural areas, while in the cities, malls, internet cafes, cafes, or cinema are the main options for spending the leisure time.
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