Dear Bugilanists,
Lately, I have become interested in finding out my possible past lives. By asserting this you may assume that I am one of those  new  age  people  that meditate until they fly or are willing to get the Nirvana. Well, it is not my case although the Nirvana seems a very peaceful state. On the contrary it is just a simple way of entertaining myself. Ana Maria Matute, who is a contemporary

Anna Maria Matute

Spanish writer says that women should never trust uncreative men… and I am going take the freedom of confirming the same for men… Do an imagination test before choosing your partner…Any kind…

Life is very unpredictable which at the same time can be the fun of it. Here’s my story..

Approximately a month ago I went into Eastern Promise for a beer and I bumped into Lens. We were chatting for a while and I told him I wasn’t very happy with my life in Jakarta. At that moment I was teaching Bahasa Spanyol at UI and I was waiting for answer of a new job at UNDP. Lens, who seems to be a good observer, could see I was in a miserable mood so he told me they were looking for somebody to take care of Bugils Bali. Merely by hearing the word Bali changed my mood …So after that day I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind and Lens suffered the consequences…I think I sent him around 100 text messages asking the same thing, “Do I have the Bali job?”...Lens, just to let you know I can be very obsessive…It has not been diagnosed as a pathology yet.. there’s nothing to worry about yet, yet, yet, yet, yet, yet.

Three weeks later Lens called me for a job interview at Eastern Promise. All of a sudden I was surrounded by three Dutchmen. I have never met Bartele before so I supposed he was a member of the team. Anyway, the interview started and Jasper began the turn of questions by playing the bad cop role (which actually worked I have to say) …I got a bit nervous… But three weeks later I was flying to Bali!

I imagine most of you would be wondering why a Spanish girl is going to be the Manager of a Dutch Pub. The answer could be found in exploring some of my possible past lives, and taking note of some intersections of Dutch and Spanish history and culture:
 

If we  look  back at  Spanish and Dutch history, the  Peace of Munster was signed  in  1647 and  was  a  key event  where finally the Dutch could get rid of the Holy Roman Empire, resulting in Spaniards and Dutch people living at peace. So far I am continuing to honor the peace treaty signed some centuries ago.
 

The Noble Pig

And what about the famous Iberian Pork and the delicious Dutch sausages? The noble pig is a totemic animal in my country but a taboo for most Indonesians. How this saddens the Spanish expats! And having a look at Bugils Bali current Menu I could say the Dutch miss “the noble pig” products as well.

And my past lives? If you would like to know more, come to Bali and we can discuss further.

Carolina.