That cute little building in the sky is my new office which we spent nearly an entire year’s worth of rental income from our house building (well we rebuilt the kitchen underneath too as it was falling apart). The idea being that with a proper office, I can go and get on with my work in peace and be incredibly productive without a toddler screaming at me and baby wanting to be picked up all the time.

The problem is since the office has been finished, I’ve hardly had a chance to work in it. Despite Made’s mother quitting her job so she can help look after the kids (instead of me hiring a pembantu) while I work, I’ve pretty much done nothing else but be full time mum for the last month or so.

The cremation ceremony for the village of Mas is being held at the end of this month. For several weeks now, the entire village has basically abandoned their paid jobs in order to prepare for the ceremony. Everyone is out most of the day, leaving me with Maya and Kiran. Made is out most of the night too, usually until at least 2.30am, sometimes until 5am.

The cremation ceremony or ngaben is the most important ceremony for any Balinese person and they basically live their lives hoping for a great send off. Made has told me many times that if you start to become lazy about your duties in the village and start slacking off, you are risking the rest of the community not putting the effort in when it is time for your cremation. Months of work from everyone in the village and many millions of Rupiah will be going into this ceremony, all to be burned at the end.

Because ngaben is such a big and expensive ceremony, usually when someone dies they are buried in the ceremony until it is time for the next communal village ceremony. When the time comes, the bodies of everyone who has died since the last cremation are exhumed and cleaned before being placed in the sarcophagi that will be burned. The last ceremony in Mas was 3 years ago, before we were married. As Made’s grandfather died last year, this ceremony is of extra importance to the family and everyone is putting in effort. Skimping on cremation preparations would be of great disrespect to your ancestors.

So while everyone is out busy in the Bale Banjar, I am at home with 2 small monsters. Not working. I do try but it is pretty ridiculous and when they are both awake I have no chance. Kiran naps for only about half an hour at a time and Maya is currently boycotting naptime so I do have a struggle on my hands. There’s only so much you can do with a baby on your knee, a toddler causing chaos and a laptop in one hand. So I’ve been forced to stay up late as it’s the only chance I have to get anything done – not so easy as I’m used to being in bed by 10pm these days.

Sometimes I wish I could pack them both off to nursery so I can have some peace and quiet but it’s hard to get mad when you have these two little faces grinning up at you.