Greetings, Bali expats!
It seems many of us are unable to speak Indonesian beyond asking for another beer (satu lagi, by the way) or asking the pembantu to make tea. Anything more than this and the jigsaw puzzle of words falls to pieces...
I suppose I was fortunate to have received a proper education in the language by my employer when I first arrived here, but I'm quite shocked to see how few expats can actually hold more than a five second conversation, or see the need to be able to have more than a five second conversation with an Indonesian. These folks are pretty easy to spot, you certainly will never see them together with an Indonesian friend or their Indonesian wife, and when they talk it sounds like a conversation between Tarzan and his wife Jane, or between Tarzan, his personal interpreter, and his wife Jane.
Well, if this is you I'm talking about, don't feel bad. Cinta Bahasa has small-group Beginner and Pre-Intermediate courses, as well as Private Courses right up to the advanced level.
See their website www.cintabahasa.com for more information. It's changed the lives of many Ubud expats who would certainly prefer to not be named. Now they can actually speak with their wife, or with their employees (rather than have Wayan do it for them), and they actually understand what their staff are saying about them within earshot.
