Two months in the 2nd time around!

So much has transpired since I last wrote June 15. After a wonderfully fulfilling trip home, I am two months into teaching my 2^nd year at GS. If you had asked me a year ago “why the long face?” I would not have made a joke about a horse in a bar. I would have shared my woes, listing all the myriad of reasons I was slightly on edge. I can chock it up to a few things: adjusting to life overseas as a singleton, figuring out absolutely every little thing needed about eating, sleeping, living, the climate, the bugs, the traffic stress, the workload, the challenging environment, etc.

But now, with a year of adjusting under my belt and a beautiful new classroom, I am much happier. I am glad that I am here and thankful that I stayed on. Life is good. Here are a few reasons:

I have a great community of friends. It takes a time to create a community and I really appreciate the friends that I have made. I miss the ones that have already moved on from Bali and I am thankful for the new ones that have appeared. Life is like that in the international world: people come and go. But now I‘ve even adjusted to that. And I’ve learned to cherish what I have when I have it.

I really enjoy teaching this year. All the long days, sweat (buckets of it) and hard work last year have paid off. I have a handle on what I am teaching, whom exactly I am teaching and how to teach it effectively in this school (remember no walls or windows). I brought more material with me from the States and it is a blessing to have that and what I created last year. Yeah for 2nd years!

I can laugh at the little things. For example, my kitties brought me a snake the other day (every day I pull something from their mouths) and dropped it in my living room. I walked downstairs and saw it in the dimly lit room, did a little freak-out dance and after discovering it wasn’t poisonous or very alive, I laughed. Out loud. I still kept the bowl over it until morning and then I laughed at myself again.

I love where I am living. With an affordable little house, a swimming pool, great neighbors & landlords, I feel lucky. I also have a wonderful helper (pembantu) who came every day when I was laid up for a week (tore my tendon on the bottom of my foot playing Ultimate) and cooked, cleaned, told me stories, gave me a massage, helped me learn Bahasa Indonesia and even gave me pedicure. That and my immediate community was supportive and kind bringing me boxed wine, providing company, loaning movies, giving motorbike rides, etc. And the rice fields are beautiful right now.

I finally acknowledge that exercise is the key to my stress relief. After school I go to the little gym and afterwards I am a much better and happier person.  Last year I was overwhelmed and couldn’t figure out how to exercise between the workload and commute. Now, if I decide to do laps in my little bean-shaped pool, (it takes a while) or go to the gym, I am feeling better about everything.

I have now experienced a motor-bike accident and can say I don't want another one. It was all my fault and very minor at that but it made me realize (again) to always be present while riding. I had my crutches sticking out the back from my saddle bags when I made a hasty turn. The nice Balinese couple in front of me were struck by my crutches and my poor judgement and we all slowly went down. After pulling ourselves up, and blocking traffic we settled on a price for their wounds and scratched motor bike. Awful feeling but big big lesson on my part. Slow and steady. I gave up the crutches after that too. 

I am excited about learning to surf this year. Last year it was learning to dive and experience the island and I did. Now a plan is in motion and as soon as the foot heals, I am on a board in the water. In fact, I leave tomorrow on a well-planned and organized Middle School Elective Week. My group goes to a surf camp in Java! Not great timing with a torn tendon, but we’ll see.

Pictures to follow soon.

Walking Pigs and Stroking Cocks

Yesterday was a great day of accomplishments and humor. My G8 kids finished presenting a project that they started in January. It was a “you’re about to enter HS so you should learn this stuff” kind of assignment that I adapted from another school where I used to teach. It was empowering, fist-pounding, entertaining and challenging. For them too! My GS students I am sure didn’t like parts of writing a research paper, keeping a journal or documenting project hours, but they did and did it well. So creative!  They came up with new green products to sell and creative ways to educate about endangered animals, organic gardening, pollution, plastic and more.

While we took a break for lunch during our presentations, I was wowing the kids with my 80’s music (we had a speaker system set up...dance party!) when a little black scorpion walked by. Teachable moment! As I was backing away I said, “please don’t get bitten. You might not be able to present afterwards.” But of course the G8 boys swarmed and had fun poking at it until one of the girls politely intervened and carried it away on a leaf. She’s tough.

And later, motor biking home, I couldn’t help but smile when I saw a man walking his rather large black pig down the street. Rather large being the size of a calf. I wanted to stop and take a pic, but in traffic, no way. So I just smiled to myself. Oh Bali. This isn’t a new spectacle but one you see fairly often. I think the male pigs are for breeding and get walked to the prospective sow. The handler has a little stick he keeps poking at the slow pig, which is tethered with a rope leash. All in major rush hour traffic. All humane. Until it's ceremony time requiring a swine offering. Then the squealing is heard from far away. 

So just as I am really nearing home, breathing out carefully through the ride fields slash piles and garbage burnings so as not to inhale the dense smoke, I realized it was hold your cock night. Yes, that’s true. About twice a week the men in my village (and all over Bali I am sure) sit in circles outside a family compound and hold (and stroke) their colorful cocks, proudly displaying for all to see. And the roosters are proud too. J I think they get together before the actual cockfight to entice the birds to kill each other. It just looks so odd the first few times. Then I laugh at myself, as I giggle out loud about the guys holding their cocks. It gets me every time.

And as I ride on the little cement path through the rice fields to my house, I think about how adept I have become on the motorbike. I am no longer absolutely terrified and I can weave successfully through traffic, toot my horn quickly if need be, memorize the latest pothole location, navigate around the other people on this one-size-only path and turn across oncoming traffic without a panic attack. Oh, and remember to put down the face shield before I get to a rice field area (or after 6pm) so I don’t eat and breathe little bugs. 

I finally arrive home, let the kitties out and Wayan brings me a young coconut to drink. 

Oh Bali!

Things I am used to now.

1. Waking up to the sound of a shot gun, a cattle drive or small low flying airplane. Yes, it is almost rice harvesting season and the farmers have to wake up very early (pre-dawn) and stand in their fields shooing the birds away. My neighbor on the left hits a metal board really hard with a big wooden stick (shot gun sound) and the farmer in the front field takes a large plastic flag-type devise and waves it about (small plane flying) with gusto, walking up and down the paddy! And the next field over I hear "hah," "ohh," or "hee" calls, as if there was a herd moving to pastures. And walking out to my carpool this morning I encountered yet another device. This one was the most clever I thought. The farmer had set up a series of poles around his field, all with a bunch of cans tied to the top of each pole. Then he held a string that when he pulled set all the cans shaking and clanging away. Very little effort and quite effective.

2. Driving my motorbike feels so easy now. I still have no desire to drive on the bypass or in busy gigantic intersections, but I feel more comfortable for sure. For example, I now bike all the way to my house, inspired by a little snake poking its head out of a rice paddy a few weeks ago while I was parking in the dark near my trail. Snakes are something you want to avoid here. I have been walking out to my house every day (1/4 mile) but after that night, well, I changed.  Constantly thinking that a cobra or pit viper was near, has accelerated my learning curve. Now I mostly bike out all the way on the skinny trail between rice paddy drop-offs to my house. No worries. A fatal bite or a few rattled nerves on a trail. Easy decision. Actually I love the walk, so if I have a flashlight I still try and walk. The stars are beautiful, the fire flies incredible, the frogs entertaining and it is relaxing despite the snake worry. And in the daylight I meet and say hello to all sorts of farmers, workers and tourists I see on the trail. The least favorite part on the trail is when you almost have a head-on with another biker coming around a corner or workers carrying large piles of stone on their head. Not that I have done that. Nope. Not me.

3. Not sure if I can ever get used to the heat completely, but it is better. We are now in the dry season again and without the rain clouds dousing us, the sun is brilliant and strong. It is hot. I know that to diminish my heat rash, I need stress less about work and change up the diet with less heat inducing foods (cayenne) and more chilling foods (watermelon). Bringing a Western work style into this climate is silly, as you will rarely see a Balinese working between the hottest afternoon hours. We should all be sitting under a shade tree, fanning ourselves, sipping coconuts and taking naps. But we are slogging through our jobs without AC (not green) and sweating. So I don't feel ashamed when I say how much I enjoy lying around in a hotel room with AC, while watching a mindless movie or two and writing emails. I had a few hours last weekend before we checked out on Sunday. My main choices were to go for a walk, get a massage for my birthday (thanks Teri!) or hang in the room. I chose the room since it was blazing hot out, I can get a massage anytime in Ubud and I can't zone out in AC. My heat rash completely disappears, the mold leaves my clothes and my attitude shifts to calm. I never thought I would be that person but constant humidity and heat will do strange things to you.

Side note: I kept my birthday really under the radar here. We just celebrated the biggest Earth Day event at GS and I didn't want to follow with any major planning or such to celebrate. Had a lovely weekend with a small group of folks and not one knows I turned 35! Ha!  :)

Nyepi!

I experienced my first, Nyepi or Balinese New Years, one of the most revered days of the year! It starts out with weeks of preparation from all the villages on the island. As I was going to and from school, I could watch the progress of the Ogoh Ogohs. Usually the building of these giants is left up to the young men in the Banjar (or village group). Originally they were made from paper and bamboo, and now mostly foam. They are made to capture the demon sprits on the eve of Nyepi, paraded through the village and burned as purification ritual. Again, I resort to the internet for more specific details.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogoh-ogo

The island the next day, from 6am to 6am, is quiet and dark. Everyone is to stay inside their homes and essentially rest, meditate and fast. Each village has patrol that keep people inside their homes. The idea being that if the island is dark and quiet, the demons will be tricked to go away. And another year starts out with a purified and demon-free island. Lovely!

Of course many tourists either leave the island or stay in hotels that offer Nyepi "black out" specials, since the idea of a quiet island is no fun for some. They put blankets and paper on the windows to black out the light, so people can still watch tv, go on the internet, have lights on, and such. I opted to stay at a friend's house and play with his family for two nights. It was great! We played games, ate by candlelight, talked, etc. Because it is a larger house then mine, we could be outside and swim during the day with little worry since the walls block out neighbors. Very buleh (tourist), but quite nice too. I had fun and am very sad to see my friends leave island and go back to the states soon. I am trying all I can to get them to stay, but of course, life moves on.

Now it is spring break and I am opting for a "staycation." I love where I live and I am excited to just be home. I am volunteering for the big Bali Spirit Festival next week. I think I get a pass to the events once I finish my shift at the information booth. Should be fun to meet new people, get my yoga on (finally!), and hear some world beats.
http://www.balispiritfestival.com/

That's all for now!

The Sky is Falling!

**Editor's Note** I wrote this a few days ago. The wind has ceased!

Okay, not really but it was so windy at school today, my classroom was falling down. I sit up on the 3rd floor of the Heart Of School (HOS), and the breezes just blow right on through my room. That and the thatched roof drops debris to the point of needing safety googles. I eventually searched out an empty classroom for my next two classes. Unreal.

The last time we experienced these types of winds, there was a cyclone off the coast of Bali that circled and wound its way towards Australia. It was incredible how windy it was. And today in school you could hear the white board crash in a nearby classroom (mine is tied to the railing), kids yelling over the din trying to be heard by their teacher (who lost all control), the occasional "whoa" from someone downstairs in the Mepantigan (our thatched auditorium), the palm trees blowing so fiercely they look like they might just topple over. You get the idea. 

I actually had a planning period this morning and couldn't write in my classroom with so much debris falling and blowing that I went downstairs to the main floor (right in the entrance area) and found a stable ceiling to sit under. But then I was wide open for every one to say, "sorry to bother you but..." I did accomplish my task but the interruptions were constant. Interesting and important as it always is catching up with your colleagues, but distracting nonetheless.

Then it was lunch. Imagine all the food in big serving dishes, with the wind knocking over everything not held down: spoons, plates, tickets, cups, food, etc.The dishes were covered by banana leaves that inevitably blew away. I patiently waited for my dish of taco fixings and went to find a decent place to eat while cowering over my plate so as not to swallow roof splinters. Forget about filling a water glass! I threw mine out immediately since more debris was inside than water. Where is my water bottle anyway? I can't believe when packing I only brought one water bottle. And I use it so much, it has to be cleaned out daily or it will smell funny. Mold, the friends that stays so close!

But I digress. 

By the end of the day, there was a huge piece of black roof plastic sliding into the classroom from the nearby roof (it is a three-roofed building), put up there to stop the leaking thatch roof into the other adjoining classroom. It looked like a giant plastic monster wanted to take over my classroom.  Good times!

Then arriving home, I found yes, the debris was everywhere, and I have windows and walls and the wind ripping through the night. My own thatched roof left a mess as a well as all the things that blew like mad in under the doors and through the open bathroom. I later found out we had a tornado warning for Bali the next day. Which wasn't any better at school. My classroom was wrecked. When I was helping a  a Grade 8 student with her homework,  the wind was whipping past us so fiercely that papers were flying, books knocking over and we were yelling so loudly it was silly. And quite comical except for the crap flying into your eyes.Then later, when I took my little sixth graders around school looking for a decent classroom to teach in, I settled on Grade 5 since they were on a field trip. But alas, coconuts were falling like mad (we were chastised for walking on the trails) and the roof had blown away.

Forget riding your motorbike with any ability or speed...the sensation of being blown over is extreme. And the reality of being blown over is scary. Thank goodness for my carpool. Which is the topic of my next blog. Stay tuned...

Lovely Sunday.

Truly a day of rest and relaxation. This morning I slept in, read my book and lounged between the early am kitty pounces. And I made the phone calls with my sister, brother, and favorite little man, Kellen. I love Sunday Skype calls. They have been too few and far between, so look out if I haven't called recently and answer if you see an "unavailable" number. Other than that, after a cup of coffee, I have the day free. I stopped going in to work a few months ago, so I have no excuse but to relax. Wayan just delivered a green coconut, which she now does every day. I am quite addicted to them. There is the option of a massage and spa, but I think I will just hang out here with the furry ones and the swimming pool right outside my bedroom doors upstairs. I haven't been home for a few weeks, so to relax here is a must.

It is slightly overcast with a touch of sun and as usual quite hot and muggy out. I bought another fan last night at the grocery store, so my downstairs has three fans that push the air around attempting to make it seem cooler. I have these beautiful large glass doors downstairs (which is my kitchen/living room) but I am not opening them too often, so not letting the kitties outside much. The little one (Ginger) is so little (3 months) and cobras, monitor lizards and the neighborhood dog still freak me out. Still traumatized from losing my last kitty. Being hyper sensitive but I guess I am allowed at this point.

In a few hours close to 3pm, I will jump on the motor bike and head to Ultimate, near the Monkey Forest. We have a Sunday game on a patchy dry field, and hopefully can play an hour or so before the neighborhood kids come out with the soccer ball. There is a Bali tournament in a few weeks, and our team has just scratched together a roster. I think I need to get in shape, seriously.
And then it is dinner with a friend of a friend that I haven't seen in years! She called and said "I am on island". Lucky me. So I chose a favorite restaurant to meet at and catch up. Decadence.

Then the week starts all over again. The weekends are so relaxing, I forget for a few days how draining the school days are. But we are almost at spring break, and I will be staying on island, saving money and volunteering at the Bali Spirit Festival. I will write more closer to the day, but Bali New Year's Day (Nyepi) falls before our break and it will be a hoot to experience. More on that later.

I wrote this next passage a few days ago, and decided to include it as part of my documenting the experience of living in the tropics.


The past two weeks of intense heat rash on various parts of my body make me think we are changing seasons again, from wet to dry. (I say this as it is pouring outside!) If you haven't had a heat rash before because you don't live in 98% humidity near the equator, let me just say, it's no fun. The constant urge to itch leads to immediate relief which then lends to extremely itchy and bleeding skin. I have learned that instant relief comes in really really scalding hot water, which you can imagine then burns the hell out of your skin. My poor neck, arms and legs have been so red and blotchy from the heat and scalding showers, that I was stopped more than once with, "are you okay?" I thought I was going crazy. Is it just in my head? Is this real? But it is real and I just dealt with it.

The hot water relief is almost orgasmic, a shuddering sense of release, no more pain, no more itch, just a wonderful tickling, scratching sensation. Lovely. Since I only have a solar shower, my hot water lasts a few minutes. There I am sticking each arm, elbow, craning neck and shins to reach the water. One night I took three showers between 8pm-3am and tried as many as 8 different ointments/powders/solutions on different body parts to see what worked best. I finally found a brilliant solution: hotel room. So last weekend a posse of us went to the beach and stayed at a beautiful hotel: pool, beach front, pool bar, spa, etc.  But for me the beauty was the hot bathtub (imagine the sensation there!) and cold air conditioning while languishing on a bed watching HBO. I have no bathtub, AirCon or TV, so I was on vacation! I only went outside to the pool at 1pm because the hotel called and said, "it's time to check out." Then I ordered a dry cocktail and stayed in the pool.

Cheers.

Two Month Highlights?

If I were to describe all the moments of the past two months since my last blog, it would take too long. So I will highlight them here, briefly. First of all, I was so lucky to have visitors for almost a month from December 13 to January 7th. First my sister Thea came! I was so happy and excited that we would spend another Christmas together. Lucky me. We traveled around the island, diving, lying in the sun, relaxing, eating great Christmas dinners, walked around Ubud in the rain, playing a few games of chess. It was wonderful! Then Kriss and Mark came, all of the visitors together at the same time. We had one weekend all together down south at a little beach. We ate, walked on the beach, toured Ulu Watu Temple and took pics of the over-sized monkeys, whilst watching a Kecat dance of Rama and Sita. Lovely. Than after Mark's quick visit and a tour of the GS school , Kriss and I had New Year's (yeah dancing!) and the week after to explore and hang out. Good times to day the least. Weird feeling to wake up one day and its just me, the snoozing kitties on my face and the pouring rain outside.

Then it was back to school and the mad rush of not having much free time: planning, organizing, grading, meeting. But the bonus was my Christmas packages arrived! That and the gifts that Thea and Kriss brought. Oh, my coworkers were jealous. :) Thank you everyone: Thea, Kriss, Peter, Lenore, Aunt Pat & Uncle Macy. Liz, sadly the calendar has not arrived yet. But I am still looking. I can't express how wonderful it was and how I miss everyone. So all in all it was good to be back at school but things got hectic quickly.

I think the loss of my cousin was the hardest thing to experience so far from home. I couldn't be in Portland, close to grieve with everyone and yet I felt the intense loss. My sweet cousin Caroline, who I think about every day, I am hoping and praying has found herself in a better place. Can't go too much farther on that one in a blog. But the loss was compounded in a way with the loss of one of my kitties, Penny.

The immediate death here in my house for me to deal with alone, was horrible, but in a strange way allowed me to grieve for my cousin too. Since I raised the little fur balls from two weeks old, I can't express how sad and responsible I felt for Penelope's loss. I didn't know how sick she was and the guilt is sometimes over powering. When I left for school last Wednesday, she was still sick from the night before (I thought food poisoning). I had just had them both fixed a few days before. I came home from work that evening and I couldn't find her and called and called. I knew something was wrong. She had curled up in my closet and died. Ugh. Awful. I went out to Wayan and her husband Neoman, a blubbering mess carrying her little body. They did a quick ceremony and burial in the dark. I then whisked the other one off down the rice paddies, to a taxi and the 24hr kitty vet that I didn't know existed previously. The vet said their immune systems were compromised from the surgery and since not vaccinated, succumbed to a virus. Javier, then spent a week on an IV and in kitty ICU, trying to recover from that deadly virus. He did. And I brought him home a few days ago, after spending every afternoon, motorbiking over and holding him in my lap for an hour.

Of course, I couldn't bring him home alone, since Penny and Wayan's kitty had died too. So I brought another rescue kitty home, and he is a miniature of Javier, named Ginger. Pretty cute and very sweet. Javier came home looking all over for Penny. Sad. But he is better. Ginger is three months old and a precocious lover.  Both have to go back and get more vaccine's and check ups, but all is good in Bali kitty world. I can't explain how compounded everything is here. But to open my world to an animal, is hard knowing what a harsh environment this is for animals. Most people don't do it. But I am a sucker and can't help not having animals around me.

Now, it's Sunday after a long weekend of the Galugan holiday of staying home and reading, relaxing and sleeping. Galungan is a time, every six months, where the Balinese make these beautiful decorated poles outside of every house, and spent the next 11 days giving thanks to the ancestors, the families and the Gods. It is extremely spiritual and happens every 210 days, or the rice cycle. I hope to go to the Temple next weekend with Ani, my housecleaner or Pembantu, and experience one of the ceremonies and blessings. I didn't go on a trip with the 200 GS families to the Gili Islands since I found out my kitty could come home. I know I missed another good time, but I was allowed some solo time to grieve, think and deal. Sometimes that is what is important.

Today no rain. I decided I need make more Skye calls, write shorter, more up to date blogs and take advantage of this healing place I live in: get more massages, drink more juices and start really exercising again. Ha! Stay tuned.