Bali Glow

I noticed it our very first visit to Bali.  A liquid radiance in the people's eyes, an inner glow pouring out into the world.  I saw it when bargaining with shopkeepers, after we had reached an agreement and everyone was happy, sama sama, good for me, good for you.  I saw it when trekking through the rice fields, exchanging simple greetings with the farmers, seeing their faces light up like sunshine with each smile. I found it everywhere the children play, not with expensive toys, usually not with toys at all, just tussling and rolling and running around with each other, eyes flashing brilliantly.  I photographed it to remember it.  We were on our honeymoon, in 1997.  On the porch of our beach cottage, a couple of weeks into our stay, I captured on film that same warm glow in my husband's eyes.  I thought to myself, "That is the way I want to live."


Many years earlier, traveling in Kenya alone in my 20s, I happened upon a mirror near the kitchen of my little bungalow on the Indian Ocean.  I hadn't seen myself in a mirror for a couple of weeks.  I was startled by the look in my eyes; clear, peaceful and radiant.  I had come into alignment with myself.  Much of my life since then has been about learning to maintain that alignment.


Living daily in Bali vibe, earthy and open to the elements, I already see the Bali change clearly in Sofia, in Asher.  We pick Sofia up at school and she has an air of uncensored freedom in her movements; not that she was restricted in the forest of southern Oregon, but the degree of relaxation and fluidity is notable.  She came home after her third day of school and said, "The Balinese kids in my class talk like this," and proceeded to pull off a perfect Indonesian accent the rest of the night.  I can tell she is digging the variety of subjects and I don't have to prod to find out what she's been doing all day, she rattles on and on.  Asher has a grin just about all day long.  That's not really anything new, is it?  Still, there is that certain Bali glow that I am beginning to notice in my family.  


It's easier to see it in others than in myself.  We have only one mirror right now, in the bathroom, and it is not a full mirror.  I don't look at the mirror much, but when I do I don't immediately recognize myself:  my hair is about three feet high with curls.

One of my neighbors, Phan, a Cambodian woman who grew up in Thailand after her family escaped the madness of Pol Pot, gave me a Thai massage at her house.  She used a menthyl balm as she rubbed; it caught the breeze of the overhead fan making me almost cold, an increasingly unfamiliar feeling.  In the background I could hear the soft thud of a machete against plant material as the Balinese man who tends to all the gardens in our village cleared space for a new plot.  (I have seen this man working in the gardens the last several days in tall boots, long pants, a long sleeve shirt and a great big wool hat as if he is expecting an ice storm, while I am wanting the lightest, most wispy fabrics and find even my usually comfortable yoga clothes feel heavy.)  I hear the ever present song of the insects, soothing jungle white noise.  Softly, in the distance, Asher is playing the flugelhorn.  Phan folds me into poses that stretch me, using her knees, elbows, hands and sometimes her whole body to knead me.  She expresses amazement at my flexibility in some positions, but when she gets to my upper back she asks me if I carry a lot (maybe giant water bottles up deep ravines or baskets of rocks on my head like some women in Bali).  I've just been carrying stress, the stress of moving halfway around the world, of major life transformation.  Now it starts to dissipate...

Another of my neighbors came for a visit.  Visiting happens often in the Bambu Village and does not involve knocking on the front  door as there isn't any.  A visitor simply shows up, says hello and the visit has begun while I am perhaps peeling a pineapple or doing a yoga stretch.  Sometimes the visitor walks in and sometimes the visit happens from the front steps.  This visitor, Ajay, joined Asher and I at the dinner table.  I wasn't quite sure of his function at the school -- he seems to be involved in most everything -- and it turns out he is the General Manager, meaning he has his hand in everything other than the actual classroom education.  Ajay asked us to put ideas together for improving the school warung (small restaurant) and bringing raw food to the school community.  I came to Bali with the intention of creating a raw food restaurant in Ubud, only to find out that one had opened just days before our arrival.  I have been completely at ease with that news, knowing somehow it would all work out.  Working with the existing Green School warung feels like a wonderful start, an opportunity to share healthy living food and develop bonds with this community at the same time.   Ajay said we'll pour over the ideas and decide where to begin, which equipment to acquire, which equipment to create, what direction to head.  Music to my ears.  I'd like to build a solar dehydration system.  If it's for the Green School, it will probably involve bamboo.  Scroll down to see some other uses of bamboo in the school's central building, called Heart of School.

Bamboo poles suspended from above...
a dangling musical instrument that is also a great place
for hide and seek.

Groovy Green School use of Bamboo

Danish Modern Bamboo style.

Bamboo poles slit in half and filled in with
glass form a long table.

Settling In

We are settling in nicely!  Sofia has had her first two full days of school, Friday and Monday.

We walk to school; down the mountain, across the bambu bridge, up the mountain, through the 8th grade rice growing project, past the scarecrow wearing crocs, up to her classroom.

She is making new friends, but doesn't always remember their names, and rattles on all evening about what she did during the day.  Her first grade class has 2 periods three times per week of green studies where they learn about the environment in both the macro and micro/hands on the compost.  The schedule includes music, drama, visual arts, p.e., Indonesian language, math/English/science, global awareness and community outreach (not sure about the actual content with the last two as we haven't had them yet).  I could write pages about the school and probably will as time goes on.  What a dynamic and cutting edge place, and what an honor and blessing to be a part of it, to live beside it, to be immersed in this community.

While Sofia and I were at her school (I promised her I would stay the first day), Asher had an outrageous cycling experience.  A group of 4 men and 1 woman headed out from John Hardy's house in the back of a padded, open bed truck with their bikes.  (If you don't recognize the name, John Hardy is one of the most successful contemporary jewelry designers and the founder of the Green School.  He came to Bali in the 1960s and put Balinese silversmithing on the international market.)  The truck left them off high in the mountains beside a volcano and the group proceeded to ride into and climb out of a crater, then work their way back to the Ubud area around 40 miles later.  Somewhere along the way the Asher followed John around a curve to the right and the others missed the turn.  Asher ended up back at John Hardy's house where they had lunch together.  John had his staff make Asher a full raw meal.  They talked for quite a while and John invited us to a party the next day.  Asher said every moment was magical.

Sofia's homework on Friday was to have fun during the weekend and we took the assignment seriously.  Not having many groceries or kitchen equipment yet, we went out to breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants in Ubud beside the town futbol (football, as in soccer) field where we could watch the school children in hot pink uniforms playing during gym class.  Then we went to the Ubud organic market, carrying home on our motorbike several big canvas grocery bags full of tropical fruits and vegetables, including a bunch of freshly harvested baby ferns I've been using for salads. 

At three in the afternoon we were at John Hardy's house, as requested.  He lives along the Sayan Ridge, near the Aman Dari and the Four Seasons, overlooking the Ayung River (the Green School is also beside the Ayung, down river about 10 minutes from Sayan).  The house is rustic, yet refined, rather like John's personality (he can be a bit gruff, yet is welcoming and generous), with everything facing the spectacular jungle view of the deep ravine.  We sipped healthy stevia sweetened drinks, chatted and waited for the family to assemble.  John's drivers took two carloads 45 minutes up into the hill country.  Sofia and I were in a car with John and his daughters, 14 and 10, open, vivacious, worldly girls who attend the Green School, and it was fun to listen to the banter.  

The party was a spectacle.  An American man who specializes in building fake waterfalls for casinos purchased a huge, remote property and then spent 5 years landscaping it, keeping the whole thing a secret from his wife.  The party was a surprise for her 50th birthday and had actually begun the day before when 60 of her friends from California showed up at the beach.  We walked past the heart shaped rice fields (see facebook photo) to the massive and magestic main pavilion built traditionally from bambu by John's company (he's out of the jewelry and into the bamboo business) for mixed drinks and your choice of 6 kinds of gelato while taking in the unobscured view.  We followed the stones -- there must have been thousands of them, carefully laid out -- all the way down to a clear creek, then back up again (sweating in nice clothes is socially acceptable in Bali), finding a bambu yurt and 2 joglo (traditional Sumatran) houses along the way, simply and gorgeously appointed.  A band played from the upper of two stages on the property.  At dusk the crowd moved to the lower stage for what started out as a traditional Balinese dance performance, the music a contemporary blend of Balinese gamelan and electronica.  Soon the dancers had fire in their palms.  Suddenly they wisked away their costumes, revealing little burlesque outfits underneath (I have never seen anything like this in Bali), and danced with flaming umbrellas, some with peacock fans of flames behind them.  The conclusion of the dance rolled the crowd back to the upper stage for another band and a happy birthday song.  During the huge buffet of Balinese food fireworks erupted, not from a safe American distance, but up close.  The pacing was different, too: instead of a slow build up to a grand finale it just went full force from the first moment to the last in the most spectacular and loud display I have ever seen.  I screamed with delight through the whole thing!

Back home in our Bambu Village we needed to deliver a message to one of our neighbors, a family from India who have lived in Connecticut and in Singapore before Bali.  She is a the second grade teacher at the school and he is a Green School administrator.  They invited us in, we fell into a remarkable conversation about raw food and nutrition, and they are eager to have us bring raw food to the school warung (little restaurant).  Turns out they had been dreaming of something like that, and so had we!

Sunday, after a potluck breakfast at our house getting to know all of our Bambu Village neighbors, we went river rafting with a group of 63 people from the Green School.  I have stayed at the Four Seasons and seen the view, similar to the Hardy's, from other properties in Sayan throughout the years, but I had never been on the Ayung River in a raft.  It was a completely different experience being IN the ravine; magical, gorgeous tropical views in every direction giant ferns, giant trees, waterfalls everywhere.  One long stretch of the stone wall ravine has been intricately carved with scenes from the Ramayana.  Our Balinese raft guide had a fantastic smile and gave off an air of strength and confidence.  Having worked for this outfit for 14 years, he knew how to expertly poise our raft on a rock, then wiggle the raft around knocking it off backward into the rapids to our squeals.  We stopped at a giant waterfall and got in -- one of my favorite things in life -- the water pounding hard on our helmeted heads.  

After the spectacular ride was over, John Hardy (yes, he was there again) invited us to the home of another Green School family for cocktails.  The owner, Chris, is an American married to a Japanese woman who has been running Lifespring type sessions in Asia for years.  The house was exquisite,  rustic and elegant at once.  I walked around the various pavilions in dreamlike wonder at the beauty of it all while Sofia and friends played in the infinity pool overlooking the spectacular Ayung valley.  Chris is the kind of host who can't bear to see an empty glass in your hand and immediately refreshes your drink.  He was serving very, very good vodka, so I was glad we had arrived by car with our new Lithuanian neighbors instead of traveling by motorbike.

Today, Monday, I walked Sofia to school (down, down, down then up, up, up) then joined about 25 other parents for a presentation by an author in town for the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival which begins on this week.  His name is Imran Ahmad and he did a reading from his memoir "Unimagined", a funny, heartfelt story about growing up Muslim in England.  I have (barely) started a memoir and it was encouraging to hear his tale.  I spoke to him afterwards and he discreetly slipped me a copy of his book and told me to hand it to him for signing.

It's the middle of the night, the first chance I've had to write and it's pouring (pouring) rain during the supposedly dry season.  Everything is working our beautifully.  Just when I wonder how we will get water for our dispenser -- the school has a deep well of pure water, but remember the down, down, down and the up, up, up) -- a Balinese woman from the neighboring village shows up looking for work and is happy to fill our 5 gallon jug, carrying it on her motorbike.  She is also now doing our laundry at her house, another thing I was wondering about having received an answer.  More pictures soon.  Much love to you all...

We have arrived in our new home!

We have arrived in our new home!  The traveling was smooth and as easy as long distance travel can be.  Our dear friends Dewa and Ayu, with their precious 2 year old, Rama, picked us up at the airport, took us to our Bambu Village, then returned with one of their motorbikes so we have immediate transportation.  Right away friends and new neighbors started dropping by to welcome us, invite us to dinner or ask us to come see their new kittens.  This village has a lovely sense of community, all centered around the school, with kids running freely between the houses, a great contrast with our extreme privacy in the Little Applegate Valley.  We were surprised to find we had received an upgrade and are living in a 3 bedroom house instead of a 2 bedroom.  We only need 2... so the Yaron family Balinese bed and breakfast is officially open for visits!  Our house is somewhat reminiscent of the Swiss Family Robinson, made almost entirely of renewable bambu (Indonesian spelling), employing a wide range of sizes and finding all manner of ingenious ways to slice, strip, slat, bend and nail the grass (yes, it's a grass) together.  Our house is 2 story, but the ceiling is at least 3 stories high, covered with ylang ylang grass (another amazing, renewable resource) that swoops in curves Frank Gehry would admire.  It feels like a tree house, though it is not, because we see trees all around us and have giant bambu pillars holding everything together.  We have walls in places, and areas that are completely, protected by the overhanging roof.  It's as if we are living indoors and outdoors at the same time.  Pictures to come soon.  We arrived at our home around dusk and went to sleep early.  I woke up at 3 am and started unpacking and nesting.  By 4 am Asher and Sofia joined me, so we hopped on the motorbike in the dark and went to the traditional market in Mambal, a large busy place, even at that hour.  The first vendor we started to buy from tried to charge us very high tourist prices so we walked deeper into the market to fill our bags with freshly picked Balinese fruits and vegetables at very good local prices.  We came home with 2 kinds of mangoes, 2 kinds of bananas, 2 kinds of chilies, 2 kinds of ginger, fresh turmeric, pineapples, tangerines, napa cabbage, some greens unknown to me by name...  A little later we visited the first grade class at The Green School.  Sofia's teacher is fantastic and the environment is delicious to us all.  There are 20 children in her class, bigger than we knew as a few additional children have come in recently.  The kids are from all over the globe, relaxed and very friendly... Sofia got into the groove immediately.  Tomorrow, Friday, will be her first full day:  I will walk Sofia to school across the bambu bridge and hang out with her until she is comfortable while Asher is going on a volcano climbing bike ride with John Hardy and some others.  I choose to pass when it comes to climbing volcanos on bicycles.  We have a dinner invitation for Friday night.  In some ways much is different, yet in some sense our lives haven't skipped a beat.  More to come... love to all..