settling in...

helloooo!

sorry i haven't been very good about posting regularly, if anyone's been checking. life is just sort of gliding by, and it's much nicer when it doesn't include trips to the internet cafe :)

things here are so good! i'm really settling in. i've realized that i'm less into actually "traveling" ~ carting my stuff around everywhere in my backpack, spending my time figuring out where to sleep that night & how long to stay in each place & how to get to the next one. it seems like all those details would keep my mind busy & distracted, like it often is at home, but i'm here to try to calm it down, and take time for spiritual questions. so i'm going to stay in bali for a few months i've decided ~ at least until sometime in late may or early june. cris is coming may 17 (yay!) so we'll see how long we feel like staying on here, or if/when we feel the urge to head to thailand.

so yes, settling in to bali ~ the big news is that tomorrow i'm moving into a house! it's a beautiful 2-story place in the middle of the rice paddies, just outside town. my autstrian friend christian rented it for the year & he's going back to europe for a few months so i can stay in it as long as i'd like. it's really bright & open feeling, almost all glass walls. i'll have my own kitchen finally so can experiment with cooking & eating the things i find in the market here. it has a beautiful little yard, all enclosed with flowering trees so it feels really private. the landlord comes every day at 5pm to clean & take care of the garden & will even take my laundry for me! and get this ~ it's only $150/month! so incredible. oh and i have a motorbike now! it's gold with a red rose painted on the front :) i was really nervous to use it at first, but my friends here all have them & so i've had people to teach me. i got a library card ~ the library here is so cute. the first time i went it was also the weekly a capella group gathering so i had a great time, singing & playing with the cute orange cat who lives there & eating at the library cafe.

i started volunteering at the local orphanage! a guy here named ketut started inviting orphans into his home years ago and now he & his wife have 60 of them there! they are very well organized and have done well getting sponsors & funding for the children: http://www.thewinsproject.org/
the kids go to school in the morning but then have english classes at the orphanage in the afternoons. they have some regular teachers but 2 have just left so they need subs. the photo of the classroom on the website is where i've taught! the kids range in age from 6-16 & the classes are split into 2, the older (11-16) and younger (6-10). if any of you have taught english to little kids & have ideas for me let me know! the classes are 2 hours & there is only so much singing & introducing you can do, you know?

yesterday my friend jessa & i headed out of town on our motorbikes on a little adventure. we went to goa gajah, the elephant caves ~ very cool ancient meditation caves & sunken fountains & ancient hindu sculptures. it's impossible to upload photos here, way too slow, but here are some i found online: http://www.pbase.com/boon3887/goa_gajah. we hired a local guide, a fun 23 year old guy named nyoman, and he showed us around, and then brought us down this jungle-y path to a beautiful river. he took us up & around the river & through this jungle trail til we came to his village, bedulu, and then to a site called yeh pulu, with an ancient rock carving of scenes of daily life (hunting, etc.). the carved wall was cool, but i think we had more fun just hanging out with our guide guy!

last night i went to the regular wednesday night meditation and deeksha at a shop here called namaste. deeksha is a special blessing usually given by a guru to a follower, an ancient indian practice. nowadays you can train to do it at places around the world. the deeksha giver places their hands on the head of the recipient for a few minutes, transmitting divine/spiritual energy to them. it's a cool experience. i've had it maybe 10 times since i've been here & i usually feel something interesting. oh & namaste is participating in the eckhart tolle/oprah thing that's going on right now! have you heard about it? eckhart & oprah are teaching & discussing his new book on a worldwide, online forum. the namaste people downloaded it in singapore, since the internet is too slow in bali to try to do it here!

oh i did have a spot of bad luck (which i guess should be expected ~ life can't be this perfect all the time!) ~ i fell into a big hole & got really sick. not sure whether they were connected. let me back up ~ the sidewalks here are sometimes missing a whole square, and one night walking home a new path in the dark i slipped on a pile of gravel and fell into one of the holes! it's almost funny, since we've joked plenty about that happening to people. i guess that's what happens! i got all scraped up ~ nothing serious but lots of gravel in my cuts. i went home & soaked in my bathtub for a long time to get it out & maybe something from the water got into my bloodstream? who knows why, but the next day i woke up with a fever that just got worse & worse. on the 2nd day it was so bad that i had the family where i'm staying call a doctor to come see me (i think the 1st housecall i've ever had! her doctor bag wasn't as cool as mine :-). i had a fever of 103! but she did some tests & it wasn't dengue or typhoid so i was relieved. she put me on antibiotics & gave me some other unidentifiable indonesian medicine and within a few days i was all back to normal! and actually feeling better than before it all happened, if that's possible. i think the fever burned up some old negative/unhealthy things that were kicking around in there. and my friends here were so lovely, visiting me & bringing me water & soup & homeopathic medicine & making get well cards. it's amazing how people you've known for 2 weeks can feel like such close friends!

ok, i'm off to go get a massage. there are spas everywhere here! i found a massage therapist i like who used to be $8 for 90 minutes, but she just moved to a way more upscale place that is $12. life is rough, huh? :)
then tonight i'm going to a tibetan bowl meditation and tomorrow to a jewelry making class!

love to all of you, thanks for checking here! leave me comments, it might make me write more often if i knew you were reading this! sempai jumpa lagi (see you soon) !