May 31, 2013
Yesterday, after a delicious lunch of Asian curried chicken and vegetables and fresh papaya juice, we were treated to our first Balinese massage which was part of the package of experiences for the students. The spa is located on a busy street on the edge of a rice paddy. The walls and roof of the building are partially exposed to the exotic plant life that seems to want to come right indoors. As I lie on the massage table, waiting for the masseuse, the sounds of the screeching birds and monkeys can be heard just outside the windows.
The massage is divine, accompanied by a medley of exotic smells and sounds, transporting me into a profoundly relaxed and utterly altered state of consciousness. After about 90 minutes of bliss, the masseuse with the her sweet smile, assists me in standing up and walks me to a tiled area with a drain. She rubs me down with a seaweed scrub to remove the oil and dead skin, rinses me with several scoops of water and then applies yogurt all over my body. While the yogurt is soaking in, she fills the deep marble tub with warm water and then sprinkles the water with a thick layer of petals of various colors. The only petal I recognize is bougainvillea. The others are purple, blue red, and pink. I slip into the tub and soak, while sipping ginger tea. Aah.
Walking out into the waiting area, I spot the students emerging one by one, their faces serene and smiling. The girls have frangipani flowers in their hair. They look like goddesses of pleasure.
It was a jolt to walk back into the chaos of the street with the intense traffic.
Ubud is actually made up of thirteen little villages. Each village is known for a certain art specialty, like fabrics, woodworking, silversmithing, and painting. This morning, after taking our peaceful sunrise walk along the rice paddies, we went with our driver to a big sarong market. Each student was given 50,000 Rupias ($5) and was briefed on the art of bargaining and the vocabulary necessary for making a business transaction was reviewed, such as "Mahal" which means, "That's too much," or "Lihat Lihat saja" which means, "I'm just looking around."We all had to end up with a sarong and a sash to wear at the many ceremonies that take place here...without spending more than the allotted amount. The men also had to purchase ceremonial headgear as well. For many of the students, the experience was a fun sport. But for some, the bargaining was a painfully awkward and foreign experience that felt mean-spirited toward the vendor.
It just started raining hard. I'm on the balcony, watching the night roll in.
Selamat jalan----which means, "good-bye," but literally means "Happy Walking Around."
Friday, May 31, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Bleary-eyed Arrival
Thursday, May 30th, 2013
We're here in Bali, eating a leisurely breakfast on a balcony overlooking a rice paddy, listening to the sounds of the birds, surrounded by coconut palms and flowering plants. The air smells fresh and sweet with a hint of incense.
We are 14 hours ahead of you. Today is yesterday where you are. Hmm. That means that if you were traveling around the time of your birthday, you could celebrate it twice if you were traveling to or from Bali.
It was 42 hours of exhausting travel from the time we left Santa Fe until the time we arrived at Hotel Arjana II on Jalan Kajeng Street. We flew Southwest to LAX with a 5 hour layover; then Singapore Airlines to Singapore, with an hour stopover at Narita airport in Tokyo; a six hour wait in Singapore, then on to Bali, arriving at the capital city of Denpasar.
Singapore Airlines offered service that was reminiscent of a by-gone era, with an endless stream of quality food and snacks at no extra charge, and slender hostesses who were impeccably dressed in sarongs, with black hair coiffed without a single hair out of place, skin like porcelain, skillfully applied make up and relentlessly polite and patient.
Arriving in Denpasar was a bit surprising for me. I wasn't prepared for the amount of cars and chaos and pollution and construction. The little capital appears to be experiencing booming growth with little regulation. Our drivers met us at the airport with a couple of vans. As we drove out of the streets choked with motorbikes and cars and diesel fumes, the further away we got, the more beautiful the view became with lush green fields of rice and tropical fruit trees. After an hour or so, we arrived in Ubud with streets lined with shops full of handmade wood carvings, paintings, handmade fabrics, along with shops full of western goods as well. But, all of us were in such a daze from sleep deprivation, it was hard to fully digest what we were seeing. We were driven up a long street that was an enclave of exotic looking bungalows off the beaten path enveloped by a profusion of jungle plants.
The students are in their own bungalows that belong to a hotel ten minutes down the hill from where the adults are staying. The enclave includes a beautiful balcony where we are sitting now, leisurely eating breakfast, a pool of ample size, and paths through the "jungle." After lunch, the students will be getting their first massages as part of their Bali program. It is so moving to seeing how excited the students are to be here. Some of them have never flown on an airplane before, and some have never left New Mexico. They are wide-eyed and deeply appreciative for this experience that has been given to them. One of the girls screeched in delight as she walked into her bungalow and said, "Oh my god, I'm in paradise. I wish my mom could see this. She wouldn't believe where I am."
After arriving, we did everything we could to stay awake long enough to have dinner at Tutmak, a restaurant run by a Balinese who had been married to an American woman. Galen and Zinnia wanted to give the kids a gentle transition into true Balinese food. After dinner we all fell into bed. Galen had us get up at 5:15 so he could take us on his usual morning walk up through the "jungle" along a narrow path through the rice paddies to see the sun come up and illuminate the surrounding volcanoes. We actually could see the headlamps of climbers in the distance on the highest volcano, Agung, which dominates the skyline. Each field had a little temple for praying for the harvest. Apparently the priest is the one who tells them when to plant and when to harvest. Some of the rice paddies were full of ducks who were eating the remains of the harvest. The rice farmers rent out their fields to the duck herders.
It's time to walk to town to eat lunch. More later.
.
We're here in Bali, eating a leisurely breakfast on a balcony overlooking a rice paddy, listening to the sounds of the birds, surrounded by coconut palms and flowering plants. The air smells fresh and sweet with a hint of incense.
We are 14 hours ahead of you. Today is yesterday where you are. Hmm. That means that if you were traveling around the time of your birthday, you could celebrate it twice if you were traveling to or from Bali.
It was 42 hours of exhausting travel from the time we left Santa Fe until the time we arrived at Hotel Arjana II on Jalan Kajeng Street. We flew Southwest to LAX with a 5 hour layover; then Singapore Airlines to Singapore, with an hour stopover at Narita airport in Tokyo; a six hour wait in Singapore, then on to Bali, arriving at the capital city of Denpasar.
Singapore Airlines offered service that was reminiscent of a by-gone era, with an endless stream of quality food and snacks at no extra charge, and slender hostesses who were impeccably dressed in sarongs, with black hair coiffed without a single hair out of place, skin like porcelain, skillfully applied make up and relentlessly polite and patient.
Arriving in Denpasar was a bit surprising for me. I wasn't prepared for the amount of cars and chaos and pollution and construction. The little capital appears to be experiencing booming growth with little regulation. Our drivers met us at the airport with a couple of vans. As we drove out of the streets choked with motorbikes and cars and diesel fumes, the further away we got, the more beautiful the view became with lush green fields of rice and tropical fruit trees. After an hour or so, we arrived in Ubud with streets lined with shops full of handmade wood carvings, paintings, handmade fabrics, along with shops full of western goods as well. But, all of us were in such a daze from sleep deprivation, it was hard to fully digest what we were seeing. We were driven up a long street that was an enclave of exotic looking bungalows off the beaten path enveloped by a profusion of jungle plants.
The students are in their own bungalows that belong to a hotel ten minutes down the hill from where the adults are staying. The enclave includes a beautiful balcony where we are sitting now, leisurely eating breakfast, a pool of ample size, and paths through the "jungle." After lunch, the students will be getting their first massages as part of their Bali program. It is so moving to seeing how excited the students are to be here. Some of them have never flown on an airplane before, and some have never left New Mexico. They are wide-eyed and deeply appreciative for this experience that has been given to them. One of the girls screeched in delight as she walked into her bungalow and said, "Oh my god, I'm in paradise. I wish my mom could see this. She wouldn't believe where I am."
After arriving, we did everything we could to stay awake long enough to have dinner at Tutmak, a restaurant run by a Balinese who had been married to an American woman. Galen and Zinnia wanted to give the kids a gentle transition into true Balinese food. After dinner we all fell into bed. Galen had us get up at 5:15 so he could take us on his usual morning walk up through the "jungle" along a narrow path through the rice paddies to see the sun come up and illuminate the surrounding volcanoes. We actually could see the headlamps of climbers in the distance on the highest volcano, Agung, which dominates the skyline. Each field had a little temple for praying for the harvest. Apparently the priest is the one who tells them when to plant and when to harvest. Some of the rice paddies were full of ducks who were eating the remains of the harvest. The rice farmers rent out their fields to the duck herders.
It's time to walk to town to eat lunch. More later.
.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Meet the students
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| They're like beautiful flowers emerging through the cracks in the sidewalk of life. |
These bright, enthusiastic high school seniors come from Santa Fe High, Capitol High, Santa Fe Indian School and Monte del Sol. Thirty students were hand picked by their teachers to participate in the Bali Art Project. Out of those 30 students, eight were selected by the students who participated in the the program the previous year.
Some of the students come from financially and socially challenging circumstances, yet they manage to blossom in spite of adversity. Their interests range from traditional pueblo life, graphic arts, music, and architecture to science, medicine, and sports. They are eager to learn about the world. In case you can't tell, I'm already in love with these kids.
While the students' trip is entirely paid for with donations and fund raising, the students actually raised some of the money themselves through sales of their art work during an art show in April. There was a substantial turnout of Santa Feans who bought the art work in support of the trip.
If you'd like more information about the Bali Art Project, go to www.baliartproject.org
Sunday, May 19, 2013
A Taste of What's to Come
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| This is a picture of a part of the island of Bali I found on-line. I think I could get used to this. |
Friday, May 17, 2013
Birth of Bali Trip
About to launch a big dream.
I wanted to let you know that I just signed up for a trip to Bali for the entire month of June. I was invited to participate a while back but I had a hard time making up my mind. I had a lot of anxiety around the decision because I've never left my medical practice for more than 3 weeks (China trip with my older, Chinese-speaking sister and my son Barrett) in the 30 years I've been practicing medicine and, since the accident, I haven't traveled more than two weeks at a time. With all the things that are wrong with me, traveling is a big uncertainty, but now that I've made the decision, I'm totally excited.
I'll be going with a group of 8 high school students and 8 adults and an older couple, Zinnia and Gaylon who have been organizing this trip for 14 years. When they retired from teaching in their early 60's, they wanted to do something meaningful with their retirement. At around that time, Zinnia came into a large inheritance. She felt they didn't need the money since they lived frugally in Santa Fe, so they hatched up an idea, taking into account their love of travel and knowledge of exotic places, their love of art, and their experience as former school teachers.
They went to the local high school and asked the art teacher if he knew of three kids who were "disadvantaged," bright, creative, intelligent, and motivated but had no money and were living in difficult circumstances. Gaylon and Zinnia explained that they wanted to take the kids to Bali for a month-long adventure of learning the language, taking Balinese art classes, mask making, Balinese dancing and cooking classes and delving into another culture---and also spending some time at the beach and getting massages and going to temples to get blessed. The art teacher said "no" he didn't have 3 students that fit that criteria---he had 8. So, that's how these trips were born and have been going on for 14 years. This might be the last trip of this kind because Zinnia and Gaylon are in their late 70's and move a little more slowly, although I'm told that they have more energy than most of the adults on the trip.
I went my first meeting a few weeks ago. Although the meetings have been going on since November, I didn't participate because I was undecided if I wanted to go for such a long trip. The students--both Native American and Hispanic--did a presentation for the 8 participating adults. They created a mock marketplace where sarongs were sold. Half played the role of vendors and half the role of buyers. The entire enactment was conducted in Indonesian. It totally blew my mind. I fell in love with those kids and signed up on the spot. The anxiety I had about various aspects of the trip evaporated into thin air.
It's a beautiful day today.
I wanted to let you know that I just signed up for a trip to Bali for the entire month of June. I was invited to participate a while back but I had a hard time making up my mind. I had a lot of anxiety around the decision because I've never left my medical practice for more than 3 weeks (China trip with my older, Chinese-speaking sister and my son Barrett) in the 30 years I've been practicing medicine and, since the accident, I haven't traveled more than two weeks at a time. With all the things that are wrong with me, traveling is a big uncertainty, but now that I've made the decision, I'm totally excited.
I'll be going with a group of 8 high school students and 8 adults and an older couple, Zinnia and Gaylon who have been organizing this trip for 14 years. When they retired from teaching in their early 60's, they wanted to do something meaningful with their retirement. At around that time, Zinnia came into a large inheritance. She felt they didn't need the money since they lived frugally in Santa Fe, so they hatched up an idea, taking into account their love of travel and knowledge of exotic places, their love of art, and their experience as former school teachers.
They went to the local high school and asked the art teacher if he knew of three kids who were "disadvantaged," bright, creative, intelligent, and motivated but had no money and were living in difficult circumstances. Gaylon and Zinnia explained that they wanted to take the kids to Bali for a month-long adventure of learning the language, taking Balinese art classes, mask making, Balinese dancing and cooking classes and delving into another culture---and also spending some time at the beach and getting massages and going to temples to get blessed. The art teacher said "no" he didn't have 3 students that fit that criteria---he had 8. So, that's how these trips were born and have been going on for 14 years. This might be the last trip of this kind because Zinnia and Gaylon are in their late 70's and move a little more slowly, although I'm told that they have more energy than most of the adults on the trip.
I went my first meeting a few weeks ago. Although the meetings have been going on since November, I didn't participate because I was undecided if I wanted to go for such a long trip. The students--both Native American and Hispanic--did a presentation for the 8 participating adults. They created a mock marketplace where sarongs were sold. Half played the role of vendors and half the role of buyers. The entire enactment was conducted in Indonesian. It totally blew my mind. I fell in love with those kids and signed up on the spot. The anxiety I had about various aspects of the trip evaporated into thin air.
It's a beautiful day today.
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