At the beach at last!!

June 18, 2013

The day has arrived for the OGs to head to the coast. We said good-bye to the slightly anxious students preparing for their homestays in the country, wondering how they were going to manage bathing naked in the river with their hosts of the same gender, and how they were going to survive without toilet paper, cleaning themselves Balinese style with water and soap, and how they were going to communicate with their host families. 

As we drove through the countryside to get to the coast, I was enchanted by what I saw looking out the window. The soothing shades of green from the terraced rice paddies, the fields of vegetables, peanut plants, spices and fruit trees is balm to my eyes which had grown accustomed to the many shades of brown in New Mexico. This was the Bali of my dreams. It looked like scenes from South Pacific. Unfortunately, my little iPhone camera is not able to capture photos that would need a telephoto lens in order to let the viewer see what is really out there in the distance.

In the countryside, before a thunderstorm

Raised beds with new planting of vegetables, covered with straw

 

On the way to the beach we stopped at a traditional weaving shop and watched the weavers at each stage of the process, from spinning, dyeing the thread, making the warp and weft, and the actual weaving of the beautiful fabric. The process is the same one that has been used a couple hundred years ago.

On the hand spun threads, the design for the weft will be dyed ahead of time by using a technique similar to batik. The straw fibers you see are tied into the threads to protect them from getting dyed. At each phase of the dyeing, another set of straw knots are removed to achieve the multi-colored fabric. It's a complex and intricate process that has been used for countless years in making the signature fabric of Bali.

This man is dyeing the multi-colored threads that will be used for the weft. A similar process is used for the warp as well. There are only three places in the world that use this technique of dyeing both the warp and weft in this way.

Young boy spinning the cotton thread

Young girl reloading the threads for the weft onto the shuttle

Girl weaving

June 19, 2013

We are at the beach on the east side of the island and will be here for three days in a tiny village on the water called Candidasa. I’m writing you from my bungalow a few yards from the waves that crash against the sea wall. It’s a beautiful sight to behold as you’ll see in the pictures.

I have to confess how grateful I am to be here in this peaceful place with just the sound of the ocean. No cars or motor scooters to contend with. No swarms of tourists visible. No pollution. No major developments for miles. No classes to go to. No sensory overload.  No schedule to follow. It’s so great to have a break from all the many wonderful experiences we've been having in Ubud and be able to go into a neutral space of quiet, with nothing to do but stare at the ocean and listen to the mesmerizing sound of the surf and slowly digest what’s been happening over the past three weeks.

Our fresh water pool overlooking the ocean a few yards from our bungalows

One of our bungalows

Massage on the beach with the rhythmic music of the ocean in the background. Cost for one hour is $5 

Typical street near the village of Candidasa, a far cry from the noise and congestion of Ubud

White Sands Beach down a ways from where we're staying.

We saw surfers not far from here

The interpersonal interactions among the OGs have been fascinating to watch throughout this time of living in close quarters in unfamiliar circumstances. There have been small outbursts of annoyances, hurt feelings, shifting alliances, episodes of intolerance of certain quirks that we all have…like compulsive talking, interrupting, being insensitive to the needs of others, wandering off without telling anyone, and not following directions…nothing  done intentionally to cause harm, just the inevitable stepping on toes when navigating this intense experience as a group. When I asked Gaylon what was most challenging for him about this trip, he said 99% of his problems and challenges came from dealing with the OGs. Yet we’ve somehow managed to get through these little misunderstandings and misperceptions and annoyances with our good will towards each other mostly intact. Now that we are truly relaxed at the beach and free to do whatever we feel like doing or not doing, everyone is getting along quite well, without any residual hard feelings apparent. Much ado about nothing. 

I feel grateful for my 20 years of living in co-housing at The Commons because it has taught me so much about myself, including my shadow side, and helped me to live with others in a way that is sustainable, and allows for differences of opinion and differences in character. 

I was told that the motto for Bali is "Different and the Same." I was also told that in the Balinese belief system, "I am you and you are me." Whatever I do to you, I do to myself, whether it be harm or good.

Before a storm

The ocean in one of its many moods