Sheila's Trip to Bali

TV Area

We're now settled in our house in Sayan, near Ubud, -a wonderful house with a wide porch all the way across the front. It overlooks  a river valley full of tropical trees.  Behind the porch are the 2 bedrooms, beds with mosquito nets, and the kitchen and bathroom, all with walls open to the outside.   There is gamelan music to be heard at odd times and a chorus of frogs and crickets pretty much all night.  There's also another odd croak at night-sounds a bit like a frog but the voice is almost human- a little unnerving.  We also have front row seats on the thunder storms which happen often.
 

Family room - all open to the elements

Dining area

We've been enchanted by all the houses with their private temples and offering boxes.  The offerings are performed every day and in this house I see the small bamboo basket, made freshly each day, filled with flowers and fruit as well as little pieces of banana leaf  set out by the cook at the stove and sink as well as counters, steps, tables and of course the “temple site” outside. You can see some photos of the offerings being made in this house in a previous entry. 

The Balinese all seem immensely friendly and so far there’s been no evidence of road rage even if many motor bikes and small cars are sharing the narrow roads. We travel through rice fields dotted with small offering sites on our way to the school and we often pass processions or other evidence of ceremonies on route.   It seems there are celebrations almost every day of the year but I think the next big one will be on the full moon. We’ll go to the central temple in Ubud some day soon to experience a ceremony with gamelan and dance.  In spite of unemployment and low wages Bali seems to be a remarkably peaceful place.  It's sad that the economy is completely dependent on tourism but that seems to be the way it works.  Most people feel that the culture would disappear without the support of tourists so our presence is accepted.  Reminds me of Guatemala in many ways - two small countries that have maintained at least parts  of their culture in a world where cultures and languages are disappearing so fast.  In both cases I reluctantly accept the tourists (us) if the alternative is to lose any of this.  Here in Bali they do limit the use of foreign volunteers in their local NGO's in an attempt to keep the work opportunities for their own people. However a lot of the hotels and tourist infrastructure are owned by foreigners, much as we see it in Mexico and Central America.

The school, (Green School), seems to be a dream come true for many of the teachers and other staff.  I think they have about 24 acres in all, partly covered with enormous, open, bamboo structures, and partly with organic vegetable gardens.  The gardens are the work of both the students, starting in pre-school, and the hired gardeners who can sell their produce on outside markets as well as in the school.  The children seem excited about all the gardening and chloe and ava are already full of stories about how they have created their compost, who found the biggest worm, etc.  I’m going to talk to one of the special “green teachers” to get more info. about how it all works. 
 
Since beginning this letter some days have slipped by and we've experienced a little more of Bali.  I saw a wonderful shadow puppet show at the school - What a great art form for telling the stories!  We also took a long walk through the rice fields, got thoroughly wet in a sudden shower, stopped in a new all-bambu restaurant, and saw an older man driving a flock of ducks (about 40) down the road, heading for the rice field where they would take up their work of eliminating unwanted bugs.  This all happened on the way to the Monkey Forest- a visit that the girls found thrilling while Riah and I couldn't wait to get out of it.  In the end Riah and I left (after Riah was almost attacked by an angry monkey) and the girls went back in with Alex.  They had the monkeys on their shoulders and laps and Ava claimed she had a little one trying to hug  her.  They're wondering if the monkeys will recognize them when they go back, which they want to do soon.
 
Sheila Reid, Alex's mother