Happy New Year !

Happy New Year 2015!!!

Can you believe it is 2015?
 I can remember being in High School and being so scared of the future because our science teacher told us that in the future we were going to run out of food and land, and somewhere in the back of my mind I was waiting for someone to press that big button!

Well it's 2015 and I'm still here, yes millions of people have run out of food and yes China is a bit squeazy but hey no one has pushed that button yet and from my side of the fence humanity is much more kinder and more generous, people are bravely helping to feed the starving and educate the ignorant. We are a much more open and loving world now. When I was 15, people kept to themselves  and were appallingly judgmental.

I like who we have become as a human race and I choose not to live in fear anymore either about the big button or as it is nowadays "the muslim".

My wish for 2015 is forgiveness and understanding, knowledge is true power, so we need to think about things first, and get our facts before making big statements...a little something that I'm working on.

I wonder what these two girls think about?

Ok enough of the deep and meaningful, New Years Eve was crazy up here the Balinese are like cowboys with the fireworks. They started setting them off 5 days before NYE and last night 4 days later we still are hearing the occasional bang pop pop whirl bang!

 I wish I had a good camera so I could have taken photos for you (did you know that all photos for this blog are taken on my iphone and ipad, not bad eh?), midnight NYE was amazing we stood out on our balcony and the banging and popping was deafening there was a 180 degree panoramic view of colourful lights and explosions that just went on and on and by 2am we were over it and by 6am I had the ear plugs in and was oblivious. I couldn't believe it, the Sydney fireworks go for about 15 mins but here in poor third world Bali they go on for days and days.

 I  have decided that there are two things that the Balinese find important enough to spend money on 1: gifts for the Gods at ceremony (below) and 2: Frickin fireworks for NYE. Go figure.

Today's English lesson is about the weather I'm all set up with an umbrella, watering can and the old song "It's raining it's pouring the old man is snoring...." remember?? The kids love singing they are such a happy mob and I'm still amazed at the joy teaching brings me sometimes I even break out in goosebumps. Speaking of weather, the Monsoon season is here and it's out of this world, so passionate and powerful, thunder and lightening goes on for hours and when it rains it's torrential. I've never seen anything like it, we have flooded twice already in the last couple of months and have been up to our knees in water at the top of the driveway. Our Villa is situated at the bottom of a raised road so all the run off comes down the street and into our property some of our backyard has just slid away. I don't know why but I love this weather I think it must be the excitement. The only downfall is the humidity when the sun comes out you are drenched in sweat as the humidity is over 90 per cent.

going,going...

gone.

Aren't these cherubs just gorgeous livin' in the moment!

God I love my life!! Take care everybody looking forward to more fab stories to tell in 2015, much love as ever
J.

PS: Ken and I topped off 2014 by getting married on the 20th of October!

TAKSU.

Ubud is situated north of Denpasar the capital city, and is home to the Artisans, we have painters, wood carvers, stone sculptors, music, dance anything creative you name it we have it here.
 Ubud is also the centre of natural health and well being, attracting many people from around the world who want to nuture their body. Yoga is number one on the list of things to do here and after your yoga lesson its off to a raw cafe for something green!!! This lifestyle is huge here there are so many "beautiful" individuals, floating around with their gorgeous bodies showing their various tattoos and peircings and all appearing to "feel the love". It makes me reminisce what I was like .....shit over 30 years ago (gees life goes so fast) do you ever look back at who you where then as to who you are now???

 I thought I'd share with you what a regular day is for us, first up we start the day with a 20 min meditation then it's off into town for Yoga or Wayan will come to our place. Then our favourite breakfast at the moment is at Alchemy in Penastanan and consists of a smorgasboard of fresh fruit, mueslis, coconut cream, spirilina, cacao cashews, almonds, berries, cacao buckweat crisps the list goes on and on. All of this for around $6 each we also collect our stamps and get a free breakfast every 10th time can you believe it???

After that we head off to the trendy cafe Seniman (artist) for a couple of flat whites and a chat to the local Boules (westerners who live here).

The rest of the day consists of computer work, gardening, teaching, knitting/crochet, reading and swimming and then "Bam" the day is over and we wonder where it went????? Sound familiar? Can you believe it's December? What happened???

The "crazy" Yogi from India...another story.

As I have told you many times before Bali is home to the Gods and everyone is touched by spirit (taksu) here in one form or another where it be a small offering or a smiling face and in Ubud the closer to the mountains you are the closer  to the Gods you will be.

There are a plethora of religions here, all moving along side by side quite happily, predominantly the Muslims and Hindus are first off the rank and then there are the Buddists, Ananda Margas and geez I even bumped into a couple of Catholic girls at the markets last week...

All of this on a tiny island in the middle of the Indian ocean, where everybody appears to be living in harmony, they all accept that their government has been corrupt and that Karma rules...and they just keep on smiling and have a great day.

I'll finish this blog off with one of Wayan's stories that he shared with us on the way home from the airport last week ..."my friend (everyone in Bali is Wayan's friend) he have bad motorbike accident and he dead they put him in cold room and wait for family, two days later family think good day for cremation they pick him up in car and drive home in car he wake up. I say to my friend where you go when in cold room?.. I go upstairs Wayan...Oh what it like upstairs?..Same same Wayan but everything white! I see family we all laugh and talk." Wow I say to Wayan how is your friend now? 'Oh little bit problem his brain he keep talking talking" and thats that, they accept their medical system and just get on with it.

Sending you all much love as always
J

Tiwi and Yusa.

A regular game of 7s with our buddies.

We arrived in Ubud on the 23rd of July 2013 with two suitcases and a bag full of trust. For ten days we looked for the perfect Villa to rent and one day in our search we stopped on the side of a road and rang a Real Estate agent, "Shanti" told us on the phone that she couldn't help us and I was about to hang up when she said "oh you could always rent my brother's house. I will get my other brother who lives next door to come and pick you up from your Hotel tomorrow morning and he will show you my brother's house". The next morning the most beautiful soulful/crazy character Yusa rocked up to take us on a wonderful journey that has lasted for over a year! We did not rent Yusa's brothers house (who just happens to be the world famous electric guitarist Balawan) but instead we packed up our stuff and moved into one of Yusa's villas. We stayed there for 3 weeks until our dream home became available.

Yusa and his wife Tiwi were Balinese Lawyers who met and fell in love at college, but their careers in law didn't last long as they found the bureaucracy and corruption too much to handle. They now run a complex of Villas on the outskirts of Ubud www.thecarikubudvilla.com. Tiwi is so talented she creates the most lovely Kebayas (a tradional Balinese blouse worn by women for ceremony) I'm gathering quite a collection as these pieces are so individual and specific ceremonies require you to wear specific colours (a good excuse for my collection) if you are interested in her creations just look her up on Tiwikebayasbali.weebly.com

 Tiwi and Yusa have three gorgeous kids GoGo, Ivy, and Keona. Keona is a gift from the Gods. Two years ago Yusa was sitting at a hospital in Denpassar waiting to visit his sister when out of the blue a nurse came up to him and asked if he would be interested in giving a baby girl a home. She had just been born and her parents could'nt look after her and nobody else would take her. Yusa said he'd go home and talk to his wife.....after their first son Gogo was born Tiwi became pregnant and unfortunately miscarried a baby girl at 5 months and now they both believed that the Gods had returned her to them in the gift of Keona. Says a lot about these beautiful people parents again at 45 trying to make a living to support two kids and without a blink they welcome with open arms a third. I just love these people Yusa has nursed his dying sister, bathed and cared for his aging mother who has a broken heart and has never spoken a word since her beloved husband died over 5 years ago.

So we catch up for our obligatory card game once a month , Tiwi brings out a plate of delicious Pisang Goreng (fried bananas) and Balinese Kopi (coffee) which is thick and black and surprisingly very good and we're off playing for hours chatting and laughing away....just another day here in paradise.
Love to you all.
J
PS: Look what Young Putri found in the pool yesterday morning, this little bat was flapping around trying to keep his head above water can you see he is missing some fingers poor thing. Well she scooped him out and as quick as a wink ba Pak Ken made him a bed and put him in the pool room (thats where the bats sleep during the day its under the house nice and dark) and this morning we happily found the bed empty....like I said just another day!

A sign from above.

Two little princesses Komang and Risma (tinkerbell).

Good morning, well I bet your surprised to hear from me so soon as maybe you think that Ken and I are sitting somewhere in paradise chanting the almighty Ommm. Thats why I thought I better post this blog we are not starting Virpassana today as something happened to change our minds....yeah another story!

Do you believe in messages from something more powerful than us?  I do especially since my brain tumour I am always picking up on day to day "signs" that come to me. I try not to over think them but if something happens that's really "out there" I know it's a message from above and I listen....

Last week when we told Wayan (yoga), that we were doing Virpassana in Kintamani he told us that the venue not only belonged to his friend but another "friend" a female teacher from his Yoga group had also booked in to do the retreat. Wayan invited us to his Yoga group on Sunday for meditation and to meet her but she said that she would like to meet us before Sunday and asked if she could come over for a chat on Saturday... sure we said.

Holy Shit! What do you think we thought on Saturday when a 6ft 3in Nun (from frickin Sweden) dressed from head to toes in an orange habit rocked up !!!!!

Didi who also plays the guitar is a lovely woman from Sweden who follows the beliefs of Ananda Marga, so much so that she became a nun who travels through Borneo and Indonesia helping locals. She has come to Bali to help build a centre for health education, Yoga and spiritual awareness. Before you guys freak out...  Ananda Marga is not a religious sect it just means path of spiritual bliss through meditation and Yoga oh and a bit of singing and dancing.
We talked about Virpassana and how Ken was having second thoughts, she too had second thoughts she said and had decided to cancel.
The next evening we went to a meditation and dinner with Didi and all the locals, it was lovely even the singing and dancing. I was so proud of Ken for having a go at it all, and no we're not turning into "mung beans" we just like being around like minded people plus all of the Yoga and meditation that we are doing is helping not only our bodies but I personally feel happier and more peaceful.
So after this amazing experience Ken and I started thinking maybe we don't need to do something as intense as Virpassana to connect with spirit and just maybe thats why "the Gods" sent this lovely woman to us.
Catch you later love J.

Our Yogi Wayan.

It was our dream when we first moved here 18mths ago that we would have private Yoga lessons in our Villa. I put it out to the universe that we wanted a Yoga teacher just like the laughing one we had in our stay at  a gorgeous resort 15 mins from Ubud.

I had decided to make it a reality so I booked us into a private session at the resort so I could ask him. I started to panic a little when we were guided to a pavillion in the middle of the gardens with curtains candles and cushions.....Holy shite how much is this going to cost us I thought. Well the session was great and at the end I worked up the courage to ask if he would come to our Villa a couple of times a week privately. He said sure so I asked him how much would he charge for the two of us to come 3 times a week? He answered it's up to you, "it's up to you" is a common answer when talking about money with the Balinese they don't like talkng about it but then they also don't want to be under valued, so it's never really "up to you" (unless you offer something out of this world) just good manners.

I offered him an amount that I thought was pretty generous, well the laughing Yogi almost laughed me out of the pavilion, things were not working out as I'd planned and when we went to pay the bill we both almost did a downward dog on the spot (just had to throw that in) so that was the end of that.

About a month later we met a nice super friendly can't do enough for you kinda guy who whilst driving us around was teaching Ken how to meditate (yep whilst driving) he said  that he would love to come to our home and teach us Yoga 'Wow' I thought here we go our prayers have been answered. 

After some deep breathing, twisting actions and making me sit in the Bale Benong so he can meditate my headache away...he started talking about how poor his family was and that they needed money .Uh Oh here we go....and that was the end of that.

So after that I gave up, and  let the Yoga idea go. I handed it over to the Universe and thats when we started Yoga lessons at The Honeymoon Guesthouse, one of matriarch Janet De Neef's business ventures here. Janet from Melbourne came here 30 years ago and fell in love with Ketut, what she has brought to Ubud in the last 30 years is truly outstanding she is the founder of the World Class Ubud Writers Festival and her And Ketuts Honeymoon Band B was they're first venture. The Yoga is fantastic and only $7 a session you should come and try it.

There are two Yoga teachers Ketut the extrovert and Wayan the introvert, at the start I found Ketut's class much easier and friendlier always packed full of people. But some 6 months later I guess I was no longer the tourist and I needed something different...So I started with Wayan. I'm always amazed how life prepares you, guides you gently on your path, and as I'm getting older I'm wanting to be with people like Wayan.

Our angel.

What can I say Wayan is an angel full of love, so gentle kind and caring he sings to us during our Yoga
 I just love him. Although a bit of a wild child when he was young after a serious motorbike accident and a week in a coma he found Yoga and changed his life. He encourages us all thru the sessions with his eyes closed asking us for our "sweet sweet smile".

My girls Fitri and Minul trying there "sweet smile" as a selfie yep selfies are popular even over here.

After a couple of weeks I just had to get Ken into being a part of this wonderful spirit's life, and the three of us became friends now Wayan comes to our home twice a week for nearly two hour sessions. It took us a long discussion and lots of persuasion to just give him a donation as he didn't want payment just friendship. He keeps us humble and full of love, when our Wayan first met him he said to me "he full of white light Mum" and he sure is. On our first session it was getting dark and our birds were complaining (they always tell us when they want to go to bed) and we had to stop and bring them in when asked if he liked birds Wayan said yes when they are free.

Wow Ken and I just looked at each other......the following week at the end of our session Wayan said "did you hear that bird calling?" Apparently while we were resting an owl hooted three times Wayan then told us that someone was going to die as the bird was a messenger, Holy shit I thought we've just emptied the cemetery.

 The next day Ken and I awoke to find that one of our budgies Ketut had died during the night he had fallen from the nesting box and was trapped by the cage he suffocated.... then the  next day our Wayan's uncle was dead, dead on the toilet seat, during a you guessed it ceremony someone found him sitting there. How powerful is that???

I tell you this island is The home of the Gods we don't doubt anything. Ken and I have given away some of our birds and are now there are only three, and who knows how long they will be here, its hard we love them but feel guilty that they are in cages it's only a matter of time we are weaning ourselves.

Random Joy!

Something I've always wanted to do is the silent retreat Virpassana, but I never quite got around to it as I just don't know if I could do it as it lasts for 10 days and you cannot leave nor have any contact with the outside world or the people at the retreat including your partner. 

 Weeellll it looks like I'm going to get my err chance, whist Sib was here we went to our local cinema at The Earth Cafe where the movies are $5 and the $5 comes off the price of your food and drinks yeah fantastic right!
 The place is amazing with a huge screen, lounge chairs, air conditioned, waiters and of course good movies. That night we saw a documentary called The Dharma Brothers a story about a maximum security prison in the south of the USA (Gods country) and how they were having great success with their inmates by running Buddhist Virpassana retreats, very interesting. When we left the cinema I got on to my I Pad and first googled how the inmates were now doing ten years later and then I thought I'd see if there were any Virpassana retreats run in Bali......there sure are but most of them are booked out and the earliest ones you can do are in Java. I asked Ken if he was up for it and as usual he didn't want to miss out so I put our names 

down on the waiting list to do one in Bali and promtly forgot about it.......and Holy Shit guess what?? I got an email today to say that they have a place for both Ken and I up near the mountains close to our home and the retreat starts next Wednesday!! Wow things move fast here.

So my friends think of us over the next two weeks and I'll let you know all about it in the next edition.

Much love

J

Birthday flowers from my kids I love the vases don't you?

Cremation part 2.

Hi guys, betchya didn't think you'd be hearing from me this soon!
Just a quick note before you read this be aware that there are photo's that might be disturbing and also that my village is very happy for me to put these photos in my blog.

But before I start from where I left off I think I should tell you who Nanon is, as in my last blog I talked about his father's cremation. Nanon is a gorgeous 7 year old boy who comes to English class he is so shy but tries so hard to pronounce the English words correctly whilst looking at his toes, I almost need a hearing aid to hear him.

 Well three years ago his father died, I asked Yannik what did he die from she said "I don't know Mum but he big big man then little skinny" I said "Oh, he probably died of cancer" she replied "No mum, no cancer he die what this Kangker Darah" which when I looked it up in my Indo dictionary means Blood Cancer. It amazes me all the time how primitive the people of our village are, no one goes to a Dr as they are either too expensive or will tell them bad news. I have so many horror stories maybe when I have time I will share a few of them with you, all I need for starters is our English teacher Tartik she has enough to write an essay, like for instance when she was crawling at 1 year old and touched a light switch and blew her thumb off...oh yeah and was never taken to the Drs and the smell was horrendous as the gangrene set in...but here I go again getting distracted. 

Happy days on our way to cremation

The day before cremation Wayan told me that all the families of the deceased had to go to the cemetery and wake up their relatives "eskuse me eskuse me, wake up, you sleep here 1 more time, tomorrow we come get you and help you go home".  Isn't that beautiful?  No wonder all Balinese are so scared of cemeteries they truly believe that the dead are living until they are cremated, they even put bamboo in your mouth when you are buried so that they can give you a drink for the first few days of you being in the ground then they take the piece of bamboo out and fill in the grave.

Getting warm.

Speaking of graves it was hard work trying to find Made's grandfathers grave as it was pitch black only a few people had torches and the headstones are tiny. The cemetery itself is on a slope with heaps of rubble but Ken and I managed to get a front row plot (pardon the pun) as the digging began everyone was chatting kids were running around from grave to grave to see which body would pop up first kind of like a Kinder surprise. We were the first to find our body, after you go down about a meter you find plastic rice bags that have been placed as a warning your getting warm, one more foot and we struck gold Woo Hoo everybody was cheering! I just can't friggin' explain it, it was just so joyful and wonderful something I have never experienced before.

Before you could say Jack Robinson the body was up on the ground with sheet untied and everyone picking up bones and giving them a good wash with water that has been blessed by Manku's and carried in buckets all the way to the cemetery. After being washed all the bones have to be counted and every single digit has to be there or you can not be cremated.....as you can't show up in your next life missing a finger.

Our Yannik lovingly cleansing her grandmothers bones notice the ribbon on her skull...beautiful.

What really surprised me was that I thought skeletons were white but these were really brown very interesting as I don't think it was the dirt because the whole body is wrapped in a white sheet that was not decomposed.

After being cleansed.

By 6am all of the bodies had been exhumed except for one, Tartik's father in law his family had tried digging everywhere but could not find him, Tartik was at home with her 2 year old daughter Kadek who was sleeping, suddenly someone realised this and rang her mobile "come down Dad won't let us find him until grandaughter here" within minutes of Tartik arriving carrying a sound asleep Kadek her grandfathers body was found. Isn't that amazing?

Just check out the joy as everybody walks around the crate of the deceased"s goodies.

After a few hours of ceremonies and Ken and I having a nap back at home we made our way to cremation. The place was packed people, priests, effigies and of course food stalls for lunch I'm telling you it reminded me a bit of the Royal Show.

All of the effigies had piles of wood stacked under them ready for ignition, the 12 year olds body had 2 gas burners set up on either side of the effigy, apparently she had been injected with formaldahyde so as not to smell (sorry just thought some of you might be interested as there is no refridgeration out here only the rich or tourists have fridges). Once all of the effigies were ignited at once the heat was amazing and Ken and I had to move quickly but as I hurrying away I managed to get some video of the event the people running around thru the effigies are waving there hands as an act of helping them have a speedy journey.....possibly so they don't feel the heat too much what do you think?

So there you go, it's goodbye from me and its goodbye from these guys.....who lived next door now they're on another journey in another life and this is just a small reminder that they were here.

CREMATION Part 1.

Wow, wow and wow again!

What can I say, where do I begin.... we have just been privileged to one of the most wonderful experiences of our lives.

Here's a start...it's going to be a long one but I hope you'll find it worth it. In our district there are three small villages Dukuh Kangin (ours), Tatiapi, and Dukuh Kawan. As "cremation" is such a huge and costly event, the three villages celebrate and help each other together.

Cremation takes up to one month to prepare and the two weeks before everyone in the village takes the time off from their regular job (without pay) and works around the clock to make sure everything is ready. The main entry to our Jalan (street) is blocked off and the men and women sit in the middle of the Jalan, cooking, weaving and decorating for the coming event. They work from 6 am until 9pm everyday.

 

It's full on with girls and their decorations.

     I even tried my hand a making one....with the help of a stapler! Geez I look like a missionary.

Three days before the ceremony a 12 year old girl from Tatiapi died from kidney disease and all 3 villages had to work around the clock to build her a beautiful white cow with all the bangs and whistles ie. offerings clothes, food, money, chickens etc. all to be taken with her to start her next life. A couple of days before she died she asked her mother (Ibu) to buy her 3 pairs of shoes and 3 new school uniforms for her to take to her next life as she will be dying soon....can you believe it!!!

       People queuing up to give gifts.

She had been sick for a long time and as usual her parents did not take her to the Drs until quite recently when her mothers employers (Americans) asked if they could meet her children. Upon seeing her sick daughter they aranged for her to go to hospital where she had dialysis, but it was too late.

You see money is so short over here most Balinese I know would not waste it on medical care, ignorance is bliss and it's much better to give to the Gods than yourself, the Gods are number 1 in this country you better believe it!

Our village had ten people to send off for cremation. As the cremations only occur every 3 years or so, when a person dies they are temporarily buried in the cemetery and remain there until the time of the cremation, when they are dug up.  Lucky for us they were fairly old and had decomposed to a skeleton. 

Our day started at 4.45am when Ketut and Made arrived to pick us up so we could go grave digging yes you heard me grave digging!! Ten years ago I would of freaked out and said no way Jose' but after living here for so long and having spirit all around I was quite looking forward especially when everyone was so happy and excited. The day before the........

........to be continued