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 

Putu has a name.

Last week we attended our first one month and seven days baby ceremony. 
Yes can you believe it, these guys love there ceremonies over here. 

When a mother gives birth, she, her husband and baby are spiritually unclean and are not allowed to enter a temple until the baby is one month and seven days old and they have all been cleansed by the Manku. Similar to when a woman is menstruating and cannot enter a temple.

Putu (first child) was given the name of Cahaya Laksmi Dewi. After a month of Ima's sister asking what is her name, Ima gave up and said you name her as we cannot think of anything. So her sister came up with Cahaya "a little ray of sunshine" and the two goddesses names Laksmi and Dewi. it was a great success as everybody loves it, Cahaya is pronounced Chahaya as the letter c here in Bali is always pronounced with a ch sound.

                           Made presenting Cahaya with her two baby black roosters.

 Wow there were offerings everywhere stacks of them, fires burning to open Cahaya's mind so she will not suffer from depression or anxiety but have a clear path to consciousness and the Gods.

She was presented with two black baby roosters to grow up with as her souls protectors, (no wonder we never get a sleep in  around here the village is full of frickin roosters)!!

We still don't know who she is the reincarnation of, I think we have to wait for her foot touching ceremony.....keep you posted.

Her parents are just gorgeous, they were over the other day (Ima is now the latest knitter in the village), and they were worried that Ima's milk was no good as Cahaya needs the breast hourly and the only way she stops is if Made holds her all night....yes ALL night. 

Well little Miss Porky Cahaya has no problem with her Mothers milk, she just loves being held all day AND all night. You know over here the whole family sleep in the same bed until the children go to school some even stay there until they are too tall to all fit in. I couldn't stand it, but sleep is no big deal for the Balinese, you have what you can get when you can get it and no one complains. 

My beautiful girls holding their first piece of knitting, all wearing the hats that Mum knitted for them.

                                                          
 Happy Days!

Sorry this email has taken so long, we have all been flat out over here with Cremation, Sib's arrival and a whirlwind trip to Perth. But if I was really honest with you i would tell you I have been putting this blog on hold, you know it's really crazy why do we put off things that bring us joy??? I love doing this but sometimes to get started is just so hard and it reminds me of being at Uni and doing an essay but once you know what you want to say something inside takes over and you can't stop and your so happy getting it all out and when your done you feel complete. Soooh why not do it straight away?? Arrrgh frustrating, but anyway I won't go on as I better start my next Blog. Here's a sneak peak 

Banjar Cooking

OHMG my first thought was do I have to eat that next week??? But I was told no that they are for the spirit to take in the next life! Whew! Think of us on the first of October when we've been invited at 5 am to dig up Made's grandfathers bones and wash and wrap them all ready for cremation at 1.00!

Catch you in a week or so love J.

We have a pond!!!

Woo Hoo!

After 8 months it is finally finished, what an experience......it's been round, square, too big too small filled in dug out......and of course caused a few ...well maybe a lot of domestics along the way BUT it is finished and dare I say our relationship is so much better for it.

You know one of my Mantras is "everything will come together when you surrender"  but every now and then I get blindsided by a need to control.

It's small projects like these that really help us grow, I have grown some more patience and tolerance and cut back on control and demand, like when I went and sat on the bed and cried because Ken had filled a part of the garden with stones....

 Like my son says "first world problems". Now I look at the stones and think oh yeah quite creative and ask myself why did I want it all my way??

The pond is a huge crowd drawer, everyone loves Koi and birds here as I've said before, there are some serious competitors in these fields so the kids and adults come and watch and feed the Koi we love it.

Ken releasing some new fish.

Now here I go with another of my "magical" stories .....well Ken and I had to buy some Koi for the pond right, but the problem is they are so expensive for a decent size one your looking at around $100.

A couple of weeks before the pond was ready Wayan tells us that he has a friend in Tatiapi (just down the road) who wants to sell his Koi, he has 10 and will sell them all for one million ($100). So we all jump on our bikes and take of to Tatiapi we get there and the fish are a decent size but not that attractive I look at Ken and he says sold!

We get on to our bikes and I said geez Ken it was great to get some fish but they were pretty ugly....he says to me you need to be grateful give thanks to the Gods for what we've got...yeah yeah yeah.

So I go home and have a chat with God or whoevers listening "Hey I really appreciate you giving us these fish but did they have to be so Ugly can I have some beautiful ones please.

Weeellll no jokes one week later we were visiting the new parents Ima and Made to see the baby and 

Made says " Ken I want you to have my Koi, my pump is broken and they are too much work for me now I want you to have them please it's my gift to you. We walk outside and there in the pond is 15 of the most beautiful Koi all hand reared as babies by Made...some of them were huge!

Can you believe it!!!! We are truly blessed.

The little buggers kept us up last night, at 2.30 they were chasing each other round the pond, jumping and splashing for hours......they were spawning. I didn't know this about Koi and as the pond is under our bedroom window it did not make for a good sleep, even with ear plugs and then of course you've got the roosters, dogs and call to prayer greeting you at dawn. Ahhh kind of reminds me of Green Acres with a twist.

The latest craze here in downtown Dukuh Kangin is Knitting! Yep it started with me teaching Wayan's wife Dayu and Yannik, then a couple of girls, now we have a regular knitting group of 4 girls and 5 boys.....and growing by the day, the others are on hold until I get to Perth and get some more needles and wool.

Ok well it's by for now but just one more thing......our canary has arrived!! 

Ketut rocked up this morning with a bedraggled looking multi coloured canary that his friend gave to him and he has passed on to us. He has the voice of a soprano....a little beaut and we have named him Koming.

But before Ketut came Devi our masseuse/friend arrived with a gift on Wednesday, an unusual bird that has black whiskers, and mimics animal noises, mieows like a cat and clicks like a cicada! Can you fricken believe it?????? So now there's 8 and still counting.

So it's goodbye and much love and a special Thankyou for all the lovely messages from my last blog x

Happy Anniversary!!!

Woo Hoo, today I celebrate the 18th Anniversary of my life here since being diagnosed with a Brain Tumour so large I had three months left to live.

(This is the size I thought my tumor was, but unknown to me it was 3 times bigger!)

This time 18 years ago I underwent an 17 hour operation in which the ENT surgeon went through my left ear canal removed all of my inner ear to get to my tumour which was wrapped around my brain stem and had been growing for so many years it had misshapen my skull. Then my wonderful Neurologist held my brain in his hand whilst getting the bulk of the tumor out.....after that he took the fat from my stomach and made a pad around my brain stem where he lovingly placed my brain on to rest.....forever.

As I tell you this I am overcome with love, joy and excitement with what this tumour has given me. The tumour was so large they could not get it all out and over the last 17 years life's  been a bit of a roller coaster where I've had to have radiation and monitoring.

 BUT last year a miracle happened, I went to see my radiologist, and whilst sitting in the reception area I heard my Dr calling out "where's the miracle woman?" "I'm here" I called back (as I truly believe I am a miracle) and he said no I'm not joking  I can't see it .....IT'S GONE! 

So now I live a life without my little friend that was in my head. Like Wayan says "that God he have schedule Mam".

Wayan is one of the most prophetic guys I know.

It just so happens that today is also Bali's Independence Day, how's that?

 I come to a country that also celebrates on the 17th of August, at the risk of sounding corny I also celebrate my Independence......of self, what I mean is my tumour gave me courage, courage to live the best life I could for myself independent of what I was taught growing up, the shoulds and should nots, the how could you's and the ....blah blah blah's. I was Free! Free to be whoever I wanted to be and to embrace every day as a new start.

Guess what! We have a car!! Well a midget kinda toy car, but it's a car!

We have rented a Suzuki Karimun, Carrymoon in Balinese, it's a bit sahkit (sick) ie: it needed an oil change, new tyres, new lights and stuff for the radiator....hopefully that's it for a while but hey it only costs us $100 a month and is so much better than the scooter when it rains!!!

Wayan is so happy he's been doing lessons for the last couple of weeks, and we're still waiting for his license to appear as it takes some time but shouldn't be too long as we slipped a few extra thousand rupee of encouragement for the Police to process it. 

In the meantime if the Police pick us up (happened yesterday whilst on the way to the airport) we just slip another couple of thousand and all is well!!!

Will keep you posted on our travels, happy days.

I dedicate this blog to my amazingly wonderful family and friends who if not for them I would not be here today, as you can have the best surgeons in the world but it's love, prayer, hope and positivity that truly saves your life and these people (you know who you are) gave that to me in bucket loads.

                                                            

THANKYOU

 J.

Light and dark, happy and sad....

    Putu Putra

This week a baby girl arrived in our village. Her name is Putu Putra, she is the first child for Made the Sculptor and Ima the Nurse. We are all so happy and everyone has already visited the new parents, can you believe it? Putu was born in Denpassar on Monday and she came home on Tuesday and by the time Ken and I visited her yesterday (Wednesday) half of the village had been to offer her parents congratulations!! 

         Ima and daughter.

Wow I was so suprised the young parents were so cool, calm and connected. When I asked Ima if she had any painkillers during her birth she asked me. Why?

Birth and death are simple occurrences here yet everyone and I mean everyone is involved, our village is one big family.

Sadly Putu arrived one week after, another woman in the village gave birth to a baby girl who only lived for 6 hours, she came two months early and Wayan told me that when she was born they put her in the "oven" (humicrib) but she died. 

Not long after she died her father brought her home by motorbike at 10.00pm he was met by the people of our village who helped bury her and everybody sang long into the night. It was very sad and everybody was affected, she was Tomong and Wayan's baby sister they are two young boys who come for English and Maths, Tomong cried all weekend.

The acceptance here of death is so calming and reassuring grief comes but with the grief is an understanding that nothing is gone forever as the spirit lives on.

Made and Ima will find out in three months who Putra has incarnated as.....I will keep you posted.

In all the years (30) that I have been coming here, I have never had a negative experience, but last month Ken and I were talking over coffee about the middle aged Brittish Woman who had been murdered here in Ubud and Ken asked me what would I do if someone attacked me? Straight away I said that's not going to happen I'm not putting it out there later on that day I started thinking about what he said and I thought to myself be careful why couldn't that happen to you (warning). 

That afternoon Ken said that he could not take me into Ubud for my Buddhist class as he was going with Ketut to see the healer about his knee. I said no worries I will go in by myself, as evening approached I thought maybe I should get Nyoman our neighbour to take me in but then I thought no I don't want to put him out (warning). Isn't it amazing that we receive messages from our intuitive self but put them to the side.

                                                     Our local cemetery 

As I was coming home on the bike at 8.00pm it started to pour with rain, and I mean pour. I could hardly see and with the lack of street lights I had to go quite slow, after a while I started to notice another bike following me and as I rounded the bend the bike started weaving in and out by my side getting closer and closer to me.

I tried to see who it was but my vision was blurred because of the rain, all of a sudden the man on the bike came right up to my side reached out and grabbed my breast!

What a shock I couldn't believe the scream that came out of my mouth...after that he sped off into the night, not long and the anger kicked in and I started to go after him beeping my horn trying to attract attention to no avail. I went home and burst I to tears, my intuition kept telling me that day to be careful but I didn't listen. 

When I got home, I was suprised to see Wayan,Ketut and Yannick they had been waiting for me and were worried as it was getting late and there was so much rain. As shaken as I was it was lovely to have family looking out for me.

The next day Ibu made special offerings to thank the Gods that nothing worse had happened to me. I love that, such positivity, and gratitude that I was Ok, no victim.

I got many messages that night and the main one was that this particular Buddhist class was over for me and that I had received all that I needed to receive.....for the time being...anyway it's a long story ... one day I will tell you.

Hence to say I no longer ride my scooter in the dark!!! I guess I could be flattered that at my age a young man still wanted to grab my.....Su Su (breasts). ☺️

Much love J