As per usual, a lot has happened since my last post. And as it turns out, today is the last official program day of GIEU - it flew by! Don't worry though, I'm staying in Bali for another week to hopefully have some more (mis)adventures so the fun isn't over yet. But the official program bit has come to a close after 4 exciting and eventful weeks...I can't even believe it. We've seen and done so much here and yet it feels like just yesterday we were all getting over our jet lag from the bazillion hour plane ride it takes to get here. Oh nostalgia...

To cap things off in proper form, I made some mock elections for our last lunch today. They've all been earned earnhestly with the help of nonsense and tomfoolery throughout the duration of the trip and I thought the students deserved recognition for them. Some of the better ones include: Most likely to still look fierce while having an allergic reaction, Most likely to survive a kiss from a cockroach (two-way tie for that one), Most likely to still look fabulous (and better than you) while planting rice in a padi, Most likely to scare a vendor away with her amazing bargaining skills, and Most likely to seduce a driver (or hotel worker, or busboy, or whoever...) . Can you get a feel for the type of comrades I have here in Indonesia? Needless to say, the trip has been awesome thanks to my counterparts in crime.

Although I'm looking forward to being home and seeing everyone I've missed for a month, I think I'm really gonna miss these people who I've spent every waking moment with for the last four weeks. It's an odd thing to embark on a trip like this knowing virtually nothing about the 14 other people you'll be going with, and then forming such a tight bond so quickly. And then you have to leave them right when you feel like you've really made some steady friendships. Story of my life, more or less. Go on an adventure where you meet amazing people, then part ways and start the next adventure. It's pretty bittersweet but it's worth everything to have that short period of time with people, bonding like only people who travel together far from home can bond. Sap, sap, sappy McSapperson, okay I'll stop. Just had to get it out of my system. :)

My final thoughts on Ubud, Bali where I've been staying are these: I'll miss looking out the window during long drives and seeing endless fields of rice padi, and peeking into all the colorful shops on Monkey Forest Road. I'll miss seeing Ketut Liyer, the medicine man and his toothless grin every morning when I leave the compound. I'll miss playing with the most vivacious baby girl in the world, Daya, Ketut's great-grandaughter, and her mother who single-handedly cured my crazy Indonesian stomach cramps. I'll miss the times when we drive for what seems like forever in a hot crowded van, only to reach the most amazing lookout point or breathtaking panorama of mountains, volcanoes, or my favorite of all, Lake Batur. I can't decide if I'll miss the food yet...I'm so saturated with it that I feel like I might explode if I see another plate of rice, but then again maybe a week of budgeting and eating peanut butter sandwiches in Kuta to save money for other adventures will make me miss the delicious cuisine I've been eating. I'll miss fresh fruit served with every meal for sure though, and the way Coke tastes better outside the United States for some reason. I'll miss being so connected to where my food comes from and having intelligent conversations with my friends who are studying agriculture and food systems about organic farming and such. I'll miss nearly stepping on the offerings put out every day to honor the gods here in Bali, and I'll miss seeing little kids run around in sarongs and cheerfully shouting things to one another in a language I don't understand. I'll miss the sounds of Gamelan, the indescribable music played on uniqely carved instruments by up to 20+ people at a time, and can put you in a trance if you hear our extremely talented guide play...

I'll miss a lot of things. But I still have one week left to take in some more of Bali, so I'm off to go do some of that. Thanks, as always, for making it to the end of a blog post, I know they get long. I'll be seeing you all soon! :)

<3 Jill

Sari Organic

Today we went to a maternal health clinic called Bumi Sehat (Healthy Earth) which promotes a philosophy of peaceful birth for a peaceful life. Women can come to the clinic for free to get prenatal care and deliver their babies. I love the ideology of the clinic, which is based on a gentle birth: water births, no separation of mother and baby after birth, breastfeeding, etc. (Thank you Laura for telling me so much about midwifery this past year so that I could fully appreciate visiting this clinic) We saw a baby that was only 1 day old...that's the littlest baby I've ever seen. It was so small... An American couple just had their baby there too! It was beautiful to see a new dad holding his brand new little baby all swaddled up in his arms. This is probably the coolest organization we've visited so far; it has such far reaching effects on the community, promoting maternal health and ensuring safe and healthy birthing practices.

After the clinic, we went to an organic restaurant for lunch which is located in a field of farmland and cannot be reached by car. We parked half a mile away and walked down a small stone path through beautifully scenic rice fields to get there, smiling and saying hello to men and women working in the padis as we passed. It was sunny and hot as we ventured down the windy path, and I eagerly welcomed the shade of the billowy tent ceiling of the restaurant. We sat on fuschia and violet colored cushions which were placed on raised-up platforms surrounding a low wooden table. The placemats and menus were made out of wood and reeds, and just about everything on the menu is grown organically (without chemicals) right there in the field surrounding the restaurant. I had lemon fruit tea, which had big pieces of pineapple, papaya and watermelon floating in the delicious mix of cinnamon-y lemon sweet tea, a bowl of to-die-for pumpkin soup which tasted like the perfect blend of sweet potatoes and curry, and the house salad which was tomatoes, red pepper, baby corn, avocado, onion, beets, carrots and sprouts all over greens with olive oil, garlic and lemon dressing...OMG food heaven. Everyone was expressing their infinite appreciation for the amazing food and drinks as we ate, and then a perfect breeze came through the open sides of the restaurant, cooling us off to just the right temperature and we all proceeded to splay out on the cushions and go into food comas.

It was glorious.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching some men and women make flutes, bamboo instruments, weave baskets and paint. They taught us how too, some of the more focused people in our group coming out with fruits from their labors; a small flute they hand carved or a wind chime they put together with help from the instrument maker. I on the other hand was too distracted by the family that lived in the housing compound we were visiting; a divorced American man with 3 beautiful young children born of a Venzuelan woman who now lives in Bali teaching at the international school. He's been all over the world teaching in similar schools where people living abroad such as diplomats send their kids to school, Pakistan, Taiwan, Indonesia...how incredible. Future career potential? Me thinks yes. He also owned the only "pet" dog we've seen thus far in Indonesia; the rest are feral strays or merely guard dogs who don't like to be pet, so obviously we took out all of our repressed animal love on Bonita, the pregnant golden retriever. I think she loved it. : )

That's all for now; it's been an eventful day and I'm still full from blissful organic food.

Peace & Love from Bali,
Jill