nature does it for me

this morning i was in a reflective mood and was just enjoying looking at the dragonflies in all shapes and colors, and all the new blossoms and how each different plant changes from day to day, water lilies opening and then dying, palms growing flowers, the sun shining through the bright green leaves of lilies, black lacy butterflies as big as the palm of my hand fluttering around...

after breakfast is a nice time to go for a walk along the beach....the sun is shimmering on the blue sea, the tide was out, and no one was around since the fishermen had already docked their boats and gone to sleep until this afternoon. as i opened the gate ro walk out onto the pebbled shore, i saw a little white caterpillar crawling along the top of the reddish rock wall, and then as i stepped out i saw that an offering of flowers had been placed right opposite the gate, to bless the resort and its residents, and a few more steps revealed another one placed on the corner of the compound....it just softens my heart when i see this, and as i walked along the beach i noticed that one of the boats that hadn't gone out yet had an offering sitting on the seat of it....

when i reached a stream too big to cross because of the hard rains from last night i decided to see what happens if i cut through the forest....so i picked a path that looked like it might be for general use and lead to a road later on....wrong again! you know the saying "if you keep doing the same thing and getting the same results and think that this time it will be different,...you are insane!" so...again, bewildered looks of the forest people as out of nowhere i appear in their front yard...they rarely see tourists, and certainly not as they are walking down their private little path they have made in the middle of a forest....but i love it...as i walked, there is always the rippling sound of the water from one of the many little streams that runs from the mountains down to the sea and is only some 40 centimeters wide...and all is green, and tall trees, and little narrow winding dirt paths that go on and on with a bamboo shack here and there, and a cow in a palm covering for shade, and a father with a little girl, and a grandmother with her 2 week old grandaughter, sitting on the floor of their little porch along with husbands, greatgrandmother, daugher, and laughing and laughing how i appear out of nowhere and am suddenly at their house...and the usual question : where are you going? they are right! where AM i going?! i smile, and continue on my way, realizing that the places i loved most in my life were nature reserve forests whether in england, or israel, or the states, where i could walk on a path among trees and nature...and here i was, actually walking in a forest, but it was not planned for the suburbans to be able to go out for a walk on the weekend, or jog there after work...it was a real forest with the winding paths and streams that were naturally there, with people and animals inhabiting it! and what surprised me was there was no fear; not of poison ivy, not of a snake, not that i am lost, not that someone may suddenly do something to me...it was so comforting and nourishing to my soul...

eventually i did find my way towards the main road (the famous narrow 2 lane only road that goes along the north of bali) and i headed back to the direction of my village...along the way there was the singing again from the temple and the gamelon chimes, and i just sat and listened to it, feeling the slow minor key sounds entering my heart along with the high chiming of the quickly played gamelons every now and then.i wondered if i was the only one just sitting and listening to him, with the microphone vibrating it in all directions and life going on as usual. he was alone at the temple and was there just to sing the song of prayer at noon.

then went into the village which i love walking through and saying hello to kiosk people or husbands hanging out, or giggling women walking by, or seeing how they have built a house in 2 weeks on one of the lots with the wife and mother sitting there in the yard watching everyday. and each time i notice more details of the temples, or the gardens or the children.

this time someone on a motorbike with his 2 daughters stopped next to me and asked if i know "battina". yes, she was at the resort with me and has returned to germany. and as i walk off thinking we have ended our conversation he gently asks me if i could possibly tutor his 13 year old daughter in english...i happily agree, since i would like to give something to this country in return for all i am getting, and it will also be an opportunity to see village life a little more intimately. we set a day and time and off i continue, only to meet him a few minutes later as he turns into the entrance to his house and invites me for a visit...his 8 year old gives me her hand to guide me in the path of trees to an open courtyard with 2 bamboo shacks and a spotless (yes, you could eat off the dirt!!) front yard....he quickly set up a little table and some stools and we spoke and looked at photos and got to know each other.

what struck me first of all was a little sign on his shack that said in english: Welcome to Miracle Bamboo Resort. i laughed and asked if this is really a miracle bamboo resort, and he said "oh, no, it is like : castles in the sky. i write this but it has not happened yet. but i must believe it is possible." later he shows me their hut, which has their double mattress and another 3 for the girls (5,8,13) and a bulletin board on the wall with sayings written on it by him like: "my children deserve an excellent education and they will get it." "always believe everything is possible"...and photos of smiling children and beautiful water lilies blooming...i asked if he wrote this and he said yes, that he is unemployed, and does not have money for food for the family, but he believes everyday that things are possible. i asked if this is his idea or what and he said that last year he met a german woman on the beach from gaia resort that told him about positive thinking, and he too knows that what is important is to live from your heart, so this is his hearts desires.

i asked him what he works at and he said he can do many things; carry a pig to someones house, help people, help build a house, take care of the children, fishes on shore with a can and some string and bait on the end, he is also a dancer and tonight 75 dancers will perform at a resort 1 hour away, if it does not rain! since it is outdoors, and for 4 months already it is monsoon so no business for dancers. and since his english is so good he gets to say at the end of their performance :" thank you for coming and we hope you enjoyed our dancing. if you would like we can pose with you for photos, and we wish you that your stay in bali be very nice, thank you" and for that he gets an extra 5,000rupias (50 cents!)

as we sat there his wife sent the young girls to the little kiosk to buy some sweets to serve with the tea,(little packets of 2 cookies in each wrapper) i felt bad that they don't have money to eat, but if a foreigner comes they run and buy me cookies...also yesterday as i watched school children at their extra curricular dance class, they were at the kiosk buying snacks more than they were at the dance class! so strange for me, and all the wrappers tossed to the ground, as if they were recyclable like leaves...) he wanted to know how much i pay for one night at this resort, and when i told him, he and his wife looked at each other and he said that that is the price of a bag of rice for his family for 1 month...yep!

it was interesting speaking with him and watching his silent wife sewing sequins onto tiny bamboo boxes that she receives 10 cents for each one that she finishes, and which take about an hour, or more to do...when i asked if she enjoys it, he said she does it happily and that it is important to enjoy what you are doing and that it helps them pay for things...and top priority for him is that his daughter be able to go to high school but that it is very expensive... as i write all of this, i realize he may just be trying to put on the sad sack story for a rich foreigner...hoping i will donate some money, but i do not feel pressured to do that, and do not intend to do that either, but am willing to teach her english...

so....we said goodbye until sunday and i continued my way back, noticing how the big float images that the kids are preparing for the upcoming new years festival are coming along and the carving of the boat bottom is taking shape, and arrived just in time to nourish my body with a delicious lunch, having already nourished my soul from all the nature and impressions from this mornings walk