as we drove the 15 minute drive to her resort in another neighborhood, i asked her all about her life and decisions and visions. when we reached her resort at the end of the road that leads to the sea, we were met with the village gamelon band and about 20 balinese in the middle of a cremation ceremony. it turns out that we had passed THE cemetery for the city and in the cemetery is also where they cremate the bodies in the middle of the area out in the open on a metal frame with gas balloons since you need a lot of energy to burn a fresh corpse (sorry for the gorey details....) so almost daily there are processions that go from the cemetery down to the sea (1/2 kilometer) at which point the ceremony is done and the ashes thrown out to sea, with the villagers waving goodbye, the kids playing around, people on cell phones and women talking, and the gamelon band playing the special tune that accompanies the soul on its journey. that was a nice surprise treat for me, even though it is a funeral, i love these ceremonies with all the ritual and music and casualness of life.
then i enter
ed renates place which is all along the coast and has a lovely outdoor pool just looking out at the sea which we later swam in, and a big building which has 4 beautiful rooms with huge sliding doors that open to the sea, with a wonderful breeze coming from the sea, and hand picked pastel decorated furniture,,,so delicate and feminine and lovely,,,just like renate.her chef
/right hand woman/ and make up artist was busy putting make up on the 3 young girls (8,11,12) that were going to perform a balinese dance at the opening of the school in another hour. just watching them dress each other and how the make-up is such an important part of the costume, and how they added long black pony tails to their hair and put fresh cut flowers in their hair, was a pleasure to see.then off we drove another 5 minutes and arrived at the bali mandala resort where we drove down a narrow dirt path that was lined with parked motorbikes, with a hairs breath between us and them! and entered the decorated are
a where all the 200+children of all ages, plus some local yokles, and some parents, were already gathered and waiting to begin. in balinese "time " is actually called "rubber" since....yep, 3 o'clock is never really 3 o"clock,,,,you can "stretch" it if it is balinese time! anyways, there were all of the ceremonial speeches and translations and the cutting of the red ribbon and the introduction of the swiss teacher who is part of a teach and travel program and will be teaching them...the school room was a nice large high ceilinged typical balinese thatch roof, red brick walls and high windows design. the children will sit on colorful mattresses on the ground at low tables, since they like to sit like that, about 6 to a table...as they all excitedly stood in line to register, i took the opportunity to hoop for them and offered the kids standing around to try...but almost every single one was too embarrassed. what a disappointment! i couldn't believe it...i could tell they were dying to, but the embarrassment would be too great a risk if they did not succeed...after a while of demonstrating and one girl succeeding quite easily, i moved over to the side as center stage was going to be used for typical balinese games: rice crackers hanging from a string one next to the other and people holding both ends of the long string of them and kids trying to eat it without their hands, as the string bobs up and down (a balinese version of what i did as a child with a bath full of water and bobbing apples!) another competition was who can walk with a glass bottle on their head the fastest, jumping in sacks from one end to another, holding a spoon in your mouth with a pebble on it without it falling, etc...the excitement was high with typical loud carnival music playing which was good for the hooping, which suddenly the kids were fighting over who gets to try it! they were very good, caught on quick and lots of laughs with older parents and staff trying it too...much of this done in the constant drizzle that began as the ceremony began.
then back to renates' place, for a swim and a sampling of watsu. watsu is shiatsu in water, renate has 30 years experience as a trained physio therapist and has worked with many handicapped children in water, and was more or less doing the watsu for years, but it wasn't called watsu then...and after studying it in india along with meditation, ayur veda massage and yoga for 30 years where she would spend her winter instead of in germany, she decided to leave germany and open up her own mag
nificent special watsu resort in bali...the special pool is perfect! so beautiful and is sea water that is heated by solar panels and is at body temperature. so when it started to drizzle in the outside pool, she invited me to come inside and feel the outdoor watsu pool that is in the middle of the architectural complex, open to the sky, but part of a beautiful "sanctuary".it was quite an interesting experience, because you feel as though you do not have a body, just some essence, and as i floated in the water it felt like such nice energy. i told her so, and she asked if i know the man that did the research on water and vibrations, and i said yes, and she smiled and said that the energy in this sanctuary is very special. after a while she offered to give me a feeling of the watsu work she does for people that like the water and feel confident in trusting someone ...you put nose plugs on and hold your breath and she moves you around underwater and then brings you up every now and then for a breath. i agreed, and found myself totally relaxed and in all kinds of positions underwater which totally liberated me from any kind of ordinary body image of hands, legs, torso etc....it was just like the inside of me was moving around without any kinds of borders. she had told me that it can create a state of bliss for some people, and that is close to how i felt, especially towards the end as she gently and lovingly brought me into a fetal position and held me in her arms, and then slowly allowed me to ground again....finding a smile and sighs of bliss coming out of my mouth. i told her that it was magnificent, and that she is too! so nice. so grateful!
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