The Journey Home and reentry to society and winter

(Tina) We made it through! The flights home weren’t so bad – not as good as on the way there, but not as bad as the couple with the baby who cried most of the time. Charlie suffered a bit from his ear and extreme homesickness, and neither of the twins slept as much as we’d hoped, but we made it. We got off to a “bumpy” start when while on the way to the airport Friday night, our driver hit a kitten on the road. He apologized and stopped the car to go check on it. We thought he would just move it to the side of the road, but instead he put the dead cat in a bag and put it under his seat. He explained that he would take it home and bury it and do a blessing for it. It sounds creepy now that I’m writing it, but it was actually really sweet and demonstrates how much the Balinese people honor life and death. Oh and another "bump" was when we lost Charlie momentarily at the airport. The porters were rushing through with our bags so we were trying to keep up with them. I think Charlie must have veered off at some point and started following a different porter because suddenly he was gone! We started yelling his name throughout the airport and nearly abandoned Eliot and Sophie while looking for Charlie. Wouldn't that have been great? Losing a child and then losing the other two children while looking for the first lost one?! Thankfully, we found him and he wouldn't let go of our hands the rest of the time. Tragedy averted!

After too much time waiting in the airport, we were happy to find that the flight was pretty empty so Eliot managed to stretch out and sleep most of the first flight. The rest of us weren’t quite as lucky, but we managed. The second and longer leg of the flight was fine because of the in seat entertainment. We watched some movies, played some games, snoozed a bit, and tried to decipher what exactly they were serving us. For one meal I was truly baffled with the contents of my tray but could tell that it was supposed to be combined somehow but I wasn’t sure how. I decided to just taste each ingredient and would mix what I liked. Bad idea, separate the ingredients were awful, so I’m sure together it wouldn’t have been any better. I was sorry I woke up for that one! And we finally stopped ordering meals for the kids because there was nothing on there that they would even touch except for the occasional bread roll. They were even leery of the bread though because one time a perfectly innocent-looking bread roll turned out to be stuffed with some mystery meat and gravy.

Needless to say, we are happy to be home. Jetlag is being tricky this time, luring us into believing we were fine on Monday but then kicking our butts on Tuesday. Jim had to come home from work early because he just couldn’t function, Eliot did fine with his first day back to school but then fell asleep right before dinner and wouldn’t wake up. They all went to bed at about 6:30, I crashed on the couch at 7:30 and woke to the kids making noise in their room at about 3am. Oh, I should say that they convinced me that they really wanted to sleep all together like in Bali, so I moved Sophie’s bed into the boys room and we’re making her old room a play room. Big mistake so far! When I stumbled into their room to see what was going on, I found Eliot sitting on the top railing of his bunk bed, with his rice farmer hat on, Charlie and Sophie also in the top bunk and Santana music playing on his clock radio. They had asked for a cd to play in there the day before, but I never imagined I’d be hearing it at 3am! They jumped when I came in and told them to get in their own beds NOW. I tried not to be cranky. I understand jetlag and am suffering from it myself feeling wide awake at 4am each day, so I tried to explain that to beat it you have to pretend to be asleep to fake your body into it. Lay still, close your eyes, and don’t talk and if nothing else you will at least get a little rest. No going with those three so I tried laying in there with them to be the police. Still no use. I finally gave up, put Eliot in my bed so he could hopefully get some sleep to function at school, and put myself on the couch. Charlie and Sophie still messed around, didn’t sleep at all, and have been buzzing around here like they are on caffeine. I take it they were a little rambunctious at school since the teacher told them to get some rest before they come back. Today is tough love jetlag therapy though. No napping or spontaneous unconsciousness before dinner. I’m keeping them busy all day, feeding them early, and hoping that a slightly early bedtime will get them back on track. It’s a good thing I bought so much Bali coffee – I need it!

Reflecting on the trip, it really was a great experience. I won’t say “once in a lifetime” because I’m sure we’ll do another mini-sabbatical someday, but I think we’ll plan shorter vacations for a while at least. It’s so great to feel like we can travel again if we want to, not strapped by the feeling of it being more trouble than it was worth like before. This was not easy travel, so I feel like just about anything else we want to do will be a piece of cake. I love how resilient the kids are and us too. I love how open minded they are to different people and different ways of life. I thought they’d come back with expanded palates, and they have, but not as much as I’d hoped. At least they learned that if they didn’t like the options that plain rice was a perfectly suitable meal with a lot less complaining that we get from them here. I would have guessed that Eliot would have been totally freaked out by the big bugs and bees, but I was surprised to see him just blow a bug off of his knee without even flinching. I hope he still remembers that when summer rolls around. I love that after a month with only paper and colored pencils to play with, the first thing they did when they got home is get out the construction paper, scissors, and crayons creating something new that came to them on the trip home. It inspires me to pare down on all the stuff here that they won’t even miss when I pack it away. That’s a project Jim and I will do when we can manage to stay awake for longer than half an hour after the kids go to bed. After 24/7 parenting, I was also reminded how important friends are for the kids and for us. Sure, the kids are great friends to each other when they are conspiring to be quiet and have a dance party at 3am in their room, but they are pretty tired of each other and us. I know I need adult time with Jim and my friends in order to be present and willing as a mother. In the words of the airlines, I need to “put on my own oxygen mask first before assisting others.” That is something we’ll be working on in the very near future. I thought the weather would be a big shocker or a downer, but we’re not really minding the cold. I was kind of taken aback by the lack of green around here. After having so much of it around, I kind of forgot what winter looks like. I must get my house plants back soon so I can at least have some green inside!

Thanks for following our adventures and for the making us feel missed and welcomed home! We are so happy to have such great people in our lives.

Day 27-28 (Thu-Fri) - Heading Home

Day 27 (Thursday) Herons

(Jim) Eliot and I walked over to town in search of a last couple souvenirs and a big cardboard box to pack everything up. We had our eyes on this one wall hanging at Murni’s restaurant. It is Dewi Sri, the rice goddess who is unique to Bali. It is a pretty cool sculpture, made of antique offering coins (metal discs with square holes punched in the middle). After the shopping, we made our way to an internet place to connect for a few minutes, then we began the long saga to find a box. I thought Eliot was going to have a heat stroke walking down the main street – the sun beats down hard here. But we finally found the elusive box (I hope it is big enough!) and we caught a cab home. It was getting on lunch time, so we asked the cab driver to wait at the top of the hill while we rounded up the rest of the family to go to lunch.

Tina had taken Charlie and Sophie to get their last Bali massages this morning. They really enjoyed the massages, but Charlie started complaining about ear pain on the walk home. He said that he felt like he needed to “burst out crying”, so she brought him home and he laid down for a nap. Eliot and I ended up just taking Sophie with us over to Lotus Café, and we brought take-out meals home for Tina and Charlie. On the way home, we stopped at the clinic and picked up some ear drops for Charlie. There is a clinic pretty close to our house, and they are very accessible to pick up medicine. I just need to have them translate the dosages from Indonesian for us!

Charlie felt a little better after lunch, and perked up when he saw a large praying mantis. At first he moved him around on a leaf, but then Papak showed him how to pick up the praying mantis behind the head. He is much braver about bugs than I am. Charlie was happy with his new bug friend until a few minutes later when he came running up crying saying that the praying mantic bit his finger! He really wanted revenge on the praying mantis and I tried to explain that it was just an accident. It all worked out about a minute later in a very “circle of life” way when we saw the baby chicken run through the yard with that same praying mantis in his mouth!

We decided that we should probably do one more sightseeing trip this afternoon, so I walked down the hill to find Ketut. We worked out a plan for 4pm, then Ketut asked me if I needed a ride anywhere right now. I was going to walk up to the market to get a little more coffee, and Ketut told me to hop on to his motorcycle for a quick ride up there. It sounded better than a hot walk up the hill, so I threw caution to the wind, held on for dear life, and we zipped up to the market. The scariest part was actually riding the motorcycle back down the steep path to our house – felt a little like horseback riding down a hill!

Ketut picked us up at 4, and drove us over to the Ayung River Gorge. There are huge rice terraces in this area, so many five star resorts like the Four Seasons build hotels with amazing views here. We drove past the hotels and found a walking path down some stairs to see the gorge. The river runs through the bottom of the gorge, and we saw some white water rafters. We had considered doing that earlier on in the trip, but opted against it. Maybe when the kids are a little older, and we’re a little closer to home! From the gorge we headed over to the village of Petulu. Since 1965, thousands of herons all started nesting on this one street. The local villagers attribute this to a large ceremony that they had, and they consider the herons a sign from god. Maybe there is something to it. Amazingly the birds fill the trees in the village, but on the way out town you notice that the first tree on the other side of the temple has no herons. We were all in awe of seeing so many herons at once, and we covered our heads when walking under those trees!

The drive back had Charlie feeling bad again, so we just went home and rested up before dinner. When he felt better, we walked down the hill to one of the closest restaurants – Murni’s. He actually wasn’t feeling 100%, so I carried him down the hill. Man, it’s hot carrying a sick five year old down a hill in this weather! At the restaurant, the waitress totally fawned over him – one made him a little bed on two chairs, and another fed him his scrambled eggs dinner bite by bite. Charlie commented how nice people are to you when you are sick. I decided that we should probably see a doctor tomorrow morning before we get on the plane. I hate the thought of a sore ear going bad before a 26 hour plane journey!

Day 28 (Friday) Homeward Bound!

(Tina) Wow, it’s a HOT one today! I’m trying to resist hiding out in the air conditioned bedroom so I can take in all this heat and hopefully will appreciate the relief from it more when we get home. The itchy heat rash on my arms is driving me a little crazy though.

We’re packing up preparing for our late night departure tonight. I hope we can fit everything into our luggage and extra box! Later, we’ll all shower and get in our travel clothes and try not to get too sweaty before getting to the airport. The doctor gave Charlie the OK to travel, but I sure hope his ear ache doesn’t bother him too much on the plane (for our sake and everyone else’s on the plane!).

This is the last post before we get home. Cold weather here we come! We’ll have to write about “The Journey Home” when we are able to keep our eyes opened again. Let’s hope the flights home go as well as the ones here!

Day 24-26 (Mon-Wed) - Our last week

Day 24 (Monday)

(Tina) Papak helped Charlie catch a big frog this morning. We all had some good laughs at him trying to hold onto it, chase it around, and put it in our faces. Yes, I jumped out of my chair when he showed it to me, much to everyone’s delight. The frog nearly escaped jumping off the porch with Charlie jumping behind it hot on its trail. He let out a big squeal yelling “The frog did a cartwheel down the hill!”

Jim took the kids swimming in the murky pool this morning. It’s not that bad if you think of it as a really clean lake but it’s reaching our tolerance level. We had a delicious fresh fish dinner and saw the Kecak dance again. We were nervous about the flaming coconuts being kicked around, but this time the only one who bore the brunt of a runaway coconut was one of the dancers sitting along the edge. He had to roll backwards onto the guy behind him and stay bum up until someone scooted the hot coals out from under him. I’m telling you a show like that would NEVER run in the States, let alone every night at one location or another. Imagine Donny Osmond getting in a trance and kicking fire balls around during his Vegas show!

Day 25 (Tuesday)

Shopping, shopping, shopping. This was a very productive day in terms of knocking out some things we’ve been wanting to get. I hope our house is not too Bali’d up when we get it all home. We just love all of the beautiful hand made things – and it seems like everything has a story from the local culture.

Day 26 (Wednesday)

Tina and I had our last cheap Balinese massages today. It feels so luxurious to have someone work your back muscles for an hour for $8! We’ll definitely miss that after the long flight home. Charlie and Sophie begged to get one more massage, too. So we scheduled them for a 30 minute couples massage tomorrow. They were so quiet during their last massage – just laying there enjoying it. I can’t believe they weren’t even ticklish. Later they did have a laugh about when their bums were a little exposed for massaging their lower back.

Ketut had told us that today was a big ceremony day at all of the temples. All over Bali people were bringing large offerings to their local temples. We were amazed at the ladies all dressed up in their fancy temple outfits, carrying one or two layers of offering baskets up on their heads. During the day we had seen lots of people creating intricate creations out of cut palm leaves, which were then displayed all over Ubud on the offerings.

We had a great dinner at Ary’s Warung tonight. It ended up being a little bit fancy, but in Bali you can still take your shoes off for dinner which the kids love! The kids all ate, which makes us feel better about eating out. We did order off the kids menu for them, but the “chicken nuggets” were nicely done strips of breast meat cooked in sesame seeds. They ended up loving our dinner choices just as much as theirs. Charlie was amazed at the bathroom, because there was a pond in the floor flowing between the bathrooms with several koi fish. After dinner we sat for a while watching the geckos, while they brought us cool towels to refresh ourselves. There was a moth flying up by the light, and we saw a little gecko slowly making his way towards the moth… snap – we finally witnessed in amazement a gecko catching something! Looks like he had a great dinner too.

We’ve been without an internet connection at the house for the last few days so we stopped by an internet café to check email before going home. We’ll have to venture out with the laptop before we leave to post to the blog again.

Days 19 – 23 (Wednesday - Sunday)

(Tina) It’s been harder to write details about each day lately since now it’s more of just living everyday Bali life. Wednesday morning greeted us with storm clouds so we didn’t get to go to the beach or the pool the last morning at the Westin. We hung out at the hotel enjoying the luxuries we don’t have at our Ubud house then headed out to see Uluwatu temple at the tip of Bali before heading back to Ubud. There were monkeys on the loose everywhere which freaked us out a little, and it was stinking hot so we didn’t stay long. Charlie and Sophie got to see their first “squatter toilet” but fortunately there was a regular one beside it that they could use (albeit backwards with no seat??).

I thought I’d miss the nice hotel more, but I actually felt a sense of being “home” when we got back to the house. Ketut was driving like a bat out of a bamboo wind chime [edited] to get us home before a huge storm came since there’s no escaping walking down the steep lane, rain or shine.

(Jim) I think the rain coincided with a low spot on our trip. Tina and I are getting a little tired of eating out at restaurants with the kids, constantly trying to keep them in line. We verbalized whether maybe we should have just gone for three weeks and if we should consider going back early. We have done and seen most of the “things” on our list by now. And the 24/7 family togetherness wears thin when the twins don’t feel the love for each other. When we got back to our house in Ubud and lay in bed Wednesday night, we agreed to stick it out. Going home early would feel like giving up, and this is an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often. Apart from pure tourism, maybe there was something left for us to learn as a family in this last week. I guess we just have to be patient and keep our minds open.

(Tina) We coincidentally received a long e-mail on Thursday from our New Zealand travelling companions from 15 years ago, Greg and Jane. They are taking steps that make our little four week vacation feel so simple! They have moved to a remote area of New Zealand as part of a small community practicing the “Continuum Concept” and living near self-sustainability, growing food, milking cows, trading services for things they can’t grow themselves. The Continuum Concept is a parenting book that I need to learn more about, but seems to be of the same vain as some of the basic philosophies we try to follow: treating our children with respect, not ruling over them or disregarding their feelings, but not catering to them or letting them rule us either. Being reminded of that was especially helpful at this time with all the bickering the twins have been doing because we had resorted to repeated time outs which were obviously not working. After reading about their journey, I was able to take a step back, take a breath, and not let the kids’ moods affect mine so much. Whether they really got better or not, it felt instantly better to me (that day anyway). It’s kind of ironic that my kids are at each other’s throats and I’m going to be leading a “Siblings Without Rivalry” workshop when we get back. Oh well, I’m not supposed to be the shining example, just facilitating the conversation, so I’ll be learning right along with everyone else.

This is the first we’ve experienced the “rainy season” since we’ve been here. The rain starts without much warning and falls so hard that it hurts. Thunder and lightning rattle us to our core. The kids like to say that the thunder is Grandma Mickey, Grandpa John, and Uncle John in heaven bowling strikes. Now instead of crying in fear when they hear a big boom, they yell “STRIKE!” The rain has wreaked havoc on the pool since it is practically chemical free to begin with. We haven’t been swimming in a few days because it looks kind of murky. One of the lizards didn’t mind though because the kids saw it taking a swim through the pool one day. We had joked that there was a sea monster in the pool, but who knew there really would be?!

We have been spending our remaining days doing some shopping for ourselves and others. There are so many beautiful handmade things here, it’s hard to decide what to get. Bargaining is challenging too. It’s hard not to get wrapped up in getting the best deal and then you realize you are debating about 50 cents. The money is about 10,000/1, so Eliot has learned how to take off four zeros to see how many dollars things cost. They thought they were rich when we gave them each a 1,000 rupiah bill until Eliot figured out that it was only really worth a dime. His math skills sure aren’t suffering during this time away from school.

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I’m actually looking forward to cooking dinner everyday again. We’ve cooked dinner for ourselves a few times and it’s been nice. Service is always really good at restaurants but sometimes things come very slowly. Friday night we were going to see the Kecak and Fire dance again and convince Eliot to nap that day so he wouldn’t fall asleep again, but dinner took so long that we missed it. Eliot said, “Man! I napped for nothing!” We went for dessert afterwards and stayed up late playing Yahtzee as a consolation prize. Fortunately there are dances around here every night, so we’ll get the chance to catch it again. Sunday night we saw the Legong dance which wasn’t as exciting as the others, but we were still fascinated by the costumes and strange movements. Eliot drew a beautiful picture of the “Bird of Paradise” dancer.

Jim, Charlie, Sophie, and I all had massages this weekend. Eliot didn’t want one so we went at different times and different places. Maybe we’ll squeeze another one in this last week. The healing powers of Balinese massage are not to be missed.

Day 16-18 (Sun-Tue) - Birthday and Beach

Day 16 (Sunday)

(Tina) Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday Dear Daddy! Happy Birthday to you! Jim turned 44 today but unfortunately is still feeling sick and fevered. Sophie is feeling unhealthy too and even passed on pancakes this morning because her tummy hurt. We’re staying home today eating bread, bananas and plain rice so we’ll all be healthy for the beach tomorrow. The kids made birthday cards for Jim, Eliot drawing a pictorial of our trip so far, day by day. Charlie and Sophie wrote: “Happy Birthday Daddy. Get Well Soon” That’s a sad birthday when your wishes include feeling better. Hey at least he’s in Bali being sick and not at home with the flu and freezing, right?!

Here’s a new revelation about the bats: Jim heard the bamboo wind chimes going at about 4am this morning and when he looked in there when he got up, he saw not one, not two, but THREE tiny bat faces sleeping inside the biggest bamboo chime! The kids keep peeking in there and clanging the chimes in the process, but somehow those little rodents keep sleeping (thank goodness!). I hope to not witness them waking to hunt mosquitoes this evening.

On a nicer note, there are so many beautiful butterflies here of all colors and sizes. We saw one today that was as big as the bats.

Charlie’s comments on Bali: It’s Daddy’s birthday today and we’re going to the beach and we’re staying in a hotel. We’re swimming every day. I can dive for the penny. I could glide underwater also. And I caught a mini gecko. I rode an elephant and I got to feed them also. People like to take pictures of me.

Day 17 (Monday)

(Jim) Today is beach day – we are heading down to the Westin in Nusa Dua. Ketut came by at 10 to pick us up and brought a birthday gift for me from his wife. I was touched that he remembered and that his wife picked up this nice carved wooden figure. It sounds like there are plenty of people that Ketut supports at his family house, so I imagine he is grateful whenever we need a ride somewhere.

The approach to the resort at Nusa Dua was a little more Disney than Bali. The area around Ubud has beautiful landscaping, too. The difference was the wide streets and nobody out walking, and then the high security to enter both the whole area and the Westin.  Once we pulled up to the hotel, we had a very warm reception. Someone greeted us all with a “welcome elixir” (I think it was fruit juice) and walked us over to a couch area to check in. The kids had a small play area in the lobby and they each received a goodie bag with a hat, water bottle, coloring pages, and crayons. Our rooms weren’t ready yet, so they offered use a free upgrade to a family suite! That was a total score. We got two connected rooms – one with a king sized bed, and the other with three twin beds. The kids ran in to their room to see huge teddy bears on each of their beds, and then we heard the yell… “TV!” OK, they were going to be able to watch some cartoons for the first time in a couple weeks. Everything was really nicely done, and it was great to have such a huge air conditioned space.

After lunch, we checked out the swimming pools. It was pretty amazing. We swam around in a salt water pool, then a larger fresh water pool with a swim up bar. The water slide was a little bit too fast for comfort, though later we saw other tourists who managed to scoot down more slowly. One of the pools flowed right up to a beautiful lily pond where Tina liked hanging on the edge watching the dragon flies and other wildlife including a pretty big monitor lizard. We missed the ocean swimming today since we had forgotten about low tide. The inlet here goes down to less than a foot at low tide and about 8 feet at high tide. We thought that the resort would have mostly Asian guests, but actually most of them seem to be Russian. Most have big bellies and swim suits that are too small (women and men included). One man walked around in his little speedo with his big belly sticking out and a skipper hat on. It was hard not to laugh.

We didn’t do too much after dinner. Charlie pleaded with us to figure out the PlayStation while they were getting ready for bed, so I hooked that up. The only little kid-appropriate game they had was soccer, so we played a couple games of that. I’m not really looking forward to when we get one of the game stations at home – there are so many buttons! I guess I’m more of a Pacman type of game person.

Day 18 (Tuesday)

(Jim) Today was all sun and swimming! We swam in all of the pools and then hit the beach. There was a sign at the entrance cautioning about sea urchins and jelly fish at low tide, so it took the kids a little while to get up the nerve to go in the water. But once we played in the surf a bit and then floated on the waves, they were hooked. We couldn’t get them out! We ended up getting a little sunburned despite a couple applications of sunscreen. Sophie ended up getting really tan on her legs rather than burned – don’t know where she gets that. Now she has a cute little tan line on her buns! When we finally left the beach, they each brought about 10 pounds of sand in their swim trunks.

The hotel area by the beach had an ice cream stand, bikes, and ping pong tables – so we spent some time down there after swimming. We ended up having a really late lunch, so crashed in the rooms for while to save up energy for a later dinner. I didn’t want them falling asleep on their plates like when we first got to Bali! We went walking around the hotel area and beach at sunset. They were setting up one area with lavish decorations, food, and massages for a business conference, and another area was being set up for a Kecak dance / dinner buffet. In another area there was a lounge singer belting out the Carpenters song “Close to You.” I embarrassed Sophie a little by picking her up and dancing. She just wanted to stay in one spot, transfixed by a couple kids feeding squirrels. Scary if you ask me! I made the mistake of feeding squirrels back home and then they harassed us every time we went outside.

We walked on down the beach path toward the pier, and had a great view of the volcano across the bay. We saw a Japanese family squatting down looking at something, and to Charlie’s joy, they had a little crab. That sparked the next adventure and we caught the little guy and steered clear of the much bigger crabs on the rocks.

We had dinner at the Japanese restaurant – it looked good, quiet and air conditioned. Unfortunately I was still keeping close to my plain rice diet, so I didn’t get to have the better stuff. When we sat down, they brought us each a small bowl with two pieces of eel in it. Charlie chowed it down and wanted more! I defied my tummy and had a bite – very tasty despite my apprehension. Eliot was feeling pretty tired, and maybe exhausted from the sun. He kept telling me how cold he was. I was worried maybe he was fevered or something, but it was just the long day. It doesn’t bring out the best in everyone. One of Tina’s sushi rolls had fish eggs on it, and Charlie commented as he was nibbling on them “looks like the eggs in the beginning of Nemo, before the big fish ate them all.”

After dinner we walked outside and listened to a little bit of the Kecak dance. The one was performed by younger group, maybe 10-14 years old. They were all set up around the pool, performing on the island in the middle of the pools. We are planning to see the Kecak one more time back in Ubud so Eliot can stay awake for the whole show. It was a short story time before everyone was fast asleep in their “heavenly beds”.

Day 14-15 (Fri-Sat) - Elephants and Tender Tummies

Day 14 (Friday)

Half way point.

(Tina) It’s official: Bali Belly has struck home! After delicious banana pancakes for breakfast, my intestines rebelled. Ugh. The rain kept us in yesterday though, so we were itching to do something fun, so we went to the Bali Elephant Park. I was worried about having an upset stomach, so I decided to fast a while rather than add fuel to the fire. The elephants at the park were rescued from Sumatra, another Indonesian island, where their habitat has been deforested. I think there are about 30 elephants there, three of which were born in 2009. It was really fun and it seems like the elephants have a good life there. We got to feed them and ride them, and Eliot got to be part of the show. When they asked for a volunteer, I raised his hand up and they called on him. He was embarrassed but happy to get to be a part of it.

We ran into Made on his motorcycle at the top of the lane, so he gave Charlie and Sophie a ride down to the house on his motorcycle. Yes, we let them both ride on a motorcycle with no helmet. What were we thinking?! After getting home, I laid down because I was feeling a little green.  Jim and the kids were going to go for a swim, but a big rain storm came out of nowhere. It even blew in under the big thatched roof porch of the house and bathrooms. It quit by dinner time and I was feeling a little better. Jim however was the sick one now. He managed to eat a little but we were both anxious to get home soon. I ate but wasn’t sure what affect it was going to have on me. I had promised Charlie that we’d get him this rice farmer hat that he’s had his eye on, so we found a shop before heading home and got hats for all three of them. Again we ran into Made at the top of the lane on his motorcycle, and this time he gave all three of them a ride at the same time down to the house. We listened for screams but they made it safely, thank god. I wonder which god they pray to here for motorcycle safety? They put on a little play for us dressed in their hats and sarongs, then off to bed for all of us. Hopefully we’ll all be healthy tomorrow.

Day 15 (Saturday)

(Tina) I’m feeling much better this morning, but Jim is suffering. He had a fitful night’s sleep and was fevered until about 4am. Ketut made us eat dry toast and bananas for breakfast. The kids were relieved that they still got to have fruit salad and pancakes though. After breakfast, Jim went back to bed and the kids and I swam. Later we decided to let Jim keep sleeping so we walked to town for a snack and maybe a little shopping. Sophie got a lacey shirt that the girls and women wear to temple here. She loves it. Charlie said “I am so jealous but I can’t stop looking at her because she looks so pretty, but I am still jealous.” He really wants dress up clothes too and that was what I was looking for most, but we didn’t find anything yet. He’s getting pretty creative with his sarong and hat.

Notes on living outside – eggs are kept on the counter but salt and pepper are kept in the fridge, milk comes in a box with a 4 month shelf life, ants like peanut butter. I doubt this has anything to do with our tummy troubles – it’s just so different than the way things are done back home. And yes, that's a gecko on the wall in the picture. He is more welcome than ants!

Email from Eliot to his class

Hi Classmates!

Me and Dad went shopping yesterday. We bought a monkey mask and a Balinese chess set. The monkey mask is called Hanoman. He is the Monkey god. I learned how to play chess and I beat Dad twice already. I went to the top of a volcano. Instead of lava in the middle of the volcano, there was a lake. Look at this picture of a man riding a bicycle filled with stuff! Isn’t that funny? There is another picture of a monitor lizard on the steps down to our pool. He was over three feet long!

I have a really loose tooth. Mom and Dad told me that the Balinese tooth fairy might bring me a chicken or a pig. I hope it brings me a wood carving instead.

Today we are going to go on an elephant safari and will ride an elephant. Monday we are going to the beach!

Your friend,

Eliot