Recent excursions and activities

We are enjoying settling into a a more predictable daily routine, yet we are still going on some fun excursions, meeting new people (expats and Balinese) and having a lot of experiences. 

Waterbom

Waterbom is a huge water park that is probably Charlotte's favorite place on earth.  If she had her way we would go there every day.

It is in Kuta, a tourist area only about 20 miles south of Ubud.  But because of congested roads it took us over 2 hours to get there the first time we went, which was on Chinese New Year, a school holiday in Bali.  Sadly for Charlotte we weren't eager to repeat that drive and hadn't been back.  So it was a big deal for Charlotte when she was invited to a birthday party at Waterbom and would get to go again.

Waterbom is full of water slides, swimming pools, and a lazy river.  It's a huge park but is landscaped beautifully and has an uncrowded, relaxed feel to it.  All of us love racing down the slides.  The girls feel like "big kids" taking plunges from a tower around 100 feet up.  We don't have pictures of the water slides for obvious reasons.  But here's one of Charlotte trying a reverse bungy jump that flung her high up into the air.

 


Nahko and Medicine for the People

Green School invited Nahko and Medicine for the People, a popular Portland band in Bali for a few weeks for the Bali Spirit festival, to perform at Green School.  They have a uplifting lyrics and environmentally conscious message, so it was a good fit, plus (unlike many bands that have a "message") they put on a great live show with fun, danceable music.

They performed a few days later at an outdoor arts/community center on the outskirts of Denpasar.  A few Green School parents and staff decided to make the trip to check them out again.  On the spur on the moment we decided to join a friend who was going.

It was a scene unlike any we'd experienced in Bali.  There was a mix of mainly young Balinese -- both rocker dudes and more regular-seeming families with kids in tow -- with Westerners making up a good chunk of the crowd.  We hadn't often seen Balinese and Westerners mixing socially as equals before.  It was a benefit with several music groups performing that night, headlined by Nahko and Medicine for the People.  We sat through several of the local bands, mainly rock bands singing in Indonesian.  We grabbed some seats a distance from the stage, had a beer, and took in the scene.

Eventually Nahko took to the stage and we got up and danced.  They put on another high energy show.  The crowd was into it and we had a good time.

Our first and only late night out in Bali.  The next morning we woke early to the roosters.

the scene at the concert

Here's a recent video put out by Nahko and Medicine for the People:

  
Student Art Show in Penestanan

Lynn helped arrange a small art show/fundraiser at the small studio where the girls take an art class one day a week after school.  The art classes were set up by a Green School parent, Bjorg Thorhallsdottir, who is a noted Icelandic artist who lives in Norway.  They are taught by a young local Balinese artist in her studio.  The students put on a show of their art.  The representative of the local Smile foundation charity, which provides funds for cleft palate surgery, made an appearance.  The parents made small donations to the Smile foundation to "buy" our children's art.  We had refreshments, and each student received a paint brush as a congratulatory gift.

Crossing over the small bridge into the art studio

Lynn and Bjorg presenting an award

proud artists

Charlotte with her artwork

Around our home

Charlotte with Made, showing the frangipani decorations they made

The gardener, Made

Charlotte hard at work at setting up her restaurant

an unusually pretty sunset

Yellow Coco Creative Nest


Despite the long days outside in the heat, the girls have been eager to participate in after-school activities.  In addition to painting, cabaret, basketball (for Alexa), and occasionally batik, Charlotte has enjoyed the performing arts programs at a new kids' activity center called Yellow Coco Creative Nest.  Yellow Coco is founded by a Ibu Susan, Canadian performing arts teacher, and Pak Susiawan, her Balinese husband, a visual artist and percussionist, who also teaches at Green School.  They are incredibly talented.  It's located in a village directly south of Ubud called Nyuh Kunning, which means "Yellow Coconut."

Charlotte and her friends, with the help of the teachers, currently are creating their own mask play based on Balinese legends.

At a preview performance, they showed off their masks and a zest for fighting.

Ibu Susan and Pak Susiawan also regularly put on small shows on the weekend for the community.  (They are "pay what you can" for Balinese residents and are well attended by local families.)  We returned to Yellow Coco a few days later for a shadow puppet performance, after which the kids made their own shadow puppets.

Dewa watched with his son Gede, though Gede quickly grew bored.  Dewa took him back home so that he could get back to his real passion, flying kites.

Sleepover in Bamboo Village

One of Alexa's classmates lives in Bamboo Village, an idyllic (though somewhat moquito-y) cluster of bamboo homes used to house Green School staff, located across the Ayung River from Green School.  Alexa's classmate's mom is "den mother" to several teenage boarding students, who all together in the largest of the bamboo houses.  Alexa was invited over for a birthday sleepover.

Here's Alexa's description of the party:

"In the evening, the day before Mother's Day, I went to the bamboo village for my friend Rae's birthday party.  When I got there, everybody ran to me shouting, "Alexa!".  Then since I brought my iPod, we had a dance party for a while.  Rae opened her presents using a butter knife, putting all her presents in a circle, spinning the butter knife and opening the present that the butter knife points at.

"I had given her a friendship bracelet and a Bali notebook.  Afterwards, Ibu Desak and Pak Shaun came!  They are my teachers.  Pak Shaun, who is addicted to the Suns Australian football team from his hometown of Gold Coast, Australia, was wearing a Suns hat and a Suns shirt that day.  He brought along his daughter Jaia.  After having a dance party with the teachers, we had a delicious potluck with Ibu Desak's tasty lasagna.  Then we played a long, very chaotic game of night tag.  Then all of the boys had left and  girl was getting picked up, so only five girls were left, including me.  We had our showers in a bamboo shower.  Then we "went to bed", but we stayed up all night playing video games on friends' iPod Touches.

"We woke up the next morning and we were totally exhausted.  We ate french toast with Nutella.  We happily made Mother's Day cards.  Then with full stomachs we played tag until we had to go."

Making Mother's Day cards

Second floor in the vacant house where the sleepover occurred, aka Party Room

Entrance to the party room

Rae's house

The "It" running to tag Rae

Mother's Day Brunch

After picking up Alexa, we headed to a Mother's Day brunch at an upscale, Western style restaurant called Bridges.  It is on the Western edge of Ubud, on a steep ravine overlooking a river below and just beside a newer car bridge and an older footbridge over the river.

Lynn was drawn to Bridges for this occasion because it was set up as a special fundraiser for Bumi Sehat, the midwifery/maternal care/family health clinic in Nyuh Kuning.  A trio comprising a violinist, a guitar player, and a harmonica player entertained the diners with a selection of old-time Western standards.  The brunch was an enjoyable combination of a tasty Sunday brunch like we'd have back in D.C.  relocated to a beautiful Balinese setting.

Lynn and Charlotte at brunch

View from the restaurant of the river below

Posted by Nat, comments/edits by Lynn, photos by Nat & Lynn