A Day at Ganung Batur

Ganung Batur (ganung means mountain in Indonesian) is one of the two volcanos here in Bali, surrounding a vast lake.  On Thursday some of the volunteers from the clinic and I woke up at 2 am to hike up to the top of it and watch the sun rise.  Unfortunately, it was foggy out and so the sun came out secretly behind the clouds, but the view of the valley and the lava flow on the way down made it worth it.

A view of the other volcano from the top of Batur.

All of us girls after the sun has risen.

Warm soaking pools we went to afterwards. Notice: 

"Floathing Sunburn" was the name of that particular 

pool.

Learning About Nyupi

The monkey that tried to steal my sunglasses last week!

When I go to the clinic in the morning, I often hear the sounds of laboring women—gorgeous babies are born there almost every day.  I haven’t learned much about midwifery yet, but it is awesome to be exposed to the powerful energy of life being given freely every day.  So far, the majority of what I have done at the clinic is get to know the office staff, midwives, and acupuncturists, as well as do a few menial odd jobs.  Simply being around the clinic began to pay off on Saturday afternoon, though, during the acupuncture clinic.  There’s really nothing to it, but I learned to take the needles out of the patients as well as apply and light moxa for patients.  Moxa is a ball of mugwort incense that you stick on the end of an acupuncture needle.  When it is lit it smells of incense and heats the needle so that that specific point is warmed up and energy can move in the person.  I don’t what cases it is used to treat yet.

One of the Jayan being built in my village.

I’m catching on to the language quickly, and learning about the culture every day.  There is a festival called Nyupi coming up on the fifth of March, where no one leaves their house for the entire day.  Depending on who you ask, it is either supposed to be a day of meditation with no food or water or a day to stay inside and gamble with the other men in the family.  Regardless, it is a day of silence or at least quiet because even planes can’t land on the island on this day.  Right now, young men all over the island are building these big sculptures of Jayan (which are monsters and evil spirits).  How these are used, I have no idea…probably in some kind of ritualized dance.  However, the idea behind Nyupi is that on the fifth of March these Jayan come into the towns for their yearly visit, and the townspeople are being quiet because they are trying to fool the Jayan into thinking that their town is abandoned.  In the days prior to Nyupi, everyone makes lots of noise with fireworks and the whole shebang.  I’ll have loads of pictures of this festival soon.  Sending love to all of my family and friends.

First Day Here

I’ve most definitely not “landed.”  The idea of the three months ahead crashed over me like the waves from a tsunami, unexpected and seemingly larger than life.  I’m enveloped in the crazy waters, with no intention of swimming back to the shore, where it is safe but dry.  I’m letting the salty waters soak in, burning the soars that I have, but cleansing them.  The waves will push me where they must.

When Hannah, a friend, and I walked off of the plane we were surprised by how tan the departing tourists were.  We’ve landed in a tropical Mecca, where the flight attendants wear hot pink dress suits.  During my hour-long taxi ride, I thought about making my first impression at the clinic.  Of course, when i got there every idea I had about what I was going to do upon arrival was lost.  I have a large place with a sink and a fridge all to myself.  I appreciate the space I have to spend some time by myself.  Last night I slept with the sounds of an incessantly barking dog, a rooster that doesn’t have a sense of time, and torrential rains.  This morning I walked back to the clinic and another volunteer, Toba, swept me off and showed me the sacred monkey forest, downtown Ubud (where part of Eat Pray Love was filmed), and a yummy restaurant.  At the monkey forest, the monkeys are so cute.  I shook a little monkey’s hand and he climbed up my arm and tried to steal my sunglasses.  Then an alpha male almost pulled my skirt off.  I love this wild life.