Sunday, September 30, 2007

singapore arrival

we arrived safely in singapore last night. what a city! highrises all over the place and food stalls every step of the way. we're staying in a $80 a night hostel in the city until we can find a more affordabe place to live. hopefully, we will find that place tomorow. for today, we are exploring and havig a blast. right now, we are at the sciene museum which has a water area that ez is about to strip down and enjoy. we rode the subway out here; her first time on an underground subway. in perth, aus we rode the above ground mass transit rail all the time. she seems to remember those rides well b/c as soon as we stepped onto the subway today, she said, "australia, perth!". next, we are headed to the chinese and japanese gardens then the bird park. all should be within walking sdistance or at least a short bus ride. the mass transit here is awesome and accesible; we bought ez-ride cards this morning that can be used with a quick scn on the MRT (aka subway) or the buses. some buses are double deckers and e already wants to ride them. a and i keep talking about public transport and how we have to live in a place where we an easily use it all the time. in addition to vounteering and haing a fabulous time exporing cities, we talk a lot about our life upon return to nc. what we love about it (mainly, how great our friends are and how yummy the food is) and how we would like to change a few things about our lifestyle. since i am blogging from the "icafe' within the science museum, i better move on for now! we're taking lots of great pictures and thinkng of the fun we had at the Durham Museum of Life and Science on LLL's 50th anniv party and with our co-family. We look forward to more of those days in the future!

Friday, September 28, 2007

welcome to bali, krispy kreme and kings of leon!

mango raspberry icee. check out the glee on e's face. we ate burritos and chips with gauc and salsa, too. so yummy.
slinging papa on the beach with his babe
having lived in winston-salem, north cack, i am familiar with the birth story of krispy kreme doughnuts. our first year married, a and i lived within a short walk to a store and actually met with some people there every sunday for a sort of alternative sunday school we started out of our church. yeah, we had lots of krispy kreme love. my last visit to that same location will probably be my last visit ever, unfortunately as the ingredient list includes eggs and milk. it would be torture for me to meet you for coffee; i would be trying to lick the air probably and that would certainly distract you from whatever you were trying to share with me. so, i just dream about their food and eat it in my sleep. the night before last, i dreampt that i went to krispy kreme and ate a doughnut. i woke up remembering it. being in indonesia, no harm was done b/c certainly there are no stores here to actually tempt me. in a small town near our village, there is a dunkin donuts though! after our fun day at waterbom, we walked out to the road to take a picture of some sad sights. Along the street was an "A & W" as well as a "KFC". Somehow, we had missed seeing Starbucks that morning. Additionally, we had missed seeing Pizza Hut and KRISPY KREME! We about fell out in the middle of the road. What was it doing here in Bali? Especially, after i had dreams of their soft doughy delight just hours earlier! I think they were closed; we didn't climb the stairs to go inside. A has a family friend living here in kuta now, who grew up the next town over from Winston; I wonder if he has discovered KK, yet?

the other much cooler familiarity for us happened two days ago. while getting ready for the pool in our hotel room, we hear some loud music outside our window. sounds familiar. "a, do you hear that? omg, it's kings of leon!" we have spent so many hours of our life together listening to them. one record came out soon after e was born so her first month or two of life involved lots of living room dancing to kings of leon! a says we should post on their myspace page that they have crossed into a small beach town in asia.

we're flying to singapore later this afternoon. it's a pretty short flight compared to our original flight from the usa to austrlia that ended up taking 3 days with layovers and delays! we're really excited to explore singapore and to stay in little india. we're not sure how long we will be there. it depends on what opportunities i have to volunteer, mainly.

i will try to hook up with the local La Leche League. Also, there is a doula group that i e-mailed to volunteer for but haven't heard back, yet. I did exchange a few e-mails with some MDC singapore mamas and one other doula/hypnobabies instructor.

Pray that we have safe travel and that ez is content. we had so much fun yesterday; she stayed busy playing in the water the entire day. after a morning fuel at 5am, she didn't even nurse until later that evening when she woke up in a thai restaurant. sitting in my lap on a plane, i am certain she will make up for the lack of yesterday's nursing, no doubt! how thankful i am to be able to soothe her ears as we take off and land.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

waterbom

this morning, we are off to a waterpark called "waterbom" which i think would be spelled "waterboom" in the states. we are excited to float down the lazy river. ez has become quite a little fish. she can even handle going under water every once in a while. she lies across our arms and kicks her legs while squealing, "i'm swimming!"

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

the house cont... and the village

monkey forest monkey family
chickies
the birth center where i caught my first babe!
e's best friend's house. it's really her "family compound" where her extended family lives, on her dad's side. there are lots of beautiful singing birds that they care for.
walking away from our house to the road where the birth center is located
our house from the road. the top deck area is really a temple and we were scolded for putting anything near it or on the wall beside it. it was okay for ez to play in it though. maybe she grew spiritually from it. it definitely increased our spiritual awareness.

house pics

from inside looking out
close up of the backyard Buddha
our backyard Buddha
the rice patty view from our top deck
welcome to bali, indonesia! this is the airport. can you believe all the intricate details? there were fish swimming everywhere, too.

that super speedy internet connection has been found!!! sooner than we dreamed possible. we're sitting poolside at a hotel eating lunch after swimming all morning. how do i do a two month photo update without overwhelming you all (or myself?). Bear with me as i bombard you all with a photo journal recap of our last two months on the wonderful island of bali. let's do some house pictures, first. we live in a two story house near rice patties in a small village. we share fences and trees with our neighbors. the owner of the house is an art professor. a woman comes everyday to make offerings in many places throughout the grounds, inside the house and for the upstairs temple. there are two small ponds with fish (a mama had many babies), lots of night croaking frogs, tons of geckos and a few large geckos that pee down the wall.

Monday, September 24, 2007

3 quick things

Three incredible things:

1. I caught my first babe yesterday morning under the loving guidance of Robin Lim! My heart is full of joy and thankfulness.

2. We are leaving for the beach in south Bali in about an hour for four days of relaxing fun. E's best friend is joining us tomorrow for the water park and a slumber party. They are as close as sisters, it seems so send her thoughts of easy separation as they have to say goodbye. We'll certainly weep and hug all over her parents. Good friends are coming down tonight and we are stoked to hang with them! Another cry fest will certainly happen as we say good bye to them. i cannot really think about it all. yesterday's farewells were hard enough.



3. We fly to Singapore on Saturday. We are stoked to enjoy this city, uhm, I mean country, uh...both! And island! We plan to stay in Little India, eat our weight in dahl mahkni and visit the local La Leche League meeting. We hope to gain some insight on where we should go after Singapore. We plan to stay something like 2 weeks to 3 months depending on how involved I can be in the birth scene there. There are no homebirth midwives to be heard of but the hospital OBs attend homebirths or you can have a water birth in the hospital. I am so curious to see and read and talk about the women's options in the childbearing year.

If we have a decent internet connection, I will upload so many pictures that you will get sick of seeing our life. I am really excited to share photos of our time here with you all. See you after the beach and our flight to Singapore! Think safe travel prayers for us, please!

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Another Birth with Ez

Tonight was my official night at the birth center. I am still on call for births but it was the last time i will attend pre-natal visits. The whole night, I kept thinking that it is the last time I will see most of the mamas. Unless they give birth in the next 48 hours or so, I will not see them, again and they will go on to have children at bumi sehat and i will certainly not be there. Each belly that i touched seemed all the more special b/c i don't know when i will get to do that, again. Perhaps in Singapore I will have the opportunity to doula for mamas but i doubt that i will have one mom after another coming in for a checkup. I have had a lot of fun laughing with the moms as their babes moved and squirmed under my hands. Tonight, as soon as we finished with our last client, a women in labor was ready to have her fourth baby. One midwife went in to check on her whiel the rest of us were in the other room. She walked in and said, "A baby is about to be born." with a rather shocked look on her face as this baby seemed to be coming quickly. So, the other midwife and i followed her. Then, toddler ez followed us into the room. This was the second birth she has attended with me at the birth center. She just watches and asks me to nurse her. It was a beautiful gentle birth!

We are off to Singapore in one week from today!

Friday, September 21, 2007

A Few Reflections on Life in Nyuh Kuning Village

when we were walking down the street yesterday, i commented to hubs about how things that happen here are just so rad sometimes and they would never happen in our homecity. here are a few examples of the things i love about where we live right now.

1. A friend and I went to the tailor so i could pick out fabrics to have some clothes made. The friend (and the tailor) liked the skirt i was wearing so much that they asked me to leave it there. "What will I wear home?" Oh, any of the sample clothes that you like. So, I left my skirt there with them to copy and walked back to the birth center wearing a different skirt than the one i left in merely an hour earlier. Everyone laughed when I got back to work.

2. Hubs says, "I'm gonna go see W and take him some music." I reply with, "I don't think he is home." Immediately, we hear W playing his banjo from across the rice patty!

3. Toddler E wants to walk to Monkey Forest and she really wants her best friend, A to join us. A's grandad sees us walking near their house on the way to Monkey Forest and ushers E into the family compound; A is sleeping though. E cries loudly when she understands this. A stumbles out of her room, ready to go after a quick pee. We all head out to Monkey Forest together. We had a lovely time together.

4. Hubs and I scheduled full body massages at a sweet spa just down the road..but then I fell down the rock stairs and my body is all bruised and scratched. So, we switched our massages to just head massages that also involved lots of hair cream under a steamer. We got to wear robes while they shampooed our hair, rubbed our necks, heads and shoulders and arms. Then lots of cream that looked like really think yellow pudding. We sat under dryers that only emitted steam. Soft, relaxing music played, incense burned and no one spoke. Then, they rinsed our hair and massaged it more. Lastly, a conditioning oil was applied to our scapls and combed through our hair, turning hubs into a Miami Vice cast member complete with his floral kimono. They brought us hot lemon tea with plum sugar and a cookie then headed to the corner where they spoke to each other quietly. We were so calmed by this brief get away. As we were finishing up our time, our two attendants asked where toddler e was. She was with us when we booked the massage originally. We told them that she was playing with her best friend and her best friend's parents were hanging out at our house with them. They then asked, "Why didn't you bring her with you?" They were inviting a 22 month old toddler to come to a massage at a spa! Can you imagine?

5. The last one leads to the thing we probably love most about Bali. People care for children here. They respect them, hold them and trust them. Adults are with children all the time but not overbearing or interfering. We have been told more than twice that child abuse is unheard of here. Gentle births, respect for the placenta and breastfeeding are expected...not alternatives. This way that life begins is continued on for toddlers and is so evident in the contentment, curiosity and joy of the children. Certainly, we are foreigners observing but some things are just undeniably clear. Children are people here.

A Few Reflections on Life in Nyuh Kuning Village

when we were walking down the street yesterday, i commented to hubs about how things that happen here are just so rad sometimes and they would never happen in our homecity. here are a few examples of the things i love about where we live right now.

1. A friend and I went to the tailor so i could pick out fabrics to have some clothes made. The friend (and the tailor) liked the skirt i was wearing so much that they asked me to leave it there. "What will I wear home?" Oh, any of the sample clothes that you like. So, I left my skirt there with them to copy and walked back to the birth center wearing a different skirt than the one i left in merely an hour earlier. Everyone laughed when I got back to work.

2. Hubs says, "I'm gonna go see W and take him some music." I reply with, "I don't think he is home." Immediately, we hear W playing his banjo from across the rice patty!

3. Toddler E wants to walk to Monkey Forest and she really wants her best friend, A to join us. A's grandad sees us walking near their house on the way to Monkey Forest and ushers E into the family compound; A is sleeping though. E cries loudly when she understands this. A stumbles out of her room, ready to go after a quick pee. We all head out to Monkey Forest together. We had a lovely time together.

4. Hubs and I scheduled full body massages at a sweet spa just down the road..but then I fell down the rock stairs and my body is all bruised and scratched. So, we switched our massages to just head massages that also involved lots of hair cream under a steamer. We got to wear robes while they shampoo'ed our hair, rubbed our necks, heads and shoulders and arms. Then lots of cream that looked like really think yellow pudding. We sat under dryers that only emitted steam. Soft, relaxing music played, incense burned and no one spoke. Then, they rinsed our hair and massaged it more. Lastly, a conditioning oil was applied to our scapls and combed through our hair, turning hubs into a Miami Vice cast member complete with his floral kimono. They brought us hot lemon tea with plum sugar and a cookie then headed to the corner where they spoke to each other quietly. We were so calmed by this brief get away. As we were finishing up our time, our two attendants asked where toddler e was. She was with us when we booked the massage originally. We told them that she was playing with her best friend and her best friend's parents were hanging out at our house with them. They then asked, "Why didn't you bring her with you?" They were inviting a 22 month old toddler to come to a massage at a spa! Can you imagine?

5. The last one leads to the thing we probably love most about Bali. People care for children here. They respect them, hold them and trust them. Adults are with children all the time but not overbearing or interfering. We have been told more than twice that child abuse is unheard of here. Gentle births, respect for the placenta and breastfeeding are necessary...not alternatives. This way that life begins is continued on for toddlers and is so evident in the contentment, curiosity and joy of the children. Certainly, we are foreigners observing but some things are just undeniably clear. Children are people here.

Friday, September 14, 2007

amed and sidemen

we spent the week traveling the beautiful island of bali. after working so much for the past five weeks, it was really nice to relax by a pool and not be on call at any moment. we could not have picked a better spot than ahmed where our hotel pool looked over the ocean. i took nancy's advice and worked on my tan; the last time we talked on skype, she commented that i was looking too pale and needed to get a tan. so, i have one now as she saw last night! i am greatly enjoyed getting it this week!

we also met up with some friend in sidemen (pronounced like cedarmen but without the r) at a retreat center for great veg food, swimming in a river by the largest mountain in bali and laughter, laughter, laughter. we watched the sunrise and sunset as often as we could either over the ocean or over the mountain. we felt like fish after all the great times we spent in water this week.

ez worked on catching a cold and is now wiping snot on my shirt when she lets up on nursing long enough for me to wear one. this is making me feel pretty overwhelmed right now and i would appreciate some good mama thoughts b/c i am not having many myself. shame on me.

in birth center news, i have attended about 15 births now. the day before i left, i got to attend two births and one was very special. i have gotten to know the parents via prenatal visits and spent over 12 hour with them in labor doing all kinds of fun stuff like moxibustion and calling in the chiro to give her (and her mil) an adjustment at 8 cm. there was a part going on in the afternoon at the clinic so there was lots of really yummy veg food, all the volunteers and staff and their fams, some priests and dr. spock's wife, of all people. ez grabbed her backpack, then informed me she was going to her best friend's house and kissed me goodbye. i felt a bit like it was first day at preschool or something else equally weird (clearly for me, not her!) where she was independent before age two. (and, yeah, now i am struggling with her being a bit too attached...where is the balance?) the birth was beautiful and so many funny things happened as well as heart tugging beauty like a dad and mom singing into their first born's ear. yep, i was crying. it was a great last birth before heading out into the wonderful world of bali.