When was the last time you cut your grass with a sickle?

The park that I have been doing most of my running at is fairly large. There are probably 12 to 14 soccer fields surrounding a large monument in the center and it's probably about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) around the sidewalk that borders the soccer fields. There are workers, both men and women, there everyday that keep up the maintenance of the park. Since I'm training for a marathon, you can imagine that I run several laps around this park everyday. Unfortunately for me, running on the street is NOT an option so many boring laps around this park it is! As I run, I watch these workers, that I am positive make next to nothing for the job that they do. And it is no small job considering that they cut most of the grass with a sickle. I have seen a push lawnmower, however, even that would prove difficult when keeping up with 12 soccer fields, but apparently it was not working today since I saw several people just chopping away. There are always patches of grass that are longer than others because by the time someone gets done cutting one section by hand another section has already overgrown! They also sweep the sidewalks to clear away the leaves and any garbage with brooms that can hardly even be considered brooms. They are more like bunches of straw tied together. It's amazing what we take for granted back in the States...

Speaking of things we take for granted... I haven't taken a hot or even a luke warm shower for that matter in 2 months, so think about that the next time you scald yourself because you've turned the water on too hot!

Makes me wonder...

I was running at the park the other day as I normally do, the park that makes me feel as though I’m a bit of a celebrity. I’m the only westerner I’ve ever seen at this particular park and as I run my laps, I get several smiles, waves and thumbs up. I even get the occasional person that tries to stop me to shake my hand and have a conversation, only to realize I don’t speak their language. Enough about me and my celebrity though, as I was running this guy took a picture of me as I went past him. It didn’t bother me in the slightest bit but it did make me wonder about how many strangers have pictures of me...


Do you ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? How many moments of other people's lives do you think you have been a bystander in? Have you been in the background of a picture when something eventful was happening or when someone’s dreams were coming true? Just think, you could have witnessed a big part of someone else's life and not even known it…

As you can tell, I have a lot of time time to think on my runs!

Music to set your life to...

So, I have been adding to this playlist on my itunes titled "50 songs to save your life". So far it has exceeded 50 songs but it's not quite to 100 yet. Music is one of the loves of my life. I have always loved hearing new music, reading lyrics and making meaning out of those lyrics. It might be cliche but I really believe that music can save your life, or it can mine anyway. For me, one song can change my mood in an instant. Whether it's a song that just makes me smile, a song that has deep meaning to me or a song that makes me think of some significant memory. It's no wonder that I started creating this playlist when I got to Bali; I needed something to make me smile and something that would remind me of home and great memories!


I have a couple of friends that are going through hard times right now so I wanted to post the list in hopes that there's a song or two that might make them smile or get them through a rough patch. Like I said, some of the songs just make me smile but there is the occasional depressing song (everyone needs one of those every now and then) and maybe even the occasional cheesy song. I would love to explain why every song is on this list but I'm afraid that would end up being an extremely long post, so you'll just have to make up your own meaning as to why I have certain songs on my list!


They are in no particular order (except for #1, that one always remains at the top) and the list is never complete... Enjoy!

1. Imagine - John Lennon          
2. Return to Innocence - Enigma                                  
3. These are Days - 10,000 Maniacs                           
4. Into the Mystic - Van Morrison                               
5. Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez                                     
6. Talkin about a Revolution - Tracy Chapman            
7. Dare you to Move - Switchfoot                              
8. Inside of Love - Nada Surf                                     
9. Just Say Yes - Snow Patrol                                    
10. These Days - Gregg Allman                                  
11. Queen of Hearts - Gregg Allman                           
12. Detours - Sheryl Crow                                         
13. I Shall Believe - Sheryl Crow                                
14. My Favorite Mistake - Sheryl Crow                     
15. Forever my Friend - Ray LaMontagne                  
16. True Colors - Phil Collins                                     
17. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony                      
18. Harvest Moon - Neil Young                                 
19. Hell on Heels - Pistol Annies                                
20. Lightning Crashes - Live                                      
21. Good Life - One Republic                                   
22. One - U2 and Mary J. Blidge                              
23. Untold - Pete Francis                                          
24. Kind and Generous - Natalie Merchant               
25. Yellow Ledbetter - Pearl Jam                              
26. Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Sarah McLachlan    
27. Hold On - Sarah McLachlan                               
28. New Strings - Miranda Lambert                          
29. Brandy (You're a fine Girl) - Looking Glass         
30. You Got It- Bonnie Raitt                                     
31. Can't You See - Marshall Tucker Band
32. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins
33. September - Earth Wind & Fire
34. A Long December - Counting Crows
35. A Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum
36. Sara Smile - Daryl Hall & John Oats
37. Lean on Me - Bill Withers
38. She Said - Collective Soul
39. Say Goodbye - Dave Matthews Band
40. #41 - Dave Matthews Band
41. Have You Ever - Brandi Carlile
42. Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love - Coldplay
43. Hard Sun - Eddie Vedder
44. Babylon - David Gray
45. Please Forgive Me - David Gray
46. Streets of Philedelphia - Bruce Springsteen
47. My Hometown - Bruce Springsteen
48. Walf of Life - Dire Straights
49. Pictures of You - The Cure
50. Close to Me - The Cure
51. Your Song - Elton John
52. Bennie & The Jets - Elton John
53. Heart of Life - John Mayer
54. Keep Breathing - Ingrid Michaelson
55. Can't Help Falling in Love - Ingrid Michaelson
56. Count on Me - Jefferson Starship
57. Peaceful Easy Feeling - The Eagles
58. Gypsy - Fleetwood Mac
59. You are so Beautiful - Joe Cocker
60. Don't Give Up - Kate Bush & Peter Gabriel
61. Hardliners - Holcombe Waller
62. Only God Knows Why - Kid Rock
63. Non-Believer - La Rocca
64. Doctor My Eyes - Jackson Browne
65. The Trouble With Love Is - Kelly Clarkson
66. What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong
67. Young Americans - David Bowie

The simple things...

As you might imagine, life is pretty simple in Bali and if you know me pretty well you know that most of the time it's the simple things that make up the "highs" of my day. My family plays this game at the dinner table where we say the best and worst parts of our day and who we helped. A few days before I left for Bali, we played the game as usual. My high that day had been when I was driving down A1A at about 8am with the windows rolled down and the song "Doctor my eyes" by Jackson Browne came on. Great song and great simple moment. Today I had a very similar moment. I was driving back from a run at the park with my windows rolled down (I always have the windows rolled down on my scooter) and "Gypsy" by Fleetwood Mac came on. Again, great sing and great simple moment! That's when I just smile, take in the smell of Bali's Frangipanis, in between breaths of gasoline and pollution since I live in the city and realize just how lucky I am to be here...

Searching for Christmas...

Here are the 12 items that were on my "12 days of Christmas" list:

1. Christmas Tree Ornament

2. Christmas Tree

3. A Candy Cane

4. A Cup of Hot Chocolate (Whip cream optional)

5. Red, White and Green Sarong

6. Red, White and Green Beaded Wallet

7. Beaded Flip-flops that have Silvery Snow Flakes

8. Another Christmas Tree Ornament

9. Santa Claus

10. A Decorated Scooter

11. Tell 3 people that didn't know the story "The Night Before Christmas", the story

12. 4 Screaming Boys (just to make me feel at home)

And here is what I came up with...

If you click on the picture it gets a little bit bigger.

I had a ton of fun completing my mission! I know the pictures are small but unfortunately, the internet is painfully slow in these parts and uploading 12 different pictures would have taken 17 days...

The first picture is one of the two ornaments. Then we have a group of Christmas trees taken outside of an Ace Hardware, there's an Ace Hardware in Bali? Could that mean a possible Walmart somewhere on the island? The next item is the candy cane. And of course it wouldn't be Christmas without a Starbucks hot chocolate, except that it's a cafe latte that I had the guy put whip cream on top of to make it look like Hot Chocolate. Let's face it, and a certain family member of mine might disown me for saying this but, I'm just not a huge fan of hot chocolate and if I'm going to pay 3 times what I pay for a meal in Bali for a cup of hot chocolate that I'm not even going to drink then I've gone crazy. To those that are judging scavenger hunt completion... Hot Chocolate was on the menu! Next is the red, white and green sarong, which was not an easy find and is also more of a cream/off white color but Christmasy nonetheless. Then, jump to the red, white and green beaded wallet that is indeed shaped like a watermelon. (Watermelons are making a comeback as the traditional Christmas holiday fruit.) Next is the silvery snow flake flip flop, also a hard item to find. Then the second Christmas Tree ornament. And wait, what was that noise? Oh, that's right it's Sissy Santa Claus! I had the most fun with this one... The hat consists of a red towel and a white towel, Tom and Michelle (my new friends that I met over the weekend) helped fashion a white beard and eyebrows using Tom's shaving cream. I'm wearing a green sarong and my embroidered Christmas pajamas that only cost upwards of $500 to have shipped to me! Next is a scooter that I decorated myself, that one was just not going to be found! Then, interestingly enough, I chose an audience of mostly Indonesians that don't understand a single word of English to tell the story of "the Night before Christmas". I had an interpreter that interpreted as best she could. Have you read "the Night before Christmas" recently? It's in Old English and hardly makes any sense even to me! Lastly and probably my favorite picture is of 4 screaming boys. They aren't actually screaming in the picture but they definitely were before I took the picture. We were sitting outside having lunch and we kept hearing laughing and screaming and I thought, this could be the picture for the last item on my list. So I went to the sea wall and sure enough,  there were 4 boys wrestling around with each other in their underwear, jumping in and out of the water. All I had to do was go over with my camera and they immediately came over to me wanting to get their picture taken. Kids in Bali really love having their pictures taken. If you look closely, with your magnifying glass, the kid on the left is flipping me off, which is just perfectly fitting to remind me of the boys that I miss so much at home!  

Christmas Bali Style...

To keep me from missing home too much and to keep things fun and light, I was sent on a "12 days of Christmas" scavenger hunt. As I am sure most of you know, Christmas is not observed as a major holiday here in Bali. However, as the island becomes more westernized with all of the ex patriots now residing here, Christmas has become a little more well known.

So, before I share about my scavenger hunt adventures, here is a blip about how I spent my Christmas... As I wrote in my last post, I went to the north part of Bali. I stayed at a Sanctuary/Hotel, much more of a sanctuary than a hotel. Other than myself, there were 3 other guests. There are only 5 rooms available to stay in, hence more of a sanctuary. It is more along the lines of being invited into the owner's home and she does in fact live there. We had a formal dinner on Christmas Eve and all of the staff were invited to join us. After dinner, we sat around while Tom, one of the other guests and Ketut, a staff member played an African drum and the guitar. Tom taught us a few traditional African dances and Ketut sang American music and Christmas songs even though he is only just beginning to learn English. Although I was missing home and being with my family and having to fight back a few tears, it was a Christmas that I will never forget. I fully enjoyed the simpleness of the whole night as well as the people that I spent it with.

Life just slowed down for a minute...

It's interesting how even in a third world country you can still get the feel of the big city. Personally, I'm more of a wide open spaces kind of person. (Yes, that was a Dixie Chicks reference) I am currently living in Denpasar, which has that "city" feel and while it's not exactly a city like we would imagine one, (the tallest building I've seen is 4 or 5 stories) there is still that fast paced, people are more worried about getting to where they need to be feel to it. Then, drive about 40 minutes north and life slows down. Look to your left, look to your right and all you see are lush green rice fields. To me it's like going from Florida to New Hampshire.

Then, drive even further north up around the mountain/volcano area and life slows down even more. Another weekend adventure, to the most northern part of Bali and out of the hustle and bustle of Denpasar!

And the ride there... Well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm not a person that gets motion sickness! (I typed this all on my phone on the way there by the way)

Go up, go down, hear a horn beep, almost run into two girls on a scooter, turn left, turn right, run over a pot hole, ears just popped, another horn, another pot hole, swerve around a scooter, water bottle just popped, make not a 3 point turn but probably a 7 point turn due to a ceremony blocking the street, almost ran over a dog, another pot hole swerve around another scooter and now we only have an hour left of this drive...