hi everyone,
it’s been a while since my last blog and i’m kind of wondering whether to write at all in my current moaning state (-;
but let’s start with something positive! may and june where pretty good. there were so many events at school that at some point i actually felt like i was living there.. i think most parents can attest to this end of year frenzy. i was especially intrigued by the final project of the green school middle school (including dominik) – the so called quest. kids are engaged in a project of their own choice for couple of months and finally at the end of the year (and their middle school life) they present it in a TED talk style. i was absolutely amazed by the whole grade 8 class and their presentations – and especially by 4 local kids who were invited to join the project and did it with a great aplomb. the topics where super interesting, ranging from ecological/sustainability projects (like making surf fins from rubbish, creating non-toxic eraser from natural rubber etc) to deeply personal quests (how to deal with the death of your parent, self-hate etc) and the deliverance astonishing. dominik dedicated the project to his love of books – if your kids are interested in books and would like some recommendations you can check out his website: Wonders of Reading
the ceremony to finish the middle school was very moving and definitely one of the reasons i love green school – listening to khalil gibrain’s on children didn’t leave one eye dry! a little reminder if you haven’t read the prophet for a while..
and high school life here we come.. can’t believe i have a kid that goes to high school! can i feel any older than that???
linda had a great end of year with her favourite teachers and her amazing friends. i’m not exactly a ‘children’s person’ (and thus find parenthood rather hard..) and although i like my friends kids i wouldn’t go out of my way to spend my time with them. but linda’s friends.. this year really felt like co-parenting, i must say i love those girls like my own. it helps that i also love their mothers i guess (-: balinese dance is lola’s passion and she was very excited (and scared) to dance at the grade 12 graduation – if you want to see a little bit of bali culture you can check her out – if you manage to recognise her under the layers of make-up!!! Graduation Dance
the end of year also brought super sad goodbyes – i actually don’t remember feeling this heartbroken for really long time – as some of my very favourite people were leaving bali. that’s the expat life as i have known it for many years now – but it doesn’t get any easier. the end of year assembly was so emotionally charged, so beautiful.. many many tears, hugs, promises.. music, singing, speeches.. many sweet and strong memories. and most of all, gratitude for all the amazing time we had a chance to spend together. how lucky am i to know you all.
in the meantime i have also managed a super quick trip to europe on my own – to meet some friends from the past life. i feel if we decide that someone is our priority, we can also find the way to stay in touch and build the relationship – not only reminding each other of our common past but creating the presence. thank you for joining in the effort (-;
as soon as we left bali mt. agung started to erupt again – but so far it looks like the only drama was on the pictures. with the exception of one day the airport remains open.
and now back to the moaning (-;
at the moment i’m in this beautiful city of prague, with its stunning architecture and culture, where lot of my friends and family members live and i seem to be only complaining. i can’t stand the noise, being waken up at 5 am by distant sounds of a tram, an ambulance, a car.. or by drunken guys going home yelling who knows what. how different is this from the sounds of ceremony, birds, frogs, even the dogs? waking up with blocked nose and super dry skin and eyes, constantly pouring litres of oil on myself not to become completely pruned.. my asian kids getting sick from the onslaught of czech bugs that they have actually never been used to. originally looking forward to the traditional goodies they now cannot bear to look at meat or ‘rohlik’- a mysterious czech invention in the realm of baguettes. the family seems to be too interfering (i know i know, that’s their basic role but i become so unaccustomed to anybody telling me what’s good/bad for me that it makes me wanna yell!!) and even the conversations with (some!!) friends seem to suddenly become shallow and insincere. i must admit that general friendliness and efficiency of random people (like waiters etc) is hugely improved but trying to see anything good about the current czech politics (symbolised by the rude drunk that was recently re-elected as a president and by the former secret police agent that just became a prime minister with the help of communist party), intolerance to anyone and anything different or closed minds of many people is beyond my current abilities. the only person who stays irritatingly positive is dan who professes to be able to be happy anywhere. good on him! why do i feel like strangling him i honestly don’t know. especially if he points out to the stacks of books on gratitude that are towering on my shelves!
maybe dan manages to stay happy because he still rides the bike, even when not in bali? he decided to finally legalise his driving and in spite of his instructor yelling constantly: why are you looking left?!? where did you learn to drive? why do you ignore all the traffic signs?!? (kind of hard to explain there are none in bali.. as opposed to over-regulated czech roads!) he has done so in record time.
apart from staying and complaining in prague i also managed a bittersweet (and long overdue) trip to my hometown bratislava – an uncanny mixture of joy and sadness, visits of great friends both alive and dead and also somewhere in the middle of those two worlds. i’m still trying to come to terms with feelings that trip brought back to my consciousness. happy i finally found courage to go though.
and on a bit merrier note i also went to london after many many years. london was great – and it felt like being in india a bit with chanting in the hare krishna temple and countless cups of chai! staying with a dear friend was truly amazing and i also managed to squeeze in couple of meetings with some of the most inspiring women of my life! books could (perhaps should) be written about those talks we had!!!
when i started to write this blog my intention was to talk about the dunbar’s number, friendships and how they sometimes turned out to be something different.. but somehow i didn’t get to it at all, so let’s leave it for another time!
wishing you all a great summer (or winter if you are down under), lots of love,
jarka
xx
Absolutely loved this blog entry Jarka!
I laughed and I cried.
Keep on writing.
Lots of love
Jacqui