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And the Earth May Shake and the Seas May Be Screaming – #16

hello from beautiful albeit slightly shaking (and shaken) bali my dear friends!

the european summer passed by really quickly. in the midst of all complains, joys, sorrows, chaos and fun i realised how lucky i am to be a part of both worlds – spectacularly intense bali and more subdued yet funny europe. it takes a lot of energy to live two lives (as my many expat friends can – wherever they happen to live – surely testify!) but ultimately it feels very enriching. and enchanting (-; thank you all for being part of my many worlds!!!

just before leaving prague i’ve out of the blue committed myself to a year-long study of the dark corners of human soul (considering my family history i certainly have a lot of experience in that respect) so probably will be coming ‘home’ a bit more often in the following 12 months. tell me if you want to hang out. and i can practice on you (-;

we left behind hot and dry europe and 4 star wars later landed in my 4th home. bali here we come.

back to normal (-;

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Between 2 Worlds – #15

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
dom in bali – credits to Ken Kochey
dom in prague (-;

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???

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Around Bali – #14

hello again from bali!

what’s new? it’s super super hot and no rain at all for a change, two kinds of termites arrived to munch on our house, it looks like the lice never left us and there was a small volcanic eruption few days ago.. i think that’s pretty much it!

(not) thinking about the meaning of life (-;


i feel like everybody was here in the last couple of weeks so maybe i don’t need to write anything? never-ending stream of visitors, friends, distant family members, friends of friends.. the island is full of tourists again, perhaps time to get out for a while. all this social life is killing me and recently i found myself going to bed at 8 pm.. pure exhaustion! anyway lovely to see you all (-; who’s next? if any of you are considering a move to an exotic location.. beware!!!

for those of you who are thinking of coming here and not sure where exactly to go, here are a few insights on travel (and of course a gross generalisation and entirely my opinion). distance of 30 km means nothing in europe. you can’t say the same in bali – the roads are narrow and were built when no one could have imagined the amount of traffic that is around today. people always go somewhere, ceremonies block the roads daily. that makes 2 most popular (from the green school parent perspective as the school is directly in the middle) towns in bali – ubud and canggu – seem to be much further from each other.

canggu beaches

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Exploring and Celebrating – #13

sending love from the magical land to friends far and close (-;
after almost 3 weeks of spring break we have just sent the kids back to school.
everybody was looking forward to it – they are super happy to go back and see friends and i am super happy to have a peaceful morning!!! when thinking about what to do over this long holiday we came to realise that – as we smoothly transitioned from (long long time ago) 2 incomes no kids into no income 2 kids – local holiday is what we (and our wallet) needed! the decision was made and we have explored another of the 17.000 indonesian islands (a job for couple of life times to get trough them all) – magical nusa penida. the place is gorgeous – its (almost) unspoiled nature, especially the beaches, cliffs, ocean, mysterious cave shrines and friendly locals to practice my bahasa indonesia with. some of the tracks were quite deadly – i fancy myself fit but my ass was still hurting 3 days after the first descent down to the beach! the snorkelling was spectacular – turtles, sea snakes, blue starfish and much more.  getting to and from the island (on the public car ferry) was an adventure in its own right! it’s a never ending lesson in letting go of my conception of time, schedules, predictability.. as much as we enjoyed it there i was happy to step on civilised (aka balinese) soil again. i know i’m spoiled but i couldn’t wait to return to my (gecko infested and rather shabby) kitchen to cook my own food.. i even enjoyed it for a couple of days 😉 and to go out to eat some nice ‘clean’ food after a week of rather monotonous and oily nusa penida fare. last three days i was living off coconut biscuits.. so ordered 2 lunches immediately after i disembarked!
Kelingking Beach, Nusa Penida
Nusa Penida Beach Life

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Caught in the Bali Web – #12

my dear friends,

hope you are well. 

life in bali is peaceful and intense at the same time, as usual. dogs bark, pigs go for a walk and it’s durian season. those of you who know durian you don’t need any explanation. if you like it i admire you, as it is described as king of all fruits with a heavenly taste – but – i haven’t managed to try it yet. for those of you who don’t know durian.. what to say? the fruit is either a huge favourite or absolute no-no and the stench is incredible. at the moment you can smell it everywhere – on the streets, in supermarkets, driving down the road (even if your windows are up!!).. it has this weird quality of staying stuck in your nose so you can still smell it when there is no durian around! i guess i’ll have to stay here a bit longer to muster the courage to taste it. at the same time it’s mangosteen and rambutan season and i’m a happy consumer of both. this island is so abundant and there is always so much to try.

on a mission – guess where to. it’s not what you think! photo courtesy of ria mustaquim

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Garbage, Rain and Happiness – #11

hello from the island,

where the rainy season is at its fullest and it rains as i have never experienced it before. the noise is so loud that we don’t hear each other, everything is even damper than usually, washing never seems to dry, roof is leaking and the swimming pool is overflowing. some parts of the island were hit by floods and landslides, my kindle went mouldy (can you imagine that?!?) and i have experienced the rare moment of pure bliss while doing my practice on our porch – under the roof but so close to the raging storm i felt part of it.  i love the rain – not sure if that’s due to 8 years in the desert or because i don’t feel guilty doing nothing while the nature is going wild.. apart from the beauty of the rain we are hit by another yearly ‘natural phenomenon’ – garbage season. i didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when i saw this sign:

Balinese creativity at its worst

as i have said before, the situation is appalling. all the rubbish thrown into the forests, rivers, by the roads.. usually at least semi-hidden from us all is brought to light – and to the ocean – by the torrents of rain. it ends up at the beaches that are no longer beautiful. sad is not a word to describe it. we humans are such a disaster for this planet. Continue reading “Garbage, Rain and Happiness – #11”

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Under the Smoking Volcano – #10

hello dear friends,
greetings from the island of fuming volcano!
at the very beginning of my ‘newsletter’ let me assure you that we are all fine, only a bit more grey hair in my case (or as one of my family members sweetly put it – i look knackered and grew older 🙂  as much as i’m trying to take it easy, it has been kind of rollercoaster-y here in the last few weeks, lot of good things happening as well as some serious ones, so this email is going to be a bit of a mixture!
Party time

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Never a Dull Moment – #9

dear friends,
my last update was sent when we just landed back in bali after summer holidays in europe. here we are, 2 months older and wiser (and better looking of course!) – a few things have happened since and are still happening.
have a read or scroll for pics!
we enjoyed our ‘old’ house for the last couple of weeks, making the best of our time there. puppies managed to kill their first and let’s hope last prey (poor chick..), lola went white-water rafting to celebrate her buddy’s birthday, dan enjoyed his new hobby –  dirt motorbiking..
Midlife crisis (-:

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Back to Bali – #8

hi friends,

hope you are all well. here i am after couple of silent months with my “little update”. read on or just look at some pics.
we spent our last weeks in bali (may and june) searching for a new house.
last year dan had rented first house he saw – so we were not entirely prepared for the pitfalls of looking for a new place to stay in this particular country. endless hours looking trough various housing web pages, Facebook housing , talking to friends and friends of friends who knew someone whose second cousin was renting his wife place.. ((-; maybe not so much different than looking for a house elsewhere. the string of house visits was a bit exhausting – never entirely sure whether the person was going to show up, whether a place described as “a peaceful haven in the middle of nature” would have a huge construction site on the very edge of property or a hungry python living in the basement, whether (after you look around and really like the place ) they’ll inform you – NO DOGS – even if you told them beforehand you have got 2.. it was also inspiring as we met some cool people we wouldn’t otherwise came across – like Mr. Lawrence Blair who was quite incredible https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Blair , if you are into documentaries and would like to see what Indonesia looked like couple of decades ago, check his series Ring of Fire – http://www.indonesianodyssey.co.uk definitely worth watching!
after much searching we finally found what we wanted, agreed on terms with (what seemed to be) our nice new landlord and really felt relieved that the search was over. lulled into complacency we really didn’t expect (silly us..) a call 2 weeks later, informing us that he changed his mind.. no reason given. hm. not to bore you – we managed to find another cool house later and are supposed to move in September. will let you know how that goes ((-;

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Bali Bali Bali – #7

good morning dear friends,

recently not much was happening in the calm waters of bali life apart from the usual shockers – like a coconut tree (i’m saying tree, not coconut!!!) falling on our roof and a snake in our bathroom brought in and RELEASED, STILL ALIVE by our cat while i was peacefully brushing my teeth. these things feel kind of ordinary by now (-;

Falling on our heads..

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