A Day in the Life

Hello. We had a dream that Bali would be nothing but doing yoga and eating well and sleeping and reading in hammocks. Did ya'll know dreams come true? And maybe even more than true? Proof:

7:30 - Emily wakes up, reads in the hammock
9:00 - Jaki wakes up, reads in the hammock
Breakfast happens. It's either oatmeal we make at the bungalow or fruit salad and yogurt from the villas next door.

.....some hours disappear. maybe we go to the beach on our motorbike, maybe we read more and write and talk about dumb things like trying to remember the phrases "motorcade" and "intellectual property law"

sometimes emily has to go on the computer and do homework. but mostly that means typing up pages from her journal. and blogging.

4:00 - we go to yoga for 90 - 105 minutes at the yoga barn. it's really funny. we try not to giggle, but people take this stuff SERIOUSLY. so seriously. we are trying to be zen, and strong, and flexible, but as we watch teachers in training behind us chanting om shanti shanti shanti om while they propel themselves into the air on like three fingertips, it's hard to feel like we are any of those things. also, the place looks like pictures you see of yoga studios that the yoga studios never actually look like. we are in a loft that smells like heaven looking at a statue of ganesha who is covered in plumerias and hybiscus which overlooks rice fields where kids fly kites. and the people there look like the just stepped out of "eat pray love" the movie. so that's yoga. it's nice.

6:00 - dinner, usually at Bali Buddha. It is full of western cuisine, which is kind of the only thing our stomachs can handle at the moment (we might have dysentary, ya'll. don't worry, parents.) But also Bali Buddha is just delicious. Like tomato soup and bagels and things you wouldn't think you'd miss but oh how we've missed.

8:00 - ride on home. up the hill. we have playing cards and fancy cigarettes and invites to bars that should probably be used during this hour, but they haven't yet. we usually read and get snacks and then...

9:00 - bedtime for jaki. reading time for emily. we're not sure why jaki is sleeping so much. it might be a power nap before coming home or it might be her body catching up after a few months of insomnia. or maybe she's just turning into a slug. who knows. so, emily reads and misses jaki's presence. eventually she sleeps too.

Tomorrow, we're taking a "vacation" to the beach for emily's birthday. 21 yall! 2009 best year o my life!

xoxoxo

ya'll

google ubud, bali.

thats the place we'll be for the next 2 weeks. it really looks like that.

Hi Folks,

We made it to Indonesia.

First there was the airport. We didn't really know so many obligatory lines could exist in one building. But they did, and we almost missed our flight, until we found out that our flight was delayed so we had time to get a doughnut. AND right next door to doughnuts was a huge candy shop full of free samples. So, feeling adrenal from the airport sprints and with sugar high from the free samples, we boarded our two hour flight to Jakarta, in airplane with the word AMAZING plastered across it.

Jakarta is pretty much everything you imagine. Hot, crowded, chaotic, essentially the least charming place we've ever been. We pretty much sat in traffic in tuc-tucs and drank iced coffee the whole time we were there. OH and we went to the biggest night club in Jakarta called Stadium, which is what a nightclub at Hogwarts would probably look like. It was magical. Emily wore a yellow onesie. Jaki was actually cute. Then we boarded an economy train to Solo. 12 hours in economy. Any time we told someone where were going there would be a lot of snickering and we could hear the word "economy", so we knew we were in fo something.

[By the way, if you need an ego boost/want to feel like a comic genius, just go to Southeast Asia. The fact that you are white is SO FUNNY. Someone says hello to you, and whether you respond or smile or ignore them, you will be laughed at. This is mostly funny, only sometimes a little obnoxious. Emily would be a really bad celebrity. Jaki might do a little better, she's more tolerant. ]

Back to the train - just getting on this train was the most "oh-yea-i'm-traveling-through-seasia" feeling possible. There were confrences of people trying to get us where we needed to go, jumping from one car to another with our luggage, turning around, jumping off (losing my darling Sigg in the process), and then eventually realizing that we were supposed to be in different cars - but one sweet security man(boy?) made sure we sat together. At first we were pleasently surprised by how empty it was, but by 1 a.m. there were people sitting on every square inch of the train.

We arrived sleepless in Solo with swollen ankles and empty bellies at 8am, and man, has it taken care of us. We are staying in Mama's Homestay, with an overexcited and incomprehensible host, a huge room, and delicious breakfasts and tea. As far as we can tell after a day here, it has a very lively arts scene - with festivals and performances in public squares advertised everywhere. Last night we went to see a wayang-orang (dance-drama) performance. The theatre is attached to an amusment park. I'm talkin bumper cars and rollercoasters and corn on the cob. Can we live here please?

Tomorrow we are going on a bike tour, then going on to Yogakarta before heading to Bali!

We miss and love you all!