Into our sixth week we go - having gained enough footing to raise our eyes from the path beneath our feet, we’ve begun to take in the lay of the land. It has been a fascinating couple of weeks here in the Nyuh Kuning neighborhood.
It has gotten significantly hotter in the last few days in preparation for the start of the rainy season. We have to remind ourselves that in a month or so we might be longing for these sunny though stiflingly-hot days. The neighborhood is atwitter with the filming of Eat, Pray, Love in Ubud. Taxi drivers casually mention sightings of Julia Roberts, and a dozen of our friends were cast as extras in the last few weeks. It has been an interesting point of reflection – what will this movie mean for Nyuh Kuning? For greater Ubud? For Bali? It is a swirling contemplation. It is amazing the amount of scandal and intrigue one woman’s reflections have stirred. I wonder if her wildest imaginings could have captured this scene…
Dan’s weeks are filling to the brim with English classes he teaches at the Youth Center, math lessons for the 12 year old daughter of friends of ours from Canada, language classes at the library in town, YBS website upkeep, creating a 3D rendering of the new clinic that is in its beginning stages, and a zillion other bits and pieces. His photo chronicles are growing by the day – we will continue to post samples as they rise to the surface!
I have attended my first handful of births and am absolutely hooked. I have a difficult time imagining not doing this work in some capacity. My heart races every time the phone rings or dings with a text-message. There is a tangible sense of being exactly where we are supposed to be. My new skill-set includes prenatal examinations (in English and Bahasa Indonesia), charting & labor support, using the Doppler to monitor and document fetal heart rhythms, and the like. It will be fascinating to see how this particular aspect of the journey will continue to unfold...