Pemuteran, Bali, Indonesia

This is the Green School in Bali.  It is an impressive place with immense buildings and structures made of bamboo.  Their goal is to create environmental leaders.  The tour was reaffirming of my own work at my school in Vancouver. Many of the same principles are also those we strive for at Grandview/?uuqinak'uuh: think and source locally, grow your own food,  compost (above is a large worm composter - we have smaller sized ones in some classrooms), garden, and connect with nature.  The sad fact about this Green school is that about only 9% of the students are Balinese, the rest are international students.

An intergral part of Balinese culture is growing rice.  Above is a mud pit that the students and staff of the Green School get into and get covered in mud.  It is part ritual, representing the preparation of the rice paddies, and part PE.  What fun that would be!

Here are Emma and her new friend Mei-Mei after their first experience going underwater with scuba gear. The resort offered a "free" trial in their scuba training pool which Emma really wanted to do. Of course they loved it, which led to their 'discover scuba lesson' the following day in the bay with a coral reef (which you can see behind them in the photo and below). They reached a depth of 8 meters during that dive. The resort owner was instrumental in starting an award winning Eco-tourism project in the area. Using solar panels, wind-turbines, etc they have used small amounts of electricity to recharge the coral reef in the bay, thus bringing it back to life after years of bleaching. Best of all, you can snorkel and dive this reef directly from the beach. This same day, Steve was off to nearby Manganan Island for his own scuba dive.

Keith, Emma and Mei-Mei enjoying a swim in the resort pool. The resort, Taman Sari Bali, which means "beautiful garden" was nestled between the Bali Sea and the incredibly lush green mountains directly behind us. Our resort on the north coast of Bali was the nicest place during our entire trip (to coincide with Valentines's Day!) The atmosphere was very relaxing, with a delicious breakfast in the beachside restaurant each morning to start our day. The gentle, peaceful nature of the Balinese people was evident at this top notch resort which had many local cats and dogs wandering about, occasionally coming up for a scratch or a cuddle. Needless to say, Emma made many friends. 

Speaking of new friends, Emma's connection with Mei-Mei was the catalyst for meeting her parents, Monika and Jan, a fascinating, artistic couple from Holland. We enjoyed a gorgeous meal at their Bali home, and Emma loved having a friend her own age around for a few days. She even went over for a couple of play dates and swims in their pool! Hopefully we can meet up again someday, either in Vancouver or Holland. 

MONKEYS!!

This is me feeding the MONKEYS on the side of the road. I thought that they were cute and cuddly but they were grabby.

I got bananas to feed the monkeys from a lady.  That was her job for a living.  If I was doing that job, I would eat my profits.