Home Sweet Bali

After three plane rides and as many layovers I arrived in Bali late last night.

Before I left to go to India in February, I’d arranged for Wayan to pick me up when I returned in late March. Because I wasn’t able to call him from India to confirm I wondered if he’d remember and be there to pick me up from the airport 5 weeks later?

When I walked out the airport door I scanned the hundreds of taxi drivers and there he was!

He was smiling from ear to ear and wearing that familiar shirt that reads: Cultivate Interest and Curiosity. I was so filled with emotion to see my dear friend again that I could barely walk over to meet him.

For a minute I simply stopped in the midst of the flow of travelers departing the airport. I stared at him and he stared at me and we both smiled at each other and laughed. I’m sure I squealed a bit. I do that when I’m really happy to see someone.

Then I walked over to him and we shook hands and then he enveloped me in a big hug. Balinese people don’t hug (we didn’t even hug when I left for India) and I was touched that he would use my own greeting on me.

“I missed you, Kristeen!”

“Really???! You missed me?”

“Yes, I miss you. I think about you. Actually I think about your feet so much too. How are your feet? Do you have the blisters still?” he asks, looking down at my flip flops.

“Well, they come and go but right now I’m fabulous! I’m in Bali!”

“Yes, you in Bali. Welcome. Bali welcomes you. I welcome you.”

“Thanks Wayan.”

We walk to his taxi.

“Wayan! You got a new taxi!” I say looking at his new ‘old’ van.

“Yes, I need the air-con for the tourist. They no like to ride with me if I no have the air-con.”

“Yay! You have air-con!” I’m remembering the sweaty, sweaty tours of Bali in February and I’m imagining the relaxing drives we will go on in the cool comfort of his new vehicle. “The seats are super comfy too. This is a good car.”

“Thank you, Kristeen. I still paying for it, but thank you,” he gets serious and turns to me. “Your eyes very clear, Kristeen. You look good. Real good. Your eyes very clear. India was good?”

“Oh Wayan, India was intense. Bali feels like fresh air and flowers and easy and like home compared to India. Sheesh. I’ll tell you all about it later and I’ll show you pictures,” I say. “How are you Wayan? It is so good to see you, my friend!”

“I’m good. I miss you though, Kristeen. When I’m going to bed at night I not think about your face for some reason. I think about your feet. Your feet! Why I thinking about your feet of all the things? Your feet are right there in front of me before I go to sleep. I remember the foot massage I gave you and I wonder if your feet okay with the blisters and then I say ‘Go away Kristeen’s feet! I have to sleep!'”

Oh my God, this man! Can he get any more adorable??????!!!!!

I think not.

But then he does when he says this:

“Kristeen, I thinking about the first night we met. I like you right away. We talk so much, there is much to say. Like we know each other for so long but only just meeting that night. And I think about how, that first night you seem so sad but then I tell you joke and I see the exhibition of teeth.”

“The exhibition of teeth?!” I ask.

“Yes, you smile when I tell joke that first night,” he points to his pearly whites under his wide smile, “and I see the exhibition of teeth and I know you not sad. I happy you not sad.“

I laugh hysterically.

“I’m not laughing at you Wayan, I’m laughing with you but oh my! Your expressions are so cute. I’ve missed them and I’ve missed you.”

We are speeding down the road and I’m happy as a clam. I’m in Bali. My Balinese friend is beside me. I’m unfurling after being in India where I felt like I had to contract and it’s only by being in my beloved Bali that I realize how very much I’ve been contracting the last 5 weeks.

India was an amazing trip. I’m glad I went but you know what? Bali is more me. It really feels like I’ve come home.

No more endless litter, no more worrying about being out after dark as a single woman, no more watching blatant abuse of animals including dogs, no more smog, no more swarms of people, no more stinky smells, etc, etc.

We continue the drive and Wayan says, “My priest missed you also. I saw him yesterday. He say that you are a good woman. He say that if you want we do an offering to the gods and he will tell you about your life, you can ask the questions and he will tell you what you want to know. You will have to buy flowers and make offering. You like to do that?”

“Yes!”

“Okay. And Saturday, big full moon ceremony. No tourists come. My priest leads. My sister-in-law will be there, the kids too. You want to come?”

“YES!”

“You have to wear the special sarong and  you can wear that nice top that my sister gave you. Or you can wear special Balinese ceremony clothes from my sister. She has many clothes. It’s very sacred ceremony.”

“Okay, I’d love to come.”

“I pick you up early in the morning. We be gone the whole day and a lot of the night too.”

“Sounds great.”

We talked about his priest and how much he has been learning from him. I remind Wayan that he is my teacher.

“I not teacher. Not yet. Someday.”

“No, now you are. I learn so much from you, Wayan,” I say.

“I the mechanic of the mind,” he says.

“Exactly! You are the mind mechanic.” We smile at each other and I picture him fiddling around in my brain with a wrench.

He turns serious.

“Kristin, I thinking a lot about love this week. I think about someone who died last week and I think we have to spend the love in the same way that we spend the money or spend the time. I have so much love in my heart. I spend it with people I love. Not hold on to it. Spend the love. I love my brother. I love my sister-in-law. I love my nieces, I love my mother. And I love you.”

“I love you too Wayan.”

Tagged as: Bali, Bali Ubud retreats, Ubud, Ubud yoga workshop, yoga retreat