christmas eve thoughts.

For more photos from our recent journey, visit our Flickr photo album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradilabali

This is the email I sent today to my group of 40 plus supporters, who donated to World Pulse and made it possible for me to attend the Bali conference in July/August..

Two-thousand-and-seven is bob-sledding to an end, and I feel like I’m head-to-toe in Teflon…what a sweet, quick trip it’s been!

This is my little note of thanks to you for your kindness over the past year.

By contributing to World Pulse, and thereby giving me a platform to share my work with other leaders in Bali, YOU have helped pave the way to begin an online space where women can speak for themselves to the world. (This especially includes women leaders who are building solutions on the frontlines of human trafficking, global AIDS and water sustainability. These leaders are currently utilizing and giving feedback on the beta version of PulseWire.net, which is alive and kicking – thanks to you!)

Of course, by giving to World Pulse, you clearly gave to me personally, as well. Here is a very compressed list of what you gave me, when you gave your donation.

You gave me, not one but TWO, thirty-hour rides across the Pacific, during which I filled my journal with observations, hopes, sketches, and memories (do you know I love airplanes?)

You gave me a sensory reunion with the smells of burning coconut husks, pork satay and chili sauce, sandalwood incense, night-blooming plumeria and frangipani, monkeys, bugs and birds as a lullaby and wake-up call

You gave me a venue for introduction to thousands of intelligent and hope-filled advocates for various ways of improving our world, and who are also my new friends, including:

Olin Monteiro, an incredible and influential Indonesian Leader with1000peacewomen.org

Rina Meutia of Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, a tsunami survivor, who has just finished her Masters in Public Service in the US, works for the U.N., (and I swear will be the president of Indonesia someday)

Prince Cedza Dlamini, grandson of HM King Sobhuza II of Swaziland and Nelson Mandela, a humanitarian, youth activist, spokesman for the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals who has offered to keep me in connection with his circles of HIV/AIDS activists in Africa

Kadek Agus Skolastika of Bali, who despite many challenges has created a grassroots group to re-build and staff neglected schools in Bali, and who volunteers his not-so-spare time teaching English at his Gandhi Ashram (I was able to visit his Hindu Ashram and it was a highlight of my year)

(And so many more amazing contacts, friends, walking inspirations and bodhisattvas)

You gave me a deep confirmation that by being part of creating PulseWire.net, I am helping to provide a needed resource to the women everywhere. (I can’t count how many times I described this tool to men and women in Bali, only to have them finish my sentence with..."Yes, because if you help the women, you will help everyone!")

You gave me confidence to know that support is available for me when I can muster the courage to ask for it!

What a delicious gift I have received, with more layers than a pan of baklava.

Thank you.

Love in 2008 and beyond and way beyond that,

ILa

PS-- You also gave me the irrepressible need to share the magic that is Bali with my truelove, Brad!

PPS-- Ho Ho Ho & Merry Christmas!

what brad has to say...

Hi all!

We are here, i swear it. We are actually on the equivalent of
Gilligan's Island right now. As for the photos? We spent 5 hours one afternoon on Bali trying to upload the pics to flickr and it bonked on the final one, so nothing made it. Internet is satellite as we are very remote right now, so we won't be trying it anytime soon.

Ila and i did something pretty amazing the past 4 days! As of last night, we completed a PADI diving course, so we are now certified to dive anywhere in the
world down to about 70 feet! We had a really great instructor and have been studying our asses off for four days. Three of them were spent trying to learn how to do many difficult things underwater without sh*tting in our wetsuits. It was the first time in a long time I have truly been scared. Ila will vouch for me. Making your body
do one of the most unnatural things is a really taxing experience.
www.manta-dive.com
Anyway, we have now seen up close, blacktip sharks, mantas, puffers, turtles, and a plethora of reef life that i never dreamed existed. Actually, our fourth open water dive yesterday was the rock star one for our guide as we were the only group out of 6 that saw the manta (12 feet wide btw). Some of the other instructors that have been here for over a year haven't seen one, so we were subject to a lot of middle fingers last night at dinner. Everyone is jealous, we feel blessed. It was like flying with an eagle.

It is just great to share an activity with Ila that we can plan future vacations around. The surf here is a bit scary for her, so it's been the Brad Show for the first couple weeks. And yeah, I got to watch Rob Machado surf up close. Almost as cool as the Manta sighting.
He was doing a photoshoot for Reef , I think, for about three days. I thought the first day i was just looking at a guy that looked like him, but then some Aussie
surfers gave us the skinny. Never seen someone so gifted in the craft up close!

We are off the LOmbok today if we can manage (WE are on Gili Trawangan right now).
There are no ATMs on the island and we are running out of pocket money...yikes.
Anyway, hope to see more of the NOrthern part of BAli before we leave INdonesia.
Ila has a friend in N. Bali that she wants to go visit. He teaches school and his name is Scholastica. He keeps saying that the kids want to meet us. Because we
are truly exotic to them. Funny. I've heard so many things from Indo people like "Do you live in Hollywood", to "Do you have a poster of the Golden GAte Bridge that you can give me"? (???) Apparently, CAlifornia is the only state in "America". Oh well.

Gotta go now. The internet is sooooo expensive here. It's about 20 cents US for an hour!!

Dad, thanks for the KU update. Didn't think it would ever be possible.

LOve,
Brad

Growing Gills in the Gilis

The past 4 days have been a marathon - physical, mental and emotional hurtles. Is that how you spell "hurtles" like rhymes with "turtles?" well that makes sense, then. brad and I just completed our open water diving PADI certification! Breathing underwater. WOW. And what an incredible place to do it. We've been staying at an absolutely gorgeous "rice barn" style bungalow, surrounded by bouganvillea, and with an open air bathroom with polished volcanic rock floor. Lightning threatens on the horizon each night as the rainy season approaches. But still after all the written exams and tests in the swimming pool, by the time we did our first dive, the visibility was crystal clear, and we swam down in the deep with giant sea turtles and so much more. Status: officially stoked.

gettin tubed.

Rob Machado keeps following us around. He knows that we know where all the good waves are at, yo! Ha ha.
Greetings from Bali-land, from Bradila.
So far...we've soaked in Kuta, budget style, in little inns where the electric current and the shower pipes are close enough to give you a "hot" shower that you never paid for...
Plunged daily in the "baby" waves of Kuta... when the grime became too much, rode up to jungley Ubud in the North, where we shared a private bungalow with birds, butterflies, giant palms and bats, ate delicious food, and watched temple after temple and carvings and dancing and art and ....
over to the sparkly black sands of the Eastern "neck" of the island, where there's nothing, I mean, nothing, but some waves and offerings to the sea... fortunately no human offerings..
then back accross to the windswept beaches of Canggu, another just to ourselves bungalow in
Pereranan
Per
Air
And
On
I can't say it... i took in the gorgeous garden and lots of sun, but didn't dare to take in the big washy waves.. But Brad did, and so did Rob Machado, famous surfer, photographed above as of yesterday! I sat on the beach near him...oooooh famoussssss...
enough days of isolation there..
back to Legian, just north of and not really much saner than, Kuta, in a real big kid hotel with AC and satellite TV (Indonesian Simpsons!) and chaos chaos chaos and PERFECT blue beach break waves..
soon on to Lombok, perhaps we will fly, and to the prisitine and still waters of the Gili islands... wish us luck..
xxx

the BradIlaBali Blogging begins..

I'm makin space for my pacar, (boyfriend!), Brad. We are leaving together for an amazing journey this Sunday, October 14th... back to Bali!!!
I
CAN'T
WAIT!

I am "shouting out" to all friends, family, acquaintances, strangers-who-are-friends-we-haven't-met-yet.. Please:
Send us your great intentions & positive energy for a safe and mind-blowing trip,
Send us your wonderful recommendation if you have any (we plan to surf and enjoy the Bali, Lombok, Gili islands, but we are open to suggestions)
Send us your ADDRESS ( you can post it as a comment to this blog or email directly to me), that way you'll get a POSTCARD!
yippee!
I write really good postcards, by the way.
xxxooo

Get lost.

Nothing makes me crazier than losing stuff. Keys, documents, that thing I just had in my hand.. Yet I loooove (or at least don't mind) being lost! As in, not knowing exactly where in the world I am. As long as I know where my wallet is, I'm not so concerned with where my body is. I'm not great at knowing which street to turn on, but somehow I nearly always have an innate sense of direction, which way is the sea, the mountains, which way I should be heading, even if I'm not sure why.

I would like to hear your stories of being lost, or of losing something, and how that affected you. By the way, if you are new to blogs, please remember to look at and add to the COMMENTS link, at the bottom of each post. That's where the juicy stuff is.
For this post, please share:
Where in the world were you when you were lost, or when you lost something?
If you lost something, did you ever find it again? If not, what happened?

Thank you my friends!

I just did a shout-out email to all the new pals I met in Bali, and the response was so wonderful! PLEASE check out all the amazing comments under the post called "Say My Name Say My Name." And add more of your own stories! And now, what I should have had ready for you before....drum roll please... FOTOS!!