thePlace

I have now lived at the Place for almost 8 months. Although far from claiming to know Bali as a regular denizen and still on a social visa that requires me to skip town every six months, I have grown used to the village, its customs, its idiosyncrasies, its silence formulas of courtesy (take first and complain later) and ambiguous responses. And slowly, very slowly, I am sinking in lingering roots down unto the KP Hill, into the Place - where I’m working one day at a time to make it a perfect Place to live and to share.

The Place is still going through a transformation as I work on the buildings and the garden with my new acquired family. Kadet, my part time helper that lives next door; Nyoman, the gardener that lives up the hill and Agung, the ad hoc manager, lives down the hill and is helping to finish up the buildings and supervises the cloves orchard and the garden. Besides Blackie, I have volunteered to nurse and take care of another dog, Jill, a male golden retriever. Last month 2 Balinese sapi/cows are added to the family. And Ferry, my adopted little brother who will take care of Jill and Blackie, and will house sit while I’m gone. Then there are the fish and plants that need constant attentions….

As the young second wife (she was taken as the second wife when the first one couldn’t have a son – a common Balinese practice.) Kadet has an infectious big smile and work tirelessly for the 2 families. Nova, her 4-year old boy stays with her sometimes while she cleans. Kadet is the only one that has a regular job, both her husband and the first wife take odd jobs in the neighborhood when there are available. Putu, the daughter from the first wife is out of work too and she does the offering to the spirits every evening. Besides the onions, chilies, noodles, etc that Kadet and her 2 families ‘borrow’, my motorbike is usually available for their use. I also provide water and electricity to them and allow the 2 families to use the Place to gain access to their houses next door.

Nyoman has been working with me since I bought the Place. I want him to be creative, to take pride on his works and be responsible so I make it a habit to ask for his opinions before telling him what to do with the massive garden. With his hands on his waist, he would first spit a big gob of spit sending it floating through the air; clears his throat and hesitatingly tell me what he thinks I ought to do. He is quite sensible and a hard enough worker that I tolerate his half-day requests and short breaks here and there to take care of his 2 young kids and wife.

Agung came to Bali from Java 4 years ago. He is a go-getter and his dream for early retirement often serves as an inspiration to his entrepreneurial ideas. Among his other jobs of being a driver, a contractor, etc, he raises wallets and fish. His schedule to finish the works at the Place is far from rigid – he comes with his workers whenever he is available.

I am an easy employer as long as they do a good job. I like to think that we are all one big family and take care of each other. They all have the key to the House. The fact is my house can’t really be locked securely, even if I try to. There are too many ways that one can get into the House – from the opened bathroom, any of the glass doors, downstairs, from the veranda….

The dogs are my constant amusers. Their very different natures and subtleties have taught me much patience and through them I have learned to commit myself, and to love unconditionally. Jill is essentially a house dog and stays by me all day long. He eats like a horse and demands to be caressed whenever he finds my idling hands. He often has a loving odd look about him – as though he is constantly surprised. Blackie is a wild one compares to Jill’s gentle nature. Blackie acts like the king of the neighborhood, he visits friends, disappears for the whole afternoon until he gets hungry. I have reports that he explores like a pioneer – up the hill, into the jungle and down the river. He is fearless and definitely a spirited outdoor dog. As much as I like to, I have stopped trying to make him a house dog long ago. I have learned to love him enough to let him be himself He still chews up my sandals – the last one was the 5th pairs and I have given up buying them. My Teva has to go for a surgery because he chewed up the strap; the new expensive shoes Monroe bought me from SF have gone strapless and looked like I picked them up from a garbage can.

It took Blackie and Jill a couple of days to get used to each other, now they cleans each others and play up a storm every morning. Blackie sleeps with him in the veranda now but he still scratches the door in an attempt to wake me up to give them food. The down side is, now Jill has picked up Blackie’s bad habit of begging for food.

Above all, I realize now as a householder and a mini-farmer wannabe in a village, it is impossible to not kill. In the beginning it bothered me immensely when I see Kadek kills a horde of ants or an insect from the table – a slight pang of guilt would took hold of me as I looked away. I couldn’t help feeling vicariously responsible as her employer. Am I offsetting the balance of nature by invading their space, that they have as much right to survive as I do, is there a more compassionate way to deal with pests…? All these nagged my conscience for months. I even thought of writing to someone for advice or for a suitable mantra to ease the turning of the karma wheel for killing a living thing. Later, as I watched the deceased plants screaming for help and the dogs scratching their bodies mercilessly; I took actions for their wellbeing. So as their keeper, now I am using organic Neem oil spray to get rid of damaging bugs and allow Agung to use more potent spray to discourage the termite from eating up the House. As I shamelessly pick and kill a flea off of Blackie or Jill, I just mutter a mantra.

As I now immerse myself in fully living the life of a simple householder and not as a bystander of my former years, I ride with the flow of life as it presents itself and surrender to it as it meanders. I no longer dwell in the actions and interpret them based on my preconceived ideas of right or wrong. The universe has its means of communication and expression, and I am here to learn to be, not to judge, and especially, not to run away from it.

Living up here where there is plenty of sky and space has helped create in me a basic attitude, a kind of openness and receptivity both to inward and outer experience, and beyond that, a capacity for letting go of my old beliefs, my sense of justifications and my control. I go with the flow and dwell in the present.

I think of the title of a novel by Georges Perec: Life: A User’s Manual.