Homesick...

I think all travelers would agree that “no one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang... This is something I have come to realize even without the experience.
For those of you who are very close to me, you already know that I am missing home, especially during this time. Currently, I am having an inner battle between what I know & what is new. I'm not sure if this was all triggered by the realization that I will not be going home for quite some time, or simply because it's the holidays... Either way I have been feeling vibrations in my soul that tell me that my time in the states is not over. This realization is something I knew I would face during my overseas excursion, and to be honest before I left I assumed it would be the opposite.
Currently I have a deep hunger for a few things that I left behind, & the most powerful is my yearning for my friends & family. Or should I just say my family, because all of my friends are a part of me like my family... These travels have made me realize how authentic & meaningful all of my relationships are, & my love & gratitude for each of them has only grown with the distance. Sometimes it feels unsettling to be so far away from the people who I am closest to, and I sit with this feeling & know it is rooted out of genuine love & appreciation for all of the ones who have come across my path & effected me deeply. So the reason I am writing this blog is to set intentional appreciation & allow the space this time deserves & let all of my friends & family know how deeply you are missed, & that everyday you ride humbly in my soul. You ALL are my roots, & without you I would be a tree that has already collapsed.
At the same time that I want to sit & reflect upon this awareness of love & gratitude for my family, I want to also offer respect & recognition to the opportunities I have been granted. I realize that I attracted everything that is happening in my life right now, & I am remaining open & committed to the journey that unfolds for me daily. In my heart I know that this opportunity that has presented itself as an experience that WILL evolve my consciousness, & therefore I will continue to maintain & ride out the colorful emotions that are attached to it.

The other two things that I truly miss about living in the states, is OBVIOUSLY the music scene, which I have also grown a new vision & appreciation for, and... pickles (dill pickles-there are just some things you cant find over here)... But all in all, these other two arn't actually as important, they're just cravings...


“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese

Cultural Connection

The 7th of December marks the date of my 6th month on the other side of the world. I never would have dreamed landing the position I am in now. Every day is still filled with new experiences on the path towards transformation. Matt & I currently have been asked to continue our contract at Greenschool until June, so we will be continuing this journey overseas for another 6 months.
Many people consider Bali unlike any other place on Earth, it's almost as though it is a vortex of positive energy. Somehow things seem to manifest for people with ease- its like the people who've been chosen to be here are supposed to be here with a mission to unravel & the universe is generously allowing it to happen.
The Balinese people are the most intentional human beings I have ever met, also the most humble... It is amazing to see what drives different cultures, what motivates them, inspires them, & it meaningful to them. After being away from it for a while I've realized how much the American culture is driven by sex, money, & fashion. It is sooooo opposite here. It was interesting also when I went to Singapore as the women walked around in mile high heals & ridiculous-futuristic outfits & the metro-sexual men prancing around in things that probably cost a fortune (I felt totally out of place). I was surrounded by malls. I just haven't been around that in a very long time. People in the Philippines & Indonesia are not so absorbed by fashion, actually I think they could care less. The only time they really care about their dress is to appease their Gods. Most of them wear plastic bags (on their heads) as rain-gear; no one in Singapore would be caught dead in such an outfit.
Ceremony is life to the Balinese, & these are the times when they dress their best, to appease their Gods, & they have many Gods; as the majority of the population are Hindu's (another reason why Bali is a vortex-a Hindu island in the midst of a Muslim nation). The money they make is used for ceremony and they will even admit that it gets expensive. But to me this tradition is worth every penny.
Everything stops for these ceremonies, even traffic. Sometimes there will be parades of 20-100 Balinese people marching through the streets in their ceremony gear holding traditional pieces that represent the significance of that day & clanking away at a variety of percussion instruments. It is a sound that rings in my ears daily.
The Balinese people are very kind & generous as well. The feeling I have gotten so far is that they will help out in anyway they know how to without hesitation. The other day I was driving to the doctor & COULD NOT find the hospital, so Matt & I stopped to ask for directions in some unknown area. Evidently I portrayed it enough that we were lost, so he stopped what he was doing, jumped on his motorbike & drove us to the doctor (about 30-40 minutes out of his way) and we would not even take a cent from us. Hindu people live & act highly upon karma & they truly believe their actions in this life will lead to the outcome of their next life.. This mentality makes me feel safe here. Even towards the beginning of our time here at Bali. A very generous Balinese woman took us under her wing (Wayan-from the book Eat, Pray, Love) & allowed us to stay in the very house that was mentioned in the book (for free bc at the time we were broke back-packers). I've figured out this generous act of kindness is a dream of the countless (aimless) middle-age women who roam Ubud.
Insert bitching here:
It makes me sad when I see that only the worst western inventions have made it over here; like single-wrapped Kraft cheese, McDonalds, & other like-minded shallow products. No matter how THICK the Balinese culture may be, these things are slowly but surely slithering in. This island, no no no, this country, is too unique to be brainwashed by such nonsense (in my opinion). No wonder us American have such a bad rep. I'm serious about this too, it's even hard convincing the European & Australians that there are sane people in America too.
Back to the point: Even at work I am surrounded not only by Balinese people, but people from all over the Earth. My view of the world has changed dramatically after experiencing so many global personalities & outlooks. The student population at Greenschool is conglomerated of children from all over the world, & the staff reflects world-wide faces as well. Everyday I am soaking up the Balinese traditions & I am proud to say the Indonesian language is a constant development (it is my 1st second language I've ever become serious about).
I have also fallen in love with this jungle. Every night I fall asleep to the humming of insects & rain falling eloquently on my bamboo house, & every morning I wake to sun beams seeping through the rain forest canopy. Everyday I am grateful to be in such a harmonious place on Earth. Not only do I get to live in this environment, I get to teach in it as well. The other day Matt & I were teaching the kids "nature survival" strategies; we took them on a walk through the jungle & showed them all the ways humans CAN depend on nature. The children were sucking on sugarcane, slurping on coconut milk with papaya straws, chomping on pineapples, cocoa seeds, rice, papayas, green-edible plants, & various roots we dug up. It was a beautiful vision!
There are so many neat & extraordinary things in this place that I have never witnessed. There are these army ants who will team up & take out their prey who are much larger than them; typically its worms, but I've seen them even take out centipedes & scorpions. Its incredible, they bite them & then work as a team to carry their prey to their destination-at this point the prey is still fighting for its life as it's being carried away. The circle of life is a continuous cycle that is every where, but this vision is one that I see quite often.
There plants here are also unlike anything I've ever seen, they are gigantic & they all have some kind of unique protection force. Everything grows rapidly here due to the heat & humidity (including bacteria). The other day we woke up with a dead bat on our kitchen counter & the insects here are the largest I've ever seen. Anything & everything is quite welcome in our home since we have no walls and/or doors. Thank god for our mosquito net-that's all I have to say.... :)
I've never felt so safe in such an unknown area (that in retrospect should be feared). One morning at 3am I woke up & wrote:
"I am sitting at my kitchen counter writing thoughts in a wide open house.
No doors.
No walls.
No locks.
Purely out in the open,
vulnerable to the jungle & the people who could come by.
But they wont."

Balancing Realities

Phew! Its been a while since I've been able to sit down & write. I've had tid bits of time to sit down, but I haven't been able to write, & when I felt I could write I didn't have the time to sit down. So finally, the two have intertwined.
I feel that I was really on to something during my travels. I was seeing a whole new light of the world & myself. I was exploring realms of my personality & habits that needed serious attention & was actually grasping the things I truly wanted to do in my life... Now I am back to the working world & I am trying my best to take what I learned during my travels & apply it to real life. Because although traveling IS necessary to the evolution of my consciousness, it is not a sustainable lifestyle, at some point you have to come back to reality.

It is of utmost importance for me to recognize how I can balance the two worlds of work & well-being. I owe this to myself, I owe this to the ones around me, and I owe this to the world. Luckily, I absolutely love what I am doing, which makes the whole work part much easier, but even if you love what you do, work can inevitably consume you. It is easy to become lost in such things & forget about your relationships,, your hobbies, your growth, yourself. So the ultimate question is how do you balance the realities of life???


I truly believe that there are four things that make up what it means to be human
1. The Physical Realm
2. The Emotional Realm
3. The Mental Realm
4. The Spiritual Realm
All of which are states (or levels) of well-being & if one is missing, inner equilibrium is not achieved. Making these four aspects of oneself balanced is true living, the best living.

Recently I spoke about this concept with a woman I work with. I explained with her my view of how people can become so absorbed by one of the realms that they loose sight of the other beautiful parts of themselves. An example I proposed to her was of a place I recently lived where most of the people were so attentive to their physical side that it was hard to connect with them on any other level. I also proposed examples from the world today such as; a model who is typically a person that is indulged by the physical world, a sensitive person who is overtaken by their emotions, a person who studies their life away has lost themselves in their books, & yes it is even possible to become "too spiritual". She is from a "very spiritual place in England, kind of like Boulder" she said, and after speaking about this she admitted that as much as she loved the place "many of the people there have become ungrounded because they are too spiritual," or in other words they have become so attached to one aspect of their personality that they have lost focus of the other parts of themselves.
So, in retrospect it is so simple how to live a balanced life: just pay attention to each of the four elements that make up a human being. But on the contrary, life is tough & there are distractions. Like I said, it's easy to get lost in the things that consume you.
Sometimes when I sit in silence with myself & not think about the 10,000 things that need to be done, I realize what my life, my body, soul, & mind really need. I give myself the time to become aware of how I need to grow. In addition to the realizations it also requires strength, discipline, sacrifice, & encouragement from the ones around you (most people, including myself, lack this part, but it truly is grandma's secret homemade recipe). It is a choice that an individual makes for themselves, a shift in consciousness about knowing what your own body needs, because in reality YOU are the only one who truly knows.
The time I have had overseas has truly changed me, I can honestly say I will never be the same after all of these experiences. I have become more motivated to take control of my life in the most humble way possible. I have truly recognized first hand that if I want to live my life fully it is up to me to make the choice. No one is responsible for my happiness, my success, or my achievements. I am responsible for this.

The Greenschool Experience

The first time I set foot on the campus of Greenschool I knew this place was unlike any other in the world. It was calm, peaceful, & all of the children were beaming with positive energy. There were no closed in walls, all the functioning structures were made of bamboo & totally open to the lush permaculture that surrounded the heart of the school; it almost didn’t even seen as though it was a school.
The second day I visited Greenschool about 15-20 6th graders were covered in mud in the mud pit (where the full moon ceremonies are held-also directly next to the principal’s office) having a “bonding session as the rubbed mud in each other’s hair. Right besides this “bonding exercise” was 5-7 students jamming away on marimbas & jambeys during their “snack time.” And when the gong rang & all the kids scurried to their next destination I knew this was the place I needed to be. (Oh did I mention the school lunches are made from organic foods that are picked from the crops surrounding the school, the toilets are composted, every building/classroom & all the furniture is composed of sustainable bamboo, the water is derived from an underwater well that is located directly under the school, the electricity is in the process of being supplied by a vortex in the river next to the school, & it has the smallest carbon footprint of any mass school on Earth. This place RULES!!)
The following day, I met with the founder of the school, a man who is severely scarred from the realities of “An Inconvenient Truth,” & has dedicated the rest of his life to create one more solution towards a more environmentally conscious future. In the short time that I spoke with him he asked me questions like “how many GOOD teachers did you have, honestly?” “What do you think is the real reason people choose teaching as their profession?” And “how many of those teachers do you think change the world in their summers off?” He wanted me to not only answer the questions, but to answer them honestly. So I did, & I will never forget that conversation.
Unfortunately, this opportunity Matt & I have been given is a scenario of sad endings leading to new beginnings. The woman whose position we were given died (today actually). A few days before her death all of the Greenschool teachers sat listening to the founder as he pleaded to us that “you should never wait to be doing what you really love because you never know when this will all be over for you. One month ago I saw Dawn (the woman who we replaced) pushing around a wheelbarrow, now she is in hospice waiting for the cancer to end its cycle. If this is not what you want to be doing, please go figure out what it is.” Then we all gave her a minute of silence.
So, needless to say, we’ve got shoes to fill & not only do we want to fill them well, we want to fill them GREAT because we cannot imagine anywhere else in the world we would rather be, than here & in this situation. Now we are Ibu Brynn & Pak Matt (aka “The Greens”) & we are team teaching these kids about Green Studies (the whole backbone of this schools mission), & we are being supported by everyone around us to throw out the books & get these kids dirty & reconnected with nature.
Since we have taken on this role (which also involves creating the whole curriculum- an enormous task in itself) we have discovered how humans have deprived themselves of nature by succumbing to the convenience of air conditioning, fast & easy food, cemented walls, etc. & have forgotten all of the things true nature inherently provides for us. It has been said that in order for a human being to understand the extremity of the world’s environmental crises they have to possess an intimate connection with the Earth on a personal level. Or, in other words, the people who get out in nature catch bugs, get their feet dirty, swim in natural waters, learn about & live off the land etc. will have a deep yearning for this place we call home & even consider it as a part of themselves (which instinctively they want to protect). The ones who segregate themselves from the natural world will find it hard to care or even think twice about something that isn’t a part of them (why would they care if it’s gone if it’s not a part of their day/life?). It is estimated that by 2030 80% of the world’s population will be urbanized & sheltered away from everything natural. So it is our job to not let that separation happen to these children by giving them all the opportunities to love & learn about the natural world. It is our job to get these malleable souls out in nature & understand what it feels like to hold a butterfly in their hand, dig up minerals from the breast of the Earth, & get their hands dirty in the most sustainable ways. It is our job to turn these children into conscious adults who will be leaders & movers in our global environmental solutions. This is where I need to be right now, & I AM GOING TO KICK ASS!!!

“In the end we will only conserve what we love,
We will only love what we understand,
We will understand only what we have been taught.”
~Baba Dioum –African Conservationist

Go --> Forth

It seems like the Philippines was so long ago, but it hasn't even been a month since we've been in Indonesia. I feel like the Phillies & Indo have been two completely different chapters I have been through in my life, & this phase I am in is the most powerful yet. I have taken myself out of the busy life-style that was consuming every part of my being & gave myself the opportunity to take a step back, listen to the silence, & get to know myself again. Not only am I continuously learning what it means to live on a planet (and not just a country), I am also learning what it is I love & what is truly important to me. Typically my summer would have been spent engulfed & hyptomized by loud music, parties, & mind altering experimentation, but this year I chose something different. I decided to see the world, practice yoga, climb volcanoes at 4am instead of party til 4am, meditation, silence, knowledge, God (actually I call it "Father Sky", I believe you can call this living entity of connection & oneness anything you want, but most people know it as God), & most importantly I chose self-exploration.
The major difference between the Philippines & now is that when I began this voyage I felt stuck.. internally... I came equipped with a ton of goals to achieve, so I knew I traveled half way across the Earth for a reason, but I didn't know where to start. So, in all honesty, the majority of the time I was in the Philippines I was solely an observant adventurist. The experiences were wholesome in every way-but it was almost as though I was on vacation & soon enough I would be back to the busy world of unconsciousness. I went about my days wondering when this "huge transformation" was going to take over me & even questioned if I was in the right place for it to happen. I underestimated the validity that all great things happen in good time. Now, looking back, the transformation began with a book (A New Earth) during my last week in the Philippines. I discovered that all these changes that I wanted to happen would only transpire by starting with myself FIRST. Without even knowing it, the door was opened, & all the things I so desperately desired started coming in one by one.

Now, I don't want to undermine the whole "starting with myself" journey. This was actually gruesome & there are many things about my personality & past that require some serious confrontation-this truthfully was no easy battle to initiate, but it was exactly what HAD to happen in order to prove to myself that I can obtain the things that I REALLY want in life.

The longer I have been overseas the more deep, heartfelt, & real it has become. Sometimes I don't even recognize myself (in the best way possible). The other day my yoga teacher identified that "people often associate yoga with self-improvement, but it's not, its actually all about self-exploration." As soon as she said that the light went off in my head & I said to myself (internally) "that's it! This journey I am on is all about figuring out what my mind, body, & soul is capable of." After all I have been through I can see now that all three parts of myself are being tested & exercised (even when I felt stuck).
Before I left the US I titled my journal "Trip of Transformation-mind, body, & soul." The door has been opened & it will consciously never be closed.

I understand how freakin sweet it is to be human, how lucky I am to be in such an amazing situation, I how I will always live up to my last name!

Motorcycle Diaries

The days I like the most are the ones when we hop on the back of a motorcycle & set off for the open road. We leave the tourist trail in our dust & explore the journey of the unknown~this is when we get to see the true culture of the country.
We are given the chance to go off road & witness the beauty that unfolds in the most primitive villages. The other day we were cruising through the mountains of Bali, & these aren’t like any typical mountains, these were rainforest mountains coated by thick, juicy clouds that consistently spit out rain. I didn't quite realize that we were truly deep in the jungle because there were so many villages, it seemed like any other place where people created a way of life surrounded by lush crops & forests. It hit me as I sat sheltered from the pouring rain in a sari-sari twistin & lickin Oreo's when I looked up & spotted a herd of 5-7 monkeys swinging through the trees RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!! I looked around to find signs for which national park I was in but found none (you have to be in some kind of claimed land to see something so cool-right?). I turned to Matt & said "its not everywhere in the world where you can enjoy an Oreo & watch monkeys in their natural habitat," he agreed. The rain started to calm so we jumped back on our bike & about 154m up the road I saw some locals standing along the street next to two huge monkeys who were as calm as could be; there were no cameras, no awe inspired faces (except mine), the two species were coinciding-both just going about their business...
Typically, when we don’t have a destination or a plan we stumble upon the greatest things. We decided that we both enjoy the motorcycle excursions so much that we ditched our big backpacks at some hostel in Ubud, packed a day bag for the next week, found a brand new motorbike, circled some epic places in Bali we should definitely see, & hit the road leaving the rest up to fate.
We have a couple running experiments on this motorcycle escapade; one-who serves the best Gado-Gado (a typical Indonesian vegetarian mean with peanut sauce that is served throughout, but prepared completely different in every restaurant), two-who is the best masseuse in Bali, & three- which volcano serves the best sunrise.
The other day we discovered that the cops here are corrupt. As we were cruising along a quiet road, checking out the rice terraces, we ran into two cops on the side of the road who obviously pulled us over & screwed with us because of our pale-tourist looking skin. The cop who could speak English threatened us for about 20 minutes about how he was going to confiscate our bike & Matt’s license until we went to court & the bank & blah blah blah… Then had the nerve to say “or I’ll just let you go with a warning if you give my friend some money.” Luckily, Matt is good with his words & talked him out of the whole dilemma while snatching his license out of his hands. We drove off asking each other “did that really just happen???”
Learning Bahasa (Indonesian) has also been fun & advantageous along this journey. WE know all of the basics and then some. We can read the majority of the menu (which is especially helpful in the warungs-small restos) & even say things like “ini enak sekali!” (that was delicious!) to the chef. Matt also makes this learning fun & memorable, for instance, goat = kambing, he says “the goat like to go camping,” it sticks. I only hope that I am as good of a teacher as he can be. 
After a morning of climbing Mt. Batur another active volcano we were pretty exhausted as we set off for the east coast of Bali. The drive ended up being 3-4 hrs, & although it was vibrantly beautiful, we were beat by the time we arrived in Amed. A sigh of relief overwhelmed both of us when we finally spotted all the home-stays & hotels aligning the beach. We stopped in a few places to ask the price & were shocked to hear the $30-70 quotes without negotiation, & it only seemed to get more expensive as we drove. Now, $30-70 US may not seem like a lot to stay in a hotel on the beach of an Indonesian Island (its not, its an amazing price), but we’ve been spending $5-15 tops & splitting that between the two of us, so this was, how do you say~out of our budget (especially after traveling for over two months now). Just as we were about to loose hope & succumb to splurging we rolled upon a calm place with Buddha statues everywhere & the guy in charge shook our hands & introduced himself as “Smiling Buddha,” he told us “our rooms are full, but you can sleep here for free if you want.” We looked to our right & saw the wide open ocean splashing on the beach & 5-7 women in the courtyard doing yoga; on our left was a spacious & open nipa hut with huge comfy pillows for our laying upon-we both shook our heads yes. Smiling Buddha said “Ok, you sleep here, from the bottom of my heart,” & walked away. Matt & I looked at each other & both knew what the other was thinking… Score!
And this was where we met the French; a posse of 4 dudes & 1 girl who have come together over the course of their travels & created a rebel clan from France. Actually, we didn’t meet them here, the day before we climbed Mt. Batur with them at sunrise, somehow they were just as drawn to this place as us, good places have good vibes (aka vibrational frequencies). This was a lively crew & definitely had a pack leader, who was interesting in every sense of the word. After we all came to the conclusion that we were all looking to have a good time, Smiling Buddha made the suggestion that he could hire a band for us (since we were all staying there for free in his nipa hut like a big fat family). So we danced, we sang, we had great conversations, and a little bit of drama after the ring leader had too many to drink, but absolutely had a great night-one of which I will never forget..

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure- self-determined, self-motivated, often risky-forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the Earth & you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness & bottomless cruelty of humankind-and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” ~ Anatole France

John Steinbeck said, “People don’t take trips; Trips take people.” How true…

The people here are entirely generous, polite, & helpful when they find us travelers in need of direction & information. They will talk & walk with us for as long as we need without asking for a cent. Maybe it is completely out of their kindness, or maybe even to just practice their English (the ones who speak English here have a one-up in the job market), either way, I cherish these interactions.
The Indonesians love Obama!! Essentially it is because he once lived here in Java, but mostly because of his influence on the States. The Indonesians ask where we are from (it is of top priority to know this before anything else) & as soon as we say "USA" they are full of cheer and gratitude to meet us & yell "Oh YES! OBAMA!!" I'm not so sure they would have been so honored to meet us 1 1/2 year ago before Obama was in presidency.
We were told a very interesting story the other day that was extremely powerful & I will never forget. During one of our "interactions" with an English speaking Indonesian (who was a Batik Artist-incredible wax & dye cloth paintings) he was thrilled to hear we were from America & let us in a little secret. He was also a well-traveled individual taking his art world-wide & knew how people all over the world feel about the USA. He told us that people across the globe seriously anticipated & payed close attention to our last presidential election. The amazing part is that he told us that every person in Indonesia (& in other countries as well) stopped everything they were doing that day & prayed that Obama would win the election. "We stopped working, eating, driving, etc. to sit and send out our magnetic forces to your country. And it Worked!! We are all very excited your country is ready for change too." I was absolutely moved, it literally gave me goosebumps. Not only do many of us Americans understand how desperately we needed a change, but people all over the world stopped everything they were doing to help make it happen. Unbelievable! It is seriously powerful to know that people world-wide jumped for joy when Obama's name shouted victory on that very important day.

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So far, our journey in Indo has included many Western tourists (mainly Europeans with a dash of Americans). Right now I am struggling with this mostly because our experiences in the last two months have been very intimate with the locals-they looked at us as a hot commodity who they were curious about, now were just another tourist. And that's the second reason why its hard for me, they make me feel like a tourist-not a traveler. I often find myself asking Matt if we can "go eat elsewhere" just to get away from it all. I've got a bit of the "I'm not here to see Westerners syndrome" & because of that I probably seem either a bit intimidating or just plain & simple unwelcoming, either way I will get over it soon... But I just have to get it off my chest that Europeans are almost as loud & obnoxious as Americans. Which almost makes me believe that the West represents quite an egocentric & unconscious state (-), & the East signifies silence, devotedness, & selflessness (+); without the two dualities this world would not be able to exits as a balanced being. I have to admit though, all of us tourists & travelers have one thing in common; we are all searching for something. Whether it be an adventure, God, art, culture, yoga, a good surf spot, or simply a change; we all left our homes of comfort to see exactly what it is this world has to offer.I am also being a bit over-dramatic about this solely because I've been stuck either on a bemo (van-type transportation) or a huge "tour"-ist bus for the past 2 days with the same white faces. And its all because we signed up for a package deal from Yogyakarta (Java) to Denpassar (Bali).
Traveling Indo is nothing like traveling the teensy-weensy islands of the Philippines-these islands are HUGE!! The longest trek in the Philippines was 5 hours (I thought that was exhausting); now this one was going on 48 hours-which makes Indonesia as a country, as an archipelago -intimidating. But every penny we spent on that package deal & all the time spent with the tourist was all worth it because of what I experienced at the crack of dawn a few days ago.
Bright & early, I mean, dark & early @ 3:30AM we rose from our slumber (& this typically ain't my bag) with intentions to see the sun rise over Mt. Bromo a.k.a. a very capable & active volcano. We layered up & as we headed out the doors I tried to convince myself it was too early for coffee, plus I should experience this on my own, without any help of substance. It was about an hour walk to & up the volcano; it was not the easiest of walks either at the butt crack of dawn. My motivation on the way up was the shear beauty of my surroundings & my motivation on the way back was muesli.
I can't really describe the magic that swept over my soul as I stood on the lip of the crater of lively Mt. Bromo. I'm not sure if it was the visual of looking down in a volcano as it spewed sulfury steam, or the vibrant green volcano standing beside Mt. Bromo, or the clouds that rolled over the surrounding mountains like a waterfall, or the transcendence of witnessing the sun RISE over such a surreal setting, something deep within my soul evolved. On top of the ultimate gratitude that swirled in my heart for such a heavenly place on Earth, I felt a deep longing for a change of living & it all seemed entirely possible. That day I made four invigorating goals for myself.

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep & permanent, in the ideas of living." -Miriam Beard