Week Three is done. Wow, just wow.  I feel the days slowing moving by, and then the next thing I know, the days have flown by.  Life has slowed down here for us – finally. I’m absolutely loving this pace.  We had the chance to get into some really good conversations with the kids and have found out the insights from their viewpoints. Emerson, on his own accord, told us the other day “Life is easy here.”  Hearing him say that was a breath of fresh air.

This week’s adventures took us to Waterbom – Asia’s #1 rated waterpark, and #2 in the world. The kids had a blast.  The parents also had a blast relaxing in the gazebo and occasionally throwing food towards dripping children.  Of course, the immediate question as we were leaving was “can we do that again?!?” – so I’d call the day a success.

The boys and Andria took turns on the “flowrider” to hone the surfing skills, and we did a family ride down the lazy river. The day was absolutely amazing.

Our house is next to the Four Points Sheraton, and each night, we can hear music from their rooftop patio. On Monday’s, we have started taking the kids there. It’s usually a small crowd, maybe our group plus one other table, and the musicians have started including the kids in their sets.  I’m loving it, although every so often I get a twinge of “maybe Camryn is a bit young to be singing in a bar.”

As we settle into regular life here, I find myself getting used to certain aspects of life that I think would be strange to accommodate back home.

Ants. Holy moly, the ants.

These buggers are e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.  They are small, they travel in packs of 349,280 and the walk around silently, carrying of any food you are foolish enough to leave out.  They don’t bite or actually harm anything, but they are certainly not easy to get rid of.  I realized pretty much from day three here that I could either live in a cloud of Raid, or just deal.

So, all of the things go in the freezer. Chips, rice, cereal, fruit, everything. Zero things get left on a counter here. These guys will literally crawl inside a wrapped loaf of bread if you leave it unattended for more than a few hours.  I’ve gotten used to brushing them off my bed each night and wiping down the bathroom sink each morning.

I drive a Scooter

I rented a scooter this week.  What a difference a little mobility makes.  I think my mother is going to lose her mind at this one (sorry mom!) but the more time I spend here, the more I realize that the traffic moves relatively safely. So, I walked down the street and rented this piece of freedom:

Meet “Scoopy”

Scoopy and I did get ourselves into one itsy-bitsy traffic jam (see above traffic picture) but I just followed the rest of the pack – on to the sidewalk – and in a few minutes it was over.  No one actually drives at any amazing speed here, and I’ve learned that all you really need to do is keep track of what is going on in front of you, not hit anything, and everyone else does the same.

I bee-bopped from Seminyak to Canngu where I visited Made’s Banana Flour and had myself a little piece of heaven on a plate – fluffy, gluten free waffles.

It was AH-MAZING.

Toilet Paper

For reasons that I don’t quite understand, toilet paper isn’t a “thing” here really. They have it, but the more time I spend here, the more I start to wonder if it’s really just for the north American tourists.  The house we are staying in is fully stocked, but heaven help you if you leave the house without a partial roll with you.  Most public bathrooms are outfitted with this setup.  I can’t even begin to figure out how on earth I would even operate this, or what the rules are on it’s use. Just, no.

Since coming here, Brent and I have waffled back and forth between “this is awesome” and “what were we thinking.” Overall, its been an experience being here – one that I have definitely found enriching and challenging at the same time.

This week, we are heading on a snorkeling adventure – stay tuned!