August 3, 2016, phase three of my China life found me back in Shandong Province in a large by American standards, not so large by Chinese standards, city of 9 million on the Yellow Sea called Qingdao.
Woohooo, I would be at a kindergarten located right at the seaside. I was very excited to be moving on to life in Qingdao, China. Teaching kindergarten, the principal was from the States, the kindergarten was right on the sea, the city had many Western restaurants and supermarkets, and life would be good. I arrived in Qingdao and the school put me up at a hotel until they found accommodations for me. It took six weeks and I ended up living with the principal and his wife for one month which was awesome. I started at the school the day after I arrived as the other foreign teacher had gone on holiday. They had brought in a second teacher (me) because enrollment at the school had increased. Imagine my surprise when I was informed after 2 weeks that the other teacher had decided not to return.
Thankfully, Erwin arrived at the beginning of October and we became besties. The kindergarten was great, I had no more than eight students at a time. It was also a bit posh as one little girl came in a Bentley with a chauffeur and another little boy’s mom or dad dropped him off in a McLaren. You get the idea. My flat was near a tattoo studio and 3 of my tats are from my life in Qingdao. Qingdao had a good-sized airport and I would take off for weekends in Seoul about once a month. Life in Qingdao was good, but I missed rural China. I finished out the semester and my agent found me my last home in China.
Dong’e County, Shandong Province a countywide population of about 400,000 and is located on the left or northern bank of the Yellow River. The city of Dong’e had about 80,000. The county is regionally and nationally renowned for Ejiao, donkey-hide gelatin used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The city of Dong’e is surrounded by many small villages and farmland. The closest train station is about an hour away in Liaocheng but doesn’t have high-speed or bullet trains. For high-speed trains and an airport, I had to travel two to two and a half hours to Jinan, the capital of the Province. I arrived in Dong’e in February 2017. Again, I stayed in a hotel while Peter (the person who brought me to Dong’e) and I looked for an apartment. After about a week or ten days, I had a room with a view. I was on the 24th floor overlooking a river, which I later found out was actually a lake. Economic development in the area had cut off a branch of the river and turned it into a lake. I don’t think Peter expected to have a teacher come to this small community so quickly. For the first month to six weeks, I didn’t have a job. Thankfully, I was still paid.
Eventually, I started teaching 4 days a week in three different kindergartens, one in the city and two in the countryside. Life in Donge was great. I had a motor scooter, I had my favorite noodle shop, and got massages 3 or 4 times a week. At $5.00, I was addicted. Then I had my accident on September 7, 2018. I ended up in the hospital with a broken back that required surgery. During and after my recuperation, I only did tutoring at my home. As I was coming up on two years in Dong’e I was starting to think about moving on. My initial plan was to move to Vietnam at the beginning of 2020. However, that didn’t happen.
I decided to leave Dong’e in July 2019 at the end of the semester. While researching my upcoming trip to Paris, I realized I missed Europe and decided along with SE Asia, to look at opportunities in Europe. After putting in my criteria, a company called English Wizards based in Krakow kept popping up. It looked interesting, a young company with hopes to expand outside of Poland, so I contacted them and committed to relocating to Poland end of January 2020. But first, a trip to Vietnam for pure pleasure since now I didn’t need to job hunt then on to the place that took my soul, Peliatan, Bali Indonesia. I would call Bali home for about five months before heading home to Warren for the holidays and the grand re-opening of the Robins Theatre.
Bali…Island of the Gods…Island of a Thousand Temples…The Last Paradise…whatever name you choose to call it. Bali is a feast for the senses…vivid colors, temple music, fragrant flowers, and incense await you at every turn. Stepping off a plane in Denpasar, day or night, the first thing you notice is the warm, humid air almost immediately turning to moisture on your skin. Yes, it is the same in all tropical destinations but in Bali, it is just the beginning. Since I am talking about “feeling” Bali on your skin, I often had a Balinese massage. Balinese massage is a full-body holistic treatment. It uses a combination of gentle stretches, acupressure, reflexology, and aromatherapy to stimulate the flow of blood, oxygen, and “qi” or energy to bring a sense of well-being, calm, and relaxation.
One of the next things you notice is small baskets with various flowers placed everywhere. They are on statues, bridges, steps, and doorways. They are canang sari or daily offerings. Canang is a small woven basket from palm leaves and sari means essence. Broken down further can = beauty (like you feel the view) nang = purpose and sari = source. Typically, a family places about 15 offerings per day, more on special ceremony days. With over 25,000 species of plants in this tropical climate, you may also notice the flora. The vivid colors of bougainvillea and lotus flowers then the sweet scent of my favorite the frangipani are everywhere you turn. Outside of the roar of motorbikes, you will also hear the entrancing sound of gamelan music.
The gamelan is the traditional ensemble music of Javanese, Sudanese, and Balinese in Indonesia, made up of mostly percussive instruments. The predominant instrument is the metallophone which is played using a mallet. On Sundays, I would attend gamelan lessons and Balinese dance lessons with the Kirana and Kiara from my homestay. I said earlier, that Bali is a feast for the senses. I have covered sight, smell, hearing, and touch. That leaves taste, the taste of Bali. Ketut, from my homestay family, was a chef before they opened their homestay. That means I learned a lot about Balinese foods and traditional spices during my stay. I love the spiciness of the food in Bali and the sambal that comes as a condiment with most dishes is a blend of chilis and spices. Oh, and I must mention the avocados (sometimes as big as my head, well, almost). You haven’t tasted avocado until you eat one plucked right off the tree. The same holds to eating the fruits….mango, papaya, dragon, guava….there is nothing like it! In case you can’t tell, I loved #mybalilife. I spent my days doing nothing but enjoying the Balinese lifestyle.
I also should mention there are strict immigration rules for Bali and I won’t get into them here. For me to stay for an extended period, there were many hoops to jump through, documents to fill out, and a couple of trips to Denpesar to the foreigner’s office. While I was in Bali, I also wanted to find a “purpose” for part of my time on the island. Yayasan Widya Guna School for Special Needs Children is an Indonesian non-profit organization whose focus is its children’s learning center. It serves Balinese children who come from unfortunate situations. They have taken in orphans and provided them with food, shelter, and an education. They support children with all ranges of physical and/or mental disabilities, including but not limited to; downs, autism, and cerebral palsy. They also offer English lessons to the village children after their regular school day is over, free of charge. Their mission is to: Educate the underprivileged Balinese children to be independent and bring them a better future with their knowledge, culture, and skills. I decided I had found my “something”. I contacted the Yayasan, they welcomed me to volunteer and I spent six amazing weeks with them. I took a quick trip to Singapore one weekend before returning to Kenari House to spend my last five weeks in Bali before I would take off to Warren, Ohio.
Stay tuned for Part Three
Down the Rabbit Hole 