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Arrived home to Florida safely after a week of driving throughout California.  It was fun catching up with friends & family of Mr. Jhon there.

Back at home, my head is spinning with ideas for the new multicultural nursing course I will be teaching later this Fall.  My experience in Bali was so exciting, interesting, and thought provoking.  I hope to publish something about the concepts incorporated into mental health care there, including relationships to the banjar, family, spirituality, traditional healing, etc.

As I now work from the office in my comfortable home, typing on my laptop (at last!) enjoying "air con & hot water", I find myself missing the incense, people, vibe, beauty,smiles, and people  of Bali...

I will close my blog for now...but hopefully, the traveling nightingale will return soon with another adventure we can take together!!!

Om Swastyastu
(Peace be with you/us)

Heading home to the USA

The weather cleared quickly in Hong Kong. The winds were so strong that the next day the skies over the city were more beautiful than usual. No smog, fog, or mist. We toured Hong Kong island, Kowloon, Victoria Peak,etc. A ride on a sampan down on the harbor was especially fun. Lots of shopping opportunities here, but the suitcase is already bulging. I will be bringing home mostly memories from this trip. Last night was a huge celebration for the city. The 15 year anniversary for the new Hong Kong. A spectacular fireworks display. We first took the subway down to the celebration site, but decided it was tooooo crowded (yet, the most polite crowd you can imagine) and came back to the hotel to watch from the 42nd floor. An awesome site! Packing & repacking this morning. Off to the airport soon for the flight back to the USA. Only 13.5 flight hours and we will again be on home soil. I hope each of you have enjoyed reading the traveling nightingale blog. It has been fun sharing my traveling experience with you! Om santi santi santi om

Departures & Arrivals

What an interesting day yesterday turned out to be. We toured Bangli Mental Health Hospital. I have toured several similar facilities in developing countries in the past, but this one will be especially memorable. The staff were very informative and understood the need of treatment and programming but the facilities were very, very, basic. I would not want to suffer from mental illness and be hospitalized there. On the way back to Denpasar, we were treated to a suckling pig (Bali's national dish) for lunch. It was a local restaurant, with vendors selling tools across from where we sat. It was quite good (if you can get past pig hair in your rice). Today was goodbye to Indonesia as we flew first from Bali to Jarkarta. Things were going well until we were stopped by security as we were passing through immigration. "Stop!" "you two are over-stayers". Evidently, they counted our arrival day and therefore, we were in the country 31 days on a 30 day visa. Not good...They tell us we can leave if we pay 200,000 rupiah each. We have no rupiah left, so I must find an ATM. The guards send me WITHOUT my passport back to the entry of the international terminal. They shove me my boarding pass and tell me to bring back the money...I get the cash, and have to now start back through the security checkpoints without a passport. I flash them my boarding pass with authority only to see I am carrying Mr. Jhon's boarding pass instead of mine! Would you believe I still made it through 3 checkpoints? Mission accomplished and we sprinted to the gate. Four hours later (and now 10:00pm) we have arrived to Hong Kong. The good news is that I had booked us a lovely 5 star hotel on the 32nd floor overlooking the harbor. The bad news is that we just beat a typhoon in and now it is raining with very strong winds. We have been asked not to leave our hotel until they notify us to do so, possibly tomorrow afternoon. Oh well, at least I have a big comfy robe...

the count down

Today was our final day of touring the island of Bali. We headed north to the mountains and saw the beautiful rice fields, lakes and of course, more temples. With many Indonesian families touring due to school holidays, the roads and sights were busy. In the north of the country you see many women dressed in hijab (I am thinking this could be a short-term solution to my hair problem...) which is quite different from the south of Bali. We saw several vacationing Monks dressed in their crimson robes with baseball caps and iPads. Lesson for the day was...if you see a burlap bag on the sidewalk... and it is moving...cross to the other side of the street. Python inside. Please explain to Mr. Jhon that my behavior was NOT an overreaction! The guest lecture yesterday at Udayana University School of Nursing went quite well, I think. There were 87(!)4th year students in the class. I was to speak for 2 hours with a 15 minute break midway @ noon. As I announced the break, the students requested that I continue, they did not want to break. For 2 hours I lectured. The students were attentive, polite and very engaged. They then asked many questions! This is not a typical response I get from students back in Florida. Tomorrow, the guys are heading out early to east Bali and on to Tulembin for diving. It will be Ashok's first diving experience. Razia and I are planning to shop alittle as it will be our last chance here. I pulled out the suitcase tonight and have a positive outlook. Please do not expect gifts, as they won't fit. Can't wait to...see the family, pet the cat, drive my car, brush my teeth with tap water, talk on the phone, see my stylist, have a mani-pedi, take long hot showers, drink good wine, eat something besides rice and noodles, sit on the dock, and chill...just a little.

Dancing?

Sunday afternoon. OK, for the record...I can somewhat spell and punctuate however, my auto-correct is much too eager and the blog program adds and subtracts spaces at will. So please hold back with the red marking pen. The presentation is behind me. Just over 170 people attended. It was held at a civic center in Denpasar city. All in all, I believe it was a success for the institute. The attendees were so engaged and attentive. They sat and listened (except when doing chair exercises and dancing)for 3 hours without a break. Yes, dancing...I had to think of something to spice up the topic and make up some time. I also learned a few Balinese dance moves in the process! The attendees were a real mix of people...some old, some young and approximately 30 nursing students. What struck me interesting was that although I spoke of the importance of regular and nutritious meals when aging, not one single person in the group was overweight. Not even close! There were many great questions asked at the end of the session. Our time here in Bali is winding down. We hired a driver today to take us on a trip around the island. We saw some beautiful temples (Mr.Jhon is on overload) and scenery! Tomorrow the guys are diving and I am doing a guest lecture for Udayana University School of Nursing. Thursday we are scheduled to visit Bangli Hospital,the only mental health hospital here on Bali. We fly to Jarkarta on Friday, then on to Hong Kong(strictly pleasure, no work...I promise)for a few days. From HK, on to California for some more pleasure visiting friends & family, then home sweet home to the Sunshine State! I will miss Bali, the people, the smiles, it's culture and the constant smell of incense in the air. I hope I can leave more than I take away from here.

Danish?

Lots going on around here. Mr. Jhon is off with a driver to fetch & Razia at the airport. When the driver asked him what time to arrive, "now or earlier?" he wasn't sure how to respond, ha! I have spent the day working on my presentation for Saturday. Difficulties began early this morning when I arrived to the site for use of a borrowed laptop that we had previously arranged. Yes...they have a laptop with a (2003) power point program...BUT it is in Danish(!)...no...they don't want me to change it. Gulp, it has to done. I had no idea my Danish was so good. Ja, it's true! First draft complete. We attended a little party and magic show at the Dive Hotel last evening. We had a great time and it was good to catch up with the folks back there. On the way back into our little place just after 11:00 pm, we came up upon the night watchman with his fishing line in our koi pond! Indonesian catfish?

Tours, elderly & manta rays

Tours & tours, and not of beautiful architectural or historical sites. The tours are of schools and programs of nursing. Several days with very interesting experiences and seeing many differences between private and state funded educational facilities. Nursing programs here work from a recommended national curriculum that is similar to the US. Schools however, offer midwifery at the basic level and the diploma of nursing is still offered as well as a bachelor of science in nursing. Faculties everywhere are interested in obtaining post graduate and eventually doctoral degrees, but educational facilities here are limited at this level. The Indonesian government is starting a push for academics to study abroad to obtain advanced degrees. Each faculty member I met voiced an interest in studying in the US. In each of the programs I visited, a course titled Health Tourism was offered. This is the course that acknowledges and addresses cultural differences in a health setting. In discussion, it is an area recognized as needed in the curriculum, but not fully developed. Today I am scheduled to meet with the director of a Dutch organization, with a focus on developmental disabilities. Additionally, even on holiday, I am in my usual state of "overextension". I was asked and agreed to do a 3 hour program on Saturday by Dr.(who is now in Europe)with a presentation on health promotion for thre elderly. I was not so worried until saw flyers posted on my tours and I understand now the venue has been changed to handle more people. Omg, why didn't I bring my laptop!?! Now I am making offerings to the Gods on Bali like the rest of the Balinese... help! Mr. Jhon (as he is still so kindly called), had an exciting day yesterday. On his 13th dive here, he spotted a huge (10-15 foot across) manta ray! He said it swam up close enough for him to touch ( which of course he did not), with his mouth(2-3 feet wide) open. He said it was so beautiful and graceful. No worries, they eat Protozoa not people and do not have stingers!