Adventures of Living Abroad

I've been looking forward to Nyepi for weeks. This holiday is the Balinese new year and often referred to as "The Day of Silence." During this day the airport is shut down, no one is allowed on the roads unless it is an emergency, and you must remain quiet at home so you can relax and reflect to create this feeling of purity as you begin the new year.  I love this holiday because it is so quiet and allows me to relax without feeling guilty about having to go somewhere or do something and be productive. This year the government requested the internet be shut down. I'm still trying to figure out if all internet providers followed suit, but ours did. We had no internet or cell service for the day. Fully unplugged for the day. :) We spent the day relaxing, reading our books, quietly cooking food, and playing with two 3-4 week old baby kittens I found dirty and weak in the street while walking the dogs Friday night.  The evening was spent staring up at the sky. Bec...

We were blessed with a 3 day weekend and took full advantage by rushing out of school to catch our 30 minute boat ride over to a neighboring island called Nusa Penida. We rented a motorbike from a man as soon as we stepped off the boat and spent the next 2 1/2 days exploring the island.  Nusa Penida is less developed than it's neighbor Nusa Lembongan. We were pleasantly surprised by the flat paved main road that led to our hotel. However, we soon realized that not all roads were created equal on this island.  We explored Temeling's Natural Pools. We parked the bike at the top and walked down the path that led to the pool. It was about a 40 minute walk. There were many who drove their bike down this sketchy path, but I was happy to be walking!    I had read that there were two pools. We walked down the steps along this huge limestone wall. The larger pool at the top was filled with some boys playing and splashing around. The second pool, well we thought...

Back in October, we took a week long trip to Komodo National Park on a live aboard. We flew from Bali to Labuan Bajo where we met the crew and boarded the boat.   Our boat for the next week! From there we spent the next few days cruising around the sea.  We quickly fell into a daily routine...eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, sleep. Because I was getting over a sinus infection and my ears blocked, I was unable to dive the first few days. I enjoyed some quiet time reading my book while staring off at the beautiful landscape around me. I was itching to get in the water though and luckily my ears popped open and I made it into the water for the second half of the trip. One of the highlights of the trip had to be seeing the manta rays. They were majestic to watch. Huge creatures effortless gliding through the water.   One evening we took a hike up to watch the sunset. We were ill-prepared and only had flip flops on. It was a hot, swe...

Kyoto was my favorite city we visited in Japan. It mainly escaped all the bombings of WWII and was smaller than Tokyo and Osaka. There were so many sights to see! Unfortunately many places were closed over the New Year period we were that, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves!  Our only real food experience that wasn't delicious was our first night in Kyoto. We wandered into a small restaurant and we were excited to grill our own dinner. Ted being his adventurous self ordered blindly from the menu as nothing was in English. Let's just say we got to experience MANY different parts of the chicken we don't usually eat. I tried them, but had trouble with the texture of most items.  We spent the following day wandering around the Gion neighborhood exploring some unique shops and spotting some geishas.  Knowing that many restaurants would be closed for New Years Eve, we stocked up on groceries and cooked some dinner. We even indulged in som...