Location: Green School at Kul-Kul Campus

Well everyone, feels like forever since I had a moment to sit down and breathe, let alone type up my blog on the computer...really I guess it's only been a couple days. Arrived in Bali Friday night and went to straight to a losman (small hotel/homestay) in Legian, located in Southern Bali. Met some people on the plane that wanted to go to the same place so we split the taxi and arrived 20 mins later. From one minute to the next, I started bargaining in Bahasa Indonesia for the cab ride- to my surprise, Bahasa came back to me sooner than I had expected!
Went out to dinner with my new Australian surfer friend from the plane, and had a pretty early night. Saturday spent most of the day on the beach- a much needed day of R+R! It's been beautiful weather ever since I've arrived, and actually cooler than expected. Saturday night went out with Woody and his friends (a friend of mine that I met through my SIT program in the fall). Has really been awesome to jump right back into the Bali experience- ride around on motorcycles, eat nasi goreng and tofu sate, speak Bahasa, and never leave anywhere without my flip-flops!
After my initial days of R+R, I have since arrived at Green School in Sibang Kaja, Bali- located in between Ubud and Denpasar. It feels incredible to be here and I can't express enough how excited I am for the year to come. There is certainly a ton of work to be done- seeing as how it's a brand new school there are lots of kinks that need to be worked out. (New teachers have no housing, no water, and no kitchen to name a few!) Ha! Yes, Brad wasn't lying when he said that a positive attitude and good sense of humor would be key elements to get us all through these first few weeks. Really, though, the atmosphere here is great and the staff and faculty make the place that much more incredible. My fellow new teachers are all great and we've spoken a lot about our needs/wants for the rest of the year. Turns out we'll all be living in bamboo yurts (most of which still need to be constructed), and we have a shared common/kitchen space. Kitchen is underway (counters, stove, etc will be built soon), and we're hoping to get a big bread oven in the near future as well!
The campus is located on two different sides of the Ayung River. Above the river is a natural swimming pool, and there's rice fields and gardens that run through the entire campus. A vortex hydro-power generator for electicity is in the works, as is an organic chocolate factory. Had no running water this morning in the bathrooms so I bathed in the river!
It's going to be an on-going adventure this next year but a very welcomed one. Meetings already have involved talking about everything from health and safety, to food concerns, to what to do if we get bit by a scorpion on the toilet! No joke- supposedly a few scorpions have been found underneath the compost toilet lids. Mom, want to visit?
But aside from all the stresses and slight inconveninces of "school meets jungle" life (poisonous snakes, scorpions, and water-borne diseases to name a few), the area is rich and vibrant in culture and art and fresh, new ideas from truly inspired/inspiring individuals.
All for now- Brad, the director at Green School, has invited the staff over to his house tonight for pizza, beer, movie, and massages! A local masseuse is coming in to treat us to massages, manis/pedis. A nice reward at the end of a somewhat hectic day!