Small World Big Friend

        For those of you who missed the last blog, we are currently in beautiful Bali. We had a very exciting encounter our first day and half in the great form of Oliver. We met him at his marina, during a massive thunderstorm, the nigth we arrived, as he was given a two nights leave from Mir, his ship. We headed out to a delicious Balinese meal and a walk around Kuta beach, the site of the Bali bombings, before heading to our less than stupendous lodgings, which consisted of two extremely narrow twin beds. It was an upgrade for Oliver atleast. The next mornig we got up early to walk to the beach after some breakfast omelettes. We swam for a while, enjoyed the sunshine, and headed North to Sanur beach for the afternoon and some more beach time. This beach was much quieter, almost all locals, and we treated ourselves to some 4$ massages before heading back to our room. After a quick rinse, we went to a local cafe for a dinner special which included eight or so different balinese dishes, and gave us great insight for our future dining. This was followed by live reggae music, aka Bob Marley, and some arak, a Balinese liquor. Eventually we found ourselves at a very westernized sports bar where we finished the night out with some drinks and pool. It was really great to run into a great friend so far from home and in such an amazing place. If I had to describe him in two words; dark and trim.
       Now Stef and I find ourselves at Yayasan Widya Guna, a children's foundation (orphanage/school) in Gianyar, Bali. So many thoughts and feelings are sprinting through my mind. An impossible feeling to portray in blog form right now, so I will have to embelish later. We are teaching, learning, and experiencing something new and great.