Departures

Thursday July 23, 2009 9:09pm

Austin left this morning, back to foggy San Francisco. I'm sad. We spent our last couple days together having a great time. I convinced him to volunteer with me at the acupuncture clinic on Monday night as "moxa boy" --the guy taking blood pressures and changing rounds of moxa on acupuncture patients. He was nervous and shy to jump into the fray (acupuncture clinic is CRAZY busy and the acupuncturist, Dr. B, is intense) but I stayed with him through for the first few patients and everyone else stepped in to help him and in no time, he was doing great. He was AMAZING, actually, and rocked clinic, remembering instructions and details about the patients' treatment that I couldn't have done. He also now does a hilarious Dr. B impression that gets us all rolling in our seats. After clinic, he has his first acupuncture treatment, which was not nearly painful enough to warrant revenge for his delight in my pain the previous week. I also had another acupuncture treatment on my sore leg (another round of "Ring The Dragon" which means they circle the whole wound with acupuncture needles OUCH, and they also "bled my liver" again which means they pricked my big toe with a lancet and made me bleed. Double ouch. I'm a whiner.) but I'm excited to say that it FINALLY looks and feels SOOOOO much better. It has started itching like crazy, which everyone is glad about, but I'm not sure its much better than the pain because its making me a little nuts.

We made a new friend with another Californian acupuncture student, Tyler, who was here visiting Danielle, and we hung pretty hard with him Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday when he left. Its amazing how quickly you can build friendships when you're out of your element and far from home. We spent Monday morning going through the big market and getting dubious "good prices" on various things for Austin to take home for friends and family. I have discovered that I am a GREAT haggler, and have been employing my skill to my own advantage on taxis, a new bag and THREE dresses (all for under $75 total). On Tuesday night, Danielle, Austin and I went to Mosaic, which is considered the French Laundry of Bali. I panicked when informed the dress code stated no flip flops and I didn't have anything else, but was able to borrow a pair of Danielle's shoes. We arrived, went through a metal detector, were shown into a lovely lounge, and then had a really tasty 6 course French meal for $55 each, which is VERY expensive by Balinese standards, but bargain basement for food and service of this quality compared to home. It was a lovely evening, and I think deserves a reprise with Kira when she arrives next week. Last night, to commemorate his last day, Austin wanted to go back to Sari Organic, the magical organic restaurant out in the rice paddies, with Tessa, Sue, and Danielle. We decided to ride scooters, with three of us on Austin's scooter and two on Danielle's. We got through the Monkey Forest, giggling mightily over the sight of three adults on a scooter, and then saw we had caused a flat tire. Oops. So we had to hire a taxi to take us the rest of the way. The taxi dropped us at the end of the driveway that marked the beginning of the mile long walk in the dark out to the restaurant. As we began our walk, it began to drizzle. Then rain. Then POUR. We were screaming, laughing and RUNNING along the narrow path between paddies, barely able to see through the rain and the darkness with our meager little phone flashlights. It was hysterical and we took many pictures to prove the ridiculousness of it. We got to the restaurant and, due to the inclement weather, they had closed early. However, in true Balinese fashion, re-opened and served us a wonderful dinner as rain pounded on the thatched roof over us and they wrapped us in table cloths to keep us warm in our soaked clothes. Of course, we had to go back out into the rain when we finished, which was less fun, but it worked out okay in the end.

Really though, does it get any more magical? Its not just anywhere that you can run through the rain in the dark to get to a lovely organic restaurant in the middle of miles of rice paddies, to be served dinner privately with some of your favorite people, wrapped all up in table cloths.

I said a tearful goodbye to Austin this morning and then, to quell my welling homesickness and Austsickness and because the clinic was closed today, a group of us went out to lunch and then to a lovely spa where I had a manicure and a pedicure ($10!!). Its been raining on and off since last night's deluge. Not just raining, but RAINING. The kind of rain that makes you understand how people can see the weather as an indicator of the moods of the Gods. I woke up at one point in the night last night and sleepily wondered if the house could collapse under the power of the rain. Its been RAINING. It began raining again during my pedicure, on a chaise lounge in an open air room, with some of my friends sitting close by and we discussed midwifery, the births we've seen here, and it poured all around us in the good natured warm Bali rain kind of way that it does, and we sipped warm ginger tea and I understood how people could never leave here. So long as their boyfriends are here too. As for me, I'm going home when this trip is over. But maybe I'll be back. Too much magic here to just let it sit here all unabsorbed.

p.s. I've gotten a couple emails expressing concern and wonder that I may have gotten back together with my ex-boyfriend Austin. I would like to clarify that this is NOT the same Austin, just someone with the same name. Thanks for all the concern though, peeps!