Author: mkaltreider

“Let’s go to our castle, Ella. I saw two monkeys coming so I left the catapult ready!” Marcus and his friend Ella joining forces to tackle life in the jungle. By Marta Kaltreider.

After a beautiful and intense first term of school, off we go on a long week break to the Island of Sumatra with our dear friends, the Nolan Family.

Located in Western Indonesia, Sumatra is the largest of the islands of the archipelago – Borneo and Papua, although greater in size, share their island mass between Indonesia and other countries. Sumatra sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Equator crosses the island near the center. This beautiful island is a gift of magnificent volcanos, swampy plains, fertile land and breathtaking scenery.

We will be exploring the Northern tip, deep into the jungle; no internet, no cell coverage, limited electricity, and a long journey from Bali. After a 4:45 am start in Ubud, two flights, 7 hours of rickety drive and a 40 minute dark, adventurous and very wet jungle hike we arrive! Welcome to the middle of nowhere… Ahhh… what a gift to be able to ease off into a deep sleep to the deafening sounds of the wilderness…

Excitedly, and after a night of choppy sleep from listening to the powerful voice of the jungle, I wake up at the crack of dawn only to be hit by the indescribable peace and beauty that surrounds me. I write these words inspired by what lays in front of my senses and I am at a loss for words to do it justice. Here I am, greeted by an endless river gorge colored in an infinite rainbow of greens, bathed by crystal clear waters and decorated by sculptural, naturally-polished river rock formations.

A sudden feeling of immense gratitude invades me and sinks in deeper and deeper as the next two days peacefully flow and slowly unfold moment by moment. We swim the impossibly crisp waters of the river, we play cards, we feast on fresh homemade local dishes, we admire the industriousness of our children building dams and castles, we write, we draw, we even take on the river rapids on inner tubes down to the small village of Bukit Lawang… and it all sort of happens… without rushing, without planning, without trying… beautifully, peacefully… Thank you mother nature. I feel like a child again. The jungle seems to free and simplify all of us, and after two months of intense personal pacing and deep introspection I can let go and enter a most liberating, enlightening and fulfilling state-of-mind.

Today we are ready for some serious excitement and we are off on a hike in search of wildlife at the Gunung Leuser National Park. The Eastern rim of the Gunung Leuser National Park sits right across from us at the opposite side of the river bank. This national park is home to a diverse array of wildlife species including primates, big cats, reptiles and birds. The Gunung Leuser National Park is one of only two places in the world where is still possible to admire orangutans in their natural habitat (the other place is the Indonesian island of Borneo).

And so our hike begins as we cross the river just outside our jungle hut – literally! – accompanied by our trusting guides: Pak Rasta, Pak Arif, Pak Andi and Pak Ilham. The hike up the green wall we have been admiring from across the river for the last couple of days proves to be steep, dense, thick and muddy yet beautiful, fun and giving. Along the way we are greeted by a family of Thomas Leaf Monkeys (colloquially called Funky Monkeys), that are as intrigued and interested in us as we are of them. Thankfully, unlike the vicious monkeys in Ubud, these are gentle animals.

And if that wasn’t enough already, as we continue on with our hike, we come to find a whole group of female orangutans with their babies! Hanging playfully from the jungle’s canopy, they seem to defy the laws of gravity. Their beautiful copper coats weightlessly swing from branch to branch with sensational grace and agility. My heart is pounding as I admire these magnificent creatures complement the green palette of the jungle with bright, burnt-sienna splashes of color.

We get distracted by the sighting of a Pit Viper taking its month-long nap in front of us on a low tree branch. We wearily wonder at this beautiful and powerful creature; one bite and we are dead in less than one hour!

Just as we think it cannot not get any better, from the heights of the canopy, down come the orangutans, right by us, and my eyes fill up with tears of excitement and gratitude. The female orangutans are familiarly expressive. Their bodies are big… huge… and their presence: mighty.

Unfortunately, the population of orangutans (in Indonesian ‘orang’ means ‘people’ and ‘utan’ means ‘forest’ so orangutan literally means ‘people of the forest’), is rapidly declining and these beautiful “people of the forest” are doomed to vanish by 2050… or maybe even sooner! Our demand for palm oil is the main cause of jungle deforestation, driving orangutans and many other animals such as Sumatran rhinos, tigers and elephants to extinction.

As we explore Northern Sumatra, mile after mile along the roads and acre after acre all the way to the horizon, the jungle has been replaced by palm oil plantations. It is heart breaking to see the effects and implications of deforestation. Along with the jungle, gone is the culture, the traditions, the integrity of the natives and the biodiversity that once ruled this land.

From the far distance, palm oil plantations paint the picture of lush green scenery but that view shifts very quickly as you get a close-up. On the spot, palm oil plantations look eerie, sinister, solitary and stale. Nothing can grown around them. They deteriorate the earth by exhausting the nutrients of the soil and by draining the water from the ground, leaving nothing for other plants to grow and for any animals to live. On average the commercial life span of a palm oil tree is approximately 25 years, so to put this into perspective, one 25 year old palm oil tree will absorb 25 liters of water per day.

Palm oil is the cheap alternative filler used in the manufacturing of cosmetics, sweets, snacks and soaps. At the cost of jungle deforestation, child labor, the integrity of indigenous people, animal extinction and the loss of local culture, just to name a few, we are catering to the excess that fill up our bathroom vanities with beauty products and our kitchen pantries with non-nutritious foods. Food for thought…

 

“But you never struggle, mamá!” “Of course I struggle, Marcus. I struggle every day! But just because I struggle it doesn’t mean I can’t keep on trying” – Marcus trying to figure out how to deal with a difficult situation. By Marta Kaltreider.

It has been over two months since we came back to Bali to start our second year and, compared with last year at this same time, a completely different set of challenges are unfolding in front of us. I can officially say that the honeymoon is over… Yes, I am no longer showered with that feeling of Bali bliss that I experienced throughout last year and that never seemed to leave my side. That feeling of wonder and admiration at this island’s endless and wholesome beauty has shifted.

Well, beautiful and wholesome Bali continues to be beautiful and wholesome. Not much has changed other than a few paved roads here and there so, what is going on? A local saying states that if Bali loves you, Bali will keep you or will bring you back. On the contrary, if Bali doesn’t love you, it will kick you out to never return. Strange saying. Hard to make sense of it, but interesting nevertheless. After one year deep into Bali life, I have seen enough to believe that there is some degree of truth to that saying. Or maybe I have gone completely mad! But regardless, and for the purpose of this reflexion, I am going to assume I am indeed sane…

Ever since we arrived to Bali this second time around, I feel like we continue to be hit with well-aimed catapulted projectiles in the form of extremely complex challenges. I am not talking about the difficult challenges that we all face as part of day-to-day life. No, I am talking about challenges that are hard to put in context and rationalize.

Never once last year I felt afraid that someone would break in and take ownership of our personal belongings. It doesn’t feel so good when you get robbed in your own home – more than once… as one realizes that things are not being misplaced by little hands but rather mysteriously disappearing! -, discover who it is and cannot do anything about it. Stealing is an incredible serious crime in Indonesia and the consequences on the perpetrator are way too painful for any of us to bear. After all, I understand the temptation since some of our neighbors really do not have much… I feel like my sense of safety has been shattered though, my trust has gone up in flames, my heart has been poisoned a bit, and my internal alert system is fully functioning… What a shame…

After a year of much needed pause and reflection, Jeff is ready to jumpstart his professional life in new ways and he is deep into two great opportunities. Starting a new venture is never easy, especially in a foreign country. Especially in an underdeveloped foreign country. Yet there are different degrees of difficult: challenging difficult and against all odds difficult. It is hard to walk on a new path as the floor that supports you keeps on disappearing so you fall… again and again… just as if you were playing a game on a magic map in which the roads suddenly vanish.

Legally, bureaucratically and financially, Indonesia is a land of exceptions and ever-changing laws, especially if you are a foreigner. Even the “simpler” of processes such as renewing your visa – simple as in familiar because you do it several times, not simple as in uncomplicated – can turn into an episode of Breaking Bad – minus the meth-. Honestly, who would want to end up in an Indonesian jail? Not us… We want to do it by the book. But every time we have the book the pages seem to turn to dust!

Over the last two months our health has been intensely tested more times than it ever was, for all of us together, the entire last year. How does waking up to a son that looks like a bullfrog sound? No kidding here! – A bacterial infection overtook his neck glands that ballooned up to impressive levels (oh, and it happened to Jeff too!). And since I am at it, and although purely anecdotal, it is  worth noting, even if just for the fun of it, that while Marcus seemed to have been cast with this nasty bullfrog spell, Jeff was in Singapore and we had major electricity and water issues at home. It all went down kind of like this:

6:00 am. Good morning, Monday! Time to get up, Marta!

Why is the fan acting funny?… My phone is not charging.?!?… Hmmm… looks like we have electricity issues. Oh well, I hope I can still take a shower.

6:05 am. Ahhh… Thank you shower… Funny water pressure but still, nothing like a shower in the morning to start the day fresh. All soaped up, nice and foamy, ready to rinse. Oh, wait! No more water coming out of the shower? Really? What the…!?!

6:20 am. Good morning, Marcus! I mean, good morning bullfrog!?! Have you seen my son? – I wonder if a loving kiss will bring my prince back… – I need to rush him to the doctor: he is in pain, he has a fever – where is the darn thermometer!?! –  Plus he is looking rather stiff (not to mention swollen!).

6:25 am. Let’s see… Unexpectedly reconfigured Monday morning “to do” list:

1- Who can help me take the girls to school so I can rush Marcus to the doctor? Thank you, Ibu Karen. You really are the Mary Poppins of our times.

2- Rush Marcus to the doctor.

3- Cancel all commitments and find a replacement for my class: Oops! it looks like Pak Aga’s wife just went into labor so, he is out. Pak Noan? Right… it is camp week for Middle School so he is gone… Ibu Leslie (aka Head of School), pick up the phone pretty please! “Sorry to bother you this early on a Monday morning, Ibu Leslie, but I have a situation and I could really use some help…”

3b- Cell phone, P-L-E-A-S-E do not run out of battery because I  cannot charge you without electricity!

4- One more… pass water and electricity issues to Simon, our landlord. It would be nice if by the end of the day today we were able to wash hands and dishes, even rinse off the soap in the shower under the light of a working lightbulb…  What a luxury. (Thank you, Simon. You really came through for us!)

5- JEFF!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME ALL THE WAY FROM SINGAPORE?!?!  No, you don’t have cell coverage so hopefully you are on wi-fi and can get my SOS through whatsapp…

And so that was the beginning of a simple Monday…

…

I believe, that every emotional challenge manifests itself physically. Therefore, as I once heard, working on the equivalent physical part will provide additional tools to tackle the emotional side of life. I feel that my endurance and resilience are being tested: Am I, are we, strong enough to overcome the tests of this host island that we love so much? Is Bali kicking us out? The answer is I don’t know. But I have two choices:

1- I let doubt and fear of the future take over, live quietly under the radar and leave when the year is over or,

2- I embrace the present and work on my endurance and flexibility so I can face whatever lies ahead, with strength, flow and focus in order to make conscious choices and therefore take on the consequences.

Well, I choose the latter. I choose to stay strong, to be flexible and to stay focused, hence I run and I stretch and I practice yoga. Lately, completing a 5k or 10k run, or going through a whole yoga class feels a lot harder than it should be. But the effort helps. I don’t have answers. I have no control over the future. But I have endurance, strength, flexibility  and focus to make conscious choices in the present.

So, just as buddhists put it:

Do I have a problem?

If the answer is “no”: then don’t worry about it.

If the answer is “yes”: then I ask myself: “can I solve it?”

if the answer is “no”: then don’t worry about it.

if the answer is “yes”: then don’t worry about it.

To what I add: Stay strong – keep up the morning runs -, be flexible – continue stretching -, embrace the present – practice yoga – and clarity will come my way.