Why I Love Village Life Part 2

This is a continuation of the last blog about why I love village living.

The first reason that I love living in the village (the one that I mentioned last week ) is the opportunity to have animals. I love animals, and I especially love having enough space so that they can roam around freely.

The second reason is mornings. I love mornings in the village. Folks wake up early and are out getting a quick start on the day. The village kids are in their school uniforms, hair still wet from their mandi; goats and water buffalo are beginning their grazing rounds for the day; everything smells fresh and the air is still cool. As I drive the kids to school, folks from the village smile and wave; occasionally a small child will jump up and down shouting bule! bule! This is the beauty of all small towns – the closeness of the community. Everyone knows everyone and everyone has their place and role in the community.

Space for me and the kids and Su is another reason that I love village life. In Bali, we have our townhouse – shopping is easy because we’re five minutes from “downtown” Singaraja, but the walls of our house are a foot away from our neighbor’s house, and any argument that we might have is heard by all of our neighbors. Our house in the village is large, the yard is huge (57 are), and thus we have the space to do what we want and live how we want.

The fourth reason is physical labor. I spent almost twenty years doing physical labor while I was a student. I miss that, and I need exercise because of the high cholesterol and the prediabetes. I found exercise rather boring, but if I can exercise while I’m getting something done like cutting the grass or raking the cuttings or digging holes, well then I can enjoy exercising. I’ve spent the past weekend cutting over 3000 square meters of land, and that’s been a big job, but really satisfying.

More about village life later.