What’s In A Name?

The last week has felt a lot like work and I liked it. I have decided to lead my own yoga retreat here in Bali this coming spring and that requires a certain amount of diligence on my part. I spent lots of time on the computer building some marketing materials and generally just spreading the word. Somewhere in the planning it occurred to me that while I am in the land of super cheap printing I should have some cards made up to help more people find me and this site (read as: save me the trouble of writing out the web address six times a day).

This posed a bit of a dilemma for me. Generally when one has a business card made, it contains a title. But what title should I use? Over the last several months I have gained a few new monikers to be sure, World Traveler, Yoga Teacher, Single White Female. So as I sat there trying to layout a card I realized I had no idea what to call myself. Gypsy, Vagabond, Sunbather? Spa Critic, Novice Sailor, Narcissist?

Travel Agent, Leader, Event Planner?

About half my time recently has been dedicated to the retreat and the other half to trying to plot out my route through Thailand and India. So far the retreat planning has been a lot more successful. I seriously may end up just landing in Bangkok and seeing which way the wind blows for the four days I have before I head off for silent meditation. After which I have to make my way to the other end of the country in three days. For some reason, despite all my time spent surfing the Internet I have yet to finalize or reserve a single hotel or mode of transportation.

Busybody, User Interface Specialist, Children’s Yoga Teacher?

I taught my last kids’ class for the month on Sunday, a lesson all about how our actions affect the world at large. A story told through the elephant-headed God Ganesh and his mother Parvati. While I am uncertain of the success of instilling any morality into the kids, I did manage to wear them out, what with all the elephant/warrior, bow and arrow poses, so I chalk this up as a success.

Old habits and professions die hard which is how I found myself providing an unsolicited review of the website for the resort I teach at. As it turns out they were actually appreciative of this and I was treated to a free massage for my efforts - perhaps my favorite form of payment to date.

Daredevil, Risk Aversion Analyst, Motor Scooter Rally Driver?

I filled my tank yesterday at a real gas station, a first for me here in Bali. I had been using the corner store/Absolute bottle petrol stops because the gas station was, until recently, out of my kilometric ring of comfort. After filling up I realized that the markup on the Absolute bottles is about 100%. This would piss me off if it weren’t for the fact that at even double the station prices, it still only costs $3 to fill my tank.

Water Slide Enthusiast, Non-Denominational Theologian, Freeloader?

One of the things I have learned as a budget-minded traveler is that while I choose to not pay to stay at the highest of high-end Bali resorts, often I can still enjoy their finer points while still maintaining a healthy balance in my savings account. Most places here will allow you to rent a lounge chair for the day, sometimes for $5-10 dollars, sometimes just for buying a drink.

Yesterday I had no plans so I hopped a taxi for one of Bali’s main photo ops, a sea-side temple about a half hour from where I am staying. Next to the temple is a Le Meridian, a world-class golf resort with a fantastic pool. I strolled on over to the pool rented a ten dollar chair and settled in for the day.

The pool had a water slide and I couldn't resist. I came splashing out of the shoot at the feet of a lovely woman named Viviana. Upon seeing how much fun I was having she too hit the water slide and we became fast friends. She and I spent the day chatting, sliding and watching the sun set over the temple. It was a great day – and one that reminded me how easy it is to meet really wonderful, interesting people if you are open to it.

Viv: Gracias por cena. Espero que usted tuviera una visita maravillosa con su padre y su familia. Que le vaya bien amiga.



So bringing it home... the business cards. This decision seemed kinda big to me. I am living the realization that you can have whatever you want if you focus your energy in the right way. I felt like whatever words I put on the cards, whatever titles I chose, would be my way of telling the universe how I want to define myself. I gave it a few days thought, scrapped Olympic Curling Champion, Princess, Rocket Scientist, Vice President of the United States (unlike some, I know my limits) and Evening News Anchor from the list and settled on what I really want to be.