Turkish Absurdities

My father, twin sisters and Turkish step mother live in Istanbul, Turkey. This ensures my visiting the 'largest city in Europe' once a year to kiss my family, practice yoga at Ciyangir, and sip Turkish wines at the top of one of thousands of secret roof-top apartment-bars. However, this last trip was different.

Not only was I able to attent the Turkish president's party for Istanbul being named the Capital of Culture 2010, I was invited on a snowboarding extravaganza in Kartalkaya, Bolu 3 hours East of Istanbul where I found myself being pampered at the ever-so-shi-shi Golden Key Hotel. After living in Bali for over a year, I was deep in powder soft snow—observing individual snowflakes as they graced my mittens.

After a long day of training on a board with the Turkish champion of kite and snow boarding and too many lovely glasses of red wine, my crew headed to the hotel room for much needed sleep. Someone in our room opened the window in the beautiful living-room to smoke a joint and then, forgot to close it. In the morning, the rooms were like icicles. We dressed and made our way downstairs to the lodge. Empty. Restaurant—empty. What the heck?

This may be the only time I'll give weed credit for saving the day because 16 people went to the intensive care unit at the far away hospital. The cause: Carbon Monoxide poisoning.
Our open weed window allowed the winter night air to circulate the rooms, saving us from a fatal woe.

Just another day in the life of Emily.

Holy Donation Batman!

Feeling oh, so inclined to help further my writing and see me do things no one else will? Check out my donate button to the left of my blog. Any donations go towards my non-profit work in Bali such as teaching English at the Starfish School for less fortunate kids, snapping photos for sustainability projects and helping the local orphanage voice their voices (the little ones are hilarious!).

Much love everyone! Great stories await you!

Bali Spirit Festival 2009

Bali Spirit Festival 2009

Yogis, artists and musicians traveled from the corners of our globe to celebrate Yoga, music and dance at the 2009 Bali Spirit Festival held on the predominantly Hindu island of Bali, Indonesia, minutes outside the culturally rich and healing town of Ubud.
The heart of the festival beats with the universal vision of I Made Gunarta, Meghan Pappenheim, and Dan Robert Weber, three very original and vibrant personalities. Kicking off an event of this magnitude in Bali, a culture notorious for abiding by ‘rubber time' is a challenging goal but with passion, perseverance and playfulness this event has manifested into a global peace production.

As the village of Ubud throbbed with fresh energy, festival attendees tightened their helmets and prepared for the motor bike journey to the town of Batuan. Rainbows of Yoga mats bobbed on the backs of festival goers as they navigated through sky filled rice fields, smiling at the curious faces of Balinese children while making their way to the Purnati Centre for the Arts , the venue for this 6 day extravaganza.

Volunteers greeted guests as they walked up Puranati’s steep stone steps and into a haven of five different pavilions; a tropical outdoor amphitheater, a two-story floating bale, stunning swimming-pool, and vast gardens overlooking expansive views of Bali beauty. Bamboo huts offered local goodies such as delectable veggie dishes from Ubud’s Yogi hangout KAFE and plump coconuts ready to be hacked open and sipped with a banana leaf straw.

Attendees strolled barefoot through the grass from one workshop to the next-16 were offered each day! With 29 talented teachers such as Swami Shankardev Saraswati, Uma Inder, David Moreno, Eoin Finn, Joseph Lee, Katy Appleton Apple Yoga), Rebecca Pflaume (Kundalini), and Partrick Creelman (Anusara), this was a difficult task.

Mark Whitwell led students through a gentle asana sequence asking students to "promise to practice Yoga 7 minutes a day" reminding them they were always "loved and cared for in this ordinary world."

A medley of colorful instrumentals echoed from each workshop and a harmony was naturally created. These harmonies danced into the many sivasana occurring simultaneously bringing an unexpected flavor to the festival. New York’s Akim Funk Buddha taught afro-centric rhythm, body popping and a funky twist on classical asanas and the lovable Kadek Suambara (Bali) offered Laughter Yoga beneath breezy white tarps creating a lawn of laughter so contagious even the camera crew shook with giggles. “Life is body, mind, and spirit," says Kadek. “Laughter is our key to all three.”

Bali breathes musical talent and intuitive harmonic creation is woven into the culture attracting incredible performers from many countries. Mosquito bites were forgotten as attendees watched in awe as Rocky Dewuni (Ghana), Africa’s ‘next Bob Marley’ whose performances are often coined ‘legendary,’ ended the 6 day festival performing his song, In Ghana. By mid-song, the lyrics transformed to ‘in Bali’ as performers such as Yeshe, Ganga Giri ,Tom Freund from Venice Beach, InRhythm, Daphne Tse, Khalife, Geoffrey Gordon, Akim Funk Buddha spontaneously jumped on stage blending worldly instruments, voices, and dance as the crown went wild, intoxicated by the infectious Bali spirit.


The 2010 Bali Spirit Festival will be held on March 31st-April 4th.

Check it out! If you're coming to Bali Spirit festival and need a house, a friend, or want to volunteer post or search for free on Balifinds.com and someone out there will see your ad and help you! Many people are listing, many people are talking and making new friends!

Also, if you're teaching yoga, music, dance, language or want to learn any of these in Bali please post!

Help us make Balifinds.com a wonderful community resource!

With Gratitude,
Emily