A few days later, a group of teenage boys came with power tools and chisels. Slowly, the two stacks of bricks became two beautiful statues - one of a goddess and the other of a mythical warrior. Emily and I have watched the statues develop each time we worked at Tutmak, the cafe directly across the street. The bright orange figures now guard the entrance to the neighborhood.
It was just a pile of bricks made of vibrant orange clay. The Balinese use these on temples, palaces and nowadays on the homes of those who can afford it. After all, the goal is to eventually make your family compound look like a temple.
Everyday, Emily and I see ordinary looking objects turn into art. We live next to a stone carving village and we can hear the guys across the road constantly working on their statues. We see the large blocks of stone arrive and eventually become the Ganeshas, vases and spiritual guardian statues that sit along the roadside.
Bali is all about seeing the art in the stone.
Diana and Jacob took a cooking class earlier this week and came back raving about all that they learned. Their teacher emphasized that the mortars and pestles the Balinese use are always made of volcanic rock. No other material will do.
Our house has stone tiled bathrooms, ceramic floors, a stone covered facade, and wood interior doors. The entire house sits on a natural stone slab foundation. The compound has cut stone walls, wood and thatch gazebos and magnificent gardens with stone walkways. The furniture is mostly pure teak.
The Balinese make extensive use of the natural materials of their island. It affects every aspect of life from how they crush their garlic to the facade of their homes.
Although it's not news to me now, it took me some time after I started living here in 2004 to figure out just what it was about my house in Bali that I loved so much better than the gorgeous condo in which my friends/colleagues and I lived and worked in Singapore.
We rented a four bedroom, three bath, two story, 2100 square foot penthouse condo with high ceilings, spiral staircase, hardwood and tile floors, granite counters and incredible plush furniture. It had every amenity one could want. We were living the Singaporean dream.
But I couldn't sleep well and it never felt like home. It was somehow, despite having every trapping one could desire, not a place I wanted to live in long-term. In fact, when the lease was up and we had downsized the business, I moved into a smaller two bedroom, two bath condo in a slightly more central area of town. Again, it was a fantastic place and easily the nicest apartment in which I've ever lived. And again, I always found that I never rested as well as I did in Bali.
My house in Bali had an all-wood upstairs and my bedroom was cool, dark and made entirely of teak - with a thatched roof. I slept like a baby there. Of course every time I left for the airport to fly back to Singapore, I wondered what I was doing. I had an active business that was very exciting - but I never enjoyed leaving Bali and the house I considered my home.
Something about natural materials and a natural environment changes the way I feel. Many of my friends and visitors who came to both places noticed the same thing.
Over time, I've come to notice and appreciate just how much our environment affects us - right down to the materials from which our walls and floors are made. I'm sure there are architects, interior designers and ecologists who will read these words and offer a well educated, "Duh...."
The crazy part is that I don't think the average American without an education in building materials, an interest in art or a personal drive toward zen ever give this much thought.
To the Balinese, nature is second nature...if not first. They use what they have and it turns out to be beautiful, natural and grounding. Jacob kept commenting how much the Balinese are "one with the Earth." That's because they're living in it - in their walls, decorations, plates, bowls and spice grinders.
In America, we build large tracts of houses and tall condo blocks of stucco, sheet rock, cement, linoleum, pergo, carpet, plaster, asbestos, aluminum siding, and steel. That's not to say that we don't have some wood, bricks and stone mixed in - and of course some people have a lot of the natural stuff than others.
However, natural materials, let alone natural environment just aren't our emphasis. Given costs in America, it would be hard to change that. Between the materials, transportation and labor costs, building a house of stone and wood would cost a fortune - and in California it wouldn't be up to earthquake code. Let's face it, our houses are expensive enough with the materials we have.
Still, it's hard for me not to wonder if we've somehow gotten off track. We have become removed from the Earth. Something in us longs for it. It's why we love beaches, mountains, gardens, rivers, skies, rocks and even house plants. How many people look at a crystal clear lake or the sparkling blue of the Mediterranean and go, "Yuck" ?
Whether by design or default, the Balinese have figured out something important. It's one of the elements of the magic of Bali.
Natural materials and surroundings subtly resonate within us. Something about them is calming, grounding and healthy. Even when they're in the form of a guardian goddess made from a pile of red clay bricks.
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