Last days of class

Yesterday the mystery outing was a trip to Goa Gayu, the elephant cave shrine. It was really nice, despite the fact that we had to be ready to go at 6 am. We were naturally the only people there which was great. There was a prayer ceremony which some chose to participate in, after which we went into the cave. A narrow corridor came to a T with a slightly larger room, which had figures of Ganesha and other things inside. After this we went down some stairs into the ravine behind the temple, and it was beautiful. Emiko said she had been there with her teachers, and asked us not to take photos, notes, or talk to each other, but for everyone to do their own thing and take from it their own lesson. It was great to hav an hour to commune with nature. I realized how mediated my trip has been with my camera, recorder, and notebook. After wandering around, I nestled down in a nook between the tall roots of my favorite trees from the jungles of Malaysia (I'm pretty sure theres a picture if you check my blog archives of Sept. 2006). The roots were so high that no one could see me except barely the top of my head unless they walked directly in front of me. It was a great morning.

Today we rehearsed all together, musicians and dancers, for our performance tonight. We are just performing for each other and our teachers, and I'm sure some random friends will be there, it will be nice to have a last show together. Tomorrow morning we end with a closing ceremony, and then bye-bye Cudamani. It will be sad to leave this workshop, though it's been frustrating at time overall its been a wonderful experience that I wouldn't trade for anything.

Sunday I'll be heading to the beach in north Bali with Charlene (my roomie- we are glad we were put together), and her mom who's flying in that day, and Nisha. There's an organization I'm going to visit there to do some more research that will be fun. Not to mention scuba diving and working on my tan. I sadly don't have much of one since we spend our days in the shade. I will really miss spending pretty much all day outside and barefoot, its my dream come true.