Wow! Can you believe it has already been months since we were all together in Bali? It feels like yesterday that we eagerly awaited your arrivals at the airport, excited to see your jetlagged faces ready to embark on an adventure of a lifetime!
In just two short weeks, each of you made such a direct impact on the village of Mas. We have met with the village and banjar leaders and they feel so lucky to have had such dedicated, inspiring young people give their time to their elderly and youth. Whether you know it or not, spending part of your summer in Bali has become a catalyst for so many of the villagers of Mas to have a better awareness of their health and ways to improve it. You should be very proud!
We hope that you have had an amazing start to your new school year. We have no doubt that you have stayed true to your commitments that you left with at the end of the program and that you continue to make a positive impact on the people and communities around you. Keep traveling and keep taking risks; we know that each of you are going to make such a difference in the world!
After chatting with the team, we came up with some of the most memorable moments of the summer:
- The evening we went to meet the Stikes students, our kids ended up drawing them into a big dance party and taught them how to dance to Cotton-Eyed Joe.
- Trying to open salak, the snakefruit in Kintamani
- Emily got the coolest picture of the whole trip when we went to Tirta Empul. She dipped her GoPro into the koi pond and got a fantastic closeup of a crazy fish face.
- At Good Karma, joining the locals for a pickup beach volleyball game.
- When we went to visit the elephant safari park, I could see student after student clicking in and starting to realize how sad it was for the elephants. When we decided unanimously to leave early and skip the gift shop, I was so, so proud of their empathy.
- The very first full day, Sydney and Caryna came downstairs before breakfast and met one of the women in the compound. They were invited into the family temple for prayers and blessings, and emerged to eat wearing the rice from the ritual.
- Falling in love with the puppy that came to live at the compound. They cycled through several different names for her, finally settling on “Roo” which was short for Krupuk, the shrimp chips that the ladies from Mama’s brought up every day at lunch. I believe the second session kids renamed her Lola.
Miss you all and stay in touch!
-Your GLA Bali Team
Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our new destinations for Summer 2018, or enroll now.
