Eat, Pray, Love to the end of the book (pg. 331)

Liz continues her adventures in Bali with Felipe. She has decided that she loves Felipe, and he says he loves her, but she knows she will never marry him. He lives in Bali, and she knows there is no future for her in the town and cannot stay here all her life. But she enjoys spending as much time with him as possible. He also warns Liz about Balinese people, specifically Wayan, the village woman she has raised 18,000 American dollars for buying a new house since she has been evicted and cares for many adopted kids. It's been a while since she's given Wayan the money to put in her bank account while she looks for a new home, and Wayan still hasnt shown any signs of getting closer to finding a new home to buy. Felipe and Liz decide to intervene in her home buying process, and take her around with realtors. Liz learns that home buying in Bali is a very long and complicated process. It's actually quite shameful to be selling land/ property there, so most sellers don't publicize their land that's for sale. You'd usually find out through rumors. Also, there are many religious limitations involved in home buying. And finally, once you've found a house that you like, you have to see a priest to find an auspicious day to purchase the home. I thought this was kinda funny because in the book I previously read, Memoirs of a Geisha, the geisha relied on looking at calenders that told them auspicious days for certain actions. Anyways, after many attempts to get Wayan a good home, she comes up with various excuses which annoys the two. She finally finds a good piece of land she likes, but can only afford 2/7 of it. After a series of complicated events, Wayan is basically trying to squeeze more money out of Liz, and Liz finally realizes it. She in turn messes with Wayan, and gets her to finally buy some land and get started on her house building. At this point, Liz goes to an island in Indonesia named Gili Meno, a place she has already been before. She remembers her previous spiritual journey that she endured in her last trip. This recollection of her memories prompts Liz to compare that journey to the one she is about to embark on, this time under different circumstances. She comes here with Felipe this time, unlike last time when she came alone. She realizes how lucky she is to have someone like him and how great of a turn around her life has made since last year, before her traveling vacation.

Eat, Pray, Love up to page 303

Liz is still in Bali,enjoying spending time with the medicine man, Ketut. He tells her his life story, of how he became a medicine man just like his father. Liz realizes she has an abundance of free time in Bali, and the only thing she is really committed to is visiting Ketut. Liz is currently renting an Englishwoman's home as she is in London. This home is cheaper to rent than her apartment in New York, yet this one is much more beautiful and spacious and even has a garden. Liz meets a new friend name Yudhi, the man who rented the house to her. He has musical ear, is not easily bothered and once had a job on a Carnival Cruise Line ship. He lived in Brooklyn during 9/11 and watched the two towers fall from his apartment. He was arrested after the event on account of the Patriot Act, and was separated from his wife and taken to a detention center. He was deported back to Indonesia and now is trying to figure out what him and his wife should do. Liz asks her medicine man why life is crazy, and he tells her it is because man is a demon and a god. Ketut is clueless however when Liz asks about romance, and states he has only ever slept with his first wife, who is now dead. Ketut confesses he was in love with a girl before her once though, but she had a bad character. To get over the pain he felt from his broken heart, he meditated. This gives Liz an option for how to get over her recent heart breaks. Liz meets a Brazilian man named Felipe, and soon falls for him. He invites her to his house for dinner one night after a long time of hanging out...and i think you can guess what happens from there. But the next morning she has to go on a cross-Balinese hiking trip with Yudhi, which she ends up enjoying a lot. After returning though, she goes back to Filipe's house for about another month and loves being adored by him, a man she thinks she loves. The two spend a lot of time together, and Liz fulfills another goal of her year long trip, pleasure. I really enjoy reading about Liz's travels and experiences, even when they are awkward and strange. It's interesting to see her culture clash and eventually mold into other cultures based on where she's living and who she's with.

lolz

sorry for the language, but this is realllyy funny :) and fitting since we just finished Hamlet!

Poetry Playlist: Poems by Linda Pastan

All of these are by Linda Pastan:

"I Am Learning To Abandon the World"
"The Obligation to Be Happy"
"The Answering Machine"
"Faith"
"Why Are Your Poems So Dark?"- video poem
"The Birds"

Hunt for Bin Laden

The New York Times released the article "Behind the Hunt for Bin Laden." The article details the ten year search for the terrorist who was recently killed by US Navy Seals in a raid of the mansion he resided in. The president and other important members of the government and military had planned this attack after finding the location of Bin Laden and sat and watched the attack take place in Washington while being updated from a CIA leader in Pakistan. In my opinion, I don't see why we wasted so much money, resources and time looking for one man. I know he was responsible for the death of many people, but we only killed more people in the attempt to find and kill him. And now that he is dead, many of his followers will want revenge, and will probably get it. The people who celebrated his death so publicly here in the US seem a little ridiculous to me also. It was pretty irreverent and a little bit scary to see how excited people got over the killing of a man. That's just my personal opinion though.

Eat, Pray, Love up to page 231

Just as Liz's friend Giulio told her in Italy that Rome's word is SEX, Liz has found her own word, ANTEVASIN. This means "one who lives at the border," which is just like Liz. Liz cannot decide what her place in life is supposed to be, so she lives on the border of everything, trying to find the right place, while also trying to get closer to God. Another discovery Liz has made came from another friend, one from the Ashram, who told her she should stop looking for answers to her questions in the world, but rather in her center place where God lives within her. She decides nothing (spiritually) has ever made more sense to her than this idea. She also realizes that she sees in her aging friends a desire to have something to believe in. She is grateful she has a God that she talks to and tries to listen to while her friends are struggling in this field. Toward the end of her trip in India, she writes another poem. Her first poem was created a month after she came to India, and it mostly complained about everything in the Ashram and her struggle with connecting with God. The second poem however,confesses she would do anything these people did just to be closer to God, to keep the relationship she built with him. As begins her travels of India in Bali, she determines that almost everyone in this city is friendly, and the city is very easy to navigate. Her new friend Mario takes her to see the medicine man she met the first time she traveled here. He doesn't recognize her at first, but after he does, he goes crazy and is all excited she came back. She offers to help him with his English, just as he requested previously. While having an English lesson, he updates her on his life. He tells her to let her conscience be her guide, and again says he is very happy to see her before they party ways. Liz evaluates Bali as a city, noting is extremely religious foundation and third world lifestyle. She realizes there isn't much of this worldview she can incorporate to her own since she is used to a more modern and western view. While visiting with her medicine man friend, Ketut, he tells her that Yoga is too hard, and that people always have too serious of faces while doing Yoga. Therefore she should just practice meditating because its easier.

Eat, Pray, Love up to page 203

Liz and her friends at the Ashram talk about marriage and her friends decide to find a way to help Liz have closure with her ex husband since their divorce ended so badly. They get her to go to a roof top, the highest point in the Ashram and tell her in a note there is nothing between her and God, so all she has to do is let go. She meditates and gets to a place where her and her ex are together and talking. She feels she has achieved closure and can now move on with her life. Her friend Richard from Texas is leaving he Ashram, and tells Liz she must move on, and that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else...lol. Liz is chosen to host a series of retreats at the Ashram, which she is kinda excited about because she feels like she needs to be in silence more, which is what these retreats are all about. Liz also makes the realization that we need God because he provides us with grace. And God needs us because he loves to feel things through our hands. I feel like this is a really good point, and explains why God would do so much for us and sacrifice so much. Liz ends up enjoying her first retreat, finding that she learned more than she taught the visitors. This experience is helping her become even better at meditating and finding a connection with God which ultimately leads to her happiness.