Under the Sea

Yes, I did just make a reference to the little mermaid. But how can you not sing along to that soundtrack when you're scuba diving? This post is a little rewind to Bali. Partially because I miss it and partially because it's starting to get cold here. We went to Bali with the intention to scuba dive once or twice. That was before we found out how ridiculously cheap it is! At 30 bucks a pop we were able to go a whole lot more than we anticipated!  

Kind of kept expecting them to form animals or words.

If you open your mouth then these tiny shrimp start to clean your mouth. 

We were able to dive a ship wreck right off the coast. The USS Liberty was an american cargo ship that was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in WWII. Too expensive to haul back to the states, it was decided to beach the huge ship. Then in 1964, Mt. Agung volcano exploded, over 10,000 ft tall, killing a thousand villagers. the lava made it’s way to the beach and pushed the beached cargo ship into the ocean. It now sits at a 90 degree angle on it’s side and goes from 3 meters deep down to 30 meters deep in the water. We talked to our driver who was born and raised in the town and he said that his grandparents witnessed the volcano exploding. Not having any cars in the town at the time, they had to run to the next town to seek safety.They were also able to do a night dive of the wreck!

While the boys were diving one morning, Alissa and I sat and talked with one of the workers at the hotel. She gave us great insight into the traditional Hindu lifestyle of Bali. It started by her asking about Alissa’s baby and when she was due. We then found out that she had been trying to get pregnant for 10 years now with no luck. She said that it is getting more and more difficult in Bali to get pregnant, and many people have the same difficulty as she. She told us that she was starting to get worried because if a woman does not have a child or does not produce a boy, then the husband sometimes goes and marries another woman. He can continue to marry different woman until he has a boy. She went on to tell us that it is very hard to find work. Sometimes her husband works a few days in a row as a boat driver but then can go weeks without work. Many women carry water pots to earn money but at the end of the day they have to split the money they earned with their “boss”. She said that some bosses were so cruel that if you were cooking and did something wrong they would take the boiling water and pour it on you. My heart went out to this woman and her obvious day to day struggle. It made me so humbly aware of how good we have it. Not having to worry about hubs leaving if I can't have a baby or if I have the wrong gender, having a good job with a great boss. There are so many things that we take for granted in our day to day life. Sometimes it's good to get a little wake up call from others.