Interview with Mike from California in Bali

Mike Hillis
Aged: 37
From: Palos Verdes, California
Studied: Anthropology at UCSB (Santa Barbara, CA)
Has just moved to Bali from Nevada City, CA.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Baliblog: Mike I know you were operating your own Balinese goods store in Grass Valley, CA a couple of years ago, what is your current occupation?
Mike: I am currently a school teacher but waiting to find the right position in Bali.

I have recently qualified as a teacher in California and I’d have to say 90% of the course was classroom discipline and legal issues not the actual subject matter eg. ‘How to deal with parents’. I thought to myself ‘I’m not here to learn this’.

I’d rather be an unemployed school teacher in Bali than in California.

Baliblog: How long have you been married to Priksa?
Mike: We have been married for 6 years.

Baliblog: How did you meet?
Mike: I met Priska at the Ngurah Rai international airport in Tuban where she worked a booth.

Baliblog: How long have you and Priska lived together in California?
Mike: We have lived in Nevada City with our family for 4 years.

Baliblog: How old are your daughters?
Mike: Emma is 4 and Aurelia is 2.

Baliblog: How did your Balinese family like life in California?
Mike: Priska liked it a lot. The small town friendly people and she learned how to enjoy baking goodies. She didn’t like the winter too much.

Emma is now 4 and liked going out to the countryside, we had horses close to the house. We have a very scenic dump in Nevada City and that was our big deal, views of Tahoe with lamas and other animals.

Baliblog: Why did you move back to Bali?
Mike: We both missed it a tremendous amount and it was my idea to move. We had a home already here which we built and we have many different business opportunities with Priska’s family being native. I’d also like to develop my teaching career here and other education projects.

Baliblog: What aspects of family / daily life were you looking forward to after moving here.
Mike: Raising the girls outside in the garden and teaching them about nature. We’re going to develop a huge garden in the coming months allowing the girls to experience life in a working traditional farming environment where they can understand the patterns of nature.

On my behalf I think a sense of real community for us to have a relationship with our neighbours, learn how to grow food from them. I guess to be able to live in a very different environment in America, which while being good was a little too sheltered. Here life is a little more raw. We have neighbors who have been growing rice here for several centuries, the sense of co-operation. The sense of people who are forced to co-operate with each other in a very productive way.

I want to expose Emma to as many different people as possible. We are going to orphanages and see how other people live. I want her to meet city people, village people.

Baliblog: What were some of the hurdles to coming back?
Mike: The relationship between our daughters and my parents is getting severed. It was hard to see them say goodbye for a while. The logistics were not hard, we rented our house out, put things in storage and sold off other things. The emotional link was the hardest thing.

Emma made some friends there and that might be hard in future if we move again.

Baliblog: What were your emotions/ feelings on arriving back in Bali?
Mike: My first emotion was happiness to be back to see how the village has evolved. The memories we had were still current and the village hadn’t changed much. We got on with it because we had to arrange transportation, employment, visas, furniture etc.

Baliblog: Moving back with a wife and kids what advice do you have regarding the paperwork?
Mike: We came in on a social visa and that is not going to work. Priska needs to hold on to her Indonesian passport because our relationship to the land would be questionable. I want to move to a ‘kitas’ visa which will mean I am completely legitimate.

I went to the police station yesterday saying I am in this house with my wife and kids etc. The cop said that 2-3 months ago that 3 ‘bules’ were deported with a 25m rp fine and blacklisted for working on a tourist visa and overstaying a year. He said its super important to keep up to date with the paperwork.

For schools there are some good schools in Bali but I don’t have much advice of visas for families as my situation is complicated by the fact that I am married to a local.

Baliblog: Any plans for more kids?
Mike: No 2 kids is a good number for us

Baliblog: How do you expect the kids to get on in Bali?
Mike: My biggest concern is that they are always going to be looked at as outsiders even though they are locals now. There skin tone is lighter so they are identifiable. Locals might think they are arrogant and we can help stop that by getting them to speak Balinese. I’m not concerned about the education quality as there are lot of good schools in Bali.

The biggest concern is after we have been here for awhile and being raised here means you have a lot of manners and respect for family / society. If they go to the US for higher education they might find it shocking the way people talk and act.

Baliblog: I think Balinese people who have interactions with westerners will be somewhat familiar, no?
Mike: That’s true. Sexuality in Indonesia has evolved massively since Suharto was ousted 6 years ago.

Baliblog: What were the motivating forces for you to come back to Bali?
Mike: I guess my threshold for boredom is really low. I guess that’s what I love at Bali you step out your door and you don’t know who you are gonna meet, artists, businessmen or complete nutcases.

Baliblog: Have you looked for work yet?
Mike: We’ve been here 3 weeks and the answer is no. I will do in next 2-3 weeks.

Baliblog: Advice for other?
Mike: I know education is very important and Bali is not the first destination you’d think of bringing your family to, but if you are willing to do home schooling it can work and there are options here.

If its your first time to Bali /Asia and you are bringing your family be prepared to be shocked because life is more out in the open here especially in the villages. The Balinese people absolutely adore children and that is a serious perk for moving here because your kids will get a tremendous amount of positive attention.

Baliblog: Why can’t you have a good conversation with someone back in America who speaks your own language?
Mike: When I think of my old friends back in LA they grew up near the beach surfing, now they have their job, their home, their car and I don’t have much in common with them anymore. I almost refuse to have a serious political conversation with anyone without a passport because they are just repeating what they hear on the news.

Baliblog: I remember when George Bush came here last year Yahoo’s website said “President Bush visits the front lines on the war on terror on the bomb scared island of Bali” that doesn’t sound like the place I live.
Mike: Yeah, how about when we bought some coffee from those terrorists on the river bank today.

I’d say to someone why I can’t have a meaning full conversation to many people in the US just look at today. We hiked to a valley in the mountains of Bali, on the way stopping to chat with farmers and people on their way to ceremonies. Then we said hello to other people bathing and sitting on the bank before enjoying a dip ourselves. Afterwards we sat with 2 ladies who had hauled their gear down the hill so we could drink hot coffee when we got out. All the conversations were friendly, pleasant and we all learned about each other’s families. I don’t get that with many of the people in my town Nevada City in California.

Baliblog: What are your thoughts on the place you left just 3 weeks ago?
Mike: Nevada City is really well located. It is an hour from Sacramento, an hour and a half from Lake Tahoe and 2 and a half hours from San Francisco. People from the big city, older people who have made it, hippies, lesbians from the Bay Area etc. move there because they want a quieter place in the mountains.

Baliblog: Why did you move there?
Mike: We moved there because we wanted a small town and a community aspect to our environment. I’d have to say that the town is growing fast and is really split between 2 groups, the traditional conservatives who are from there and the newcomers who often come with more liberal views.

Baliblog: Are you generally positive about the US?
Mike: America is my home and I have nothing against the people, there are some wonderful people there with a great sense of humor and who are just good people. I need a change that’s all and I think California in particular has seen its best days.

• Meeting Priska in Kuta Bali
• Priska, Emma and Agus in Kuta Square Bali
• Visiting Mike and Priska in Gianyar Bali
• Meeting Mike in Seminyak Bali
• Writing from Ubud Bali

Subscribe Bali RSS Feed

Print

Share

Comments