YMCA of Hong Kong Hotel 
Valentine's Day 2/14/14

I have a Valentine for Andy when I get back  home in a few days, but today my heart goes to the Lions.   They've truly  enriched my adventure.


Natalie especially has made Hong Kong such a good experience.  She's one of those smart competent young people who are a  joy to be around  and to watch as they move up in the world.  Dr. Tam is lucky to have her on his staff, and I'm lucky he has so graciously made her available to me while I'm here.  

I haven't done anything touristy  here, but Natalie made sure I tasted some of her favorite  foods (tonight we had Korean curry, very different from Indian curry and very good).  And thanks to Dr. Tam, I had a very productive meeting at the Hong Kong Society for the Blind (HKSB).  Natalie and I spent  most of the day there, and I met with the directors of  the major programs and services HKSB offers, including adaptive computer technology,  the Braille literacy program and  library, deafblind programs, and of course orientation and mobility training.

I was impressed.   The HKSB facility is  comparable to the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind, except I didn't see a store with adaptive and assistive products like the Lighthouse and the Sacramento Society for the Blind have.    And I don't think HKSB has a Low Vision Clinic like the Sacramento Society for the Blind does.

It was an especially nice welcome for me when almost every staff member I met  there told me they'd visited my website and liked my mosaics.  "You're good!" one of them said.

I brought the Gecko Mirror  I made for Prandy and the Mathru mirror that Judy bought, along with my portfolios, all of which were examined with great interest.  I blessed Anne Williams for shooting a few photos of a half-finished mosaic on my worktable with my tools and materials.  She did those years ago and I'd  forgotten I had them, but today they were the most intently scrutinized of all the portfolio pictures.   Short of giving them an actual demonstration with my tools, those photos were the best way to help them understand  my technique.

I will send them a proposal, and they are going to apply for government funding that will soon be available.   I'm optimistic that we'll work something out.  

I like what little I have seen of Hong Kong and would love to spend more time here.  It's crowded and busy and has its own ambiance, like Singapore does -- both cities have taken on the flavors and cultures of all the different peoples living and traveling through there.  Even with all its international character,  Hong Kong is very Chinese, and part of China now, too.  But  it's very different from mainland China, Natalie said. "Hong Kong is First World and the rest of China is not."  I thought that was a good way to put it.

I love the assistive traffic signals here.  Wherever there is a streetlight, there is also a chest-high pole at the sidewalk, with a smaller version of the main streetlight on top that flashes red and green like the main light does.  The device emits  a distinctive clicking noise  (Andy claims is sounds like a cowbell) and  there is a vibrating panel  with a rotating arrow.  You place your hand lightly on the panel, and the arrow rotates to let you know which direction you can cross.  They're the best assistive traffic signals I've ever encountered.  They make traffic information accessible to low-vision, no-vision, and deafblind pedestrians.   

I have all my stuff  packed  in two bags and no carryon (except my shoulder bag),  thanks to Natalie, who found me a bigger (and cheap) suitcase.  The bellman came up and weighed the bags, and it looks like I'll be okay.  The smaller bag that I'm taking to Manila is a couple kilos under Philippine Airlines' limit, and the big bag is right at Singapore Airlines' limit.  Natalie is going to keep the big bag for me, and meet me at the airport with it  on Wednesday when I get back to Hong Kong to catch my Singapore Airlines flight to San Francisco.

It's odd packing for warm tropical weather in Manila when Hong Kong and San Francisco are both cool.   It's been in the  mid-60s here, and I've been  very comfortable in long pants, warm socks and lightweight shirt jacket.  That will be perfect for San Francisco, but way too warm for Manila.  It's about 85 degrees and humid there.  I have my denim skirt and sandals stuffed into my shoulder bag and will change on the plane before we land in Manila.

And now I better land my head on my pillow and get some sleep.

YMCA of Hong Kong Hotel 
Thursday 2/13/14

I've landed in Hong Kong safe and sound.   Dr. Tam, past president of the International Lions, sent a driver and one of his staff to meet me and bring me to the YMCA of Hong Kong Hotel -- a very nice hotel, too -- and gave me a few hours to rest before dinner.   That shower and little nap sure felt wonderful.

It was  a long 14 hours of traveling from the time I left Mathru  to the time I arrived here at the hotel,  and except for the horrible excess baggage fee incident, it was a smooth trip. 

I did have a moment of panic in Singapore when I was changing planes and waiting at the gate counter for the agent to  check me in.   All of a sudden someone was shouting, "Boarding pass!  BOARDING PASS!!"

"Wait, excuse me, here it is," I said, flustered and holding my passport and boarding pass out.  "I'm sorry, I don't understand what's going on,"  I turned to the airline staff who was helping me,  and she wasn't there.   I couldn't  find my carryon shoulder bag, either.   And the guys was still yelling, 'BOARDING PASS!  BOARDING PASS!!"

Being yelled at in a strange place with no one helping you and not being able to find your bag, let alone your way to the nearest door, is not a set of circumstances that promotes peace of mind.  I lost all peace and presence of mind and yelled, "HEY!!!   I DON'T NEED TO BE YELLED AT AND WHERE IS MY BAG????"   The airline staff person touched my arm (she was just behind me) and handed me my bag.  

"So sorry ma'am, here I am, here is your bag."  

The agent behind the counter leaned toward me so I could see him and said, not unkindly, "Relax ma'am, everything okay for you.  No worry you."  

It turned out that another passenger had lost his boarding pass and was having his own panic moment at the top of his lungs right next to me.

I don't know if he ever got his boarding pass but I sure was glad to get on the plane and on to Hong Kong.   It was not a pleasant panic moment -- they never are fun -- but it was nowhere near as bad as the excess baggage fee incident.

I was braced for stress in Hong Kong -- Another baggage fee incident?  What if my bags got left behind in Bangalore or Singapore?   Maybe the Lions won't be there? What if I couldn't understand them al atl? -- but everything went well.  The guy helping me at the Hong Kong airport was very good, but had such a strong nasal sing-song Chinese accent I had a hard time understanding him.  "I'm sorry I just don't understand," I kept saying.

"No, I sorry," he said, "my English so bad."

It was, but  I told him, "No, it's my hearing, I just  don't hear well," and thanked him for being so patient.  I really  did appreciate his patience,  too.  His English was terrible but at least he was making the effort to speak to me in my language.

Natalie, Dr. Tam's assistant, has an accent too but her English is excellent and I can understand her just fine.   She took me to a good restaurant near here for dinner, and we talked so much our dinner lasted two hours,  She's a sweet girl, and smart too.   24 years old with a degree from Hong Kong University, and feels very fortunate to be working for Dr. Tam. One of her jobs for him is helping  him coordinate all his Lions activities.

I probably won't get to see Dr. Tam while I  am here because he has to go out of town tomorrow morning, but he is making sure I am well cared for here.   He arranged for my meeting with the Hong Kong Society for the Blind tomorrow (as Mt. Amarasuriya did with the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind), and I couldn't have nicer help than Natalie.   She'll take me over to the Blind Societytomorrow morning for our meeting there.

Hong Kong is turning out to be  a very nice experience, thanks to the Lions.   They are good people!

On Singapore Airlines flight leaving Bangalore
Late Wednesday 2/12/14

Well I am furious.   The purple carryon bag was too heavy to carry on the plane, Singapore Airlines told me at the ticket counter, so I had to check it in.  They told me that if I could put all the stuff in my two check-in bags there would be no extra charge.  I said I can't.   The two check-in bags were stuffed to the gills.  

I took out my computer and my eyedrops and said go ahead and check the purple bag, I'll pay the extra fee.

I figured it would be 50 bucks, maybe a hundred if really excessive.

When they told me it would be a little more than 2400 rupees, I thought that wasn't too bad at all, only about 40 US dollars.  They would only take rupees, and I only had a couple hundred  on me, so they took me over to forex (foreign currency exchange).  That is where I learned they were charging me more than 24000 rupees.  

Yes, twenty-four thousand rupees.   Four hundred US dollars.   About 450 bucks actually.  I started to cry.

"I don't have that much money," I told them, which is true.  I only have about 400 bucks cash on me.   And when the forex guy said he would take my credit card, all of a sudden the price went up to 27300 rupees.  

I told the staff to take me to the airport gift shop and I would buy a bigger suitcase and transfer everything, but she refused   because my two bags were already checked in and could not be called back. i thought that was s bunch of hooey and said so.  Not very pleasantly or quietly, either.

In the end I had to buy 25000 rupees (they knocked off the 2300  rupees extra charge for using the credit card) and I was so pissed that when Singapore Airlines tried to give me a few rupees back in change, I told them to "keep your stolen money."

I have never been so helplessly furious in my life.  I really was in tears. I don't mind paying extra baggage fees -- I would not have complained about even  a hundred bucks -- but four hundred and fifty bucks is extreme and exorbitant.

I suppose it comes as no surprise that even though I'm so upset, i nevertheless have been able to enjoy one of the best airline meals ever.  It was one of the special-order Indian vegetarian meals,  and I wish Mayu were here, not just to tell me what some of the dishes were, but because the Wrath of Mayu is a mighty and fearsome thing to behold.  

Just imagining the unholy hell she would have given them over the excess baggage fee is making me feel better.

Mathru School for the Differently-Abled 
Wednesday 2/12/14

Mayu's back in Mumbai, and I'm all packed (except for the very last-minute things like the computer, of course).  I have a few blessedly quiet hours for this very last post from Bangalore.

The little good-bye party yesterday was nice.  I think Muktha and Divya gave me good advice about what gifts to give  everyone because they all seem very happy with them.   Chris's mom Magda's creations and gifts are the real stars.    There isn't much knitting or needlepoint here in southern India, and the staff are fascinated with the keychains and knitted eyeglass/sunglass cases she made.   And the kids are thrilled with their little stuffed toys.

Mayu, bless her heart, brought nice little toys for all the kids, craft items and other useful and welcome gifts too.   It was such a delight connecting with her again.  We just picked up right where we left off thirty-five years ago, and filled each other in  on our lives while enjoying all the great meals and desserts (we were gluttons in college, grin), pool and beach sessions, early morning and late night chat sessions,  and everything else during the last six days.

 She told me she'd recently been to a craft fair in Mumbai, where the Mumbai Helen Keller organization  had a booth.   They were very interested in the idea of  having a deafblind mosaic artist teach their deafblind clents when she told them about me.  So  my next visit to India may include a teaching gig in Mumbai as well as a visit with Mayu there.

Because I will be back.   It's been an incredibly rich  experience here.  Not all of it was easy or comfortable -- in fact, there was little that was easy or comfortable until the last few weeks -- but it's all been worth it.  I'm grateful to Srini for inviting me here.

Indeed, Lisa Lloyd gets some of the credit for that, because she is the one who sent Srini the news article about my solo art show at SMUD last spring.

Well, then you have to give credit to my mosaics too.

And then to the brain tumor, because it's the main reason I stopped practicing law and started practicing mosaics.

Which brings me back to the fact that if I were fully hearing and sighted I wouldn't even be on this adventure.  Some other adventure, maybe, but not this one.  I can't say that I'm glad I have to deal with lousy vision, hearing and balance, and chronically acute and acutely chronic dry eye pain, and all the  rest of it.  I get frustrated and stressed out and pissed off just like anyone else would.  But I can say that I am glad that the good things in my life are very good indeed, and probably wouldn't be so good if it were not for the way I have learned to deal with my Life difficulties.  I am thinking of my relationships here, particularly Andy and my friends.   I still have a hard time with the fact that I need so much help, but I don't resent Andy and my friends or anyone else for the fact that I need their help.

So, like the song says, I get by with a little help from my friends (even if I can't sing worth beans).  And tonight -- or more accurately, tomorrow morning -- I'll get by in Hong Kong with a little help from my wonderful Lions friends.

In addition to personally contacting the Hong Kong Lions for me, Sri Lankan Lion Amarasuriya helped me connect with the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind.  In fact, I think the director there, who is 80 years old, may have been embarrassed that he dropped the ball.  But thanks to Mr. Amarasuriya -- and Mayu -- we had a good meeting and they seem interested in  learning my mosaic technique as a marketable craft skill.   I'll send them more information when I get home.

I need to get more information to the Tamahar organization  where Chandriks works, too.  I really enjoyed visiting Tamahar with her the day before Mayu and I went to Sri Lanka.   It's in a different part of Bangalore, and a smaller facility than Mathru.  Most of the children at Tamahar have some kind of cognitive impairment along with a physical disability  While many of them would not be able to handle the tools, the teachers want to learn my technique so they can then work with their students.   This is what I did here at Mathru, because most of the children were too small and not strong enough to handle the tools.   The teachers are breaking up the tiles and mirrors for the kids, and the kids are putting together the mosaics.  

I was hoping to take some of my students' finished mosaics back to the tile and mirror shops we bought our supplies from.  I think if the shop owners could see what the students are making with their products,  they might be more willing to give Mathru their broken tiles and mirrors, and a price break on the good ones.  They might even be willing to help Mathru sell the mosaics.

Well, I guess right now it's a case of "today the mosaics, tomorrow the markets." 

And now it's time for me to wrap up and get ready to head on out.  Divya and Askshatha have taken several photos of me with the mosaics and the students today, some in the gorgeous white and turquoise silk salwar outfit the staff had made for me as a going-away present, so maybe I'll actually get to post some pictures.  Mayu even got  photos of me in my bathing suit but I am not sure I want those floating around cyberspace.  

Next:  Hong Kong (if I can get interet access there.)

Goldfinch Hotel, Bangalore 
Tuesday morning, 2/11/14

I'm still savoring having things worked out so that I'm good to do Hong Kong for a couple nights before I head to Manila and then home.  It's a huge relief.

I'm looking forward to Hong Kong, especially looking forward to Manila and visiting Prandy, and counting the days to getting home.  Only eight more nights.

I'm glad to be going home in eight days, but I'm not wanting to get home any sooner.  Or later.  I'm going to enjoy my last night in Bangalore tonight at Mathru, and then I'm going to enjoy Hong Kong,  and then I'm going to enjoy the Philippines, and then I'm going to be very very happy to see Andy and Trace and be back home.

And right now, after enjoying a good night's sleep, a big breakfast, and a relaxed morning, we're off to check out of the hotel and enjoy lunch with Muktha and Srini.  Then we head back to Mathru for a nice good-bye party and one more night there.