Mathru School for the Differently-Abled
Friday 1/10/14
This is the second day in a row that my rooms have been invaded by a bumblebee.
I was busy doing emails last night after dinner when something came whizzing right by my CI ear -- I actually felt it hit my ear -- and I yelled and whacked whatever it was away from me.
I has no idea what happened to the bee -- in fact at that point I still didn't know what it was -- but my CI flew completely off my head and disappeared. I spent the next twenty minutes on my hands and knees, frantically patting every inch of the floor around me.
I was headed into high panic mode when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around to find Akshatha, who gently took my hand and put my CI battery pack into it. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you," I said, "but the rest of it, where is the rest of it, the other part of the CI???" I started looking around on the floor again with my hands, and a few seconds later Akshatha tapped me on the shoulder again. This time she held up the CI and magnet coil. I was SO relieved, and then immediately went into a panic again. What if it doesn't work anymore??
But blessed glory be, it beeped on again just like it should. It wasn't until then that I realized I was breathing hard, and dripping in a major hot flash.
"Relax," Akshatha said, but when i sat down to do that, she made me get up.
"What?"
"Onnavee." She pulled my chair out and waved her hands.
"On a what???"
"VEEE. Onnsvee," I must have looked totally confused, because she next said, "Insect. You know insect?"
"Yes, what is it, a wasp?"
"No, onnabee."
"Honey bee?"
"Yes, yes, onney bee!!!"
Apparently I'd given the bee a good whack because it was down on the floor crawling around, and Akshatha had seen it start to crawl up my foot. She swept up the bee, threw it outside, and let me get back to my emails.
I forgot about the bee until this evening, when I came back into my rooms after spending all day in the classroom. Kavitha met me, bringing my salwi kemeze outfit for a fitting. Akshatha and Kamakshi were here too, and all of a sudden there was a flutter and flurry of hands and shrieking.
"what?"
"Onney bee."
"Again???" So I let them deal with it while I went to clean up and try on my salwi kameze outfit.
It's beaugtiully made, but needs some adjusting. The pants waist needs to be taken in (yay!!) -- I think we'll just make it a drawstring waist -- and the tunic dress top needs deep bust darts for shaping. The armholes and sleeves need adjusting too. Kavitha and Akshatha told me I bought "very good quality" fabric, and that now I'll "look like an Indian girl!" We'll have the other outfit made up in a slightly different stye.
I hope to get out shopping again soon and get several more sets of fabric. Once we get my outfits sewn up, I want to have outfits made up for some of my friends.
Muktha took me out shopping yesterday afternoon, and it was great to get out. I told her the most important item on my shopping list was a good desk lamp, and if we had time, I'd also like to find some good fabrics like the ones I got for myself, and maybe some table linens.
We went to a different mall this time, which I did not like as much, and did not find the kind of fabrics I wanted. We did lots of table linens but I didn't buy any this time. I did get myself a deep red silk shawl that I know I will wear with my black dress and other black outfits.
We spent most of our energy getting the desk lamp. I have never had to work so hard to buy a lamp before in my life. Just getting into the shop was a dangerous obstacle course of broken sidewalks, narrow steps, curbs, ramps and construction rubble. Once we got inside and Muktha told the clerk we wanted a desk lamp for close work, he told us we needed to go to their "upstairs shop."
Getting to the upstairs shop meant going out onto the busted-up sidewalk again, across a parking garage, through a narrow hallway, and up three flights of stairs. Once we got up there, we looked at several lamps ranging from 6000 rupees to 2000 rupees (or $100 to $30 USD). After about ten minutes of checking out the lamps, I settled on one for 2500 rupees. I handed over the money and we waited for them to pack up the lamp for us. And we waited and waited. They gave us some bottled water and we waited some more. Finally there was a lot of talking between Muktha and the sales clerk, and eventually I learned that the lamp I wanted was not available. We were told to go to a different shop.
I was irritated, and so was Muktha. We had spent almast an entire hour in there. She got my money back, and we navigated the obstacle course out to our cab. We made two stops on our way to the other shop: first, Muktha stopped the cab, jumped out, and came back with a nice cold cashew shake for me. Oh, that was just delicious, a real treat. Then we checked out the Goldfinch Hotel where I plan to stay with Mayu when she domes to visit in a few weeks.
Finally we got to the other lamp shop. Getting inside was a lot easier, and once we were there, they sat us down and brought several lamps over. I chose one that was 1700 rupees. We were in and out of that place within fifteen minutes.
The lamp works great. With it, I was able to work in the classroom most of the day. The lighting is so bad in there that as soon as I'm done teaching I usually bring my mosaic project and tools back here to work on at my table. Anywsy, the lamp was worth every rupee, and all the hassle we went through to get it, too.
I now have more adhesive and ice cream sticks. Just in time, too because the students and teachers are all wanting to use the sticks to control the levels of the tesserae they're using, now that they are watching me work on my latest mosaic mirror project. It is a simple design but not one that is easily executed. I made spirals out of mirror shards, interspersed with rounds that I made out of white tiles, and and filling in the background with cobalt blue tile. I used the ice cream sticks to raise the mirror spirals up so they are highlighted in the frame design. It's a simple design, as I said, but it's a good one and well-executed even if I do say so myself.
Oh, and we have our first Mathru Mosaic Mirror sale, thanks to Judy Hoyt Smith. When I told my students that one of my friends in the Staes wanted to buy one of our mirrors, they were delighted, and then absolutely stunned with I told them Judy wanted to pay $199 for the mirror. That's 6000 rupees, which is a whole lotta moulah here.
It's all looking much better these days. Afther four days of the meds I am really on the mend, and I have three more days to go. One definite benefit of feeling lousy is that I have not been very hungry, and I've definitely taken off a few pounds. I'm very pleased about this, but Muktha, Kamakshi and Akshatha are all convinced I am starving, because I rarely eat all the rice and all the chapatis or dhosas in addition to whatever vegetable curry, chutney and soup are on my tray.
Trust me, I'm nowhere near starving. I'm eating three meals a day.
Anyway, after dinner tonight Akshatha made some special fried onion treats she insisted I try, and they were delicious. Then she came in again, and I wanted to tell her I did not want any more food, but she was determined I at least look at it. She had made it in the shape of the ASL "I lore \you" sign -- thumb holding down middle and ring fingers, with index and pinkie fingers upright. She was so proud of it, and it really was a good job -- even I could see it clearly -- that I had to eat it.
And as I write this, Akshatha just came in for the night (she's been staying in the other bedroom since Andy left), and guess what came in with her?
Another bee.
I wonder what bees symbolize … only thing I can think of at the moment is that aerodynamically, bees aren't supposed to be able to fly, but they do anyway.
I like that.
Friday 1/10/14
This is the second day in a row that my rooms have been invaded by a bumblebee.
I was busy doing emails last night after dinner when something came whizzing right by my CI ear -- I actually felt it hit my ear -- and I yelled and whacked whatever it was away from me.
I has no idea what happened to the bee -- in fact at that point I still didn't know what it was -- but my CI flew completely off my head and disappeared. I spent the next twenty minutes on my hands and knees, frantically patting every inch of the floor around me.
I was headed into high panic mode when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I whirled around to find Akshatha, who gently took my hand and put my CI battery pack into it. "Oh, thank you thank you thank you," I said, "but the rest of it, where is the rest of it, the other part of the CI???" I started looking around on the floor again with my hands, and a few seconds later Akshatha tapped me on the shoulder again. This time she held up the CI and magnet coil. I was SO relieved, and then immediately went into a panic again. What if it doesn't work anymore??
But blessed glory be, it beeped on again just like it should. It wasn't until then that I realized I was breathing hard, and dripping in a major hot flash.
"Relax," Akshatha said, but when i sat down to do that, she made me get up.
"What?"
"Onnavee." She pulled my chair out and waved her hands.
"On a what???"
"VEEE. Onnsvee," I must have looked totally confused, because she next said, "Insect. You know insect?"
"Yes, what is it, a wasp?"
"No, onnabee."
"Honey bee?"
"Yes, yes, onney bee!!!"
Apparently I'd given the bee a good whack because it was down on the floor crawling around, and Akshatha had seen it start to crawl up my foot. She swept up the bee, threw it outside, and let me get back to my emails.
I forgot about the bee until this evening, when I came back into my rooms after spending all day in the classroom. Kavitha met me, bringing my salwi kemeze outfit for a fitting. Akshatha and Kamakshi were here too, and all of a sudden there was a flutter and flurry of hands and shrieking.
"what?"
"Onney bee."
"Again???" So I let them deal with it while I went to clean up and try on my salwi kameze outfit.
It's beaugtiully made, but needs some adjusting. The pants waist needs to be taken in (yay!!) -- I think we'll just make it a drawstring waist -- and the tunic dress top needs deep bust darts for shaping. The armholes and sleeves need adjusting too. Kavitha and Akshatha told me I bought "very good quality" fabric, and that now I'll "look like an Indian girl!" We'll have the other outfit made up in a slightly different stye.
I hope to get out shopping again soon and get several more sets of fabric. Once we get my outfits sewn up, I want to have outfits made up for some of my friends.
Muktha took me out shopping yesterday afternoon, and it was great to get out. I told her the most important item on my shopping list was a good desk lamp, and if we had time, I'd also like to find some good fabrics like the ones I got for myself, and maybe some table linens.
We went to a different mall this time, which I did not like as much, and did not find the kind of fabrics I wanted. We did lots of table linens but I didn't buy any this time. I did get myself a deep red silk shawl that I know I will wear with my black dress and other black outfits.
We spent most of our energy getting the desk lamp. I have never had to work so hard to buy a lamp before in my life. Just getting into the shop was a dangerous obstacle course of broken sidewalks, narrow steps, curbs, ramps and construction rubble. Once we got inside and Muktha told the clerk we wanted a desk lamp for close work, he told us we needed to go to their "upstairs shop."
Getting to the upstairs shop meant going out onto the busted-up sidewalk again, across a parking garage, through a narrow hallway, and up three flights of stairs. Once we got up there, we looked at several lamps ranging from 6000 rupees to 2000 rupees (or $100 to $30 USD). After about ten minutes of checking out the lamps, I settled on one for 2500 rupees. I handed over the money and we waited for them to pack up the lamp for us. And we waited and waited. They gave us some bottled water and we waited some more. Finally there was a lot of talking between Muktha and the sales clerk, and eventually I learned that the lamp I wanted was not available. We were told to go to a different shop.
I was irritated, and so was Muktha. We had spent almast an entire hour in there. She got my money back, and we navigated the obstacle course out to our cab. We made two stops on our way to the other shop: first, Muktha stopped the cab, jumped out, and came back with a nice cold cashew shake for me. Oh, that was just delicious, a real treat. Then we checked out the Goldfinch Hotel where I plan to stay with Mayu when she domes to visit in a few weeks.
Finally we got to the other lamp shop. Getting inside was a lot easier, and once we were there, they sat us down and brought several lamps over. I chose one that was 1700 rupees. We were in and out of that place within fifteen minutes.
The lamp works great. With it, I was able to work in the classroom most of the day. The lighting is so bad in there that as soon as I'm done teaching I usually bring my mosaic project and tools back here to work on at my table. Anywsy, the lamp was worth every rupee, and all the hassle we went through to get it, too.
I now have more adhesive and ice cream sticks. Just in time, too because the students and teachers are all wanting to use the sticks to control the levels of the tesserae they're using, now that they are watching me work on my latest mosaic mirror project. It is a simple design but not one that is easily executed. I made spirals out of mirror shards, interspersed with rounds that I made out of white tiles, and and filling in the background with cobalt blue tile. I used the ice cream sticks to raise the mirror spirals up so they are highlighted in the frame design. It's a simple design, as I said, but it's a good one and well-executed even if I do say so myself.
Oh, and we have our first Mathru Mosaic Mirror sale, thanks to Judy Hoyt Smith. When I told my students that one of my friends in the Staes wanted to buy one of our mirrors, they were delighted, and then absolutely stunned with I told them Judy wanted to pay $199 for the mirror. That's 6000 rupees, which is a whole lotta moulah here.
It's all looking much better these days. Afther four days of the meds I am really on the mend, and I have three more days to go. One definite benefit of feeling lousy is that I have not been very hungry, and I've definitely taken off a few pounds. I'm very pleased about this, but Muktha, Kamakshi and Akshatha are all convinced I am starving, because I rarely eat all the rice and all the chapatis or dhosas in addition to whatever vegetable curry, chutney and soup are on my tray.
Trust me, I'm nowhere near starving. I'm eating three meals a day.
Anyway, after dinner tonight Akshatha made some special fried onion treats she insisted I try, and they were delicious. Then she came in again, and I wanted to tell her I did not want any more food, but she was determined I at least look at it. She had made it in the shape of the ASL "I lore \you" sign -- thumb holding down middle and ring fingers, with index and pinkie fingers upright. She was so proud of it, and it really was a good job -- even I could see it clearly -- that I had to eat it.
And as I write this, Akshatha just came in for the night (she's been staying in the other bedroom since Andy left), and guess what came in with her?
Another bee.
I wonder what bees symbolize … only thing I can think of at the moment is that aerodynamically, bees aren't supposed to be able to fly, but they do anyway.
I like that.
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