Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Day 29 March 31

Wednesday March 31 Day 29


I went down to see about getting money from the ATM gods. I was unsuccessful. I will need to hope that my new ATM card arrives from the US soon. I am not anywhere near out of money like the last time. I am in much better shape. I went down and back up without dying but I was NOT carrying anything including by back pack. Without a load on my back I was not dripping with perspiration.


I started logging my tape from yesterday afternoon. It is not going well. I will get the system down the longer I do the logging. I expect to go out and tape another trail the afternoon (# 49). I nearly ran out of battery poser yesterday on my still camera. The process I have devised appears to be working well. I just need to refine the logging process. It will come in time.


I headed out at 1:30 pm with clouds building overhead. I was able to tape a few shots between cloud cover but gave u at 3 pm. I have been here for 29 days and this is only the second time that there has be significant cloud cover. There is thunder rumbling outside so I guess it is not just innocent clouds.


While was out shooting the postman came up to me and asked if I lived at Kilmarnock. He had my ATM card sent to me by Annie. I am on my way to the internet cafe to get the card activated. The rain and hail won and I am back to home. We ended up with a lot of thunder, wind and some lightning and most of the time the lights were out. It is interesting to prepare dinner with a flashlight as illumination. I held the light as the cook prepared a rather tasty but bland meal.

Day 28 March 30

Tuesday March 30 Day 28


I was headed down the hill to attend a rehearsal of the Advance Chorus when I realized I had on my dirty working jeans and would not be suitable dressed. I turned around to go back up the hill when I decided to look over the dorms in detail. I wanted to see if the “walk by” set up would work at Ridgewood and to get a closer look at the renovated Hostel. The camera set up will work at Ridgewood and the Hostel is beautiful from the outside. Now I need to get permission from the school administration to tape the buildings and hopefully to include interior shots of hallways common areas and, if possible, a demonstration room.


It has only taken 27 days to actually start shooting the trails and today was the day. I have recorded about 48 minutes of rhododendrons in the last couple of weeks.


I left my house at 1:30 pm and returned at 4:10 om. In 2 1/2 hours I captured 29 minutes of tape photographing a trail near the top of the hill. That is about what I expected to capture, time wise. I expect to fill one tape every 2 to 3 days if I go shooting each day. Each tape is 63 minutes long. I use a Nikon Coolpix camera to take a still shot of the trail. This camera allows me to make notes on a copy of the shot. I identify the number of the trail and the sequential location using the letters in the alphabet. The first shot is 44 (trail number) A (First part of the trail) D (looking downhill). I then shoot 44 A U (shooting up the same area). This indicates that I have gone to the end of this segment of the trail and shot back up the trail. I got all the way to U today, 21 segments of the trail. This evening or tomorrow morning I will log the tape into my video log listing the location on the tape, the length of the recording and its location on the map plus other stuff.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Sunday March 28 Day 26

Sunday March 28 Day 26


This morning has been an adventure. I had the lowest blood sugars of my time in India. There is not rhyme or reason to the fluctuations of my blood sugars. Earlier in the week they were to high so I increased my insulin. Over night they plummeted giving me wild dreams and scrambling my brain. I eat an orange around 3 am, tested by blood sugars at 6 and took a sugar pill to get me through to breakfast. Around 8 am I got very cold and this lasted until 11:45 am. At 11:30 I was still freezing but by 11:45 I was perspiring and it was time to get up. I had started listening to a new book on my Ipod and will have to go back and listen again because it made no sense. The biggest problem was that there was no one here to check on me to see how I was doing. There is nothing more pathetic than an old fart who is not feeling well and he not have someone to whine to. What is interesting is that after the cold is gone I am ready to get up and get to work immediately. It as if a switch were thrown in my body and I am suddenly feeling good.


I went part way down the hill and checked out trails to start taping. I was planning sight lines and angles for taping and checking out the light in early afternoon. It is great. There are enough trees to shade the lens and give a dappled effect to the lighting. All of the trails I will be taping are on the mid day and afternoon side of the hill. That means the sun is overhead or coming into the trails from the west. If I tape before the sun clears the top of the hill, I can get exposed areas without the sun looking directly into the lens. I cannot have the camera pointing toward the sun and get clear pictures. I will have constant sun flares on the lens. Ah, the problems of the artist.

Saturday March 27 Day 25

Saturday March 27 Day 25


I had insulin problems early this morning and was up at 3:30 am. After 2 oranges and a banana things were in good shape. I was doing my early morning thinking time and wrestling with the problem of using my Glidecam to do a “walk by “ of Ridgewood, the elementary boys dormitory. This would involve walking down the length of Ridgewood side ways. That could lead to the great possibility of tripping myself as I tried to walk smoothly. I suddenly thought that if I turned the camera side ways on the Glidecam post it would be easy. That would depend on whether I can see the monitor, and I would not be able to. I thought maybe the little LCD screen could be turned to accomplish this. Upon getting up I grabbed the camera and sure enough the LCD screen will rotate completely around and become a monitor on the side of the camera. While looking directly at the monitor you could walk straight ahead and get the “walk by” effect. Now all I had to do was reconfigure my Glidecam. I needed to get all new bolts and nuts because I would be removing about 4 pounds of weights from the top of the Glidecam post. The other problem was the threads of the camera quick release mechanism. I know India is on the metric system and all my bolts threads are on the US non metric system. I head down to the bazar and find a paint store that also has some nuts and bolts. I get the 4 I need and then get out the quick release base plate and check to see if the threads will match. They DO!!! Evidently India still uses the old British non metric screw threads. I had visions of having to send Terry an email and have him mail me a single screw. The total cost of 5 bolts and 4 nuts was 7 rupees or 16 cents. I have spent much of the afternoon trying to balance the Glidecam post and I may be close. The camera looks to the side as I walk straight ahead. What one must do to get a single shot. I can use this for “walk around” shots of many of the buildings on the Woodstock campus.


I continued on down the hill to the ATM machine and it will not accept my Debit card as yet. I think it is still digesting my last withdrawal, I hope. I will try again on Monday with my card expiring on Wednesday and I still need to get more money out.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Friday March 26 Day 24

Friday March 26 Day 24


My day consisted to going down to the ATM machine only to discover that the bank had not completed yesterday’s posting and closed the day. The ATM would not allow me to take out additional money until later in the day. I shall be going back down there in the morning. I need to get extra money in case there are problems with my new ATM card.


I have transcribed a letter given to me by the young Italian language student. He is leaving today. He is a very special young man and I am using my blog was a record of my trip, I need to make certain that his letter is in my digital records so I thought I would share with all of you. He is writing in english, something rather new for him, and I have not edited the letter at all. It is very interesting to see what others think of me and are willing to do it in writing. So here it is!


Thursday, 25 March 2010


Dear Leon,


How are you doing? I’m writing to you now that the time for to go for me has come ... yep! I’m leaving this awesome paradise, I’m leaving such a great and caring people.... And I am leaving you too! Well, I’m writing to you basically because I want you to smile at these words every time you read them and I want you to keep remembering those beautiful evenings spent together talking about almost everything. Those nights have meant so much to me. It’s been so interesting to talk with such a person, wise and respectful, incredibly funny and really great: so pleasant for me hearing about your life, your experiences, all the many thing you know, your anecdotes... I’ve been so honored to share with you a part of my life, my ideas, thoughts..... through our words and photos... you know, it’s been like halving you enter my life, my heart.


I won’t forget your laughters neither will I forget your care towards me... you have kinda been like a “granddad” to me... maybe and uncle! You’re not that old, honestly! And indeed your age simply does not fir with your spirit! Well, you know about your age and you get along with it quite well, I would say! And this is a good thing! You’re a vial man, strong and so righteous, coherent with your thought, still completely respectful and open to the dialogue. I was honored to hear about your wife... she must have been so great! You have been lucky indeed to find such a person, and she was too! When you talked about her, the first time, I was really moved... (my eyes were full of tears...) It meant very much! You shared with us such a precious pearl of your life.... and it is so rare too meet a person who finds the strength to go one and “digest” such difficulties... you’re a great man, Leon! Indeed!


And what about Sat Atima? (So you won’t forget her name anymore!,) (Note: Sat Atima was a Dutch lady Sikh who is a trainer of Yoga teachers) Wasn’t she a great Lady?! When she used to say “hey, man!”. And what about her look and life style?! I would say: amazing!


Well... I really wish you all the best, ear friend! Really! And THANK YOU! You’ve been so important to me! You helped me also to understand better myself, to accept the diversity and to appreciate it! So useful to me comparing my thoughts and beliefs with Sat Atima and you. I’ve been so glad to talk to you about my girlfriend, Siudhu! And I was so happy to see your interest! I’d like to make her meet you... we’ll so how our path will cross agin! (if they ever will). This time it’s been simply great, next time it will be incredibly awesome!


It is obvious that whenever you may come to Italy, just tell me that we arrange to meet! Ann you will be my guest of honor!


Thank you Leon, my Best-Old-Goat-Friend! Take Care! See you!


Jacopo

PS: don’t forget to tell me about your video! I’d really like to watch it!


Friday, March 26, 2010

Day 23 Mar 25

Thursday March 25 Day 23


This morning I went on a trip to the ATM machine. It was the usual 2 hours of walking there and back. The trip back was a little easier because I did not take my back pack. I now have enough money to pay 2 months rent with a little left over for daily expenses. My daily expenses are averaging about $2.90 a day, not including rent and cook. The rent and cook cost $11.15 a day. So I am living on about $14 a day or about $425 a month.


My major task this afternoon was the laundry. It is now 5 pm and I am going to bring the partially dried laundry in. If I leave it over night it will get wetter.


The other excitement was that the British lady who is staying here was headed for the hospital as I returned from my money hunt. She has been having the trots since she arrived a week ago and was on her way down the hill on foot. I suggested very strongly that she take a taxi since she has not really been eating for 4 or 5 days. She agreed. I checked in on her a while ago and she was very glad I recommended the taxi because it was a much longer walk than she realized. She also had not thought about how she would need to walk back up the hill. She figured out the entire trip to the hospital including taxi, prescriptions and doctor fees was about $15.


Thursday, March 25, 2010

Day 22 Mar 24

Wednesday March 24 Day 22


Last night I was so tried that I almost could not eat dinner. I had done my first journey down the hill carrying my tripod and a pair of video cameras. No single piece weights very much but added together it totals around 8 to 10 pounds. Of course, the first day I carried this equipment I went further down the hill than I normally go to get the shots of the rhoddies on the hillside. The journey back up the hill was excruciating.


This morning I attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Orchestra. It was supposed to be yesterday but the entire school was shut down for “Curriculum Development”. In other words, writing lesson plans that don’t work. The orchestra was in decent shape and there is evidently a recital this afternoon after school. I shall take another trip down the hill to attend. On my climb up the hill I was stopped trying to catch my breath, when I heard an american voice asking if I was alright. It turned out to be one of the nuts of the hills. This man is working on an invention that will increase the efficiency of gas powered engines by 40%. I have found out that people who leave the US and come to live in the hills of India to be “interesting”. They all appear to suffer from delusions of one kind or another. I, of course, do NOT suffer from any delusions but could be viewed by someone else as having some of the same afflictions.


At 4:10 pm I attended a recital at Woodstock. It was a student recital which happens on most Wednesday afternoons. The music department is very strong and the music was rather delightful. Several of the students were giving their very first recital performance. I remember so well my very first piano recital given at age 9. I played a piece by Beethoven, simplified for beginners, but remember the terror and excitement of actually finishing the piece without having to start over again. I now know I am in better shape. I climbed back up the hill in 23 minutes. he long timers here told me on my 5th day that this particular trail was a 20 minutes climb. It took me close to 40 minutes to do it the first time.


Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Tuesday March 23 Day 21


Today started would with some excitement. I happen to look down at my feet and there was a scorpion. His picture (showing his best side, of course) is at the left. The power unit to his (I do not know the gender actually) left is about 3 inches long. For some reason the Hindi word for scorpion was right there in my mind as I called the cook. He evidently did not immediately believe me because he had to come in and look at the creature before going and getting his broom. I stayed in the room to make sure it did not go somewhere else and we would then have to launch an expedition to find him. The cook gathered the beast in the end of the broom and walked outside and dropped it down on to the road. I guess I shall have to inspect my room each morning to see if I have other visitors and check my shoes before I put them on in the morning. The last thing I want is to be strung by a scorpion.


Earlier, my blood sugars were actually moderately high and so I shall now have to start jockeying around with my overnight Insulin. This will take several days as I slowly increase the amount of insulin and check my blood sugars until it gets the sugars back to the correct level.


I am off to get my first listen to the Advanced Orchestra at Woodstock. I got to the school and there are no classes today. So the music schedule is shifted over a day and orchestra rehearsal is tomorrow. I am now going to have to change all the dates and days on the schedule given to me.


I continued on down the hill and taped the rhoddies from Hanson Field. I have now accomplished one of my goals for this expedition. I have taped the hillside with the rhododendron trees in full bloom. I carried my 2 video cameras and my best tripod. The total weight of these items is about 10 pounds. I was climbing back up the hill with this extra weight and I feel like I am back to square one when it comes to climbing the hillside. As I was standing and gasping on the road I heard a clink sound. There was no one else around so I looked down. There was my belt buckle laying on the ground. My pants are actively trying to fall to the ground. I have lost weight so far and I am in desperate need of my belt. So I calmly put my belt back together and continued my climb. I made it to the top without fear of my pants tripping me up. So far, so good.

Day 20 Mar 22

Monday March 22 Day 20


Last night’s dinner was excellent. Each dinner consists of rice and dahl (lentils) and some kind of vegetable dish. Last night was potatoes and cauliflower lightly spiced. This morning I tested my blood sugars and they were in the NORMAL range. This is the first time that has happened since I left Seattle. My joy is tempered with the realization that I did not do any hard training yesterday, which would effect the amounts of sugars left in the blood. I shall look forward to see what my meter says tomorrow.


Today’s morning workout is to go all the way down the hill to Hanson Field. Hanson Field is the sports field used by Woodstock and is at the lowest elevation on the school campus. That will mean that I will have the longest up hill climb. When I return in September I shall have to bring a GSP unit so I can check the elevation of the various locations. I have always been curious as to how much vertical elevation is climbed while wandering around the hillside. It is undoubtedly much less than my fevered imaginations brought on by exhaustion.


I walked down to Hanson Field and found rhoddies I want to tape on Wednesday morning. On my way back up the hill I spoke with a woman who works as a Residential “mother” for the high school girls. She had to stop just short of the getting to the top of climb. I was pleased to see that someone 30 years younger than I and who has lived on the hillside for 2 years, had to stop and get her breath. I didn't feel quite so out of shape.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Day 19 Mar 21

Sunday March 21 Day 19


The weather is great but with clear, sunny days the air just gets dirtier and dirtier and the haze is almost impenetrable. There has only been rain on my second night here so the air has not been cleaned. It is clear blue overhead but when looking out over the plains, there might as well not be anything there. Looking out the other way at the high mountains is much the same. The spring flowers are coming out and today was the first time I heard cowbells. That is a sound appreciated by most people who come to the mountains. Each cow has a bell so that they can be found when it is time to come home. I need to get my video camera out and record that sound for background on the video.


Supper last night was actual tasty. I was able to eat enough and did not have low blood sugars at 4:30 am. It appears that 4:30 is the time for me to wake up as I have for the last several days. That gives me abut 6 hours of sleep and I have been running on that amount for the last 20 odd years (some years are odder than others). I tested my blood sugars at 7 am and though lower than in the US, they were not too low.


I have declared today as a “day of rest” (I got that thought from somewhere, though I cannot remember where exactly, yeah right!). The past three days my body has been hurting in the evening and I should give it a break to recover (not too much, of course). I will not do a down the hillside and back up again trek today, just a little on the “level”. I am going out near noon today to catch some different light on the flock rhoddies (Seattle speak for rhododendron) on the nearby hillside. I have morning light on them and need some overhead light on tape. One never knows just how the light at different times of the day will illuminate the colors. I cannot tape these rhoddies in the afternoon as they will then be in shadow and the reds will not stand out from the background.


My day of rest has been successful so far. One of my projects was to balance up the Glidecam equipment. Yesterday there were some problems and so I checked it out this afternoon. It is perfectly balanced, perhaps the best I have ever done. So the problems must have been operator error. That will necessitate me working harder on the basics of operating a Glidecam. I have made it work before and I will practice starting tomorrow. I shall let you know of the progress.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Day 18 March 20

Saturday March 20 Day 18


Supper last night was ghastly. It consisted of the same rice and lentils plus orca spiced lightly. It was all I could do to gag it down. I supplemented it with chips, raisins and later in the evening peanuts. I was up at 4:30 to eat an orange and at 6:00 to add a banana to keep my blood sugars up. I guess I shall have to supplement dinner with chips etc. I am really feeling deprived of the basics of life here and I wonder if the project is worth the privations. My inability to climb the hills is wearing on me mentally as well as physically but I will keep trying for now.


During my 2 hour walk around the hillside this morning I discovered just the kind of path I was looking for. It is totally undeveloped and rather narrow. Just the kind of trail that will have vegetation close to it after the monsoon. It is rather level with few shallow up hills and down hills. It also has a few great vistas of the plains with great framing of trees for static shots. It is mid way between the top of the hill and Woodstock. It will be best taped in the mornings. Now I have to start getting in shape walking with the equipment, which I will start this afternoon. The afternoon is here and after about 40 minutes of carrying around the equipment I am dripping with sweat. I have never seen myself perspire so greatly.


After posting this to my blog I shall head home and take a bucket bath. I have got to figure out how to get dry before the evening. If it involves a daily bucket bath that is the way things go. I think you are beginning to realize how I despise taking a bucket bath but at least the room is above 55 degrees.


Friday, March 19, 2010

Here is the most current (and only) picture of the great videographer with the tools of his trade. I have yet to try taping on a down hill slope. I am trying to get my back muscles from complaining too much.

Thursday March 18 Day 16


My jeans are on the clothes line. What a awkward process. My first concern was that the weight of the soaking jeans might break the line. It will most probably take 2 to 3 days for them to dry as I was totally unsuccessful at wringing them out. A the present they just hang there and drip. It is now late afternoon and my jeans a dry except for the waist. I have brought them in preparation of rehanging them in the morning.


I have returned from obtaining money from the ATM machine. It actually WORKS!!! I have only been gone for 2 hours and 45 minutes. The process of getting money and changing it into usable bills is 20 minutes. I took out 12,000 rupees and it came out in 100 rupees bills. What does one do with a stack of 120 bills. It does make a goodly sized lump in your pocket. So I go inside the bank and exchange 100 - 100 rupees bills for 20 - 500 rupees notes.


I purchased bananas and oranges on the way back up the hill to eat at around 4 pm (the british Tea Time) so my blood sugars will make it to dinner at 7:30 or 8:00.


I tested my full set up today and it is balanced and flows like honey over the scenery. I will have the Italian student take a picture of me in my full gear so you will all have some idea of what I look like. I have done testing to make sure that my 2 video cameras will give the same quality of color and pictures on the same tape. This will allow me to tape me walking down the trail and then switch cameras and tape looking back up the path so the viewer will get some idea as to how steep the trail is. I will only be able to tape walking DOWN the hill because of the weight of the equipment the the oldness of my body.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Day 15 Mar 17th

Wednesday March 17 Day 15


I just finished putting my working jeans in the bucket to soak overnight. Any of you should try to wring out a pair of very wet jeans. It ain’t easy. I shall do the scrub-a-dub bit in the morning.


Today I went down the hill and attended a rehearsal of the Advanced Chorus at Woodstock. The director was a very energetic individual and kept the energy of the chorus members high for the full rehearsal. I found it interesting that he dismissed the girls and 3 minutes later the boys. This kept the mingling of the sexes to a minimum in a small area as the members tried to put away their music. It will be interesting to see how they advance. The semester is only 4 weeks old.


This afternoon I headed for the bazar to try out my ATM card. I was over half way there when I realized I did not have the treasured card with me. So I climbed back up the hill and will try again in the morning.


I am having trouble with the lateness of the evening meal. Around 6 pm I find my blood sugars drop off. The Italian concept of dinner is too late for me and I shall change dinner time after he leaves on Saturday. Both of my fellow guests are leaving this weekend. An American woman is arriving soon but will not be taking her meals at Kilmarnock. I don’t know if we will see very much of each other. I shall miss the woman Sikh. She has helped me with not beating myself up for not getting more done each day. Through her kindness and caring she has helped me to solve some of the eating problems and encouraged a feeling of peace about the success of the project. It is interesting how people come into your life just when you need them the most.


The young Italian student decided to prepare another dinner. He invited his Italian friends, 4 girls and 2 guys, and one their favorite teachers from the language school. The teacher arrived with a wife and 3 boys ages 6 to 9. The meal prepared outdid the last one in inedibleness. It was absolutely ghastly. Perhaps the young man does not have great culinary skills. The slim, trim young ladies consumed large quantities of the pasta. I do not know how they maintain their slimness unless they only eat once a day at 9:00 at night. There were 2 additional courses of toasted brown bread with various vegetables on top, again not to my taste. I will be glad to back to Indian curried dishes.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Day 14 Mar 16th

Tuesday March 16 Day 14


It is 8:30 in the morning and I have already taken still shots of the Rhododendron tree, washed my shirts and hung them out to dry, eaten breakfast and am now writing this. It is interesting to wash your shirts in a bucket of warm water. First it warms up you hands, a special treat. (I am actually writing this without wearing a sweater it being a brisk 55 degrees. Looks like I will have to stop and put on my sweater. There, that’s nicer.) I suspect most of you have not washed your shirts in a bucket. The steps are as follows. Start the gizzer (water heater) an hour before you need any hot water. Soak in hot water and Tide for about 40 minutes. Wash as you would wash underwear with special attention to the collar and cuffs. Rinse them twice and take them outside to discover that one of the other inmates as used most of the clothes pins. Hang the 2 shirts and one orphaned sox, as best you can using 1 clothes pin apiece. When they are partially dry I shall hang them on hangers and leave them in the sun. I hope they dry without major wrinkles. The shirts are a blend of cotton and polyester so they should. And the did by 5PM.


My morning walk was part down the hill and following a trail called the Eyebrow. As I got near the end of the trail I discovered a rather large group of monkeys in the trees. As I approached, one of the younger males took exception to my presence. These monkeys are know to be territorial and attack or threaten single humans. So I back tracked and climbed down the hill side to a parallel trail. It was only about 50 feet down. I discovered that I could not go down the hillside as quickly as I did 50 years ago. I am evidently quite a bit more cautious and planted my feet carefully so as not to slip on the fallen leaves. I was back to Kilmarnock by 10:30 ‘ish. My second morning walk consisted of the complete chukkar. I discovered a group of Rhododendron trees just below the road and will return to tape them in the morning sun light.


Today is the first day that was partly cloudy. I think it was a conspiracy by nature to avoid drying my shirts.


My ATM card arrived today. It took only a week to come by priority mail and I had to give the mailman a 100 rupee ($2.22) bribe. He just plain old asked up front for the money. That is standard practice when the mailman deals with Westerners. I was at the internet cafe when the same mailman delivered the mail. The clerk gave the mailman a cigarette as the expected payment for delivering the mail.


I have considered myself to be an old fart. Well, I am currently a constant fart in the evenings. After eating only vegetarian foods all day I fart constantly during the evening. I had better not light a match in my bedroom, it will explode.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Day 13 Monday Mar 15

Monday March 15 Day 13


This morning I tape the rhododendron tree in the back yard and rehung my underwear to continue drying. I was off for my morning climb on the hillside. My objective was to find the Community Center. After several wrong directions climbing back up the hill to go a different direction I got there. I didn’t realize that it was directly of the hill from Woodstock. I continued on down and contacted the head of the music department. I now have the complete music department schedule and permissions from both directors to watch rehearsals of the chorus and orchestra. I went up and saw the new Gym and it is wonderful. I met the head of the PE department and got a full tour of the facility. I then climbed back up the hill, collected my now dry laundry and sat in the sun reading. The sitting in the sun is to dry the sweat from my body so I no not freeze in the house typing on my blog.


There is a heat wave in the offing. My room was 55 degrees this morning and actually comfortable with only 1 sweater on. I may have finally figured a way to keep from being so cold in the afternoons and evening. I sweat heavily during my climbing around the mountains. My T shirt and shirt stay wet most of the evening. So I am trying a different method. At the end of my day’s sweaty occupations, change into a dry T shirt and shirt for the evening. I will let you know if this works. It does!!!(Tuesday morning remark)


I hiked around the chukkar this afternoon after visiting the internet cafe. I finally got the email to work via the internet rather than over the mail server. I finally read Terry’s email about having my wallet and mailing the ATM card to me. It will take about 2 weeks to get here (I hope). My calfs were hurting after my climb up from Woodstock via the Community Center so I didn’t do a hill climbing walk this afternoon.


Monday, March 15, 2010

Pictures of Kilmarnock






I have yet to figure out how to put the pictures in any kind of order or to insert any text of explanation. Some of them are not in great focus do to the lack of light and using a monopod that does not solidly fix the picture in the frame. You can tell what various rooms oar shown. The one of the snow covered mountains is what I see most mornings as I eat breakfast. I am now getting in better shape and will try shooting pictures as I walk the trails. The atmosphere is rather full of dust and the distance pictures will be very hazy and I have not taken any.

I hope this works. Let me know what you think.


Day 12 Sun Mar 14

Sunday March 14 Day 12


I finally got my water heater to work and I took one of the famous bucket baths this morning. It was a balmy 52 degrees and I wasn’t very cold. Either 2 degrees makes a difference of I am getting used to standing naked at 52 degrees. Following the bath i started the process of washing out my underwear. This involves waiting for the water heater to make more hot water, 20 minutes, putting tide detergent, 10 cents worth, into the now bucket of warm water and letting it soak for 45 minutes. The water heater continues to make hot water for rinsing the clothes. I discovered that you can lose a sox when washing them by hand. I later found the sox wrapped up in my spare long johns. Perhaps this is a comment on the origination of my closet. Drying the clothes is a 2 day process. The first day you can get them fairly dry. If you leave them out over night they will get all wet again. You take them down in the late afternoon and rehang them the next morning.


I walked down the hill to Claremont and took the upper road to Tafton. A lot of this path has been improved and paved loosing much of its character. I went down from the school to just above the Hostel, which opens this coming Friday. I then climbed up the Zig Zag back to Sisters bazar. This was close to 2 hours of effort. I have evidently overdone it again because my legs are very sore and tired. Locations will mean something only to my siblings.


I have been sleeping very well. I have 2 mattresses, one on top of the other, and I am not the least bit sore when I get up in the morning. But it is not like sleeping on a cloud.


I am currently doing video and stills on a rhododendron tree in the back yard. I will tape it and take stills every other day to record it process of blooming and then decline. In my walking up and down (its usually down and then up) the hill, I am practicing walking weird trying to get a smooth action for use with the glidecam. I have only strapped on the equipment a couple of times. I am presently learning how to get pictures into my emails and blog, so someday soon you may see what I am talking about.


I have just retrieved my sanity. My mustache has a single hair that hangs over my lip at the corner of my mouth. When I have my beard clippers, I am constantly trimming it so that I will stop playing with it with my tongue. I have no way to trim my mustache at all. The light above the mirror in the bathroom seems to be a 3 watt bulb, at least that is how much light it puts out. I finally used my LED flashlight and my nail clippers to attack the errant hair. Now my tongue is sad because it has nothing to play with, but that’s its problem.

Day 11 Sat Mar 13

Saturday March 13th Day 11


In the morning I walked down to the bazar to check on the availability for my “Happy Pills”, as my sons called them. They appear not to be available so when I returned home I counted them out to discover the I have 82 days of pills and 81 days before I get back to the US. Someone will have to go down to the Safeway Pharmacy in Renton and fill the monthly prescription before I get home. I also check on my insulin and discovered that my cost for it will be about the same as my copay is when getting it at home with my Insurance.


My gruel for lunch was a great success. I had to supervise the cooking because the cook never puts salt in anything while cooking. Tomorrow I have to cook it for myself because the cook is taking my housemates to his home village, which can be seen on the side of the next hill.


In the after noon we all walked down the Woodstock School to look at a Scholastic Books sale. The climb back of the hill is called the Zig Zag and it is brutal for new arrivals. After 2 major climbs I was pooped. In the evening the Italian man invited over 3 Italian girls who attend the Language School. Together they prepared dinner which consisted of Pasta with a tomato and cheese sauce and 2 kinds of salad. When eating dinner they eat the pasta first and on their empty plates they have salad. The dinner was good, there were NO Indian spices. After that we watched an India movie. The director of this flick was a friend of the 3 girls. There is a curious mixture of english and hindi dialogue. If you did not know both languages you would not be able to follow the story completely. This was a standard love story and the ending was never in doubt, just how it would be accomplished.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Mar 11,12 Day 9,10

Thursday, Friday March 11, 12 Days 9, 10


The last 2 days i have been trying to solve my problem with my stomach. I find that I have terrific indigestion when eating foods that have red pepper in them. It has gotten serious enough for me to think of abandoning this project. My major concern was eating the spicy foods on a constant basis and it has come true. Breakfast is fine because there are no curried foods. I have come with a possible solution for lunch. Oatmeal!! It is readily available and the local hilltop store has homogenized milk. Saturday noon I will try to see how it works. One of my greatest problems will be getting the cook to add SALT to the water. Nothing is more tasteless than unsalted oatmeal. I will let you know next time how it comes out. One of my biggest problem on a vegetarian diet is protein. This morning during thought time (5 - 7 am) I suddenly thought of Protein Powder. I have been thinking of having rice with tomato soup for dinner but that lacks protein. Protein powder is readily available in India and so Sat morning I am going down to the pharmacy in the Picture Palace area (2 miles down) and look into Protein Powder and look at how the Insulin “Pens” work.


I have been taking short walks each day with Friday a total of 4, 1 long (to Lal Tibba) and 3 short ones. I had to eat 2 of my bananas before dinner to keep going. I been unable to get any emails because of server problems. The days are so long that each seems to last 3 or 4. I feel like I have been out of communication for a week but it has been only 3 days. With the stomach problems and the perpetual cold inside the house, time crawls (along with being sick). The only time I can sit n comfort is at 8pm for maybe 2 hours. There is a fire for the living room and last night I nearly burned my legs.


I took my first Video of my expedition Thursday. There is a rhododendron tree in the back yard and I took some beautiful footage. I discovered that I was using the wrong video tape and had to redo it the next morning.


Friday, March 12, 2010

Weekly Report Mar 11

Hi Gang,


This is my first of a weekly report sent to family members (claimed or unclaimed). The past week has been very eventful and NOT in a positive way. My credit card got eaten by the ATM machine and I have spent a mornings of 3 days trying to get replacements in one form or another. Judy, the greatest advice you gave me before departing “have some US currency as an emergency fund”. I will hopefully be able to survive on those funds for up to a couple of weeks as I try to get the ability to acquire Rupees here.

I have found a source for Insulin and it costs 1/10th as much as in the US. I have to walk 2 miles down and the 2 miles us (the hard part) in order to order it. I have to pay for it in advance and go back a couple of days later to pick it up.


In order to get money I walk 2.5 miles down and up. I am limited to 10,000 rupees ($225) per day. My total rent will be 45,000 rupees so it will take 4+ trips down to get money just for the rent. My weekly expenses will be about 1,000 rupees ($24). This includes the groceries, water, wood for the fire and snacks. If I want fruit I have to walk down the the Landour Community Hospital area (for you former residents) or 40 minutes down and 55 minutes up. I bought a dozen bananas for 85 cents plus effort. You cannot buy ahead because the bananas will only keep for a week. I need them to get food value from something that is not spiced.


I have had a full episode of “Delhi Belly” another word for the trots. The major problem for me is that the smell of spicy foods, let alone the eating of same, makes me nauseous. Since that is the only thing available to eat I have to augment my rice with butter with some fruit. I have just purchased some Danish sugar free Raspberry jam in hopes of putting it on a chippati (for some reason my spell checker will not accept this word. I am not sure I have spelled it correctly. Would a sister of mine correct me if necessary.) This is like a whole wheat tortilla. It is NOT spiced and as children we loved these with butter and jam. I have just finished lunch and the Raspberry jam is spectacular. I am hoping this will give me some needed calories. I have been sick with this for the past 3 days. I have been able to keep my blood sugar levels fairly good with a perfect one this morning. I find that today I am rather weak and not able to walk very far.


I did go out and take some pictures so you can see where I’m living. Here are 3 views of my bedroom. It is about 10 ft long and 5 ft across. I even smoothed down the bed so that it would look presentable. In the picture with the window there is a small closet. I have a second room where I store all my equipment, water supple and suitcases and I use its chair to sit and play solitaire and listen to music. There is also a separate bathroom with the gizzer (water heating tank, take 30 minutes to heat up and give only 2 gallons of water for a bath using the bucket in the picture). I sit on the little stool and pour water over me from a small pitcher. You must remember that the temperature is a brisk 50 degrees. As time passes it will get warmer, I hope!!!


There are 2 other language school students living at the house. A 21 year old Italian university student, here for 5 weeks, and a 50 year old woman from The Netherlands here for 2 weeks. She is a Sikh and has been for 30 years. She is a delightfully gentle soul with great grace and fun loving view of life. The young man is an exceptional young man. His religious belief (Roman Catholic) is wonderful and earnest. He is taking 6 classes a day and the rest of the time he studies. He is a foreign languages student and needs this work to complete his degree. He did not realize that studying Hindi would lead to a much greater understanding of English because he has 2 English speakers to communicate with. Our conversations at lunch and dinner are wide ranging and interesting because of our different viewpoints and a ready acceptance of each other’s beliefs.


The Snows have been visible most morning this week . Each passing day they get more obscured by the dirty air. The plains are almost not visible today. I took my first Video of my expedition this morning. There is a rhododendron in the back yard and I took some beautiful footage. I discovered that I was using the wrong video tape and will have to redo it again in the morning.


I am feeling much better and was able to eat almost enough food at lunch. Progress is being made.


I miss you all and hope this will fill you in on what is happening in the wilds of India.


Love to all of you.


Leon



Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Day 6 & 7

Monday March 6th Day 6


This morning I successfully called the US Bank to get a new Credit Card. I had to go down the hill to Woodstock School where I met one of the people I met last year and at the summer Reunion in Oregon. I was trying to find someone who spoke fluent English and explain my problems to. I used a phone in the office and called and had US Bank mail a card to Woodstock. I knew there would be someone there to receive the card and they could then contact me. When I pick up the card I have to call the US to get the PIN number. I expect it to take at least a week. I then called Chase Bank to get a PIN number to use on their credit card. When the nice lady asked me for my card number I discovered that I had left the card up at the top of the hill. It takes 40 minutes to get down the hill and another 60 minutes to climb back up the hill. I will try to place an international call at the Office of the Landour Language School which is located a half a mile away on the flat.


On my trip up the hill aI stopped at the Landour Community Hospital Pharmacy to find out about the availability of my insulin. I had to meet with the doctor (it cost 180 rupees ($4) and I only had to wait 5 minutes) to discover they do not carry this kind of insulin and will have to order it and are not sure it is available up here. I am to contact them again Thursday morning to find out. I will head down into the bazar tomorrow morning to the largest Pharmacy there and see if it is available. They may have to order it in from Delhi. That will be must faster than the hospital pharmacy. I will head further into the bazar and try to convert my dollars into rupees at the bank. Their system was down on Saturday so I hope for better luck.


Last night I discovered that the power unit for this computer was dead. I borrowed one from an Italian student at the Language School and got my trusty machine powered up. When I went to Woodstock I asked then man there what it would take to get one of the power packs. He had an extra one and loaned it to me for my whole time here.



Tuesday Mar 9 Day 7


I have successfully made my walk down to the Bazar to get money. I now have money for the basics like Water, Wood for heat, pay my share of the groceries, no extra funds for but the basics. When I called about a PIN number for my Chase Credit card, I actually reached a human. It will take 7 to 10 business days to send the PIN by mail to Maple Valley and then TerrY (actually Annie) will have to mail it on. I think it takes close to a week to get mail from Washington to the mountains of India. I sure hope it is faster. So it looks like my money will have to last around 3 weeks and if not, I will have to borrow from someone. The best source will be Woodstock. My third task was finding out about my Insulin. It is readily available and costs about $11 for the vial. In the US the over-the-counter price is $108. I will have to order it about 3 days before I buy it. SOO my day has been a great success. It is a relief after all the problems I have faced.


My trip to the Bazar and Woodstock covered about 8 miles. by the time I got home for lunch I was totally exhausted but lunch was soon served and I have revived. I did stop and eat an orange on the way back up. That gave me the energy to complete the climb but I walked like an old man, stopping frequently.


Yesterday I tried to post my daily blog information but the connection failed. I will try to post both days today. If you read this, I was again successful, for today.


This morning my room was actually 52 degrees (that rates as a heat wave in this house). This afternoon it is back down to 50 degrees.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Day 4

Saturday March 6th Day 4


Woke up at 3:30 am, waited around until 6 and and headed outside to watch the sun rise over the Snows. I was a little disappointed with the lack of colors but the air is dirty. I was also not happy with the way the sun played over the surfaces of the hills. Much of the facing area was not high lighted by the rising sun. A set of peaks further away faced east enough to get the direct sun. I will have to watch several more sun rises to get a feel for what I can expect. I also discovered that if the stars are out the night before, the Snows will most probably appear. So much to learn about the area. I realized that I had seen only one sunrise here before so I had no real idea where east was from this area. I suppose that it is always in the east but how the hills are placed in reference to east is not what I expected.


This has not been a good day and it is only 3:00 pm. I walked a couple of miles down the hill in an attempt to find an ATM machine. When you walk down you have to walk back UP and so far the best I have done is 4 miles all on the level as I am trying to get my body ready to walk at this altitude. So walking 4 miles, half of it mostly uphill, was a greater challenge than I bargained for. The guard of the Bank where I tried to get Rupees on my Credit card indicated that the path was much shorter. I finally found the ATM, after asking an American woman, and put in my credit card. It would not work and so I tried several more times. At this point the machine kept my credit card. If you try too many time to use the same card in an ATM the card is confiscated to prevent a thief from trying several times to get the card to work. I then figured out that I had brought the wrong card. I should have brought my ATM card because I had a PIN for it but not for the credit card. I now have to make a phone call to the international number but I do not know how to make an international call much less a collect one. Tomorrow, Sunday, I will go to a english speaking church and see if I can find someone to help me make this phone call.


The day is still young but I am going to post this now and fill in the rest of the story later.


Day 3

Friday, March 5th Day 3


I had a major insulin problem at 4:40 am. I have discovered that i need to have some protein before going to bed. I was able to get enough sugar in me to stop the sweats and get back to sleep. Wow, did I have some wild dreams.

I got up and looked outside to see the Snows, which range from 20,000 to 23,000 feet, were very clear. It had rained during the night and cleaned out the sky. By mid afternoon the clouds will obscure the Snows again. It is unusual for the Snows to be visible during this time of the year. I packed my 2 video cameras and went hunting for a location to tape the sunrises. I went along the cukkar for over a mile and found a good location at the end at a place call Lal Tibba (red hill). I returned home only to find a better spot 500 yards from my guesthouse. The cukkar was originally a bridal path around 2 of the peaks which make up the Landour area. This path was widened by Dutch prisoners of war from the Boer War in South Africa in 1904.

Day 1 and 2

Wednesday, March 3rd day 1 in India


At 5:30 am I got a taxi from the hotel to the New Delhi Train Station. Upon arrival I started looking for 3 coolies I was informed by a younger coolie that I only needed 2 coolies and it would cost 1,000 rupees($20.22 USD). I gulped but was in no position to argue having remembered how over priced the coolies were the year before. Just go with the flow, Leon. In Dehradun (the railhead for Landour)the coolies only charged 500 rupees. I was told by my landlady that she had ordered a taxi for me and it would be 600 rupees. The taxi never showed up so I went to the taxi office and was informed that the price was 700 rupees. Flowing right along I got to the top of the hill and found Kilmarnock on my own.


Thursday, March 4th day 2


There is one additional young man living at the guesthouse who is studying Hindi and is an Italian student of foreign languages. He had been here for only a week and is evidently doing very well. I am typing this sitting on the front terrace and he is sitting on the other side studying. The reason both of us are outside is that the electricity is shut off between 1 and 3 pm every day. Fortunately my laptop runs well on a battery.

The only person here is the cook and he speaks almost no English. The Italian student is my sole means of communication. My lack of a mind yesterday (maybe from lack of sleep, do you think?) is not a help in trying to communicate. I have gotten across to the cook that neither of us like the food to be too spicy. My stomach is agreeing with his diet so far (all of one supper, breakfast and lunch).

I appear to be not bothered by the elevation, close to 7,000 feet (if you believe the signs put up by the Indian government, always suspect). I walked over to the Internet cafe and back without any huffing or puffing. I will leave on another walk soon. Back from the walk with the same results except that I could feel the stress in my legs and I was a little tired. In the evening I had a headache (which is a sign of high altitude problems) and my mind was very fuzzy (that is an accurate medical description).

Friday, March 5, 2010

Arrival a very long day

I flew out of Seattle on Sunday Feb 28th 2010 at 6:40 pm headed for London. This was a very uneventful 8 hour flight. There was a 5 hour layover and left London headed for Delhi, India on time and got to Delhi ahead of time after a 7 1/2 hour flight. I arrived at 4:20 am Delhi time. There were several good things about this flight; I was on the outside of 3 seats, my seat mates were very pleasant company and there was the cutest 18 month old India boy who walked up and down the isle for most of the flight very quietly. He fell asleep shortly before landing and his mother was not happy as she had to carry him through the “miles” of passageways. We got to the baggage recovery area and the young lady sitting next to me was very concerned that her bag would be lost. On a previous trip to India her gab was very lost and it took several days and miles of red tape to recover the bag. My bags came up almost immediately and so I waited with her until the carousal had nothing left on it’s surface. She went to the lost baggage people and was told in less the 2 minutes that her bag was still in Chicago where she had changed carriers. It looked like she would get the bag on the next British Air flight which arrived the next night at 1:30 am. I will never know how it all came out as I went on to customs and the fun for me began.


I have over $12,000 of equipment in my bags, one weighs 69 lbs the other 49 lbs. I am told that only $150 worth of stuff can be brought into India without paying duty. He ask for my CARNET form. I had never heard of a CARNET form (it is evidently some international treaty form that allows one to bring over $150 worth of stuff as long as it again leaves the country, without paying duty.) The duty rate is 36.05%. I would owe $4,100.00 duty and it would not be refunded to me upon leaving the country. The customs agent said he wanted to “help” me. How much would I be willing to pay to get my equipment in the country without paying duty. I started at $500 and he suggested $400. Why he was lowering the price I do not know. Evidently he was concerned that if the price was too high I might complain to the supervisor. Finally he said 15,000 rupees and I agreed, Then he came down to an even 10,000 rupees. I went over to the money guys and got 15,000 rupees and the agent and I met out of sight at which point he said 15,000. I said no the agreed price was 10,000. 10,000 rupees is $222.22 USD. I was very pleased to get off so cheaply.


I got to the YMCA hotel at 8:00 am and asked for a room. I finally got into a room at 10:30. The standard check-in time was after noon. The room cost twice as much as the listed price on the internet. I was later very glad because the cheap room didi not have Air Conditioning and it got rather hot. I tried to sleep but could not because of my concern about getting from Delhi to Landour the next day. I finally went to bed and was asleep by 9:30 only to wake up 5 hours later and I was through sleeping for the night. Now for some thoughts on sleeping (or not). I was able to sleep for only 7 hours over a 73 hour span of time. I finally got some sleep in Landour. It was a very unusual 8 hours long.


About Me

My photo
I have twin sons with 2 children each. I will miss them when in India. I have been a job gypsy all my life looking for new challenges constantly. I got bored quickly except when teaching. 3 years as a Middle School Music Teacher and 9 years as an Assistant Professor of Music. I played in a Country Western Band when I went back to college at 39 to get a degree in Accounting. I was a CPA that worked in various companies, the longest for 5 years and the shortest for 2 days. I spent most of my accounting life working as a Project Accountant where I would come in to solve a particular problem. I was rarely required to do a lot of the boring stuff for very long. With the passing of my wife and NO job to go to, I can now pursue my dreams in India.

Followers