My trainer at the gym told me yesterday to take the day off…  7 days in a row doesn’t help the body.  He didn’t have to tell me twice.

I started the day by making Annie her morning coffee… then counting my balloons.  Although I brought bout 50 pounds of balloons to India, I left the “mother load” with our friend Sharon in Delhi.  i thought I brought enough for this month in Mysore….  but the rickshaw drivers, the pineapple boy, and others know my weakness… I can’t say “no”.   One set of rickshaw drivers (the ones who hang out near the Yoga Shala)  actually look out for me.  They call me over to sit with them each time they see me and decide which one will get a balloon from me.  After I’m done with that balloon, they are protective of me….  telling everyone else… “no more”.  I’m committed to perform a show for a preschool in two weeks, so I just put a show-worth of balloons in one bag (to make sure I don’t run out before the show).  I have to start rationing the balloons since I won’t get back to the mother load for another three weeks or so.

We took a stroll around streets we haven’t explored before.  Annie takes her time taking photos of everything.  I just walk along.  When she takes pictures of kids I see the “open door” and make balloons for them.  We saw a bull resting on its belly in the grass…  Annie said, “why don’t you se how close you can get to it.”  So I took out the ocarina and began playing my flute music … step by step getting closer and closer as she shot video.  I stared into his eyes and watched his ears thinking when a dogs ears go back he’s getting ready to charge.  If I’d see the ears go back and the feet start standing I was ready to hi-tail it to jump over the nearest fence.  I got within a couple feet from him when I chickened out…  finished my music….  tipped my hat… and walked away.  I’ll see if I can post that video tomorrow.

It looks like I’m signing up to take a cooking class tomorrow.   Then starting Tuesday we’re both signing up to learn to lead people thru past life regressions (for healing purposes).  I’m the skeptic (the optimistic skeptic) but I’m thinking this will be fun….and the thought of being able to sit with people on the plane back to the states for so many hours, taking a number of them thru past life regressions ….  that sounds like a story in itself.  Years ago Virgin Atlantic had a deal that if you were a performing artist and were willing to entertain passengers on flights to Europe you could fly for free.   Maybe we can get free flights in the future offering past life regressions to passengers?

When Annie took off for her early yoga class (a 5-minute walk) I took off for my gym – a 30-minute walk. This time I didn’t stop along the way to make any balloons and didn’t try to take any short cuts…. it took me 20 minutes which means this must be about 1 mile.

On the way back I looked for Annie in her favorite breakfast spot, but she had already gone.  As I walked back to our room a rickshaw driver stopped (with a baffled passenger)… asking me for a balloon hat.  As I twisted him his balloon, he seemed to be explaining to his passenger that I’m a famous balloon guy from the US.   As I continued I ran into a yoga student Annie met in class (they’re also taking a healing course together) we walked a block or so when we passed the spot 5 or 6 rickshaw drivers hang out at…. rickshaw drivers who “know” me.  They called me over to sit with them and mimed “balloons”….  so I excused myself from her saying “I have to get to work now.”  I’ve come up with a way that I don’t need to make all of them balloons…. I ask “who do I do today?”  They pointed at one guy, so I built a balloon helicopter on top of him.    They all laughed, took pictures, and then I continued to our room and Annie and I made our lunch.  We share a kitchen in this apartment/hotel building with the other guests.  There’s a group of about 6-8 Chinese yogis who always make the most intricate vegetable meals with rice.  Annie and I usually make Peanut Butter and banana sandwiches and have papaya with pineapple.

My timing was off today and I missed our pineapple boy.

Almost every day as we walk around the blocks near the P. Jois Yoga shala we run into this little boy (12 years old or so?). He’s bare-footed as he sells fruit from his cart. We don’t know if his folks send him out selling the fruit or if he’s homeless? It’s sad to see him selling his fruit while other kids are in school. He doesn’t speak English and we sure don’t speak Hindi or whatever language he speaks. The first day I made him a balloon hat and we bought a pineapple. Later that day he saw me and held a 10 Rubee bill (worth a couple cents US). and pointed that he’d like another balloon hat. I made him the hat, but didn’t accept the money… He handed me a pineapple (I thought of the pineapple song from the broadway musical – Cabaret). Everyday when I see him I make him something else. Since we can’t communicate with words, he whistles and mimes what he wants each day. Today we saw him while we were sitting having tea and breakfast at a little dive. The first time he saw me there he came over and the restaurant owners almost chased him away – not wanting him pestering their customers by selling his fruit as they’re eating. (I made him balloons anyway). This time I brought some larger balloons to “work” on his cart along with him. Annie shot some video and photos. Here’s a short video… 

I finally made it to the gym today.  It took about 30-minutes of walking while listening to an audio book of Gravity’s Rainbow (thank you, Ozzie).  After about 4 times of listening to the first two chapters without  remembering anything about what’s happening or who the characters are, I finally decided this book is written like stream of consciousness … there are no plots, story, or characters so far…. it’s more like someone painting a picture with words and images.  I’m going to continue listening to the rest of the book with this concept in mind and see how far I get.

After arriving at the gym I figured I didn’t need to get on the tread mill (I just walked 30 minutes to get here).  They have one kettle bell, so I grabbed it and did as much as I could remember with it for about half an hour.  Then I saw the guy who gave me training lessons there last week and I signed up for three sessions a week with him for the rest of the month (after membership, it comes to about $10-12/ per session).  We put in an hour’s workshop, then he told me that when I use the men’s dressing room, I should always cover up with a towel whenever anyone is in the room…  juggling taking underwear on and off under a towel.  In the US no one cares in the dressing room but I guess they’re more “proper” here?

Then he and the other trainers tried to get me what’s the “trick” to blowing up the balloons (I shared balloons with them the morning of New Years Eve).  I demonstrated blowing balloons up from he top, the bottom, from the middle….  then in circles, in hooks… then 3 and 4 at a time.   They made wonderful audience.  After the workout I went across the street to the little mall (it’s big for this area).  I needed to get another pair of sneakers (they won’t let me use my outdoor sneakers in the gym, so I’ve been using the only other footwear I have – water shoes, that have no support).  They have a PayLess Shoe store here.  That was good news….  However size 12 was their biggest shoe and it’s just a touch too small for me.  I’m not going to find a pair I can wear in this town.

I walked the half hour back.  When i was near our apartment I passed the rickshaw drivers who know me and called me over for balloons (I can’t walk past them without stopping).  They pointed to one guy for me to “do him”.  The good point was that they didn’t all request individual balloons.  So I just “did him”

This was the first day so far that I didn’t walk in one section that a little boy who sells fruit walks every day.  I felt bad that I didn’t get to make him a balloon today.

Theres a beautiful full moon and the sky is so clear – it’s making these beautiful evening.

I had been going to the gym everyday until we moved from the hotel to this apartment on Jan 1st.  The gym was closed on Jan 1 so I didn’t go.

On Jan 2nd I thought I’d trek the 30-minute walk to the gym using side roads and cut my time.  I walked for about 3 hrs totally lost.  I couldn’t take a rickshaw because I didn’t have any small change… and they wouldn’t change a “large” bill (worth about $8) for a 50 cent ride.  Also, I didn’t know the addresses of the our apartment, of the gym, or of the Yoga Shala.  The gym is near a Subway Sandwich shop (like in the States) and a little mall (big for this area)….  but people on the street which direction to go to get to these locations, I drew blanks from everyone.  Finally some guy on a motorcycle stopped when he saw me and communicated that he saw me doing balloons the day before somewhere.  I asked if he could point me in the direction of my destinations….  no.  I asked if he could point me in the direction of where he saw me doing balloons…. still no.  I made him a balloon hat and continued being lost.  I never got to work out at the gym that day.

Jan 3  I woke up with a stomach bug, so skipped the gym again.

Jan 4th (today) I was determined to get to the gym.  Annie felt uncomfortable walking to her yoga class alone in the dark…  so I walked  her to the shalt and continued walking to the gym in the dark…  the way I was sure of.  I made it there by 6:30am (the half hour I figured it would take me).  What I didn’t know was the gym doesn’t open that early (I thought they told me 6am-11pm).   There were no places open for coffee or breakfast in the area.  I thought I might go into the mall that was across the street… but a security guard shooed me away.  I asked when they opened…  8?  9?….  He said, 10am.   I wasn’t in the mood to hang around so walked back to the hotel.

Tomorrow Annie’s yoga class begins about 8 or 8:30am, so I’ll leave for my gym later and should get my first workout of the year.

       I mentioned that the local “mall” had some decorations for Christmas – This was it ….  a 97 pound version of a slimmed down Santa.  Locals would come take selfies with him.

Another fun thing….  there are stray days every where here (as well as cows and goats, but they’re owned by someone I’m sure.  All of these animals stroll around the streets, eating garbage.  I kept looking at the gangs of stray dogs when I noticed most of the car License plates here begin with KA-09.  It brings back memories of Dr Who (Tom Baker, my favorite one from the mid-1970’s) and his pet robot dog.. K-9.

I tried sharing this “insight” with some folks here when I realize it’s not just the language that makes me feel like an alien here (but I’m the happy balloon guy alien who wears a silly hat… so I receive smiles from most people.

We woke early enough and I planned on heading off to the gym (a 30-minute walk) while Annie took off for her yoga class. Rather than going down to the main drag, taking a right turn and walking about 5-10 minutes … then taking another right turn and walking 15-20 minutes…. I thought I’d go diagonally and experience some streets I didn’t know yet. It wasn’t long before I was totally lost.
I kept passing lots of packs of wild dogs (they only get aggressive around dogs who aren’t part of their packs so I was okay) and cows. Some of these blocks are for upscaled middle class… some are for workers. The further I walked from the yoga center, the more downscaled the homes. If the roads were parallel and perpendicular I’d have been fine, but they seem to wind around. I needed to go south and west…. but if I went too far south before going west…. or too far west before going south I’d miss my mark. I wish I had a map of the area. I missed it.
Every once in a while I’d pass a rickshaw driver…. however the fare would be about 30 rubees (50 cents) and the only bills I had on me were 500’s…. The rickshaw drivers seem to get upset when I offer them a 100 bill…. a 500 wouldn’t work. I kept walking.
Some guy on a motor cycle stopped and smiled, saying he saw me doing balloons yesterday. I made him a balloon and asked if he could point me in the direction of the Gold’s Gym…. no… I thought of other shops around the gym – how about the Subway Sandwich shop (just like in the States)… still the answer was
“no”… the “BM” Shopping Mall…. no …. the P. Jois Yoga Shala …. no.
Stupid me… I didn’t even remember the name of the subdivision suburb of Mysore the Yoga was in. I kept walking. Finally I saw a little shop. If I’d buy something for less than 200-250 rupees they might not give me change for a 500… so I bought some tooth paste and other stuff … mostly to get some smaller change. Then I asked a rickshaw driver to take me to the Subway Sandwich shop. 30 rubees and 3 minutes later we were there. I still don’t have a clue where I was … but I was so close.
It had been over 2 hours of walking… I decided I didn’t need to go to the gym so turned around to go back. First I asked a rickshaw driver how much the trip back to the Yoga Shala would be. He said 50! I said 30! He repeated 50! (the difference is so little I probably should have just hopped in…. but my ego got in the way and I laughed and began walking. About a half hour later I made it back to the yoga area… I just had to hear the local rickshaw drivers there to know I was “home”… they were all asking me for balloon hats.
The little boy (12 years old) who pushes a wheeled fruit stand around saw me and asked for another balloon hat. Since I wouldn’t accept his 10 rupee bill yesterday (I just made him the balloon), he gave me a small pine apple today. I built a little house on his cart this time.
I met Annie later when she was almost done with her Ayurveda massage treatment and we walked back to the apartment… passing the boy with the cart again. His balloons had broken (it’s summery warm here) so I made him a balloon outfit and we took off.
Tomorrow I’ll go to the gym the way I know…I won’t take any short cuts.

We signed Annie up for the Yoga Shala of her dreams today.

As we walked around the area the rickshaw drivers who are always aggressive to get their next passenger seem even more aggressive with me to make them balloons instead of to get me to hire them for a ride. I need to convert their desire for balloons into free rides (although these rides only cost us a buck or so each time).
We didn’t get a call back from the hotel manager, so didn’t need to return to do balloons at their party tonight and attended a very special meditation event in the early evening.
When we saw the manager later, he let me know how much he loved what I did with the balloons and kids, but said there would be too few kids at the event to make it worthwhile.
Before we went to sleep (we skipped the party), I took a stroll around the party and did balloons for the few kids (and their families) who were there.

Happy New Year!

I’ve been doing balloons for kids here at the hotel periodically as well as for some of the workers here (what a surprise). The manager asked me to do balloons at a little festival they were having so I gave him a “taste” of what I do. Now he’s asked me to do balloons at their New Years Eve party.
My dilemma :
1) I want to do it – paid or not
2) I’d like to get paid, have the hotel room comp’ed, or at least discounted
3) I only have a limited number of balloons with me and if I go nuts doing balloons for him tomorrow night I’ll run out much sooner than I planned… and I can’t replenish my supply until I get back to my mother-load stashed in Delhi early in February -(If you’ve never seen a balloon guy on a latex withdrawal episode…. it’s not a pretty site)

So I’m looking at my options:
1) just do it and if the manager says “thank you” by comp’ing our room, discounting it, or giving us anything…. just accept it
2) meet with the manager today and state the conditions I’d be willing to trade my services for (the fear… if he says “no”, I won’t be doing any balloons)
3) drop a note off with the manager asking how he intends on paying me.
4) ________________(fill in the blank

Thanks for any input…

We’ve been here in Mysore for about a week now. Staying in this hotel that feels like a little oasis. Every day I’ve been walking to the local gym (they actually have a Golds’ Gym here). I work out with a trainer there. He asked “what are your goals here?” I answered, “I don’t want my wife laughing at me”. I kept a straight face, he looked puzzled.
We take a motorized 3-wheeled rickshaw to the area Annie will be taking yoga and she goes for a 2+ hr hot oil massage (given by two young girls)… and come back for an early diner – there’s also an American Subway diner here… tuna sandwiches on American bread. We feel so at home.

At our hotel I get to play with some locals… the management asked if I’d like to do balloons at their New Years Eve party – no mention getting paid or having the room discounted or comp’ed… just that they’ll give me “permission”. How can
I say “No”

We’re set up for Annie to take the month of Yoga at the original Ashtanga (power) Yoga – the P. Jois center … we have our apartment set (a 5-minute walk to the center)…. I just signed up for a month’s membership at the local Gold’s Gym (that was a surprise to see one here) thaw ill be about a 15 minute walk each morning and I took my first session with a trainer this morning.
During the Summer and Fall, when we were planning our trip I explained to friends at the gym back home where we’re members that I haven’t taken off any weight since I’ve been going to the gym for years…. even the kettle bell class hasn’t had an effect on my weight…. so I told them the reason we decided to take 5 months in India was to reduce weight for me…. planning on getting a stomach virus or maybe an amoeba or something that would take the weight off. (With my straight face it’s fun to watch their reactions).
At the gym today I finally found at a scale and sure enough I’m down 10 pounds (I had to convert it from the metric).
Let’s see what the next month does.

We took an early morning stroll along the ghats before returning to our favorite breakfast place here… then returned to the hotel. My stomach illness is done, Annie’s cough has been gone for a while, but now she has the stomach bug… so she slept away the afternoon as I tried to register us for the International Yoga Festival running in India during the first week of March. It’s frustrating when the site doesn’t include prices and needed details, asks questions there’s no way we can answer, and states boldly that if anything is missing the application won’t be accepted. Add to the frustration the slow internet speed and the power being out in the hotel (the WiFi runs on a generator) so my laptop was almost out of power. I never got it done.
When she woke about 4:30 we thought we’d go down the street to book a train to Delhi for later in the week then get something simple to eat (like soup and noodles or rice). We didn’t know it was raining. The dirty roads were now muddy roads with puddles and cow shit everywhere (there’s a reason these locals wear plastic flip-flops). We made our way to a little hole-in-the-wall travel “office” where a pleasant gentleman sat us down next to his computer and struggled with his server to find us train tickets while he connected to the internet. After a number of tries it looked like trains wouldn’t be our option. The plane would just be over an hour and about $100/each (the train is an overnight 12 hrs and not much less). As he was searching for us he was giving us his philosophy of life and why Varanasi is the best place anyone could live… saying some Westerners come here and complain about the filth everywhere. “The lotus flower grows in the mud! You have to go through shit to be cleansed!” he explained as Annie noticed a rat running across his floor.
Believe it or not, this city is growing on us. it’s not Disneyland but it’s authentic. When we first arrived we were planning on staying maybe a week. The first morning we experienced the shock of this culture and though maybe 1-2 days maximum… maybe less. Now we’re thinking maybe another week? As I said, it’s growing on us.
I’m getting a kick doing balloons with the street kids. They’re hungry and begging, but they are playful.

It felt good to return to Kathmandu yesterday… back to the hotel that feels like our home here (we left a big bag of our stuff here during the week we took off for Pokhara).

We wove thru the crazy streets (people, cars, and motorcycles all fighting for Continue reading “Nothing much to say today” →

The other day we chanced to meet a gentleman from Tibet who runs tours of the local settlements for refugees. His passion for these people and their cause sold us on taking his all day tour yesterday.

The other day we chanced to meet a gentleman from Tibet who runs tours of the local settlements for refugees. His passion for these people and their cause sold us on taking his all day tour yesterday.

He picked us up at our hotel sharply at 9am and we were off.

We watched women cleaning wool and spinning it… saw the rooms they stored the yarns and dyed them….

Then watched some of the women weaving the rugs.

In the next building teens are taught simple sewing so they can earn some money making bags.

Each settlement also has a medical center. We had a medical consultation with this Tibetan Doctor. She later said i gave her one of the nicest gifts she had ever received.

We visited a school where I was able to entertain the kids and their teachers with a handful of balloons I still had with me in Pokhara (I was able to make something for each of the 20+_ preschoolers and their teachers).

We visited a monastery where sat for about 20 minutes having a conversation with a Monk (he’s a 24-year old student there… and has been studying there for the past 10 years). We sat in a religious service (taking a few pictures we were later told wasn’t permitted).

We had lunch in a small house with a family there… later we had tea in another along with a traditional paste-type food (a mixture of barley powder with a salty butter tea).

By the end of the day it was like we had taken a college semester course learning about the struggles and hard lives these refugee Tibetan people are having these past 60 years. There is so much we all take for granted that these people can’t even imagine.

Along the Lake we’ve enjoyed this coffee/tea shack and made it our home away from home.

While drinking tea we watch all sorts of folks walking buy carrying anything from dishes to foods for sale:

It only takes a bit of encouragement for me to help add some color –

One of the colorful sales guys who caught my attention was a guy selling flutes. At first I thought this was his hat…. then I looked more closely:

Tomorrow we’re visiting a settlement for refugees from Tibet (some of them have lived here for 50-60 years and they have no rights – They can’t own land, they can’t own a business… not even a car. They can’t become citizens in Nepal (the government here owes big favors to China and can’t anger them by being nice to the folks from Tibet) and can’t leave the country because they don’t have passports. I wasn’t planning on bringing balloons, but we’ll be visiting a local school there…. I think I might get the with-drawals if I don’t have some in my pockets…..

After checking into Hotel Tara, we walked along the Lake… passing grass/bamboo shacks where locals sold all sorts of goodies to eat… until we found the perfect one for tea. A young guy, Robin, from the Netherlands was sitting there playing guitar and drinking a beer. We ordered our teas and I made some balloons (including butterfly wings) for Robin. Soon two more guys joined in… one from England, the other from China. Annie bought some oranges from a woman walking by and passed them out to our new friends. Robin told us how he had spent a few weeks living with Monks at their monastery. He was teaching them English, playing songs for them, and talking about his life adventures – these Monks joined the monastery at early ages and had little knowledge of the outside world.
When he left, Robin gave the balloons to a little girl who was eyeing them.

A little while later that evening Annie and I stopped for dinner at a restaurant along the water. When we were almost ready to leave we were watching people gathering their “shops” to take home for the night… and we saw a little girl walking with her Mom along the lake path… still wearing the butterfly wings.
It’s been a nice day.

Artists who don’t fit labels 18 Nov 2014

Our friend, Sharon Lowen, who is a skilled and accomplished dancer as well as a recognized dance scholar/authority in India, used us in an article she wrote last week.

I keep pronouncing this place something between “Pocahontas” and “Pokeman”.
As Annie relaxes at this resort to get rid of her cough, I’m trying to figure out the new toys I bought for this trip. I got them both a few days before we took off so I didn’t have time to read the manuals…. but on that point, I never read manuals unless I’m desperate.

When I input the pictures (from the iPhones) onto the laptop’s external hard drive I keep getting two files – one .JPG and the other .AAC (maybe it’s “AAE”?) I never had that issue before. At least I found a way to dump all the non-JPG files in two steps rather than individually.

I thought I could just take the memory card out of the camera to import the videos…. but iMovie doesn’t accept the video format this way and I have about 275 clips so far that I don’t want to deal with individually. I just found that I can connect the camera to the laptop with a USB connection and it seems to be loading everything into iMovie. After about 2 hrs of processing it crashed and I set it up a second time. This time it loaded about 225 clips before crashing, but I think these clips are loaded. After this step becomes “automatic” for me my next step will be dealing with iMovie. I loved the older version – it was intuitive and easy to use. I stayed away from the newer version for years because of the learning curve. However this newer laptop won’t work with the older version and I now need to learn this newer version. I can’t think of a nicer setting to work on this…. oops, more para-hang-gliders are coming down into the field of horses, cows, and goats outside our hotel window. gotta go. Maybe I’ll get to post videos in the next few days?

Annie and I spent this Thanksgiving in Kathmandu’s Durbar Square – a place a friend recommended saying, “you just sit having a coffee and watch the world go by.” It’s magical. Here are pictures of us with our Thanksgiving “family”.

Later Annie and I went to a restaurant that was having a “traditional” Thanksgiving diner…. or at least as American traditional as it gets here. We sat with a sweet Frenchman who was on his own, listened to local musicians playing folk music from Nepal… then they surprised us playing “Oh Danny Boy”. The food was also a surprise, it was really very good.

Wishing you all a special and magical Thanksgiving!