The Still Vibrant Humming World Around Us

There's a truth in hurt that sometimes illuminates more than easy acceptances.

That's why G-d created teachers like writers, rabbis, gurus, lovers, koans, artists, poets, rimpoches, swamis, ministers and mystics in our lives, no?

As it's not that the experience of being hurt is different for me or you... it's different for different mes. And a variety of yous... Yous yet to come...

Like the sharp pain occasionally felt by youthful couples or even within a stable, lasting marriage or any closely bound intimate human relationship.

These hurts provide fresh angles to view life's prisim.  

Reflecting light and truth to each other in diverse, unexpected and multifaceted (how I like that word 'multi-facted'...) ways.

Truth moves swiftly like a river and, when our minds are profoundly still, we are able to quietly watch and silently observe those various images, thoughts and directions flow across our minds.

For even very close friends can hurt each other. We all know that.  

Yet mere words or unexpected ideas shouldn't ruffle us and our closest relationships (too much...).

As there is a depth of knowing and understanding that takes time and perspective and change of location and the like to appreciate. 

Sometimes a quick and, possibly, sharp remark can shift reality and leave us uneasy or quesy in that unexpected frame within the reels of life.

After all, we, too, are often exceedingly mercurial creatures who change over time.

Anicca.

There is no one snapshot that holds each other; not you of me or me of you.

We each can change so much in the relatively brief time we know each other.

We change constantly through the day, even if we don't perceive this.

We do know it, feel it and observe it.

Yet, it takes time for us to observe and learn from those changes within ourselves, as well.

Thus the word, 'slight'' (which hurt you so much...) does not always mean something less, it can also mean an openness that never existed before.

To 'slightly' know is, in truth, to be in the process of knowing.

How many people do we never really even open that door? 

We meet, we acknowledge, but there is no process, no evolution, no perspective -- just definition.

A simple encirclement of their being by an impression or expression of a frozen mind.

Bas.

Yes, 'slight' carries a cautious, expanding potential which is one of G-d's greatest gifts in this world to we simple struggling Earth-bound folks.

Did Maimonides state that?  Or Milarepa sing it?  Or the Pope decree it? 

Or me...  Nepal's Jew in the lotus... describe it?

Maybe it's time to raise 'slight' in a new more appreciated definition.

Looking through the narrow rock formations approaching Petra gives one a slight insight into the profound architectural beauty and magnificence that lies ahead.

Starting one's Talmudic studies gives one a slight awakening into the magnificent power and sublime mystery of the words of the immanent, approachable G-d.

Taking a Vipassana course offers the novitiate a slight insight into mindfulness and impermanence that opens up the mind in ways that may never have been experienced before.

Sharp words, like a sudden unexpected verbal 'slight', can offer a moment of preciptious, anxious revelation as they sunder spiritual materialism (as ChogyamTrungpa said...) or materialistic spiritualism or especially the dark, deep truth of constant love or friendship...

Not to wound the body or bleed superficial emotions -- but to crack the solidity of the stable mind and often too rigid thoughts.

From that mindful opening, we may learn to guide our thoughts to listen more deeply, ever more poignantly, personally, to the still vibrant humming world around us.

Aum Shalom.

 

S'hana Tova 2013 Family News

Dear Friends,

Just a New Year's note to catch you all up on the Leslie-chand family happenings as we step into a new Jewish year...

Last night, Shakun & I joined the Chabad mafia at a party palace in Kathmandu where Reb Kretsky entertained the masses of mostly young Israelis and a few of us of a slightly older variety (with young hearts, I hope...). There were a few Americans there, as well as an Israeli who climbed Everest last year. We had a lovely vegetarian meal of salads with apples and honey. Tonight we'll have a family dinner for the new year as Leah was home doing homework last night and Joshua, reasonably, doesn't feel a connection w/ these young Israelis. So we'll light candles and have our quieter celebration at home. 

As you may know, Ezra flew the coop on Sunday. Well, he was supposed to fly on Sunday but he had a visa problem at the airport so he only left on Tuesday. But the benefit of the delay was that he was able to get a direct Abu Dhabi-Chicago flight on Etihad instead of having to change planes and buy a separate ticket in NYC. With his extra weight of books and books and some clothes, that worked well in his favor. Although we haven't heard from him yet, as he must have arrived last evening (your evening), I'm sure he's already with his Deep Springs friends at the house they are jointly renting near campus. School doesn't start til the 23rd, so he has time to adjust to Chicago, check out the city, find the cultural highlights and settle into his new digs. That he left a hole in our home goes w/o saying... 

But we're fortunate that after having Ezi with us for a full year at home and in Kathmandu, we now have Joshu with us fulltime for the near future (or longer). Josh has settled well back to Nepal after six years at NMH, Georgetown and SOAS. It was such a joy to have both Josh and Ez with us for August. With Joshua's friend, TJ (from Philly, actually...) with us, too, for most of the time, it was a pretty full house! The boys spent plenty of time at home with us, going out for their evening football or to meet friends occasionally. Leah was thrilled, naturally, as well, to have the whole family together! I even got them to help build a flagstone walkway out to the back garden on one of their weekends. 

Mostly Joshu is working in the factory with Shakun. He's busy getting his fall/winter collection ready which takes most of his days. If you follow his website or Himalayan Spirit 8848 on FB, you'll have seen his blogs about the preparation of the new collection, colors and designs, as well as he & TJ going out to Helambu to look at a potential school site where they may build a girl's toilet with a percentage of his ethical fashion profits. It's a lot of work and Joshu has thrown himself into his entrepreneurial dreams with great commitment and drive. HS8848 has crossed 500 likes and once the new collection is out, Joshu is aiming to see that reach 1,000 likes and even more sales. It's a joy to see and have him with us in the home. The house is fuller, more alive and warmer with our kids at home. 

Leah is growing up quickly, as you no doubt remember when the kids were swiftly moving from pre-adolescence into their teenage years. She's 12 now and maturing faster than the little mango sapling by her bed. Partially it's having two seriously older brothers (and their worlds...), plus the expat community in Kathmandu and the friendships w/ young girls from all over the world (especially Denmark). You'll be surprised when you see her next, if you haven't seen her in awhile. She's also such a serious and dedicated student. At the end of last year she took on the role of Rachel Carson ("Silent Spring") for the debate competition and was incredibly calm and convincing -- and was chosen as one of the 'winners'! Now, with the roads being dug up around the city, even though the ride home from Lincoln can take an hour and a half in the evening, she gets home, eats a bit, plays with the kittens, then gets to work. It's impressive to see. Plus, she was recently selected as the only 7th grader to practice with the girls' varsity volleyball team this year. She was thrilled, of course, as she has some very caring mentors among the older girls. 

Shakun is constantly juggling her super Mom role w/ so many healthy, big appetites around the house, as well as supervising the repaving of our flat roofs to ensure they are waterproof for the next 14 years, managing the factory and doing her civil rights work with the historically marginalized communities of Nepal. She's off this w/end for a week to Delhi for a global Buddhist conference as she's been more involved with the Buddhist community of Nepal after working closely w/ the Dalits and Tharus in previous incarnations. With an election proposed in November (that may not happen...), many of her friends/colleagues are chosing or starting new political parties to run in the election. Though she'll stay on the sidelines this year, it seems, until she feels the urge or need to play politics on a more national stage. Given the lengthy political transformation in Nepal that has gone on for a couple decades already, there is time ahead, no doubt... 

I'm still in my World Bank incarnation this year, as you know. Running a social accountability initiative working on buget transparency, social audits, pro-poor budgeting and the like to ensure that local citizens are more engaged in their governments' allocation and spending. We have a small good team here w/ whom I work. A couple weeks ago, Ezi and I went out with one of the NGO mentors, Binod Upadhaya, to visit Mugu, one of Nepal's most remote districts (in the northwest near the Tibetan border). We flew to Nepalganj, spent the night, then flew up to Jumla, a beautiful valley in the mountains, from where we walked two days over 3700 m and 3400 m passes to get to Mugu. We walked about 40 hours that week, including reaching Rara Lake, an amazing and unusual body of water over 3300 m in the Himalaya. If you're on FB, you've seen my photos that I posted there last w/end. I'll probably stay with this WB work until April/May, then think of new opportunities... 

Also, I've been working part-time on my "Searching for Jakob Klatzkin", the Berlin intellectual-Zionist who was a close cousin of Ben-Henry's before and during the war in the last century. I had a two hour interview w/ Klatzkin's daughter-in-law, Dolly, who lives in LA now but grew up in England, married in France and lived in Switzerland before moving to NYC, then LA after divorcing Kent (Menas) Klatzkin. She was a treat (past president of the American Film Institute for 25 years), so I hope to talk to her again, as well as trace other lost threads in JK's life and history. 

Anyway, this is long enough for a Rosh Hashonah letter. I just thought it'd be nice to let our dear friends know what our family is up to these days, since we see each other so rarely, given the distance. 

You're all welcome to visit us here at any time, of course. There's always a bedroom free and Gita's warm, milky Nepali tea at any time of the day, not to mention Shakun's delicious cooking! We do airport pick-up, too! ;-) 

lots of love and looking forward to seeing each of you, en challah, in the blessed new year -- that would be a gift, of course, xoxo, Keith

The Cusp of International Development

Friends,

Sitting on the cusp between our American world and the struggling, smaller nations of Asia and Latin America, the questions stare back daily as I drive from my lovely garden home through the worn-out streets of these capital cities to our comfortable offices.  Protected or isolated in those splendid situations (whether INGO, UN or WB), the issues of poverty, corruption, dislocation, fragility and limited resources can seem too far away.

The contrasts between the international development world and the daily reality for more than half of the people in the countries in which we chose to work, marry and raise our children can seem a heavy weight at times.

Whereas Cambodia may look better than it did twenty years ago (for good reasons, including Scott's work), Honduras (where Jeff has worked for 28 years) and Nepal (my adopted home) have struggled and, in certain ways, decayed over that time.

There are, of course, positive MDG indices that show how the international development exercise has been effective (e.g., lower maternal or infant mortality rates), but there are many less diagnostic indicators of daily life (e.g. massive migration, dependence on remittances, weakened government services, debt, et al) that provide a window into the darker realities.

Of course, it's not just our beloved home-countries of which we speak. If you have read some of Amartya Sen's recent writings on India, or the occasional reporting on economic issues, corruption and internal migration in China, it's clear that the vast nations of Asia are facing some difficult choices, as well.  There are deep issues in Europe, North Africa and Africa, too, of course. It's just we see these challenges and divisions in our countries more clearly.

Thus our skepticism as to our the structures that we have created to resolve and assist the socio-economic issues facing countries like Nepal and Honduras.  Inside many of these international agencies, so full of hopes and promises, can be equally self-protective, risk-adverse, self-perpetuaring bureaucracies.

How to do borrow the best of these instititutions and the individuals who inhabit them while jettisoning the layers of lard?  Is the bottom line of these systems more the transfer of resources, skills and talent to the developing countries or sweeping both the people to settle and the billions of dollars to return to the US?

You'd be surprised to learn how many of my former Save the Children staff have their adult children and families now living in the US. Not to mention how many offspring of Nepal's National Planning Commission's commissioners are now US residents or citizens.

Few have made the reverse commute...

Of course, much of the responsibility sits on the political leadership of these countries.  They, too, need to manage the destiny of their people better -- but the global forces that squeeze their economies and ensure their dependence on foreign assistance are not easily countered.  In their situation, it's hard to turn down the hundreds of millions of dollars (plus, plus...), jobs for their kin, international travel and encouragement that the donors offer in various forms (INGO, UN and WB soft loans).

While millions of their citizens who are not near those funds migrate for low-paid construction jobs in Qatar or Malaysia to send a couple hundred dollars back to their families a month (if they can...).

Anyway, dear friends, just more thoughts floating across the mind of these aging 'development' workers who wandered out the American front door decades ago to see the world, then finally settled down 'to do good and have done very well, thank-you' (as the ironic expression goes).

The continuation of late night conversations we once indulged on James 4th Floor w/ Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell singing of such moral dilemmas in the background...

love ya, Keith

A Supermarket in Rhinebeck, New York

         "What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for

I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache
self-conscious looking at the full moon.

          In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went
into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations!

          What peaches and what penumbras!  Whole families
shopping at night!  Aisles full of husbands!  Wives in the
avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, Garcia Lorca, what
were you doing down by the watermelons?

          I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber,
poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery
boys.

          I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the
pork chops?  What price bananas?  Are you my Angel?

          I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans
following you, and followed in my imagination by the store
detective.

          We strode down the open corridors together in our
solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen
delicacy, and never passing the cashier.

Where are we going, Walt Whitman?  The doors close in
an hour.  Which way does your beard point tonight?

          (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the
supermarket and feel absurd.)

          Will we walk all night through solitary streets?  The
trees add shade to shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be
lonely.

          Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love
past blue automobiles in driveways, home to our silent cottage?

          Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher,
what America did you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and
you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat
disappear on the black waters of Lethe?"

Allen Ginsberg

Berkeley, CA  1955

On the Road in America

another rapid exploratory trip to the us to see loved family and friends...

first we had the joy of seeing joshua graduate from georgetown university.  our #1 son reaches the pinnacle of his education after years at lincoln school, northfield mount hermon, georgetown and a year at soas in london.  it's been a long ride with six years away from kathmandu on his own, mostly, yet with with all the experience and learning that comes from such intensity and challenges.

with mom among us in the slight drizzle on the georgetown yard, we sat and cheered as josh walked across the stage to receive his diploma and the congratulations of the university.  josh smiled and strolled with his gown and chappals into his future.  that evening we gathered at an italian restaurant w/ bagi, shakun's sister, lena and suraj to toast joshua on his achievement before he starts a two month internship at the G'town B-School working on Himalayan Spirit 8848 company.

then, we went by amtrak train to north carolina to see our friends, sherab & soilan, who have been in nc for 15 years.  sherab was the first nepali friend i made, a tibetan refugee who ran the 'lost horizon' restaurant off freak street when scott, dave, lee & i first arrived in october 1979.  then after he and soilan married they lived behind us in bansbari when josh and ez were born at the same time as rinchen and dechen.  the girls are all grown up now.  rinchen already graduated from UNC while dechen is her sophmore year at duke.

we stayed at their place in raleigh and took trips to asheville and the blue ridge mountains and then to the coast for boogie-boarding on the waves with leah.  what a lovely state!  amazing that we could be up in the mountains one day and swimming in the ocean the next.  it felt so good to be back with these old friends as if no time had elapsed in all those years in between.

the eight hour train back to  philly to see claudia at her comfortable suburban home where the trees and yars have grown so beautifully over the past two decades.  we feel such a sense of home and grounding at claudia and louis'.  the boys have been there over the years for thanksgiving and passover with claudia welcoming their friends there with them.  and my college stuff is still stored in her basement after all these years.

plus my dear friend, chief broken two arms, jeff lansdale and his beautiful honduran-american family were there for his sister christine's daughter's wedding.  claudia drove us over to their hotel where we spent the afternoon catching up, then joined the amazing lansdale family, including tad, the matriarch, jeff's brothers, his wonderful warm and kind daughters, valerie and aimee, at haverford for an evening festivity celebrating both the wedding and their family reunion.

then, with mom and louis, shakun, ezra, leah and i drove up to marcia yawitz' home in the poconos for the afternoon rose family reunion where 30+ family members, all descendants of morris rose (nee moses libschitz along the russian/lithuanian border), my great grandfather, six generations of family, met to share stories, life and the special cocoon of family ties.  it was a precious afternoon with cousins with whom we have become much closer over the past five years.  cousins we hardly knew a decade or more ago, the children of mom's first cousins, the grandchildren of sam rose, brother of my grandfather, ben-henry rose.  ties so deep and revealing that we often overlook in our daily lives.  

basking in that family joy, we continued upward toward the amazing boylan sisters.  spending the night in the beekman arms, rhinebeck after a 1:30 am evening w/ boona, my smith friend alma's brother, who recorded as terrence boylan decades ago.  the best live performances of dylan, joni, irish traditionals and his own exquisite songs ('sundown of fools') heard, probably ever.  just ten of us or so sitting in his 18th c. carriage house home on river road after margaritas, dinner, margaritas, dessert, tap beer, a doobie and a serious swig of scotch...  how lovely is america on such days...

i'm back w/ Smith/Amherst friends, some i haven't seen since the week before Scott & I left the US in in 1978.  Alma is the CEO of a global building materials company, her husband, Jennings, a wood-worker from Maine, while her sister, Molly, has been a writer for Seasame Street and Christian, her husband & Jennings' brother (yes, 2 sisters and 2 brothers...  very Thakali...) was a painter and has morphed into an interior designer/architectural consultant/carpenter.  

Molly & Christian had a place on Park Slope they gave up a couple years ago and put all their good energy into the home we were at last night here in the woods an hour north of Rhinebeck.  Great mixed broadleaf forest.  Stars at night Beautiful.  The house they bought then redecorated inside is so aesthetic, artistic w/ prominent wood features and metal cabinets put together from debris from buildings torn down in NYC.  Plus, a tree house perch looking out across a magnificent, wooded opening out across a visual, expansive gap looking west toward the 'new' world of early America...

We're in a rented house somewhere nearby.  A nighttime drive after a stoney evening w/ the white wine pouring generously among about 14 of us (Shakun, Ez, Leah & moi, Scott, his daughter, Malika, and her northern Irish photographer-boyfriend, Felix++).   So joyful and joyous to catch up after the decades with our kids and theirs around.  Their daughter, Callie, finishing her PhD in Iowa and going back to teach a fiction and film course.  She & I, of course, had a long rap on films and how to teach those Iowa pre-business students.  As Scott said, 'That's what Keith would love to be doing...'  

Plus Ez and Malika who grew up around each other, now in their 20s and full of life, intelligence, opinions and beauty.  The joys we know of seeing our children grow into young people, separate from us, independent yet so dependent still emotionally -- as we are of them...

So, that's us.  For today.  We're going to Edith Wharton's country estate for a day walk, then back for more front porch stories, memories, dreams and affection at Molly & Christian's...

then back to DC to see Joshu again for a few days as he moves from his collegiate world to the brave new world of entrepreneurship and the future ahead.  after which shakun & i head back by etihad to kathmandu while ezi and leah board an overnight amtrak from union station to west palm.

America Ayo!!!

Bali Updates

Subject: Bali #5

Last night I watched the last half of Martin Scorsese's "The Last Waltz" rock n roll film on the tube.  It took me awhile to figure out what the movie was, but then it hit me: the Band's farewell concerts at the Cow Palace in 1978!  What a magnificent ensemble of interviews, thoughts of living on the road, our greatest musicians of the 1970s and the finale of them all on stage with Dylan singing, "I Shall Be Released".  

(I remember telling Scott a long time ago that I want to be listening to that song when it's my time, as well, to bid 'adieu' to this world...)

I'd seen that brilliant documentary film the first time while hitchhiking across France to meet Dave in Istanbul in the spring of 1979 after going home for Bruce's wedding.  I'd gone into Nice to see it, then hitchhiked back out on to the highway and a night's sleep alone out in a wheat field.  The next morning I got up and continued my travels down Italy to Brindisi for the ferry to Greece, Kos, then up to Stamboul where Dave and I took a ferry along the Black Sea to Trabizon and on across Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India to Kathmandu.  

So much of what I look back upon these last days of 2012 have to do with that never-ended journey with my life's dearest friends across from the Mediterranean to the Himalaya.  With that "Last Waltz", in certain ways, I, too, bid my own fare-thee-well to my American roots and beautiful life to create something new on the other side of the world.  A dream of a life unknown, yet to be explored and rich in anticipation.

That leaves me today, 34 years later, on the beach in Bali with my beloved Mother, wife and daughter.  The three Devis of my adult life...  A man and the three women who are the home he builds...  While our sons, Joshua and Ezra, are off in their young adult worlds with their friends and guides ready to find themselves and their future quests without all the parental guidance and support that a child requires...

Much to reflect upon in those sentences, as well...

So today, with less than 48 hours left in 2012, is a rest day for such reflection, reading ("The Master and Margarita") and a bit of swimming.  Soon, we'll take Leah where she can do a short dive with a new type of spaceman ("Biff"??) helmet under the water.   She seems excited to go under the sea and live with the fishes!

Although, in truth, she wants to race back up to the Botanical Garden where they have a jungle zip line and various acrobatic activities up in the trees.  It looks a bit like high anxiety when watching some of the other adults yesterday, but kids are fearless, even our little daughter.  So we may save that for when we move to Ubud on the 1st for three days, as its closer there, if we get back again.   

Also, Mom's feeling much better!  She looks great in her newfound grey hair as the heat is too much for more luxuriant hairstyles or accompaniments...   

Happy New Year to all!  

Subject: Bali #4

I'm sitting in the morning sun on our small terrace here at La Taverna already starting to sweat by 9 am.  Time to go do my laps in the pool soon after checking the football scores, FB and the world's latest crimes and misdemeanors...

Yesterday, we took another day trip w/ our driver, Dharma, up to the highlands of Bali, this time.  Drove about 2 hours to the extinct volcanoes where there are three lovely lakes past miles of rice fields and the constant image of Balinese brick, stone and thatch pagoda temples along the way.  

These local, household and village temple complexes are the defining attribute of this luscious landscape.  Almost every day we see local communities heading to their shrines for puja and prayers, dressed in their handsome black and white checkered lungis and knotted head-dresses.  

At one such temple-school complex, we stopped for a bowl of noodle soup in one town, then at a coffee plantation to taste the local brew and try a new type of fruit with a snake-like skin that tasted like a harder, fleshier rambutan or mangosteen.  It's so wonderful to be among those tropical fruit of southeast Asia.

There was fog and some drizzle up on the mountain where we stopped to take pictures of the lush landscape and lovely lakes below.  Leah touched the large fruit bats that were on display on the roadside, before we turned around to go to a famous (and crowded...) temple island on the larger of the lakes.  It was Saturday so there were hundreds of Indonesian tourists there taking family photos with most of them in clusters of 10-14 family members.  Reminds one of the beauty of our basic human unit...

Then, the Bali Botanical Garden where we wandered among the orchids and bamboo, collecting specimens for our own garden along the way.  How much we love these botanical gardens around the world.  Nature protected, preserved and respected!  There is much on Bali that seems to have been respected by the culture around them.  Some type of graciousness and beauty that mirrors the island itself.

For dinner, we strolled on the main Sanur street and found a delicious Italian restaurant nearby for dinner of snapper, swordfish and pizza where we may have our New Year's dinner, too.

Subject: Bali Update #3

Hi, all!  Claudia was asking for the latest news on Mom, but, fortunately, there isn't any...  except, of course, that she's not wearing a wig today, so I feel younger and among a more age appropriate group...

Yesterday we were supposed to move to Ubud, the cultural capital of Bali up in the hills, closer to the magnificent volcano mountains that are in the center north of the island.  We did actually drive up there w/ our luggage intending to stay.  Mom was booked at what turned out to be a very cute, lovely, aesthetic hotel and we were going to be in our friend Emil's home not too far away (but, as we discovered, not too close, either).  However, little did I realize that Mom is no longer really able to manage stairs or steps very well.  She was not comfortable with the steps at the lodge, much less the very ridge-ridden hills of Ubud...

So, we went and looked at 3-4 other hotels, including the magnificent Amandari, but decided in the end to return to La Taverna on Sanur beach, which is lovely, open and without stairs.  It's a bit beachcomber-type for Mom, and definitely a bit humid in the tropics, but she preferred it to the up and down of Ubud.  Fair enough!  My body aches at times, I can't really imagine the wear and tear of being in one's 80s, not to mention, we all know that Dad's fall was precipitous for him.  Better safe, as they say!

Thus, back to Sanur!  We will do day trips from here, like we did up to Ubud yesterday (only an hour from here).  I've arranged a car for tomorrow to take us up country to some artisan villages -- Bali is nothing if not an artistic, creative universe, ergo it's beauty...   We'll go to some of the famous Hindu temples (very much modeled on south Indian style from 1200 years ago), a stone carving village and maybe a famous water tank/park.  Let's see.

Oh, and we found a lovely restaurant at a nearby hotel (Serei Tanjang) that made it almost worthwhile to return yesterday evening.  Lovely setting on the beach w/ even better food.  Seared tuna, avocado salad, pasta and coconut creme brulee to die for...  We may be there tonight if you're nearby.

All is ok in this tropical world, hot, rainy at times (quick intense storms), the sea, the sky and water, plenty of water... 

Subject: Bali Update #2

There are way to many fireoworks going off in the background for my taste... sounds like Tet in Hue in 1967... but we're out the door in a minute to get Mom who is watching "Salt" on the TV on her front porch here at La Taverna, Sanur Beach, Bali. She arrived on time from HK mid afternoon, where I met her w/ Dharma, the local taxi driver. But with a serious cough, so we stopped at the pharmacy to pick up some decongestant and water. 

After settling in her ground floor suite here a 100 m from the beach, she took a well-deserved nap with the AC on. A far cry from the weather she's had the previous ten days in northern China. Here we're near the equator and the lush, tropical air will be perfect for her clogged lungs. 

I doubt she's up for a bicycle ride (Shakun, Leah and I just came back from 1.5 hours heading in land on the back roads to find a bamboo nursery) or a swim in the ocean tomorrow w/ Leah, but she can relax, have a massage and enjoy our five course Xmas Italian dinner here at La Taverna with us. It's a good way, methinks, to celebrate her 52nd wedding anniversary!

Still, I just wanted to let you know that Mom is safe n sound and we are out to the sandy terrace under the tropical trees looking out to the sea for pizza or pasta or a well-deserved drink. 

I like the idea of a drink... 

Subject: Grammy Does Bali: Day #2

Hey, Everyone!  Mom woke up feeling better this morning.  She had a coughing fit in the night, but besides that seems to have slept well and is more agile today.  She's out having a second long black Illy coffee on the terrace with her bagel and lox breakfast.  (Leah had the same...)  We'll take it slow today and then have our Xmas eve dinner here at the hotel tonight.  Tomorrow we go up to Ubud for ten days of Balinese culture, landscape and a few day trips around the island.  Hopefully Mom will feel better just resting, relaxing, breathing the warm, salt air and not traveling too much this week.  Just wanted to keep you informed...  

Subject: Grammy Arrives:  Day #1

Mom arrived two days after our arrival and Ezra's departure.  Mom's really worn down after her ten day trip traveling around China in the dead of winter with snow, rain and really cold weather.  She took a nap this afternoon, but was still pretty exhausted in the evening.  She said, 'everything aches' and has a real deep cough.  Hopefully a good night's sleep will do her well.  We'll see how she feels tomorrow, but it's been a hard trip for her, it seems.  

She took Ezra's deportation in her inimitable, practical way.  "Well, of course, you need six month validity in your passport -- all countries require that!"  She felt bad, of course, as she was so looking forward to seeing him here with us.  When asked what she would have done at Immigration, she was, again, all simplicity and directness.  "I would have paid -- and be done with it!"  She's right...

Bali should be a good rest without all the travel and plane flights and winter weather experienced in China.  She'll feel better after she's been able to sleep and not think about more travel.  

We have a Xmas eve dinner tomorrow here at the lovely boutique Italian resort, La Taverna, where we're staying on the beach at Sanur.  Should be fun and good food!  

Subject: Ezra Doesn't Do Bali Update #1

I've been trying to solve a conundrum wrapped in a corruption treated with respect...  if you can figure out what I mean...

In brief: Ezi was deported at the Bali airport the day we arrived for not having a six month valid passport.  The Immigration Officials wanted $1,000 to permit him to stay, but were willing to negotiate down to $300+.  However, something went wrong w/ the discussion.  Maybe it was me not feeling so thrilled or happy about the whole situation -- so they finally refused him entry and sent him all the way back to Kathmandu.  

We are waiting to hear from Ezra today if he has gotten a new temporary passport there to fly back here tomorrow (en challah!).  Of course, he wasn't certain if he wanted to return after the three days just coming and going.  But my mother is here and he does want to see her, so he may come or stay at home and work on his college applications due in February.  We've left it up to him...  

When I mentioned this to the Tourist Police at the airport yesterday when I went to pick up Mom, they said, 'the Immigration was trying to respect us by helping find a fair price to let your son stay'.  Of course!  But I was too Western, dumb and frustrated to see it in that uniquely Asian (particularly Indonesian, I suppose...) way.   It was all about the $$, bozo!  Forget your tales of morality or doing someone a kindness...  You could have had what you wanted if you had just paid the piper!

If I had, Ezra (for a few hundred dollars...) would be with us on Bali and not have been sent away...  

Live and learn, I guess...  although Ezra has the exhausting return to Kathmandu ahead of him...

What is love?

What is love?
Do we still wonder?
Do we still ask?
Do we still reflect?

What is given and what forsaken?
What held tight and what released?
What freed and what demanded?
When to go and when to stay?

Who are you, and
What is us?