The best thing about arriving here, and even more so, once i get to Dharamsala, is that, after what feels like a month+ of constant packing, sorting, and traveling, I can finally rest.
After spending weeks packing & sorting & storing my stuff in Richmond, I finally got out on the road.
Olorin MIA:
First stop was in San Ardo, CA to drop Olorin, my cat, off with my friend/classmate Veronica. As we arrived, I commented that it was a perfect place for a kitty such as himself. Family home with children, two other cats, a couple dogs, big yard, and open farm land right across the street. Veronica graciously offered to make up a temp litter box for the night, but since I'd never had an issue with letting Olorin out right away, when we move, and since i was staying the night, I told her it was ok. A little later, I let him out, since he had been in a cat carrier in the cat for like 5 hours. As usual, i went with him to walk around, I showed him the front yard, where the dogs were not. Nothing unusual.
Then he headed across the street to the farm land. I followed him as far as the fence, but couldn't beyond that, and told him so. He was playing around, looked like he was getting on the trail of something to hunt. I figured he'd come back pretty soon, or at least by morning, as he always has the last nearly 7 years he's been my familiar. And if he didn't, i wasn't too concerned, because i had just got him a new name tag with Veronica's phone number on it and i've also never had to deal with him removing his collars or losing them.
Apparently, I was mistaken. He didn't come back by morning. I delayed my departure, having a long (10+ hr) drive to Flagstaff, AZ, ahead of me, and took an extensive walk around the neighborhood with Veronica to look for him. No luck. morning started to turn toward day, and i just couldn't delay any longer. I wasn't really too concerned for his safety. He's smart enough and afraid of cars enough, that I wasn't worried about him getting run over. And he's friendly & communicative enough with people that i figured, when he got hungry, he would make his way back, or at least make friends with some new people, who would call Veronica's number from his collar.
Its now been almost 3 weeks, I'm now in Delhi, and he hasn't yet returned. I feel really bad that Veronica and her mother got mixed up in this, and i especially feel bad that my closest compadre of the last 7 years seems to now be gone. On some gut level, i'm still not really worried about his well being, not because i don't love him like my own child, but because he is very smart and friendly and communicative and cautious. And somehow, i don't feel like he is gone forever, but i supposed only time will tell. Maybe he lost the collar and has found a new home. Maybe he is on his own Jedi-kitty adventure and he'll miraculously make his way back to the Bay Area over the next 6 months - there have been a few similar stories in the papers lately. One dog made its way from Arizona to New York over a period of years.
Wherever he is, I hope he is well. He knew something was up, we were moving and I was leaving for a while. Last time i went to India, for 2 months, it was 3-4 months after i returned that he was willing to sleep in my bed again. I can only hope he is ok. I'm very thankful for the effort and concern Veronica and her family put into trying to find him after I left and i'm sorry they got mixed up in the universe's apparent plan for us to go our separate ways.
On to Texas, via Flagstaff & Albuquerque:
Labor day was a long drive from San Ardo to Flagstaff. I was thankful to get to see and stay by my friend from Gershon & Miriam's Jewish Shamanic Healing class, the aptly named after my ancestor, Aharon Cohen. I only wish we had more time to visit, but is was good to see him and sleep in a bed in a house. Hopefully on the way back from Texas to Cali, I can see him more.
From Flagstaff, I drove north, through the Grand Canyon, my first time. I only really had time to stop a few times, do some Taiji near the edge, take some short panoramic videos, and continue on. The entrance fee is good for 7 days, so that's another thing i'd like to spend more time with on my way home next spring.
I was going to take my time from there to Texas, but as I went, I started to get antsy to see my family. I made my way through Dene (Navajo) lands in the Painted Desert and back down to Flagstaff before continuing east on I-40 towards New Mexico. I have to say these lands were so so beautiful, but the emotional Qi is very very sad. The places I passed where the people lived were poor and whenever i stopped for gas or food or to look at crafts for sale, it just all seemed very depressing. It infuriates me, especially being part native myself, that as a country, founded on near genocide of this continent's indigenous people, the breaking of every single treaty made with the tribes, and their continued oppression, that we go around the policing the world pretending like we are the awesome saviors of the downtrodden. We have no right to say anything to anyone else in the entire world until we do something about those who are living in 3rd world conditions in our own borders. But how many Americans spend even 1 second per year even thinking about it? Not many.
Ok. Back off the soapbox.
About an hour east from Flagstaff, I stopped to check out Meteor Crater. It was pretty cool, itself, but kinda sucks that such a landmark of geological history is privately owned, completely fenced off and to even see it at all, you have to pay a $15 entrance fee, which basically let's you walk up these stairs to this viewing area with some pre-set telescopes looking at some stuff in the crater. Don't get me wrong, it was cool, but i was kinda hoping I'd actually get to tromp around a little in, or at least, around the crater itself. I did, however, find the perfect wedding gift for my sister in their gift shop.
I got them a matching set of white stone goblets in a felt box, to which i was able to write a pretty symbolic metaphorical explanation for why it was the prefect gift.
White representing the purity of their love. The white being off white, symbolizing they, like everyone else, not being perfect. The ancient age of the stone representing the potential longevity of their relationship, yet the potential of it breaking if handled unmindfully, i.e. the importance of mutual patience, compassion, and good humor in helping a relationship last.
From there, I continued on to Albuquerque, found a hotel, and passed the ___ out.
The next morning, I stopped by Whole Foods for some healthy provisions and started south on the Interstate towards El Paso. Not to far out of Albuquerque, I got this strong gut feeling that i really didn't want to go through El Paso, to I turned off and took isolated state highways all the way through southeastern New Mexico and the first part of west Texas, where i caught I-10 in Fort Stockton, with its wonderful 80mph speed limit. From there, it was just a few hours to Kerrville, deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country.
That gave me a day to get settled in, practice for my part of the wedding, welcome other family into town, and eat some burgers at the rehearsal BBQ.
The next day was sister Julianne's wedding day. I spent the better part of the day polishing my ability to chant Sheva Brachot, the seven traditional Hebrew blessings for weddings. This also put some extra pressure on me to want to do it well. I practiced a bit with some audio I found online of traditional Sephardic & Ashkenazi pronunciations & melodies for Sheva Brachot, but wasn't quite feeling it. Luckily, one of my teachers, Sara Shendelman, whose voice and melodies i always thinking of first when i'm chanting most Hebrew prayers, remembered to call and leave me a voicemail of her singing them. I alway resonate easily with her melodies, so this made it much easier to get it.
The overall wedding service itself was officiated by the same minister that married my dad & step-mother, Ellen, (when i was 10) and my sister Bella & her husband, Sean, last summer. At the end, my father and I came up to the Chupah. I explained the meaning of the Chupah, that Chupah begins with the letter Chet (ח) which has the numerical value of 8. 7 representing the completion of a cycle, whereas 8 represents the transcendence to the next level. In this case, its another way of saying that they enter the Chupah as two separate souls, but leave as one unified. I draped my tallis around Julianne & Leo, and began to chant the Sheva Brachot. I think i could have done better and i was nervous, but I don't think anyone else there knew enough Hebrew to know any different and many thanked me after. After i got through each one, my father read the English translation. He poured some wine into a glass for them to drink and as he prepared it for the stomping, i explained the purpose of stomping on the glass. R Yitzok Luria taught that when the world was first being created, it was through 10 spheres meant to channel the pure divine light into the world, but since they were not connected to one another, they were overwhelmed and shattered. Version 2.0, had 10 connected spheres (Sephirot) which were able to handle the voltage of the divine light and help channel it into the material world of action we live in. From this he derived his teachings on Tikkun Olam, to repair the world, which though many might not realize it, has a lot to do with why many social reform movements involve a disproportionate number Jew-ish people, as the need to leave the world more whole than we found it is an important part of Jewish culture, whether one is religious or not. (Though there are certainly plenty examples to the contrary, but we can't blame Luria for people acting out of fear). Thus, the stomping on the glass represents the newly married couples commitment to each other and to working together to bring more wholeness to the work.
After were the obligatory wedding pictures, including the first ever picture with me and all 6 of my younger siblings. The reception was fun too. Lots of family who hadn't seen each other in many many years enjoying dancing and general marry making. At one point, i turned around to see my mom and aunt Elaine, shaking their booties off in a corner until Ellen came to pull them back to shake it with everyone else on the dance floor. My cousin Amber's son, little Myron, was showing off his Michael Jackson-like moves and his impressive "the worm", which i then turned back to see my youngest sibling, 19yo Clint, also doing his rendition, which was fun to see, even if it was a little less graceful and lead to the inevitable lesson that too many strong margaritas and "the worm" don't mix very well.
After another day or two of spending time with family, everyone from out of town was gone, and i spent the next week continuing my seemingly never-ending process of sorting and sifting through my stuff to try and consolidate down to an amount of stuff that actually made sense to schlepp halfway across the world.
Come friday night, I finally got it paired down enough that i could head to Austin, where i was to babysit my nearly 7 year old nephew, Austin for the weekend, while Julianne & Leo finished up their honeymoon cruise. Its always fun to spend time with Austin. Julianne said i didn't have to give his ADHD meds, which i didn't, and i didn't have too much of a problem with him. I gave him some herbs instead, to help calm him down, a little Sheng Mai San, and a little Er Chen Tang, instead of his other allergy meds. He is a handful, but mostly i think people have a hard time being patient with him. But he's a lot like me, with a great mind which can seem everywhere at once, so I think i can relate to him a little easier. I also put little magnet stickers on both his ear Shen Mens, which stayed on for at least a week and i think helped some.
I taught him to sit and breath, simple meditation technique. I told him it was the beginning of his Jedi training, if he practiced it, and that if he did practice it, he would be able to control his own mind and impulses and wouldn't get yelled at so much by frustrated adults. I also told him my going to India was a Jedi mission, which isn't exactly untrue. He went to school and told his friends that his Uncle was a Jedi. He kept asking to see my lightsaber, to which i told him maybe one day, when he was ready. I also told him that my teishin probe was one, but for healing, and let him play with it a little.
Soon, Julianne & Leo had returned, and i ran a lot of last minute errands and stayed up late continuing to pack & sort & sift through my stuff, finally finishing after being up all night, just before Julianne got up to take me to the airport.
Layover back home:
So, an early morning flight to SFO, gave me a little sleep, but not enough. I had 12 hours in the Bay area, and though i was wiped out, i had some important people to see. My best friend, Steve, who has been teaching English in South Korea the last two years and had only visited once, was in the Bay visiting his dad & sister, on his way road-tripping towards Texas with his girlfriend, Dalyse. It was great to see him and spend a little time back in the East Bay. Later in the afternoon, we met up with my friend Sara, with whom I've lived in two co-ops and have now been close friends with for 10+ years. We shared some tea and chilled for a bit in Delores Park before we had to go so Steve could drop me off with the increasingly pregnant Galina, who graciously showed me her and Dimitri's new apartment, and took me to eat some bomb-ass middle eastern food (mmm... schwarma), which gave me some leftovers for the flight.
On to Hong Kong:
After getting some sleep on the flight, and watching a few movies, I had a nice 4 or 5 hours layover in Hong Kong. I didn't need a VISA to go into the city, though would if i wanted to go to the mainland, and they have a convenient airport express train that takes you into the city in < 30min. After getting lost trying to get out of this circle of high rise apartment buildings on top of the mall with the Kowloon train station, i finally figured out how to get down to street level, and made my way to the Avenue of the Stars, though not quite quick enough to check out the free Taiji class offered in English from 8-9am. I took the ferry across to Hong Kong proper. I was trying to find this herbal medicine street i had read about, but it didn't turn out to be quite the big herb market i was hoping for, more like a street of ginseng & herb stores, not unlike those in every Chinatown i've been to. One had these boxed full of cordyceps, with the actual caterpillars, which i had never seen in person, for sale. I was so excited, i leaned in to get a closer look and THAP, apparently didn't notice the window between it and my forehead, which gave the lady inside, as well as myself, a good chuckle. After giving up finding friend rice for breakfast, I did have a weird British-influenced breakfast of eggs and fried breaded fish, then on my way out noticed the place across the street had an extensive variety of fried rice. oh well. I found a little tea shop with a couple friendly ladies and a kitty. They helped me pick out a cake of some delicious (i'm drinking it as i write this) Pu-er tea, which was within my budget, and a littl ceramic pot and two tiny cups. Pu-er is a fermented tea from Yunnan province of China. It can be made from black or green tea, has less caffeine than regular black tea, but is really good for digestion, which i figured would be helpful in India. It also tastes really good and can be re-steeped up to 10 times, and tastes better and better with each re-steep. I asked if they could help me find Bai Cao Yuan, a Garden of a Hundred Herbs, which was supposed to be close by and have hundreds of species of living Chinese herbs. They didn't know what i was talking about, but tried to look it up and directed me to what turned out not to be it, but was a nice city park in Hong Kong, with a Tai Chi garden, i utilized for a bit, before heading back toward the airport. I finally got my fried rice fix in the airport before boarding my next flight. Back on the plane, slight delay in Bangkok, while we waited for a big thunderstorm to pass, but not too long, and we stayed on a relatively empty plane, before they let the new passengers on. From there it was on to another nap, a second watching of X-men: First Class and Delhi. I got a whole row of 5 seats to myself, which made it nice for actually laying down. I would totally recommend Cathay Pacific airlines. The service was good, as was the food. I ordered Hindu non-veg meals, since i figured it was more likely to give me rice than wheat, which i've been having trouble with, and since i wanted meat, but not beef or pork. One last note, for those of you acupuncturally inclined, i read or heard somewhere about treating jet lag by stimulating the Yuan-Source points of each channel, as its daily body clock high tide comes. I think it works. I put little magnets on my Yuan-Source points as the hours went by, using the time in Delhi to determine when i used which ones. Some of them fell off in Hong Kong, and i got really tired. I then went ahead and put them on all my Yuan-Source points for the remainder of the trip, gold-plated on Yin channel points for a little boost and regular ones on the Yang channel points to just keep things moving. I have to say that though i do get tired at some odd times, i think it would be much much worse otherwise. I'm also waking with the sun, which isn't usual for me, and doing Taiji on, my friend, Laurige's roof deck for a while before it gets too hot. Perhaps i've just been living in the wrong timezone. So, that's the long rambling version of my trip towards India. Now that i'm here, I'll try to make future posts a bit more concise. P.S. Laurige took me to a huge mall in Delhi yesterday. I think really there's just one mall in the world, because they are all the same. l'shalom v'chesed, (towards inner peacefulness and universal loving kindness) Jason Bitkower, L.Ac. Licensed Acupuncturist (CA, USA) Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine
