Preparing to go to China 2

Posted on July 30, 2008 by ruthek

My chickens are beginning to come home to roost. I may have sublet my apartment. I don’t want to do it sight unseen (on everyone’s part) so I have agreed to wait until August 12 or 13 to meet the two women who want it. I’ve been getting a lot of response from people who want it immediately–it will be OK with me if immediately is October 1, so I figure I can afford to wait.

I received a packet of information and a bunch of emails from CCS and I’m busy working on my China trip. In addition to forms to fill out, money to send them, info about health insurance and getting my visa, they sent me a reading list. One of the books is filled with dry facts and statistics, one I read before and one I’m really enjoying: China Wakes by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, a very personal look at China. I’ve read a number of books that weren’t on the reading list: two by Peter Hessler, more personal observations of China, Legacies, by Betty Bao Lord, and several books of Chinese art history. Most of the books paint a somewhat grim picture of China, and with all the stuff going on because of the Olympics, I’m beginning to wonder why I’m doing this. Don’t worry, I won’t back out. But it’s certainly giving me a lot to think about.

It looks like I will certainly find out how the Chinese live. CCS has two floors of an apartment building and I’ll be sharing a room with three others. I don’t really mind; the important thing is how far away the toilet is.

I am flying from here to China on a frequent flier ticket, but I still have to figure out how I’ll get from Shanghai to Xian. Buying the ticket online looks very expensive. The guidebooks say you can get tickets easily and inexpensively in China. It makes me a little nervous to wait. I have to see if one of my Chinese friends can help me with this.

Come for a ride

Posted on July 28, 2008 by ruthek

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=55430
MOV07495
Originally uploaded by fat-old-artist

This is a brief ride on the Duquesne incline. I couldn’t figure out how to embed it in the previous post.

Revisiting Pittsburgh sights

Posted on July 28, 2008 by ruthek

I’ve been playing tourguide to a friend from New York, who has been with me for the last few days. We began on Friday with a trip on the busway and got off at Penn Station. I love the building, particularly the rotunda.

We peered through the doors at the beautiful waiting room, then got very lucky. The doorman let us go in and look at the waiting room from the doorway. I was in it once before; I took a special Landmarks and History tour sponsored by my alumni association. Weddings are held there now. Maybe someday I’ll get invited to one.

We walked over to the convention center and walked along the water feature down to the Allegheny.

At noon we joined a Landmarks and History tour of the cultural district along Penn and Liberty Avenues. Hot, tired, we took the “T” across the Mon and went to lunch at Grand Concourse. I love the room, the lunch was good, the service was almost unbearably slow. We were there two hours. It’s no wonder they are almost always empty.

Back across the Mon we walked over to the Allegheny County Court House, a marvelous building by H. H. Richardson. My friend was impressed with Pittsburgh and I love visiting all those places. We were wiped out by the time we got back to the apartment.

After a short rest we went to a program presented by the kids in Charna’s Governor’s School. Those kids a really something, very impressive.

While I was at the keratoconus meeting, Phyllis went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and looked at the gems and minerals, a wonderful display, and fossils. Then we went to the Duquesne incline, took lots of photos and rode down and back up again.

This is the incline car just beginning to emerge.

Finding my way down Mt. Washington without getting lost made me feel really good, and we easily found our way over to PPG Place. The kids were having a great time in the water around the Egyptian obelisk.

A few of the reflections were good; mostly the light wasn’t very good.

Sunday was Frick Park day. We went on a tour of Clayton, ate a wonderful lunch in the cafe (desserts are fabulous), looked at the exhibit of 19th C. Pittsburgh prints and finally looked at the park but were too tired to really walk it.

Today we drove to Fallingwater. I’ve been there four or five times already, but I still enjoy it.

Keratoconus

Posted on July 26, 2008 by ruthek

That’s the name of the condition I have in my eyes. If you don’t want to read all about it here, and I don’t blame you, just know that the word means cone-shaped cornea. You can see the world as I see it at this website. It also means that even with contact lenses, the remedy of choice, and glasses, my vision often leaves a lot to be desired. I usually see multiple edges on things, sometimes multiple things, particularly high contrast things; the contact lenses often bother me since I usually keep them in for too many hours; and sometimes using the computer gets difficult. I often keep the TV on so I look away from the computer occasionally and focus at a longer distance. In spite of all this I am grateful I can see relatively well, most of the time. I can drive, I tolerate the contacts well and I don’t have too many problems.

Keratoconus tends to be progressive and often leads to corneal transplants. When I was first diagnosed, more than 25 years ago, I did not know how bad it would get. My mother also had this condition and had transplants in both eyes, not with great success. She came close to being blind. Fortunately my condition is fairly stable and I doubt I will ever need transplants. More than any other sense I take pleasure in what I see. I travel to see beauty, to see art. The thought of losing my sight was horrifying. Before my condition stabilized and I was finally comfortable with lenses I spent many days and hours worrying.

This morning I went to an information meeting for keratoconus patients.They showed little videos of transplant surgery. They talked about some of the most common problems and some of the possible treatments being studied. I found it interesting and a little scary. But, more than anything I realized how important it was to be informed and to be “smart” about your own body. Medicine today presents us with so many options and requires that we make our own decisions.For the moment, I am grateful everything remains the same.

Cactus in Pittsburgh

Posted on July 24, 2008 by ruthek

Steve inherited this cactus from his father. He’s been tending it carefully for years, lovingly packing it when he moved it from New Jersey. It winters inside, summers outside, and gets watered when it rains in Arizona. About five or six years ago the cactus, amazingly, started to flower–one or two for one night, each. This year the cactus was so happy it grew six potential blossoms.

I took some of these pictures on Friday then waited for something to happen. There was a storm on Sunday and two of the blossoms broke off. Or maybe the plant couldn’t sustain all six of them. Tuesday night, always at night, the first blossom opened. Last night the others opened.

You can still see the first on at the back. It takes a day or two before it disappears.

Preparing to go to China

Posted on July 21, 2008 by ruthek

I am now 275 tax deductible dollars committed to going to China. I got my frequent flier ticket a couple of months ago. If necessary, I can make changes in travel dates, which may have to happen. At the same time I reserved a hotel room in Kyoto, again not much of a commitment. I’ve been reading about China and today I decided I have to do it: I made application and sent a deposit to Cross Cultural Solutions, the group I will volunteer with. I feel like I’m doing it while all around me crumbles–the country, my retirement funds, etc.–but that’s probably all the more reason to have a goal and stick with it. I guess I can go back to work when I finish my year of traveling.

I still haven’t found anyone to sublet my apartment. I will post it again on Craig’s list and also on a UPitt housing site Carol found for me. She’s a great researcher. If I don’t manage to sublet it, I’ll just leave it locked up; much easier, but I could use the money.

I haven’t decided what to do about mail. Most of it is instantly recyclable, but there are always a few critical things like the gas and electric bills. I may have to cave in and go on the budget plan so I can pay them automatically.

I bought a walking stick and am practicing stepping down from a step stool. Even just going down one step I still want something solid in my other hand. The walking stick is not as assuring for me as being able to hold on to someone else’s arm. I know, I’m phobic.

Friday evening

Posted on July 19, 2008 by ruthek

Most Friday nights I go to Robin for Shabat dinner. It’s a lovely way to end the week with blessings over the wine and bread (challah that Robin makes), blessings for the children when they are present, a lovely dinner and a chance to catch up on the doings of the week. Robin and Steve went out of town for the weekend so I was on my own last night. I joined some new friends and went to services at Rodef Shalom, one of the oldest Jewish Reform Temples in the country.

I was raised as a Conservative Jew, although that, along with many other conservative things, didn’t take. In spite of the fact I seldom go to services it seemed strange to me to have someone playing a piano. No instruments, except the human voice, are used in Conservative congregations. And, although the words were the same, many of the melodies seemed more like show tunes, Andrew LLoyd Weber, than the chants or middle eastern melodies I grew up with.

After the service I went to dinner with my friends, to Yokoso! aJapanese steak house. This not very Japanese. The food was OK. The performance by the cook was entertaining. The conversation was good. All in all, a different kind of Friday evening.

Answer for Alice

Posted on July 15, 2008 by ruthek

I don’t know about spunk, Alice. I just want to do something different with my life, and this seemed like a good solution. In the past when I traveled I was told I was very gutsy (crazy?). I was never sure whether it was because I traveled alone, or because I left my husband home alone.

Yes, I will keep the same travel blog. I’ve already begun writing in it, but mostly it will be sparse until October. My plan, for now, is to spend about a month in China, depending on the inclination of the Chinese to give more than a 30 day visa. Then two months in Japan, trying to see everything I missed last year. I plan to return to Pittsburgh in early January.

There is a possibility I could then spend a month or two in Chicago, or I might buy a 30-day Amtrak pass and train around the country. I’m not going to do anything about planning for January and beyond until I see how long my apartment remains in someone else’s possession. I would really like to continue traveling until next summer. Then I will think about getting a cat and settling down. Probably my money will run out at that point and I will have to look for a job. That’s a terrifying thought–not working–looking.

I’ve had about 10 responses to my sublet ad, but no one reads. They all want the apartment now. I’m not ready to give it up for at least another month and I could actually wait until October 1. Several people wanted it for only two months, I said minimum four. I’ll try rewriting the ad to make it clearer, but I won’t post it again until the end of July.

Busy week

Posted on July 12, 2008 by ruthek

Finally listed my apartment for sublet on Craig’s List. I spent all week getting it ready: making each room tidy so I could photograph it. Of course, this meant moving stuff from one room to another to get it out of the way. Now I have to make it all neat so my prospects can come and see it.

This is going to require a huge feat of organizing. Everything I will need or want in the next six months has to go to my daughter or to my storage room in the basement. It will be an interesting challenge to see how sparsely I can live for the better part of the next year while I travel.

When I wasn’t working on the apartment I was exercising–still working on those leg exercises in addition to walking and going to the health club. I went back to the mobility clinic. They think I’ve done well in strengthening my hip and butt muscles but still need work on my knees. When I go down stairs I lose control of the last two or three inches of my descent. I am sure they are correct and this is why I had problems in Japan.

On Wednesday night we went to a concert by Mike Seeger. My family always listened to folk music or classical music: no rock and roll. Chicago has a great folk music scene, thanks to the Old Town School of Folk Music. Even the Beatles didn’t make much impression on us until one of my
husband’s cousins, an Oscar-winning musician, told us the Beatles made
wonderful music. Then we listened and loved them. Going to the Mike Seeger concert was pretty nostalgic. He’s 75, in great shape and gave a great concert.Today we are going to Rootz: the Green City Music Festival. I plan to go early but don’t know how long I’ll stay–too hot today.

Random thoughts

Posted on July 5, 2008 by ruthek

A Prairie Home Companion is coming from Ravinia this week. Sitting here listening I’m feeling very nostalgic. I’ve spent many summer evenings there, although I never considered it a great place to hear music. But some of the concerts were good and I saw Stravinsky conduct the Chicago Symphony.

I’m sure my cousins are sitting there in the audience. Maxine lives near the park and is always urging everyone to come and picnic on the lawn. Garrison Keeler wished Paul of Chicago happy 94th birthday. That’s probably my cousin, also. I was supposed to go to a party for him, but had to cancel my trip because of my detour to the hospital.

I think about Chicago often. Even now, after eleven years away, it’s still a big part of me. I plan to visit in September, make up for the trip I missed. Sometimes I think about moving back. But it’s probably true, you can’t go home again. My cousins are very good to me and I still have several good friends there. But I’ve decided it’s better coming back and visiting. After all, then I’m a celebrity. And I would miss my family terribly.

Charna is going to the Governor’s school for international studies this summer. She’s been there for two weeks; this weekend is her only opportunity to come home, then back for another three weeks. I think she’s enjoying it very much. She was very happy.

I’m still concentrating on all my exercises. I went back to the mobility clinic on Thursday and they suggested a few more exercises for mastering those steps. They also told me the beta blocker I’m taking is what is probably making me more tired than before. They think I’ll get used to it. I did manage my three miles yesterday and didn’t collapse afterward, so I guess I’m doing better.

100 Books Before I Die

Ruthe Karlin

Author Archives: ruthek