JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi (19 page)

I looked around. It was nothing like the lodge below. In fact, if it were not for the small merchant stall selling coke and the ever-present Snickers and beer, I would have called it a family farm perched on a very steep mountainside. Still there was a place to sit and a place to buy beer, and later when Bim had finished his negotiations with the family, a place to roll out my sleeping bag. It was in the yak stall, on two bales of hay, but at least they had tethered the yaks a way down the mountain for the night. The three young guys had the other side of the manger and the ladies had somewhat better quarters in a storage shed across the trail. It was not what any of them had imagined or foreseen for themselves when we left Kathmandu, but I knew it would probably be the worst lodging we would see.

A death in the family meant that every available inch of space in the main lodge held mourning family members and I cautioned everyone not to get too boisterous when the beer hit the bloodstream. We were fortunate that the family allowed us to stay at all and I mentioned to Bim to make a small gesture of thanks when he settled the bill and he nodded emphatically and thanked me. I fell asleep encouraged and the others fell asleep a bit shocked and uncertain. All in all it had been a tough day. Still, I was pleased, although I missed not being able to take a hot shower. But I knew that I would miss that before I ever stepped onto the trail.

Chapter 13

The Long Road

Bim woke me as usual with a bowl of hot water and a cup of tea. I bathed as well as I could and dug out my clean clothing. I hurt in every conceivable part of my body and was actually a little in shock at my discomfort level. Still I managed to get my gear stowed in my duffle and have it placed outside the stable wall before anyone else had managed to find daylight.

I like coffee and had stipulated that we would have coffee in lieu of tea on the trip and Mr. Pasang had been most compliant. That I could not get Bim or whoever to bring anything but tea at first light was acceptable as long as I had coffee when I sat down to breakfast. Bim was waiting at the table in the courtyard and he had a pot of coffee ready for me.

When Curtis showed up I asked him what had happened to Esra, last night.

“
Don’t know, just that she was not feeling well.”

“
Who was?” I asked.

“
Well, I know she seems to be a little more pampered than Celine, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t genuinely sick.”

“
Sorry if it seems like I was implying she wasn’t,” I said. I drank my coffee and thought about the situation. “We’ll see. Daylight has a way of making things better.”

He nodded and we waited while everyone else showed up for breakfast and the first full day on the trail. Yesterday was just a warm-up.

“
Good morning, Sensei!” Celine danced up to the table and swirled around in a lovely pirouette. How she did it in hiking boots, I’ll never know, but I do train my students that a pirouette is one of the fundamental movements in aikido. I’ve just never seen it done like that. She was wearing a pretty sweater and a full loose skirt and it occurred to me she would be a lot more comfortable in that skirt than in her khakis from yesterday. I wished I had my hakama. Well, not really.

“
Celine, you look wonderful. I think the skirt is a fine idea. How do you feel?”

“
I feel wonderful! I love this place! It is so beautiful!”

And in truth I had been so immersed in how bad I had been feeling, my knees, and my tired old bones, that I had forgotten to smell the roses we passed. She was right. It was beautiful. We walked down the trail to where the family lodge ended at a sharp turn in the trail and were able to look out at the morning sun breaking over the terraced mountainside. The green cabbages and the golden marigolds literally vibrated with pulsing color and in a moment I felt uplifted. I turned around and walked back toward the breakfast table and when I passed her I softly said, “thank you,” then went back to find Cook and Bim waiting to serve us breakfast.

Esra was sitting with Christian and Chris and I asked her how she was feeling. She spoke at length and turned to Chris and Curtis and continued to speak with ever-expanding gestures and more and more animation. Bim looked startled and I caught Cook sidling away, disappearing toward wherever they had prepared our breakfast, giving me a sly grin and helpless gesture. I looked back at Esra and smiled and nodded and finally she jumped up and gave me a huge hug and disappeared back toward the supply shed. I had no idea what had been said. I turned toward the others and opened my hands in my best inquisitorial gesture. They returned it and then we all laughed. She was clearly speaking English in her mind and with her best intentions, but it was simply gibberish. She was very pretty, though.

“
I remember old Ed Baker, Sensei,” I said. “He used to say that he had been around women all his life, and could understand why men and women can’t communicate. He said he was forever telling them not to say anything to him… but that he couldn’t make them understand that he didn’t care what they thought about what he ate, what he wore, and what he drank, but they were always talking anyway. He said he understood that perfectly. But then he said he couldn’t understand why they just didn’t…”

“
Sensei! Did you tell my sister we are staying here today?”

I turned and looked at Celine, startled, and shook my head no.

She smiled and turned around and walked off. I turned back to the group and tried to remember what it was that Baker Sensei used to say and couldn’t. It was probably just as well. He had been a submarine sailor. Of course, I had been a sailor myself. It was probably why we liked each other.

“
Sahib? Will you be eating the breakfast?”

“
Yes, Bim. Please tell Cook we will be eating the breakfast now. Anyone not present can walk hungry.

Eventually Celine and Esra came to the table and Esra was clearly not as happy as she had been when she left, but the porters were at least on their way with our gear and today it was Nawang who got to leave the expedition and go ahead to arrange for lunch and lodging. I hoped he would be more successful than Hadim had been. We had muesli, a European granola, and a nice one egg omelet each, with a few bits of herb and cheese. When we finished and stood up I was still starving. It was time to go.

***

Celine fairly danced her way down the trail while we crested the ridge and slowly wound our way through the pass. After the day before we found the going easy during the morning and after a short consultation with Bim we decided to press on through lunch and stop early in Bhandar. We crossed the 9,000 foot pass and stopped to admire a large group of mani walls. There were a few pilgrims praying at the walls so we silently took a few pictures and moved on.

The trail leads down into one of the most beautiful valleys in the low Himalaya and bottoms at about 7,200 feet. After the previous night we felt like we were swimming in air and found Nawang waiting for us with our porters in a very nice lodge in the center of the community. He led us up the stairs and down a wide hall and showed me into a nice single room with a window. I did not ask how the others would be billeted. If they had a problem they would let me know. I sat on the hard bunk and after a few moments my duffle showed up. I unpacked enough to pull out my sleeping bag and mat and spread them across the thin camp mattress on the hard plank that served as a bed. It felt like the finest presidential suite in the best hotel in Paris compared to the previous night. I took off my boots and socks and lay down and fell immediately asleep.

When I awoke I knew it was much later. The light was different and I could hear laughter and a grating, scraping sound and then an occasional grunt and laugh. I lay quietly feeling my body and finally figured it wasn’t going to get any better so I sat up and dug around in my duffle for my camp shoes; light sandals with no arch support and just enough underfoot to keep the sharp stones from hurting. Downstairs I saw Cook preparing to serve tea and went out to see where the others were.

I found them in the rear of the lodge in the square used for hanging laundry and other domestic chores. The square was empty and I realized immediately they were training. Christian was launching a shomenuchi at Curtis and Curtis was reversing and letting the downward slash sail past then pushing Christian in the back. They repeated the process three times then Chris stepped up and attacked Curtis. Eventually Celine took her turn and then Christian stepped into the middle. I walked over to the table and benches on the side of the building in the shade and sat down next to Esra to watch. Cook sent one of the kitchen helpers with a tray of cookies and tea and I told him to put it on the table. He did and then left. I offered a cup to Esra and she accepted it and then we both turned to watch.

“
Sensei, Ari yohu go eeng tu pla yee?” she said.

I looked at her and smiled again and offered more tea. I didn’t have a clue what the hell she was talking about. I turned back to see Celine deliver a vicious blow to Chris and wondered what that was all about. I knew he had been flirting with her so it could be some form of courtship, aikido style, but it’s been a long time since I have courted anyone with aikido so…

“
Sensei, Celine doe ees not be long e to an yee on ee and sss he ees…”

I ignored her and kept watching and she kept talking. After a few minutes I couldn’t help myself.

“
Curtis! Keep your center planted when you tenkan. You’re bouncing up and down like a 14 year old kid!”

He grinned over at me and nodded and then went back to training. Sometimes I just have to get involved even when I pointedly am not. They continued to train and Esra continued to blather away when suddenly I turned and said, “no”. I was answering a question. I had heard a question and had answered it automatically without thinking. She had asked if I was unhappy that they had come.

“
Are e yo hu un hapee wit hu me?”

I stared at her and then spelled what she had said phonetically. I worked my way through it. I did it again. ‘Are you unhappy with me?’ She was speaking each and every syllable. She was not giving any caution to silent letters. She was speaking exactly like the Turks address their own written vocabulary. No silent letters. Jesus!

“
Esra, would you like some more tea?”

She worked through what I had said and then responded, “No. This ees not vee rye go ud.” No, this is not very good. It was like deciphering pig-Latin. You just had to listen closely.

“
Esra, how did you learn to speak English? Did you take a class? Did you learn in school?

She smiled her most gorgeous, drop-dead smile and exclaimed, “No! In books! I read in books!” That wasn’t exactly what she said, but that was it. She had learned to speak English by reading books. It all made sense, now. We talked for another hour while my young friends trained. I switched to beer from tea and after I had tracked down the vendor, the rest of the group decided beer sounded better than kote-gaishi and joined us.

I kept talking with Esra and found her quite fascinating now that I could figure out what she was saying. The rest of the group ignored us and eventually curiosity won out and Chris asked what she was saying. I guess he figured I had learned to speak gibberish in the last 24 hours.

“
What do you think she’s saying?” I asked him.

“
God, Sensei, I don’t know.”

“
You should try listening.”

“
I have been.”

“
Well, keep listening. The thing is, when Mustafa Ataturk ordered the western alphabet to be the rule of law in Turkey at the beginning of the last century they phonetically spelled out every word. They used no silent letters and no compound vowels. A taxi is spelled t-a-k-s-i. You get it? Esra taught herself to read and speak English from books without anyone giving her the benefit of explaining silent letters and compound vowels and all sorts of crazy stuff we take for granted. So listen to her. You will figure her out if you pay attention.”

He stared at me for a few seconds and then turned to Esra and asked her a short direct question. “Was the trip hard today?”

“
Yes,” she said. “Ve ry lon gu.”

Chris smiled and sat down close to her and said, “When a y is used at the end of a word it sounds like two e’s. It is pronounced ‘very’, vare ee. When two consonants are together one is usually dominant and…”

I stopped listening. He got it. Esra was shining she was so excited, and I decided to leave it like that. I went over and sat next to Christian and Curtis and asked what had brought on that burst of training at 8,000 feet after a ten mile hike through the mountains.

Celine sat forward and said, “The two Chris’ are in a spat. Christian thinks he is a better uke because he is young and fast and very quick. Chris thinks he is a better uke because he has been doing it so long and is a much higher rank.”

I looked at Curtis with an amused expression and he just shrugged and said, “I think the trail and the trip is getting long already. They aren’t used to not having a radio or IPOD or laptop or a telephone and someone there to talk to all day.”