Panama Update #163
Thursday, May 7, 2009
We arrived in the Newark, NJ airport at about 4:00 PM on Monday, May 4. We took a shared ride van to my cousin Sally's apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and we were the last ones dropped off so we didn't arrive until about 6:30 PM. That night we found a great organic grocery store and deli where we ate dinner and stocked up on vitamins for the last month in Panama.
On Tuesday we went with my cousin Sally and her husband Rob to meet HHDL. We arrived at the hotel by 9:30 AM. Security was very tight. We had to show ID and we were searched. We gathered in a room of 108 people and were given instructions. Groups were to stand together by family. Nikki met some of her cousins and uncle for the first time. We were a group of 9. There were about 4 people there who were personally in Tibet before 1950 and they were older, around 90 years old. The rest were descendants of people who had been to Tibet before 1950. Nikki's great uncle, Archibald Steele was there at the time and wrote a book about the experience based on articles for the Chicago Daily News. He was the first westerner to see future Dalai Lama at age 3 or 4. The Dalai Lama came in to the room and greeted us as he walked by. He touched my hand and shook the hand of Rob. He gave a 10 minute talk on how touched he was by all the people who were there. He also talked about the problems with China and their poor treatment of the Tibetans and said it is important that the true facts come out. Then each family group went up to speak to him for 1-2 minutes. He touched Nikki's face and gave her a big hug. A professional photographer was there and we plan to post the pictures when we can order them off the internet. We all thought it was a remarkably special experience to be in the joyful presence. I plan to write more about the experience in an essay form later on.
That afternoon we went to lunch at the 2nd St. Deli and then on to Brooklyn and Coney Island on Brighton Beach with Nikki's cousins. They had a van and took us along. That night we went to a Ethiopian Restaurant with Rob and Sally. We all wanted to continue talking about the incredible experience with HHDL that morning.
The next day (Wednesday) we visited an artist friend of Nikki's mom and she had us over for breakfast. She had a beautiful 3 story apartment and rooftop in Greenwich Village. After that we visited the Tibet House which has Tibetan art exhibits, gift store, meditation room, etc. The original Tibetan issued passport from 1939 from Nikki's uncle was on display.
We then found a nice vegetarian restaurant for lunch, walked by my former school that I attended in 1984, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and took a train from Penn Station to the airport. The train was only 20 minutes and cost $15 each, much quicker than the shuttle can we took on the way in.
