Blacker Than Light Part III

Can you imagine your life without your computer and the internet?  Or being without  your phone that texts, makes calls, take pictures, gets you on-line, plays games, and  generally does more for your than your mother?  Life has changed by leaps and bounds with the advent of the personal computer and pocket-sized technology.

One group of people who have probably been most postively affected by the advent of personal gadgetry is the Deaf.  The world has opened up because communication is so much easier.  There are  different video internet connections now, like “Skype”, that allow signers to communicate visually with one other.  It’s not perfect though, and some day technology will be able to keep up with the flying fingers of the skilled signer, but until then, even a slow and halted communication is better than none.  Social utilities such as Facebook, have tied Deaf communities together with easy access to daily connectedness. Being able to post photos of community and personal events where “everyone” can see them is a huge thing to a visual culture.

All manner of electronic devices are made that can shake you awake, turn lights on and off

image by nuttakit

to indicate a caller at the door or let you know your  baby’s crying.  Personal telephones with texting offer a connectedness that previously was extremely limited by TTY‘s and  live telephone translators. Now there are cell phones that even have video and Deaf can use these to sign to each other at will, stepping over the old boundaries that kept them dependant on the hearing world.  However, not all of these are available to Deaf people world-wide.  And of course, cost plays into their accessibility for everyone.

In Hungary most of the population, hearing and Deaf, run with cell phones and I must tell you, the cell phone service and coverage ROCKS that of North America… but that’s a whole ‘nother blog! But, now that I have you thinking about communication through the Deaf experience, let’s return to the last installment of “BLACKER THAN LIGHT”.  This is Part III, if you are new to the blog, just scroll down two stories and start at Part I!

image by jscreations

There I was on the stoop of the apartment block in a residential apartment area of the city of Prague, Czech Republic.

Alone.  At night.  Without keys.  Without any way to contact my friends in the apartment on the 5th floor.

In the timid light of the front entry I reviewed my options.    I had a phone.  I had access to the apartment buzzer system.  I had a voice.  I had an ear-splitting stadium-style whistle.

Whistling was out, although I could make it loud enough to be heard six blocks away.  My friends were Deaf.  And even if they weren’t, who pays attention to a whistle except for my family, whom I have trained to come running at the sound?

My voice was useless.  In more ways than not being audible to my friends.  You would think that being able to speak a little German, Hungarian, English and two sign languages that I would have a shot.  But I was in Czech Republic.  In the middle of a residential section, not the tourist area.  People speak Czech in Czech Republic.  I didn’t even know how to say hello or thank you very much!   And it was the middle of the night… Well,  10 o’clock seemed like the middle of the night judging from the gaping blackness that engulfed this neighborhood.

The buzzer could be useful.  Not of course, to call the flat where I was staying … but MAYBE someone would take pity on me and buzz me in.

Right.  Who was I kidding?  It was after 10 at night!  They’d be more likely to call the police!

The phone.  Had I really understood correctly from my colleague who had passed along the apartment keys, that she’d been given only ONE key to the outside door?    I had an auto-dial answer to this question and a friendly face who lived 20 minutes away.  The borrowed phone in my purse was my lifeline, but it was also my wild card.

image by chanpipat

Why hadn’t I gotten my Deaf friends’ phone numbers?  Being techno-illiterate has it’s drawbacks.  I hadn’t bothered with it because I would’ve had to learn another phone system.  And it would mean roaming charges for them.  Not worth it I’d surmised.

I held that thought and went to the buzzer and checked out all the names for something that sounded a little German or  North American.   Waking up some stranger to rescue me was not a pleasant thought, but what choice did I have?  I’d been there for 15 minutes already, with no one going in or out.

Rehearsing a mini-speech in German, I rang the buzzer.  I got a tired sounding woman who asked me in Czech what I wanted.  In my best German,  I tried to explain.  Stress got the best of me when she retorted in angry Czech.  I slipped into English, desperate to communicate my plight.  She hung up.

Not wanting to do that again I considered the phone, waiting another 20 minutes to see if someone would come home or leave the building… no dice.  Then I realized my colleague might just go to bed and I’d better call now.  Believe me, there are no words to describe the relief  of hearing someone you know, speaking a language you understand when you find yourself in a tricky situation.

I was right.  There was only one key.  But I could come stay with her… just jump on the metro and find them.  But I couldn’t do that.  My colleague had a cat  at her house and I’m deadly allergic… I could only be there ten minutes before I’d react with hay-fever-like symptoms and then asthma.  Besides, my Deaf friends would panic if I didn’t “come home”.  I had no way of letting them know a change of plans.  I pictured them fast asleep now and waking in the morning with me having not slept in the bed; they’d think I’d been mugged or worse!  Putting them into a state of anxiety wasn’t a great option.

I would have to wait longer and see if anyone came or went… and worse-case-scenario my colleague would find me a dorm room at the school  where her husband worked, and my friends would just have to have a jolt in the morning.  What else could we do? I had been here for 45 minutes now and it was getting creepy thinking about spending the night on the cement entry.  I agreed to wait  a bit longer and call her back.

I had wandered from the stoop as I’d talked to my friend, finding freedom to step into the inky blackness of the surroundings as I communicated with someone who could understand me.   I looked up at the darkened building, wondering who would be leaving now that it was getting close to 11 pm.  To my delight and horror,  a group of five people exited the building, but I wasn’t close enough to grab the door as they left.  It swung shut with a thud.

Five languages and the only one that came out was english.  I’m sure as this middle age woman dashed out of the darkness, mumbling words foreign to their ears, they might have thought they were being accosted by a crazy person.  German tumbled out, together with the English, now that I had their attention.  Make up your mind woman… what language are you speaking?

Luckily for me, there was a young twenty-something guy among them .  He said “Who are you?” in the tone you can just imagine.  But it was English.  Praise the Lord!

I said in one breath,  “I’m living in apartment 511 and I’m locked out.  Please can you open the door or call your friends to buzz me in because my friends are in the apartment with the keys and they are Deaf and can’t hear the buzzer and I have no other way to contact them…  please!”  It wasn’t a pretty sight to see a grown woman begging in the middle of the night.  But I had no shame.

Perhaps because it sounded so ludicrous it had to be true, perhaps because he didn’t know what else to do, he let me in.

image by Salvatore Vuono

And as I was entering the tiny lobby that was barely big enough to hold the scratched metal mailboxes, two ancient, wobbly elevators, and the shadowy stairwell…  down the stairs bounded one of my friends with a key!  They had just realized that I had no way to get in the front door!!  All my saviours had converged at the same point in time.

I thanked the young man, who no doubt was relieved to be rid of the lunatic american… hugged my friend as we entered the tiny two person elevator and went up to the apartment.  I called my colleague and told her I was in!

My Deaf friends were all most definitely awake and in party mode… in a lighted room not visible from where I had stood.  Hugs were given, fingers flying with questions, apologies, explanations and relief.  We laughed and visited and had a glass of wine and everyone told the story from their perspective. We had another glass of wine, moved on to other subjects and several hours later, said our goodnights.

The next evening I was to go to a different theatre and we revised our plans to ensure that I wouldn’t be sitting in the dark, wondering if I would be sleeping in the bushes.  I’d like to tell you that it was a fool-proof plan and we had all learned from our mistakes.  But, new mistakes were made which resulted in me sitting on the stoop  for another 45 minutes that night,  until someone twigged on that I was missing.

Was I upset?  Mildly.  I thought we’d aced our second plan. But someone “tweaked” it and it left me out in the cold.  Again.

However, for me, to share in the community of the Deaf means to experience ALL aspects of Deafness and this is their reality without the aids of  technology.  Blacker than light?  A new age has dawned in the realm of communication. But the old issues still exist.  I know.  Prague proved that unequivocably.

Photo credit to: FreeDigitalPhotos.net  Thanks!

Blacker Than Light Part II

If you say “Black Light” to the general populace, most people will come up with juvenile memories of a friend’s basement room with an eerie, albeit very cool, black light bulb or two set into a couple of standard lamps (without the shades of course)…rock music blasting its heavy beat; white blouses and t-shirts blinding onlookers; purple faces with demon green eyes piercing the blackness; and white bras illuminated through dark knit shirts, if they got lucky.  This is NOT the black light to which I am referring!

According to Wikipedia ” Black Light Theatre (in Czech černé divadlo) or simply Black Theatre, is a theatrical performance style characterized by the use of black box theatre augmented by black light illusion. This form of theatre originated from Asia and can be found in many places around the world. It has become a speciality of Prague, where many theatres use it.”

Years ago in Canada, I attended a Black Light Theatre at the Yates  in Lethbridge.  If memory serves me correctly, the show was put on by a group of handicapped artists.  I remember their skill and precision was breathtaking.  While the experience was seared into my memory, unfortunately the individual acts were not.

Remembering this only became important when our director from the Budapest Theatre group “BEKE”  came up with the idea of incorporating Black Light into our performances this past winter.  None of us were exactly sure how to proceed, and the result was a few skits whose dimension and finesse were somewhat lacking.

Backstage at a BEKE production

That’s when I came up with the idea to visit the best Black Light Theatre in the world.

Prague.

And that’s where we come back to the story “Blacker than Light”… if you are just joining us, be sure to read Part 1 first!

My new Deaf friends didn’t share my passion to visit Black Light Theatre, nor did they wish to pay the handsome price tag, and so we had to decide how to handle the situation of going in different directions.

A course of action was chosen.  I would give them the key to the apartment and they could leave the city and take public back to the apartment at their leisure.  That way they weren’t tied to my schedule –not leaving the city until at least 9:30 in the evening– and everyone could enjoy their mini-holiday on their own timetable.

It would take about a half  hour or so to get back  from the city center by public transportation.  I wasn’t nervous about doing it on my own. But how would I get in  to the apartment after 10 o’clock at night?

My friends were quick to point out they wouldn’t hear the doorbell.  As a hearing person it was a reminder that life is lived differently in the Deaf world.  So we put our heads together to come up with a plan.   I suggested they could just leave a shoe propped in the apartment door.  That would take care of the problem!  They were two women with one man, so no worries about intruders coming in from dark hallways with the door ajar.  We all agreed this would work.

We split company and I went on my merry way.

The Image Black Light Theatre http://www.imagetheatre.cz/en/ had the best reviews on the internet, so I headed there the first night.

When a talented actor came on stage to welcome the international audience  and told us in humorous mime that we were to turn off our phones, I was a little worried.  I had a borrowed phone from a colleague in the city and if I turned it off, I wouldn’t be able to turn it on again since I hadn’t been given the password.  And because we were going to make plans to get together the next day, there was a good chance she could ring at any time to set up our rendezvous.

I spent the entire performance with my thumb hovering over the “end call” button in case it rang in the middle of the show.  This took a little of the glow off the experience, but the dancing and the drama of the evening so lived up to the reviews, even the stress of the phone perhaps ringing couldn’t totally dampen my enthusiasm.

Stopping for a euro-fast-food gyro on the way home, I was in no particular rush.  Prague is full of tourists, has a visible police presence and feels relatively secure as far as personal safety goes.  I didn’t have a thing to worry about.

And then it struck me… I DID have something to worry about!!

I needed an outside door key to get inside the building!!  It didn’t matter that there was a shoe propped in the apartment door if I couldn’t get into the actual building! Luckily my gyro was gone, or I might not have had an appetite to finish it !

I sized up the apartment as I approached.  It was only about 10:15, but almost every light in the entire building was off.  Including the flat I was staying in.  Was everyone in bed already?  It seemed Czech people, like Hungarians, start their days early, and therefore go to bed long before I’m used to calling it a night.  Great.

The apartment we were using was in a relatively nice area, however, the neighborhood consisted basically of apartment blocks and this one faced the back of a plaza complex… so there weren’t any warm, family vibes emanating my way.  There was a light over the front door, but everything else around was shadowy and barren.

A small party of people speaking Czech wandered towards a parked car, chattered for a minute or two and left me in unfriendly silence on the steps of a building I could not enter, staring at a list of names I could not pronounce on a buzzer system I dared not use since it seemed the entire population had said it’s goodnights and had rolled over and gone to sleep.

…to be continued

Blacker Than Light Part 1

I love my life.  No doubt about it.  I am smack-dab in the middle of a wonderful existence.  I have the privilege of working and hanging with some incredible people.  And I am finally experiencing the culture of the Deaf that I have read about, taught and studied for years.

I can’t really say what drew me to the Deaf culture to start. To be honest,  I don’t think I even knew  there WAS a CULTURE… only found myself fascinated by a vibrant and curiously beautiful way to communicate.

For the last few years here in Hungary, I have had the opportunity to enjoy the culture and the language, and most of all, the people who call themselves Deaf, with a capital D.

In my most recent blog, “Crossed Cultural“, I addressed some of the issues of crossing cultural barriers–notably the issue of having attained a degree of comfort in your host culture and then, by crossing several  territorial borders, once again finding yourself at square one: unable to read the most primary of words and lacking any ability to communicate simple niceties or basic needs.

This once again sets the scene for the following story which will come in three parts.  I was told blogs shouldn’t be too long… what can I say?   I guess I’m too long-winded to make the story complete in less than 800 words!   You’ll have to come back and see how the story ends!!

Prague is in Czech Republic.

No longer called Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic is its own country with Prague, a jewel of a city, as its crowning glory.

Czech is  two countries removed from Hungary, where I live, depending on which way you go.  I paid roughly $50 return and went with a bus company called Orangeways. I think we travelled through Austria and up… but we could have driven through Slovakia as well.  I really wasn’t  paying attention.

I was too busy having the time of my life on the bus, sharing  with Deaf friends and one other “Hearie”.  I marvelled at how I, a hearing Canadian could be here; welcomed and included in the lives and the adventures of  the Hungarian Deaf community.

We had spread out in the back of the bus, where we could easily turn around and sign to each other across the aisles. Because it was the beginning of the trip, everyone was full of excitement and anticipation and fingers were flying;  stories were being told with great animation and feeling.  Information, personal and direct was being shared in a way one really only experiences in Deaf society.

We were on our way to an event that brought together Deaf from around Europe and from all corners of  the world.  But that is a story for another time.  For our weekend was also to include time together exploring the magnificent city of Prague, and sharing a flat that friends of mine graciously allowed me to use  in their absence.  They had invited me to share their home with my friends as well.  This was a great gift, because staying in hotels in Europe is expensive and makes a long weekend prohibitive for many Deaf, as salaries are often shockingly low.

The two Deaf people I knew best, ended up not being able to come or having to leave early. The other hearing person also left directly after the event.  That meant I alone, was to be hanging out with “new” friends:  the wife of my very first Hungarian sign teacher, her best friend and that friend’s  husband.  Was I worried about being an interloper in a long-existing friendship?  Not really.  For these folks were gentle, patient and encouraging with my sketchy sign communication and halting Hungarian.  We were on a mini-vacation together to relax and to revisit the amazing city of Prague!

I had no particular agenda beyond attending two black light theatre productions, if  I could get the tickets.  My plan was to visit at least two different shows, one each evening.  This was to be research for our Deaf theatre club.  Our director had thought it would be fun to add black light dimension to our performances.  But none of us quite knew how to go about it.  So I decided since I was in Prague, the city reputed to have the best Black Light Theatres in the world, I would use this opportunity to do some serious background study.

How was I to know this would lead to a blacker than night experience?

(to be continued…)