On our way to Canada

On our way to Canada, we made a little stop in Panama. There the kids rehearsed for our 3 days in New York City. And we were reminded about refined Chinese pleasures.

No Beijing. Panama.

In New York City.
Completing the cycle of celebrations of Hanukkah with our friends Boaz and Stacey and their kids. Lights. Hope. Friendship.
Swinging on an installation of Ann Hamilton, in the Park Avenue Armory, on one of the 42 large wood-plank swings, "The Event of a Thread". Their movements agitates an immense curtain in the middle of the even larger space. Child memories. Happiness. Flow.
Walking among the crowds of Fifth Avenue. Meeting some old Beijing friends near the Rockefeller Center and its huge Canadian tree. Sitting in a Tom Ford booth to get my make up done by an old friend. Street excitation. Anticipation. Wealth of experiences. Experiences of wealth.
Touring a night market. Eating in an art installation. Discovering the crowded new "in" areas of the city at night. More urban bliss.
Yes. I need more of that. We will be back.
Back on a plane now, to Canada.

Celebrating Again

In each new destination I lived in, whether it was Vancouver, Brazzaville, Ziguinchor, Lausanne, I have met the right person who because literally a "door opener" for me in my new environment. I think of Jodi in Beijing, of Jeana in Vancouver, of Isabelle in Toulouse. Here it is not different. I am indebted to Steph for all the friends and contacts she has allowed me to meet, and all her help to get us settled.  With some of her help, I have been fortunate enough to meet many people here that have share their insights on how to maximize the Brasilia stay and take advantage of what this place has to offer. So today, I opened my house to her and all our friends to celebrate her turning of age. Her husband organized a very special evening, gathering about 40 of her best friends, hiding everyone in the living room, to surprise her. It was a very fun evening. Happy Bday Steph!

Oscar is Dead. Vive Oscar.

Today an architecture icon past away. Oscar Niemeyer, the man behind Brasilia, is gone after leaving his indelible mark around the world.
"You may not like Brasilia, but you can't say have seen anything like it - you maybe saw something better, but not the same. I prefer Rio, even with the robberies. What can you do? ... But people who live in Brasilia, to my surprise, don't want to leave it. Brasilia works. There are problems. But it works. And from my perspective, the ultimate task of the architect is to dream. Otherwise nothing happens."
Oscar Niemeyer, in 2005, to the New York Times magazine.

Here is something interesting and more comprehensive about the man and his work.

Expat World

Some destinations have rich and active expatriate circles, where it is usually easy to befriend other foreigners. In several African countries, the chore of the foreigners are linked to the aid business. In places like China, Japan and Korea, a number of foreigners come to find opportunities they could not access back home. Many entrepreneurs are taking their marks in these hyperactives environments. In other cases, the love of the culture brings some to deeply immerse themselves, sometimes as Peace Corps or volunteers, sometimes as foreign language students, sometimes as young interns in local businesses. The nature of Brasilia itself, a new capital constructed inland, away from other Brazilian economic centers, brings very little international businesses, and a rather limited number of diplomats.

In some destinations, diplomats and expatriates organized themselves. Sharing issues linked to linguistic, cultural, even economical barriers can often create a first bond. In Beijing, there was Pékin Accueil, a 300+ group of francophones (mostly French) meeting monthly and organizing a huge number of activities covering a wide range of tastes. Here there is Brasilia Connection. Yet the demographics are different, with more diplomats wives, of a different age group. Yet between Pékin Accueil and Brasilia Connection there is a common shared interested in doing volunteering, in returning some of our own luck and affluence to the poorest and neediest.

This week there was a meeting. Previously at other meetings there were guest speakers. This time it was not the case, and as I arrived late to the gathering, I found the group brainstorming on how to help new comers get integrated in Brasilia, and on how to introduce them to the city. How appropriate for me. I was in awe listening to the listing of all the good things Brasilia has to offer: Good weather all year round. Easy access to cultural events of international standards. Ease to move around the city. Access to interesting natural sanctuaries around the city. Brazilian love of families and children. The list was much longer, and I should have written it down for future references. It was a good exercise to put some of my own difficulties into perspective. 

Celebrating with Friends

From experience, all international "transplantation" forces one to find his or her marks. And depending on the destination, it can be more or less easy to do. Making friends is a essential part of the process of settling in. In several instances there is the "visual difference", the possibility to be easily spotted among a crowd, helping locating potential friends. Among a crowd, an eye contact with another foreigner among a crowd opens the possibility of a non-verbal exchange of sympathy (for being in the middle of this pushy crowd, or for being watched, or for having the guts to come out of the typical tourist destinations, for example). However, as Brazilians are so mixed genetically, being caucasians or not no longer stands out in a crowd. Of course, my personal status of foreigner gets immediately noticed when people hear me discuss with my children in a language other than Portuguese. Other "Friend making techniques" are required here in Brasilia.
In Beijing, going down to the playground was a guarantied fast way to find potential friends. Kids playing with kids, moms chatting among each other. But here, in the plano piloto, near the city center of Brasilia, where we first moved in, the playground structures are old, ill-maintained and under-used, therefore not really a "source" for potential friends. And in Lago Sul where we live now, there are no playgrounds easily accessible from our house. Beyond the fact that they are not well maintained and exposed to the burning sun.
So one easy way to meet people is at the school, dropping and picking up the kids. And of course, at birthday parties, as parents are expected to attend.  Slowly but surely I was able to meet interesting friends this way. And here as the circles of expats is to the scale of the city, a friend's friend quickly becomes yours too. And here the expat life gets interesting at night.
So when a friend invited us to celebrate her husband's new forty, in a dressed-up surprise evening, we happily joined, imagining to be a few select to be invited. Here are is a glimpse of our fun evening, where in fact about everyone we knew was!

(Desperate) Housewifes Club

I receive an email in my inbox that left me wondering what to do. It was an invitation to a make-up class along with some other friends.

Do I need make up that bad? I am not someone who put a lot of make-up, but I have to admit that here most Brazilian girls take more attention to their image than me. Should I make an effort to integrate better??

Furthermore, am I the type of girl that does this kind of activities? Should I not be writing some more intelligent things instead? Am I the kind of expat wife that does not know what to do with my time? Usually I have always been able to occupy myself with very interesting activities - whether it is yoga, writing, volunteering, and work as well. Here, so far I have been busy with out installation, and with the kids. To be an expat wife often means leaving behind work, and spend time reasjusting to a new environment. In Brasilia because of the administrative nature of the city, it is often more difficult to find a job that corresponds to one's skills and competences. I am not yet hopeless, but I can see that the process will be a tedious one. I was just reading about this here. For my friends abroad, living in Brazil sounds like a superb experience - and I am sure it will be - but the settling in is a tedious process. And some women, after several relocations, simply give up on finding for themselves something meaningful to do other than caring for their loved ones. The process is lengthly and discouraging at times, and the sheer prospect of a departure leaves one to wonder the validity of such efforts. So like many, should I contemplate finding myself activities to entertain myself and stop worrying about it all? Yet so new here, I cannot pretend that this decision should be taken now. Should I allow myself to pamper myself a bit? And to have a good time with my girlfriends? I gave-in, and tagged along. 

And it was fun. I had to leave before the end of the session to pick up the kids in school, and despite feeling sick that morning, the result on my face was very impressive: I looked healthy! Ah!

Carol, our teacher, is one of these young very maked-up girl. Later we learned that she is in fact our age, looking 10 years younger than her age. Like what, it works. 

Still Being

When we get off the JK (pronounce Jakaka) bridge driving to the city, there is a large concrete building on the Northern side of the road that attracted my attention.
I met my first set of girlfriends in that building.  Not obvious to reach by car, like other places in Brasilia (read my post on how we got to the National Museum), the CCBB is well worth the effort. The name of the museum stands for Centro Cultural Banco de Brasil, and like many other cultural destinations in town, is with a free admission. Exhibition are rotated frequently, and their level is of high international standards.
When we arrived first in city, the facade of the CCBB was adorned by a large sign spelling Amazonias. Today there is a cast iron statue of a naked man standing along side the road, not far from it. And a few more of these statues are placed in a few strategic locations in the city. The work of the British artist Anthony Gormley is on display.
The work of the artist is interesting. Working mostly with his own body, casting it and replicating it in various medias and abstraction, the artist is internationally known.  In Brasilia, he produced three different installations, plus one room filled with a number of models of previous work. The main installation is called "Corpos Presentes / Still Being", regrouping a large number of statues of the artist's own body in various positions, installed in an open air space specially constructed for this installation. The effect is quit surreal and impressive.

 

In the museum we listened to videos of the artist explaining his methodology, adding a new dimension to the installation. The kids were as fascinated as we were to hear him speak of the development of his project. Another Place, an installation of 100 cast iron figures facing the sea of Crosby Beach, near Liverpool, was the subject of another video. Another video also presented the painstaking approach of the artist to create a giant mecano assemblage of 27 tons of welded steel in the shape of a crouched body. I am not able to remember where this was installed.
The exhibition of the models was interesting, giving us a hint on his approach at deconstructing the body and recreating it in a different way. I really enjoyed the model of his Angel of the North and of Quantum Cloud.
In 1994 Gormley has won the Turner Price for Field for the British Isles. From the exhibition room we walked downstairs into a very dimly lit room, where several pictures of native indians working with clay. For a moment I thought it was the left-overs of the previous exhibition Amazonias. Then around the corner, I discovered the Amazonian Field, a work he created 20 years ago with Brazilian natives. The space occupied by 24,000 small terracota figures,  made by the villagers of Porto Vielho over the period of a week. The effect is very stunning. I was really touched, unaware that Gormley was the author of this well publicized work. And please such famous artist would make the trip to Brasilia.