El Bulli Biatches!

We are in with all 39 courses of goodness. 

I *heart* NYC

Not much to report this week; just took it easy after an eventful two weeks. I went to see a band at the Carling Academy down the street. A friend of mine's friend asked us to go see his friend's band, so I was a bit anxious in case it wasn't my cup of tea, but I ended up enjoying it a lot. It was standing room only, which I loathe because of my stature, but it wasn't that packed so I got to be up in the front and could see pretty well amongst all the groupies (I was the only one not going ballistic or singing along). Overall a good performance, nothing that innovative but good tunes all around. (Band is called A Silent Film if anyone is interested.)

Anywhos, as many of the restaurants in Oxford have posted, my Christmas bookings are open too. I will be home for 10 days in exactly a month, so let's make dates and appointments! I will be in NYC from Dec 28th to Jan 2nd, spending the earlier part of my trip in Joisey with my family. A friend of mine just returned from a trip to New York, so I was listening to her recount her trip and getting nostalgic and hungry. Here is a list of things I need to do (in no particular order):

1. Get a haircut
2. Lombardi's
3. Katz's
4. La Esquina tacos
5. Sushi of any kind
6. my mom's korean BBQ
7. Buy shoes (I am a size 2 here which automatically leads me to have to get shoes with a lot of sequins and bows as only children's shoes fit me here)
8. Mega-hang
9. Play Guitar Hero 4 until my fingers bleed and I get a relapse in vertigo
10. Something fun for New Years
11. Huge diner breakfast with pancakes
12. Gin-Gin-Mule at Pegu
13. A solid American hamburger
14. Joe's or Yeah's
15. Beef Noodle Soup from Deep China
16. If there is snow, go boarding at least once

Do you see a trend arising? Who would like to help me fulfill these requests? I am very excited to see everyone and share food and laughs!

As for the upcoming week, I go to London to visit Andrew and Yuan to have an ex-pat's Thanksgiving and see an exhibit at the Royal Academy. I hope everyone has a good turkey day and eats until they fall into a light coma!

A special happy 30th to my brother. I hope you are having fun in Barbados!

Cairo or Bust

I never thought that I would ever go back to Egypt, but this past week I was in Cairo to do some visual research for my work. Many of you know that I travelled to Egypt a few years ago, and this experience was completely different from the first time I went. Arab countries are closed societies, and I feel like sight-seeing tours do everything to distance the groups from the regular people and keep things "Western." While Egypt is not the safest place (especially for women), and I would never suggest going around Egypt without a tour guide of some sort, I feel like coming back the first time my perception of Egyptians was whittled down to silent skeevy men and pushy salesmen waiting for their next buck.

Going this time around, I initially was not that excited, but I came back with such an amazing experience. For the trip, we were scheduled to go to nine schools in Cairo, speak to teachers and supervisors, and also just hang out with the staff. We were always attended by one staff member from our local office, and to be able to talk to a civilian Egyptian about their life was really interesting. I learned a lot of interesting things about Egyptians and saw how liberal their country was compared to other Arab Nations. 

The classes we observed were for 5th and 6th grade children learning English. Seeing the teachers in action and speaking to them afterwards, you get a sense of how passionate they are about their work and the children. I think we think of Arab women being demure and silent, but these ladies were tough! They were very clear on what they liked, how they teach, and what they wanted in the books we produced. It wasn't rude in anyway, and their hospitality towards us was genuine, but you could see how serious they were about what they taught and wanted to be able to be the best teacher possible. The children were lovely and equally as eager to impress the foreigners. I don't think I could walk into a classroom in the U.S. and see as many children wanting to volunteer answers and read aloud. 

In regards to being foreigners, I was as foreign as it came to them. It was brought to my attention the second day of visits by one of our Egyptian reps that many of the children would stare at me during class. I didn't notice because I was observing the teacher or looking through the books in the classroom. The rep was worried that I might get offended, but to a certain extent it is understandable, so I said I didn't really care. The only Asian people they see are on average 50 years old and in groups of 20 or more, so I can see how I may look odd to them. 

I expected a certain level of "racism" because I experienced it before when I came to Egypt. I put racism in quotes because it isn't out of hatred, but more of having nothing else to say to me or pointing out the obvious. I think I heard "konichiwa", "ni-how", and the occasional "bonjour" (I don't get it either) about 50 times a day. The children would yell random kung-fu sounds at me, and would just throw out the names Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Now, in any Western country, this would make me crazy, but what can you do. People said nice things too, like I have beautiful eyes (which I don't think I have ever heard in my life - chinky eyes are not the pinnacle of beauty to Westerns), and that I had lovely hair. Egyptians are random in what comes out of their mouths. 

Now, while I tolerate this in the Egyptian people, I expect that when I go back to the fortress of our hotel filled with Western travelers that no one would bat an eye at me. After a long day, my co-worker and I sat in the lounge to share a bottle of wine and chill out. Things were going well, but towards the end of the evening, this Finnish man comes up to me and says, "Are you Chinese?" Fine, easy mistake, all Asians look a like, blah blah. So I politely say no, and he keeps going on about this. Here is a snippet:

Man:  "Are you Chinese?"

Me: "No."

Man: "Oh, because from where I was sitting you seem to have the most excellent looks of a Chinese woman."

Me: "I am Korean."

Man: "I would like to practice my Chinese."

Me: "Sorry I can't help you. The only words I know are water, poo, pee, and Friday."

I am just getting annoyed at this point, so my co-worker steps in and starts chatting about what he is doing in Egypt. We move on to the fact that he is here to open a second factory for Nokia. This is the point where he comes out with this gem of a comment: "Some people may think that employing children is slave labor, but I call it equal opportunity. We Finnish are nothing but fair." Amazing. He explains that he will be in Cairo for three weeks and we just say "Wow, that's for a long time." His response? "I am not gay, nor am I a fag, but I like to work." I didn't know that in Finland to be gay meant you also were a workaholic. So this guy is clearly insane. Did I mention that he also looked EXACTLY like this?:

So at some point my co-worker thinks it would be a good idea to ask this guy TO SIT DOWN. I wish she spoke Korean for me to verbally bitch-slap her for this idea, but luckily this guy had a "most excellent seat" in the corner, so he declined. He just continued to loom over us and told us that he had a Chinese wife and 4 children, and would REALLY like to practice his Chinese. I was starting to suspect that he thought I was lying to him, which is ridiculous. So after another excruciating 5-minutes, he goes away, we hurry up and finish, and walk to the elevators.

On the way to the elevators is a row of shops, so as we are waiting for the elevators, Finnish Peter Griffin pops out of a jewelry store and goes, "Justine, come here, I have to show you something." Oh, before he was saying it was a shame I did not have an ethnic name and a Western name (WTF?!??!). So my co-worker and I reluctantly go into this shop, and he whips out this silver necklace of the Eye of Horus and proclaims he wants to buy it for me. I just laughed in his face and we have the following exchange:

Me: "I am American, I don't take gifts from strangers."

Man: "Nonsense, I want to buy it for you. And you are not wearing any jewels."

Me:  "This is silver, and I am not taking it."

Man: (something in Chinese)

Me:  "I DON'T SPEAK CHINESE!!! Why don't you buy your wife something instead?"

Man: "She is swimming in gold. This is for you."

UGH. So he is going on and blocking the exit with his mass, so we can't escape. I have a salesman in there telling me that I will get cursed if I reject a gift of the Eye of Horus, and my co-worker is standing there speechless. With no way out but to take this gift, I just snatched it, said thanks, and he held my hand in his paw and said "It will look most excellent on you." AAAAHHH....too bad I never am putting this thing on, curse be damned. Then he said something else in Chinese, let me go, and we booked it to the elevators. 

So that was the random event to occur on my trip. Besides that disturbing encounter, the rest of my time was lovely. I finally got to see the Pyramids, as the last time we could not see it because of a sandstorm that hit Giza, went to the bazaar at night, drank about 30 cups of tea a day, ate some Egyptian food, and got to spend some one-on-one time with the area manager's wife and daughter, which was really cool. Here are some facts I learned or experienced:

1. Hassan's wife told us not all women are required to be veiled, many of them do it for their own comfort, not by law. It was also revealed that some girls wear them because they have bad hair and just want to cover it up. You can tell these girls by what they wear. If they are showing wrists, arms, or their clothing is form fitting in any way, they are not wearing the veil for religious reasons, it is more to cover up their ratty hair.
   
2. Egyptians LOVE their sugar. The tea they have is a bit sweeter than what I am used to, so I didn't take any sugar in it. One of the receptionist ladies looked very confused, and our rep told us that only old people drink it without sugar because they are diabetic. Hmmm...perhaps they are diabetic because they scoop two spoonfuls of sugar into a cup no bigger than a thimble?
3. I think the entire time I was in Cairo, I saw only one traffic light. Everything is weird U-turns, and the traffic is an absolute cluster-fuck.
4. There is no limit to how many people are on a bus. In our country, there is a limit to capacity, but in Cairo, there are people literally hanging out on the outside bumper of the bus or metro train. I saw a man just run up to the train and latch on to the side. Our reps response? "Only in Egypt!"
5. Disney is an OBSESSION. The cult of High School Musical has reached epidemic proportions.
6. Egyptians have the craziest weddings. In our hotel, there was a wedding almost every night (mind you all week-nights). This involved a parade through the hotel featuring drums, trumpets, and a bagpipe (?). It was cool to see, but since our rooms were located on the same floor as the reception hall, we were not getting very good sleep with these parties going on till 2AM, and by the third one, I wished marriage was just outlawed.

There is so much more I learned from this trip, but its business related so I won't bore you with market details. Here are some pictures to leave you with:

Us with one of our reps, Mahkmud

One of the thousand wedding parades we witnessed

The Nile and Cairo

Ground view of the Pyramids

Me with our rep, Sharif

The Sphinx

A stall in the Bazaar

Overall, an unexpected amazing time! Hopefully more adventures to come~

Election Day in the UK

Witnessing the elections in the UK was an extremely interesting experience. So many people here seem to be passionate about American politics (more than most American's I know), and this election seems to have so many global and personal implication, that I didn't want to miss it.

I was ready to Barack my socks off (as I didn't think there would be any other outcome than victory), so after scouring the internet to find an event in Oxford to watch the elections, I was able to find a viewing at the University College MCR at one of the schools. My friend Michelle and I wanted to be in a buzzing place to watch the results, so we hoped that this would fit the bill. The e-mailed directions made it sound intriguing. We were instructed to go to an unmarked wooden door on the High Street...how very Diagon Alley. We arrived at this door at around 11Pm when the first polls would be closing:

It was about half full when we got there, and was filled with the optimism of undergraduate spirit. Seriously, I was skeptical some of these people were voting age. I think we were in a dorm dining room of sorts with a large projection at one end. Along with the youngins, we were watching with these bastard-ass guys all over the walls:

We definitely did not come prepared with drinks and no one seemed too keen on sharing any of their wine or Carlsburg with us oldies, so we just took a seat to watch. At first they had CNN on, but then it was changed to the BBC World News. I had enough trouble hearing the American commentary, but coupled with the accents I had no idea what was going on. Also, the graphics budget of the BBC seemed far less than what CNN had invested so there were no snazzy visuals to keep me up to date. At one point they were interviewing Ricky Gervais on his thoughts, and I was like "WTF, I barely care what our celebs think, BBC couldn't get Simon Schama or someone legit?"

While we were sitting waiting for results to roll in, Michelle and I sat chatting. I was surprised at how much I remembered about my branches of government and electorate system! People here find the entire system confusing, and to their credit, it is pretty convoluted. It was really interesting talking to her about what kind of investment the world, and specifically Britain, may have in the outcome of this election. How we both come from immigrant parents, and only in our mutual countries were they able to make a life for us based on a dream. It has been a long time since I actually talked to someone about my experience and feelings on 9-11 as most of the people I know in NYC were there with me, and I found that no matter how long it has been, it's always a very disturbing recollection. The flat bed trucks driving down Broadway empty, then coming back up filled with debris. The smoke we could see from EC. How that day was so surreal, so stand-still. Michelle talked to me about the London Underground bombings and how it effected her at the time, knowing people who passed in the chaos. How she would have wanted to volunteer on the campaign even though she has no ties to the US. It amazed me at how enthusiastic she was, and also how people wanted to see the US redeemed in some small way.

While we sat there, the bigness of this event just grew and grew, and that's when doubts started creeping in....What if it is stolen like in 2004? Will I have to hang my head in shame? Will I have to burn my passport? As the night went on, so did my energy. I thought I would stay until Florida was called since the poll closed at 1:30AM here, but then I remember it took weeks for that to happen last time, so we went home to continue watching around 2:30. At this point I was delirious, but I wanted to be awake for something big, and once Ohio was called, I knew I could sleep easy and wake up to good news. 

How long will this hope and optimism last? My thoughts are basically that politics is politics. Obama represents change, but change comes slow, and we all know that Bush is going to do something insane like declare war on Pakistan on his last day in office, then peace out. Plus all the other mess that needs cleaning. Will America be patient? Will Obama live up to the hype? No matter, today I was proud to be an American, which I am not on a regular basis. I don't really think about patriotism, but when I was reading the transcripts from Obama's and McCain's speeches and seeing pics from the US and abroad, I actually started tearing up at work. Those speech writers are something to melt my skeptical heart. 

Paralyzed by Hellos

I have a lot to write about from the past week, and this week will be busy with a lot of goings-ons, so look for posts throughout the week about snippets. This past week included a Diwali party in the "snow" (people kept saying it was snowing, but every time I went out it was what I would call rain), Halloween in London, Francis Bacon, seeing a play, and going to a random Birthday party. Coming up in the week is a visit to one of Jaime Oliver's restaurants in Oxford, perhaps staying up to the ass-crack of dawn to watch the election results (it may be a breakfast election celebration, no chance for McCain, right?!), a fancy dress party, then heading off to Egypt. I am really glad to be so busy! Keeps things lively, you know?

I took the train to London in the evening this time on Friday night, and it was far more packed than my first journey, and I got to sit across from this weird man. He was so weird in fact, that I took notes about him. Look it over and use your imagination:

In the midst of being so busy, I am introduced to a lot of people. What I find strange (and now somewhat paralyzing) is how to actually greet people in the U.K. In America, I am used to giving hugs to friends and acquaintances, professional and social. Here I am not sure how to behave. When I came to the U.K. on business in January, I gave out handshakes to people I just met at the beginning of my trip, but the end of the trip, I said good-bye with a hug. I was telling my current co-workers this, and they started cracking up, imagining me hugging the senior manager. I started to feel bad that I placed this person possibly in a really awkward situation, but back then I was just a visitor, so my strange ways needed to be tolerated. Now, because I really don't see anyone giving hugs when they meet, I just started standing awkwardly and waving, as I read in this customs and etiquette guide that Britons like their personal space. Mind you, so do I, but still I think hugs are nice amongst friends. 

THEN, you have the other side of the spectrum with Europeans. With them, it could be a handshake with a drawn in kiss on the cheek. Sometimes a handshake, leading to a hug, leading to cheek kisses. Or sometimes you think it's just going to be a hug, and then they hold your shoulders for a kiss. Then it's a matter of whether they want one or two kisses! I can't keep track, and when I get sucked into one of these greetings, I am completely even more spastic, not knowing what to do next. Also, are you supposed to actually kiss their cheeks? I have just kind of been pressing my cheek against theirs symbolically, because in NYC, when industry types did this kind of stuff, that is what I would do (along with the little spasms of not knowing it was coming). 

Hugs are simple. One action for 2-seconds, and done. Shows you are happy to see someone more so than a wave, I think. But I am glad to report that when I met up with some girls at work to go to the theatre in London, I was greeted by hugs. I think that means I am officially their friend? All these etiquette guides I have been reading make me really paranoid about making friends here because they all say its a slow process to break down the self-imposed etiquette barriers the British supposedly have. I think I should stay away from these now on, as they are just making me more awkward, and I want to just be myself, which I heard is alright sometimes. 

My thoughts on the Francis Bacon below if you are interested.

Francis Bacon at the Tate Britain

(Disclaimer: These are my thoughts on the Francis Bacon show that I saw. Not to worry if you find it the ramblings of a spectator. Feel free to bi-pass.)

When I came to London to visit in August prior to moving here, I saw an ad for a Francis Bacon retrospective at the Tate and knew I had to see it when I got here. It was amazing! There are a few of his pieces at the Met and MoMA, but to see them all organized was really awesome, and I wish other people could come and see it (it runs until January 4th, so if anyone plans on a visit, I'll gladly fork over another 12.50 pounds to see it again). Sorry, no actual images of the paintings below because I am pretty adamant about not taking photos of paintings.

The entire show was a highlight for me, but here are some bulleted out:

• Studies of Pope Innocent X - Every artist has their obsessions, and Bacon was obsessed with Velasquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X. They didn't have the really famous one where he is sitting in front of the two meat carcasses, but the others are just as interesting. The one I liked the most was Pope 1 because the vaults in the background reminded me of the painting Shulamith by Anselm Kiefer, another painter that I love. What I really like about Bacon's portraits is that he places a constraint on the space by using 'space-frames' (his term) and flat color backgrounds, while his figures are really textured, sometimes transparent and ghost-like, which gives them an energy against this fixed space. Also, his grotesque renderings of the Pope remind me of Dante's treatment of Pope Bonafice, but what in my life do I not relate to Dante?
• I really like things done as triptychs. 
• This might just be me being a populist, but I really appreciate Bacon because he was painting his own form of realism during a period where abstract art reigned. It's not like his artwork is not cerebral, but there is something immediately gutting about his work (perhaps all the gore). It is raw, at times primitive (to me), elicits a reaction for sure. Some of his paintings are a beautiful hideous where you don't want to look at it because he does ugly so good. I like artwork that everyday people can just look at and get something from, if anything. I hate walking around art museums and people are just being esoteric and ass-holey snobs about art. Sometimes abstract art is too out there and turns people off to looking if you don't have an art history background, where Bacon is something that will make everyone react. It's bizarre walking through a sterile gallery with paintings like this on the wall. I could see if someone stared long enough it might just make them want to scream.
• The Archive Room: There was one room dedicated to Bacon's reference collections and personal notebooks. I always like things like this because you can see the artist's process. This room included photographs he used for figure studies, photos he took of his friends, books and other materials. Everything was covered in paint, and you could feel the work moving through these images. 
• The Memorial Room: This was one of my favorite rooms, and I went in not knowing what it was about. I just really loved the images in this room which were three triptychs on three walls. I thought I should read the wall note since the 40 people reading it had moved away, and my reaction to the works started to make sense. This room was dedicated to Bacon's good friend and frequent model, George Dyer, who committed suicide. I got two postcards of 2 of the triptychs here. You probably can't see it well, but here they are. It takes a real man to paint with pink and lilac, and he does it so well. He takes all the saccharine out of the color and makes it just tragic:

Triptych-August 1972 (top), Triptych-In Memory of George Dyer (bottom)

• Bacon's use of paint reminds me of Rembrandt (think of the chains he is wearing in his self-portrait at the Frick Museum), where he just globs the stuff on and it looks like intestines, ribs, bones, blood, and guts. You know what it is without it being detailed out. I paint the opposite of this way, but I think that is why I love (and envy) it, because I don't think I can do it. 
• Little mouths everywhere: In many of Bacon's paintings there are random mouths with sharp teeth in weird places. This just reminded me of a story that my friend told me about a friend they had who had a tumor on their back. When it was biopsied, they found little teeth inside of it, so they think it might have been a remnant of a twin. Completely gross and disturbing story, but that's what it reminded me of.
• Use of allusion and loving T.S. Eliot: I am into this. The Waste Land is one of my favorite poems and Bacon used it in particular in the painting dedicated to George Dyer (above). Nerd ALERT!

Anyways, here is a link to the exhibition website if you want to look further.

After going through the galleries, I went to the cafe to get a coffee and a croissant because I was on low energy and the day was really dreary so I wanted to wait till the rain let up before heading back (unfortunately it just got worse). To add to the bummers, they didn't have any croissants, but they had a tea special which included a scone, so I opted for that. How British of me to have tea and scones. 

The entire seating area was full, so I ended up sitting in the education break room at a children's table. The guy at the cashier assured me it was "very nice." It was a elementary school cafeteria, that's all I can say. I also learned I was eating my scone all wrong by the looks of this granny sitting at the table next to me. She was aghast that I had not cut my scone opened, applied my clotted cream and jam and ate. Instead I would just cut off little pieces and apply the spreads accordingly. I made a huge mess, as the scone was really crumbly, so I could see why her way would look better, but the stank stares were pretty obvious and made me feel like an oaf. Perhaps I should go to some etiquette classes for proper tea-time consumption?