Temples of Cold
We did a bit of shopping at the monastery store. I bought beads, some small bells and a couple of gifts.
We then headed to the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, a
monastery built in the early 1900s. There were
about 6 or 7 temple buildings. We went into
two of them and saw many intense statues of
gods and demons and some interesting artworks
- including two representations of hell - one
with fire and the other with ice. I chose not
to pay for taking pictures which was twice the
price of the admission but I really regret
that decision. There really was some amazing
things. The temperature outside was less that
10 degrees and it was even colder in the
temples so we did not visit all the buildings.
I hope this temple complex remains intact.
High rising housing construction was circling
it like wagons in the old west.
The Natural History
museum was interesting for its amazing fossilized
dinosaur bones and eggs. My favorite items were a
fully intact pelvis the size of a flattened VM
bug and a claw as big as me. Unfortunately photos
were not allowed.
A final shot at Happiness Land next to the Korean
restaurant and a history lesson at the
Ulaanbaatar airport
The highlight of the trip home was 12 hours in
Beijing but otherwise it was long and
uncomfortable. We arrived in Beijing (the airport
is beautiful), checked into a crappy hotel very
near the airport and then arranged for two taxis
to pick us up at 12:30am and drive us around for
a couple of hours. We then slept for 3 hours and
headed back to the airport at 7:00am. Needless to
say there were no tourists at Tiananmen Square so
it was us, the many surveillance cameras and the
military guards. We walked around the square and
outside the wall of the Forbidden City, which was
closed. We encountered two guards in an
underpass, one seemed thrilled to talk to anyone
and practice his English, the other did not say a
word but did not seem to mind Connie posing with
him for a picture.
Beijing airport
Tianeman Square and the underpass where we talked
to the guard. Note the cameras.
Near the Forbidden City
We flew through Tokyo but felt no real sense of
trauma from the earthquake disaster in the short
layover. It was just another busy airport. Miyako
had been worried the whole time we were in
Mongolia and was able to talk to her family a
couple times there and at the airport before we
headed to the US
Day to Day
A embassy van would pick us up and we would be dropped at the various locations for teaching, choreographing, lecturing, observing. We went to universities, grade schools, the School for the hearing impaired, three different dance groups' studios and a place called The American Corner where young adults gather to learn and practice English. These organizations were all chosen by the embassy and we were welcomed everywhere.
I mostly took photos and videos but Sarah and I talked at the American Corner one afternoon. This was not a dance audience and I got the feeling they were not necessarily interested in Dana's group but they did seem interested in how we felt about Mongolian folk dancing, contortionists," Dancing with the Stars" type programs and Lady GaGa. Mostly I think we provided real English speaking people to talk and listen to.
In the evenings we went to the hotel bar and worked on the Chronicle for Higher Education blog. Dana wrote, I made editorial suggestions and then we went through photos that fit with the text and/or were interesting. We then emailed everything and in the morning at breakfast we were able to see the final blog entries at the Chronicle site.
We usually drank Chinggis beer at the bar and one
night we sampled the local wheat beer.
On Thursday early
evening we were finally able to do a bit of
shopping. We went to the huge State Department
store which sounds like it kept its name from
Soviet times. The souvenirs were on the 8th floor
so we spent time there. I also ventured down to
the cashmere floor to find a sweater for my aunt
Zita and was successful. (Cashmere is an
important Mongolian export) We were some of the
last people in the store.
Friday (last full day in Ulaanbaatar) was spent
at the theater preparing for the evening
performance. The uneven wood plank floor delayed
warmup and rehearsal. The 4 dancers and I walked
around a bit and ate at the Grand Khan Irish Pub
which was pretty good. The floor was eventually
covered with felt and the a marley (vinyl) dance
floor. The dancers said that dancing on it was
other-worldly but they did fine.
The performance was by embassy invitation only
(not sure why) and was about 3/4 filled. US
Ambassador Addleton (who grew up in Macon, GA)
and his wife attended and stuck around for the
little reception afterwards. We took a group
picture of embassy staff and translators, Tumen
Ek dancers and other guests before heading back
to the hotel to eat and blog at the bar.
Out and About in Ulaanbaatar
Sukhbaatar Square - the
centerpiece of Ulaanbaatar. The statue on the
left is of Sukhbaatar, who helped free
Mongolia from the Chinese but in the center of
the building is a huge impressive statue of
Chinggis Kahn, the hero of
Mongolia and the namesake of some excellent
beer.
Some traditional outfits worn by mostly older
Mongolians, I suspect the fellow in red is a monk
but I like the Burberry scarf (I think dancer
Connie - whose photos are mixed with mine -took
that shot)
Ger district in town and spreading up the distant
hillside and new high rises. You can see the
river bed with water flow that never fills the
bed even in springtime.
The folk dance
company we worked with were called Tumen Ekh and
we spent a lot of time at their studio/theater
space.
The top pic is the entrance with dancers Sarah,
Kelly and Dana and one of the many translators we
worked with. The red door inside (with Dana) is
just inside the building and through the door and
upstairs is an art gallery with this giant
traditional musical instrument called the horse
head fiddle. Later in the week we bought some of
the calligraphy works you see on the walls from
the fellow next to the fiddle.
To the right of the red door is the studio where
Dana, Sarah and Kelly taught and choreographed.
Dana choreographed a duet and a group piece in an
amazing short period of time. The duet was with
two very talented (and nice) male dancers (with
Dana in one of the pics). One was the only dancer
who spoke a small amount of english. Dana did not
have a translator for most of his choreography
sections so he was was a real help, but
demonstration was the language mostly used. There
are other pics of the dancers on the DTSB&Co blog
Near the studio is a Korean restaurant that
actually served great coffee and lots of
different Asian cuisine - the best Chinese food I
had in a long time. On the way to the restaurant
was this building with the English name
"Happiness Land". This building was photographed
by the group more than any other.
The first night we were there we were able to see
a performance of the Tumen Ekh dancers, singers
and musicians - very impressive. The female
singing was a similar to Chinese singing (like in
the movie Raise the Red Lantern). The males did
some throat singing. The dances were very
energetic. The costumes were gorgeous. The
contortionists were a bit odd. The bottom pic is
of the Tumen Ekh dancers, directors, the embassy
cultural attache (Marissa) and DTSB&Co group.
The two males in the fur hats are the males in
the duet.
Mongolia - the trek to UlaanBaatar
This was the start of a 30 hour plus trip to mongolia. We flew 6 hours to San Francisco and then flew 12 hours to Seoul, South Korea, The Seoul airport was the first highlight of the trip. We had a 4 hour layover so we snooped around and found a "Rest and Relax" lounge that served Korean Air customers. For a fee we could sit, eat and drink with free wifi for as long as we wanted. We could also pay a reasonable fee to take a shower, and get a manicure and or a massage. Sarah, Connie, Miyako, and Dana took a shower and got a foot massage. Kelly got a full body massage. It was such a nice break.
These are not linked to larger images.
Seoul Airport - cultural center with performances
and crafts. Treats at the Rest and Relax center
Fun bathroom sign. We could not resist the shower
Dana and Sara getting a foot massage
When we arrived in
Ulaanbaatar we were met by the embassy Cultural
Specialist Otgon (I thought she might be Klingon
but I was wrong). Otgon organized all the
activities and performance venues and she really
packed our schedule. She gave us a packet of
information and included a box of official
embassy chocolates.
These ARE linked to larger images:
This is where we eat breakfast. Omelettes
made-to-order, so-so coffee and great yogurt.
The outside of the hotel looks like a typical
soviet era building but the inside is quite
lovely. Dancer Sarah Halzack and I are on the 3rd
floor probably the second window from the left
looking into the sign. The pic on the left is the
bar where Dana and I have been blogging every
night. (He's getting paid to blog for the
Chronicles of Higher Learning) We have enjoyed
local beer and wheat vodka
We are driven around in official State Dept vans
Some food pictures - cappucino with a lovely
spoon, mutton dumplings and tongue, a local dark
beer (Otgon is in the background)
Recent History (October)
Here are some late fall flowers that were hanging
in there on my balcony
Several family members and high school friend
Karen were in DC for Dana's concert. We went to
the National Gallery East Wing to see a Munch
exhibit and then had lunch at the American Art
museum.
This is a magical little causeway going from the
backstage area of the dance theater to the front
entrance. It seemed like a secret.
June into July
I did not include this nice picture of Graeme and Lynda's cat, Willow.
The local farmers market started. It is a block
way. The first weekend I was front and center
buying squash for our favorite chipotle squash
casserole (which is like the Go Green and Gold!
(high school colors) casserole we used to make in
high school only with that pepper twist). Here is
my favorite vendor.
I have not updated
this blog recently because I was busy doing a
music collage and video for Dana's new piece that
was shown as one of the evening performances at
the Smithsonian Folklife festival. The
performance went well. Here you can see a bit of
my video work on the TV. The piece is called
"Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love". The other
picture is of his piece "Island" that I took from
side stage. I love that big fan!
I took this picture of Dana's rehearsal
mistress's baby Marie Elizabeth (my two middle
names!) at one of Dana's rehearsals. She might be
about 10 months old.
This past week/weekend I bought four new tires,
cycled twice, took two long walks, did a little
shopping, swam, watched fireworks from the
balcony, saw 3 bats flying around near the
balcony 2 nights in a row and prepared for my
trip to Edisto next week (yay!).
Halloween and some other stuff
.
And we saw some nice old school paper Halloween
decorations on a walk around the neighborhood.
The fall colors were
nice this year. Here are some pics at work and
from my balcony.
The night before
Halloween I had drinks with Dana and Tati and
Dana's new dancer Hala. Here's Tati and me
matching the couch fabric so nicely.
And then there was
the fun halloween party at Dana's where I dressed
up as a 60's go-go dancer. Take a look.
Public Speaking
After two of the three performances Dana, Sara, Connie (dancer), Judy (costume designer) and I took questions from the audience. I am not real comfortable with this. Dana thinks it shows me that he appreciates my design work but mostly it just shows the dance audience that I am not very articulate. I am getting a bit better at it but I still do not enjoy it. I did get some nice comments/questions after the performance from people who like me do not want to speak in public.
Here are some pictures from the theater and at Dana's after the Sunday night performance where he treated us to dirty martinis and pizza.
The dancers getting ready. Anne, Dana's rehearsal
mistress and her new baby, Marie Elizabeth.
Ann and Sara. Pulling the projector down.
Martinis and Pizza at Dana's
Dancing Fools and Ornaments
Also if you missed it as the Picture of the Week, the 2009 McDonald Family Christmas Contest has been announced:
The theme is Christmas ornaments! How fun is that! It has been on the list of suggestions for a while and we've had a lot of literary themes lately so I thought it was the right time. This year is a big anniversary of the contest. I started the contest 20 years ago to try and climb out of a pit of depression. I never would have believed we would still be doing and that it could be so challenging, frustrating and stressful yet so ultimately fun and creative. 20 years, can you believe it?
So as we say to each other every year: Let the procrastinating begin!
Incas, Dragons and Finches
I am off to Peru next Wednesday with Dana and his dancers and am very excited. We will visit 2 cities - Cusco and Lima. From Cusco we will take a ay trip to the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu, 8000 ft above sea level. I am looking forward to seeing architecture from both the Inca civilization and Spanish invasion, good Peruvian food, Pisco sours (too bad we wont be there for National Pisco Sour Day). My only concerns are altitude sickness, pickpockets and my spanish speaking skills, which are probably at a pre-school level. I will try to blog but I don't know how easy it will be to find internet access.
Recent activities:
Lyla, Tracy and I headed down to the Potomac River to watch the Washington Dragon Boat Festival. We met up with Golden but we were not able to stay to see him race.
The dragon boats launched in front of the Watergate and Kennedy Center.
Here are boats racing heading to the right and returning to the launch are going left. Lyla, Tracy and Golden hanging out.
Web-footed and non habit-wearing spectators (I think they are nuns).
I usually would have planted flowers on my balcony by now but the weather has not been that pleasant. I do have some rosemary and marjoram that Zita gave me when Lyla, Tracy and I spent last Saturday working in her garden so that's a great start. But the upside of a late planting is that the birds have been stopping by to grab some of my dead twigs from last year's garden to build there nests. One day last week purple finch couple foraged through one of the planters:
My car passed DC inspection this past week!
Thanksgiving 2008
I got some good news yesterday. The injury that I sustained during my first Bollywood class and that has prevented me from going to ballet class was not a hip labral tear. This means it is something I can mend using physical therapy rather than surgery. And I now know that an MRI with contrast means a needle is going to be stuck into your thigh and then god knows what happened then to get the dye spread out. All I know is that it went on forever and I whimpered a lot and the students observing had horrified looks on their faces.
I have some pictures collected that I've been meaning to show. These two are from the theater at Towson University where Dana performed last Spring. The lipstick marks are in the stairwell leading from the stage to the dressing rooms. The other is from the dancers warmup class.
And here are some pictures from the neighborhood
A decoration probably for Diwali outside a local Indian restaurant and the line I stood in for voting (It took 45 minutes)
Here's some neighborhood graffiti at Howard University Law school and a nearby post office.
This my office where I have several Graeme Rock originals.
TV show reviews
Mad Men The design of the sets and costumes is amazing and the story line is so riveting. Every character is just so interesting. Roger Sterling has the best lines. Joan is the best bitchy-on-the-outside/vulnerable-on-the-inside secretary ever. I want to be Peggy (except for the hospital stay part). Don Draper is so cool even when he is a tortured soul.
Chuck: When it ended last season I thought it had lost its charm and seemed to be concentrating more on girl spies in sexy clothes. But this season there is more fun stuff going on with Chuck's co-workers at More Buy and there are fun disguises for the guys and gals.
Fringe: I like it most weeks especially the interaction between the mad scientist and his world weary son. The lead is pretty and tough.
30 Rock: Except for the first episode of the season it rocks!
Samantha Who?: Not anywhere near hilarious or ingenious but I still like it. Sidekick Andrea is the best thing since Patsy on AbFab.
And finally, a little video of a recent video chat. Little T, who seems to have learned a mischievous thing or two from his dad, figured out how to disconnect from the chat at one point.
Tough Times
I had a busy Saturday. Dana performed at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and so I tagged along to make sure my audio and video worked and to participate in the post-performance discussion. I had to speak into a microphone and everything! Nam June Paik's nephew Ken Hakuta (some may know him as Dr. Fad and the inventor of the wacky wall walkers) was there and he very casually told stories about his uncle (whose videos we used in the piece). After the talk someone actually came up to me to talk about the video and music. I almost felt like a professional.
When we got to the theater the museum had put down a floor covering for dance but it was in terrible shape - dangerously loose and rumpled. So the dancers and the crew got busy to smooth it down and tape it. No lighting person was provided even though they have state of the art equipment so Dana ran the lights on (he's taken a lighting course so he knew somewhat what he was doing). Despite all these difficulties it all went well and we had an audience of about 200 people. Most stayed for the talk.
Here's some footage of the dancers at work:
My dance friend Brooke and I went by Dana's house for a little get together with Ken Hakuta (he told more stories of his uncle and some of the famous people he has met like Yoko Ono) and then headed out to the far suburbs of Virginia to the ladies -only dance party organized by my Pakistani work friend Saima's sister and some of her friends. Many of the women (who were predominantly Muslim) arrived all covered up in scarves but within minutes of arriving were on the dance floor shakin' their groove thang. The shades of the rec center were drawn, the french doors were covered with black plastic, no cameras or alcohol was allowed. The dress ranged from conservative traditional to modern "western" cocktail dressy. There were women from ages 12 - 70. They played American, Hindi and Arabic music. The DJ was actually the girlfriend of a real DJ who specialized in World party music. The party was OK. If there had been other rooms at the rec center or a break in the music Brooke and I would have been able to talk to the women that Saima tried to introduce us to. It was just too loud to make any sort of personal connection. Brooke and I tried to do some of our Bollywood dance moves but were had trouble remembering them and no one else was doing them. It was still interesting though.
Misprints
"...and multimedia artist Laura McDonald..." says the Washington Times
"... a Laura Macdonald montage ...." says the DanceViewTimes
All three were positive reviews of Dana and his dancers and I am happy that I was part of it.
And here's a panoramic shot that Joe took of the new Chinese embassy that was just completed. He has walked past the huge construction site every day for the past three years
It's Over
Here's an excerpt from the music.
Here are some pictures from the performance taken by a professional photographer, not me.
That Cone Thing That Dogs Wear
And in other animal news, Dana's sweet dog Pico hurt his leg and has to wear a cone to keep him from licking, biting, irritating the wound. I felt so bad laughing at him but could not help it.
And here are some neighborhood pictures.
One of the Chinese construction workers building the new embassy has pimped out his hard hat.
And we found some plum trees.
And finally I tried something new this week. My dance friends, Brooke and Marcia, and I went to a great Indian restaurant called Indique and I had appam, a rice flour pancake, with chicken curry. It really was delicious. Appam is from the Kerala region in southern India which is somewhat familiar to me because it is where one of my favorite books The God of Small Things is set and where Vasanth, the most talented dancer we met on our trip to India, is from.
Not burning down the house
We like candles but we don't like fires so we have purchased the next best thing - LEDs that look like candles but won't be burning down the house. We have two types - the sleek candelas and the playful candeloos. Here is a candeloo with a friend.
Spring Things
Quicktime movie
(5.2 MB)
I should have added the sound of crickets
chirping.
I come from a
predominantly non-musical family (I was in the
Virgin Islands when Graeme was born so how do I
know he was not adopted?) so it may come as a
surprise that I have been asked to create a
musical score for a dance piece. Luckily it
involves mostly computer work - using existing
song samples, vocal recordings, special effects.
Could be fun, could be the downfall of a
highly-praised choreographic career. I'll keep
you informed.
More Beer reviews
Stone IPA is brewed in California and is mighty
fine with lots of hops and a nice clean taste.
Something New For The Resume
The process was interesting. The piece was partly inspired by a world war II love story by Marguerite Duras. I searched the National Archives web site for images of war and death and planes. I video-taped the dancers at one point and did a lot of Google image searches. I put together a lot of little videos for Dana to look at and eventually we decided to use the still images from the National Archives, images of telegrams I found on Google, and some film clips of war planes flying in formation and of typewriters being typed on. The images appeared at the beginning and then towards the end of the piece totalling about 7 minutes. The whole piece was about 75 minutes long.
A highlight of the process was going to the National Archives storage facility to scan and print the original photos. I am now an official reseacher and I have a picture ID that is good for 2 years to prove it.
Here are some fuzzy pictures of the performance with some of my images in the background. I took these during dress rehearsal.
The Reviews Are In
So when we were growing up we had things we were identified with and that was what we got as gifts. Lenore's thing was pigs, lynda's was mushrooms, mine was owls but that somehow changed into frogs. So I still get frog-theme gifts and sometimes I buy them for myself especially cards. One morning this week I noticed, somewhat to my horror, a "gift" deposited next to my car. I have no idea how it got there. It seems to be made of plastic.
New Mexico
- The mountains and mesas on the highway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe
- Bright shiny colorful lowriders on the highway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe
- Talking to and buying jewelry from the Navajo and Pueblo Indians in Santa Fe. Learning about Pueblo pottery at the Penfield Gallery in Old Town Albuquerque.
- Discovering sopaipillas and eating a frito pie for the first time
- Spending Lyla's money on turquoise jewelry
- The bunny family in Anna and Joe's yard
- A 5 minute rain, hail, wind storm followed by an afternoon of beautiful sunshine
- The exhibits on sleep (pillows, beds, quilts, sleep rugs through the ages) and dichos on trucks at the Museum for International Folk Art.
- Watching lightning across the prairie while sipping beer with Dana in his parents' back yard
- The mariachi band playing in Old Town Albuquerque
- Here are some pictures
Spending Other People's Money
The Tour de France is going on and without Lance Armstrong (due to retirement) and other big names (due to suspician of doping) the race is very interesting.
A recent picture I took:
Ice Cream Update
The bread machine has been put away and the ice
cream machine is out. We've made two delicious
batches so far - vanilla and cinnamon.