Mountain Weekend

This weekend, a few of us headed north to the mountains, a place called Jarabacoa. The highlight activity was whitewater rafting with this organisation. There were a few nerves, but it all went well, no one falling in the water, the boat staying upright, we did all get very wet, especially those of us at the front (one being me). Jarabacoa is a strange place, with more motorcycles than people it seems, though with the roads in the condition they are, its the only efficient way to travel, the other being to ask whoever drives past in a Daihatsu pick-up if you can jump in the back... it works very successfully. Jarabacoa sprawls out into the surrounding countryside, with the quality of life deteriorating the further from the centre you go - aside from a few holiday homes built by the country's middle class as mountain retreats to take advantage of the cooler weather (25C rather than 35C) in the summer. We also saw one of the waterfalls in the surrounding area, Salto Jimenoa. Jimenoa is the name of the river that it's on and this one is called "Jimenoa Dos", they're not so imaginative on names there it seems.

We returned on Sunday night and went to the Malecon, SD's main waterfront street, where there was a parade going on, some Catholic feast day that wasn't really explained in full by our guides - a few of the kids from the orphanage where there's a volunteer project that make the Sunday night "salida" one of their week's big deals. I'm a little envious of the guys who are involved in that project because of the closeness of the relationships they have with the kids. With the orphanage being in the city itself, its easy for us to hang out with them at weekends or evenings when they're allowed out. For me, working in San Cristobal means that not only is there a geographical distance between myself and them, but there's also the gap in intimacy that the 30km creates. I guess I'll just have to work at getting to know the guys at La Refor as much as possible.

We're the kids of San Cristobal

Two things about Santo Domingo - one, it's still hot (until it rains... hard) and two - you can't buy a watch anywhere that you'd usually expect to. We managed to get to the project in San Cristobal - emphasis on the "to" syllable) despite getting the non-express bus, which translates into having one guy drive while the other hangs out the doors and tries to convince potential passengers, especially the cute girls, that they need to go to wherever the bus is going. There's also the frequent stopping to chat to the motorcycle taxi guys and buy random stuff from street vendors, which isn´t great when you've got the seat that lets in the beating sun.

The kids at the school - a reformatory run by the Catholic church - are great, always smiling (less so the older ones who probably want to be perceived as too cool) and keen to find out where we're from and what we are doing there. I'm sure this will wear off as time goes by and as we have more structured lessons - something that I'd like to see happen sooner rather than later. The first football session was pretty deflating as the school has precious few resources for training and only one ball that qualifies as half decent. There may be a shopping trip to try and find cones later on. Let's just hope they're easier to find than watches.

Sweating like a P. I. G.

Have arrived in the Dominican Republic (DR as it's known by the Yanks) and have been introduced to the staff at my placement - San Cristobal, which is about 30km to the west of Santo Domingo. The folks at the guesthouse are really nice and my Spanish is massively underprepared for the barrage that hits you wherever you are. Last night we went to a bar that puts on traditional dance shows, very entertaining and... umm enlightening. I'm not sure I'll have the chance to upload photos at all, but I´ll do my best to describe the place - it's like no-where I've been before, but I'm going with the flow (another Dominican thing). More to come, I have to go shower as I am behaving in the titular way.

Return to Ocean City

Just recovering from a crazy last few days in the US in time to catch my flight to Santo Domingo. It went roughly like this.

Thursday PM
Cram in final shopping and sightseeing - rowing on the lake in Central Park... thank you Anny for coming with me and making the afternoon so enjoyable.

Friday AM
Final Spanish lesson and preparations, go nuts about conjugations of "hacer" in particular, thank you Laura for your great teaching and giving me so much work to do. I hope that it's the start of something like learning the language - so what if I end up with an Argentinian accent.

Friday PM
Packing and organisation for Maryland roadtrip to accompany Mary (with Nadine and Megan) to the wedding from hell on Sunday (ex-s, cousins, really shouldn't mix). Rendezvous with the rest of the group to pick up the hire car and buy snacks

Saturday 2.00AM
Leave New York and head to Ocean City, MD to watch the sunrise (6.45am), mission is to keep Nadine awake while she does all the driving and somehow help navigate roads that I know nothing about.

6.45AM
Arrive in Ocean City, watch sunrise, get breakfast, play skee-ball (I lost to the girls a lot!), surprise my old boss by showing up in the store - visit memory lane, tell stories about the summer of 2000, swap life stories of the past six years, get nostalgic about the forgotten memory of signing the stock room wall. Visit my old flat (after remembering it was on 5th and not 7th street and feeling a sense of satisfaction at having had an address two blocks better than the one I'd imagined)

2.00PM
Arrive at Romancoke to drop Mary with her family, meet the world's most annoying pug.

7.00PM
Arrive in DC to visit Robin (friend of Nadine's) and go for dinner here which was fantastic... lovely sommelier who helped us defy convention and drink red wine with seafood, "What's a sablefish?", great people watching/bitching.

12.00AM
Crash on the futon

Sunday 9.00AM
Leave for breakfast in Annapolis (pretty little naval town, full of boaty types) which is within "airlift" distance of the wedding, and to visit the mall, my first since arriving six weeks ago.

2.00PM
Perform mission extracting Mary from wedding (involved me - mystery unknown man - walking across the reception during the speeches and leaving with Mary (who looked incredible) immediately after the last toast.

Rest of PM
Drive back to New York, "Sexy Back" getting us through the traffic and tolls and bridges (nearly blind Nadine and cause and accident after leaving the flash on while taking pictures in the car).

9.00PM
Meet with Masayo (another former room-mate, who's over from Japan) and grab dinner in Gramercy.

12.01AM
Sing Happy Birthday to Nadine on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) and arrive home a few minutes later to finish off packing.

Road trip pics coming soon, but I've got a plane to catch.

Well you can't say it didn't last...

Just had a look at New York's five day forecast, and although it's pretty gorgeous today, it's going to get cold quickly. I know I said it got cold last week, but that was for two days - then it got nice again... Now it looks like the autumn is here to stay, and London's forecast looks pretty damp too. In any case, the onset of cold weather in NY-LON is ok by me, since I just saw this.

Tatanka Fugit

Washington DC's a nice enough place. From a visit around six years ago, I remember it being very politically charged, and that was reinforced, although with less gusto than I imagined. As the centre of US politics, the people I spoke with sensed a feeling of rampant positive discrimination that stems from a conservative government trying to rid itself of the perception that minorities are underrepresented. This is the same discrimination that makes it culturally diverse to to hold a black film festival, but racist to hold a white film festival, the same over-PC ideas that make gay clubs acceptable, but straight clubs non-existent. It may even be behind the strange logic that supports the idea that women should have equal pay but expect male colleagues to always buy the drinks.

Superfluous glorification of minorities is encapsulated nicely in DC's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Billed as the museum in which the native Americans finally having the final say in what is said about their history. The museum itself is a great collection of artefacts, displays and multimedia testimonials from Native Americans. There's no disputing that what happened to the indigenous peoples of the Americas during the European colonisation of the continent is one of the biggest tragedies in history both at a humanitarian level – with the unfettered spread of European disease wiping out – and from a human rights perspective, with Native Americans being slaughtered and forced into slavery without much flinching from across the Atlantic. However, the problem is that the Native American culture is inherently linked to particular tribes – of which there are thousands – each with different world views. This leads to a museum that is disjointed, hard to follow and with no real narrative or theme that you can take away from it. It's clear that the past and keeping a balance with nature are the key elements of where they found their identity, but a large portion of the museum was dedicated to life today – which appears to be much like any other American, only with a few special occasions thrown in. Meanwhile, video screens have the elders eulogising their culture and expressing that its so important to remind the children of where they came from.

Its fair to say that the native cultures of Latin America and the Inuit, still live on in everyday life of the people. But for the American Indians of the USA, where certain exemptions from US law have fostered casinos, alcoholism and trailer park mentality, one has to ask if the ideology of their ancestors really lives on in the reservations. If they no longer have the same beliefs and practices, then can they justify the claim that they identify with all that appears in the NMAI? Societies come and go, and we can certainly celebrate the positives that come from each of them, but now the Egyptians have stopped the practices and beliefs of the Pharaohs' dynasties, they certainly do not claim to the same culture that we see depicted in museums. I have to disagree with the Indian on a DVD loop who claimed that “It's so important to let [the children] know where they've come from.” since they are being brought up in a world where its not only those outside of their social sphere that discount indigenous ideologies as irrelevant in today's world, but it's their school friends and in all possibility many of their family as well. So let's celebrate the positives of native cultures, but please let's not celebrate culture for culture's sake by pretending or insinuating that life on the reservations is any more valuable or culturally rich than my life in my comfortable London flat.

Having said that, the restaurant (buffet style) is fantastic, with all kinds of traditional recipes, breads, and meats – including buffalo – which I had to try and actually enjoyed. The meat is naturally more tender than beef and has both a taste and texture that has no real close comparison I can think of.

Next door to the NMAI is the Air and Space museum, full of things that fly (at a variety of speeds and altitudes) and a revelation that the Chinese invented the rocket launcher. Plenty of lunar modules to gaze upon, although I hear that the real excitement is in an out of town extension which can house bigger stuff (read: Space Shuttle Enterprise, the Enola Gay and Concorde). I'm also down to five days left before I'm off to the DR, “time flies” as they say.

Spoon overlooked in not enough awning space shocker!

Saturday night, after a good chat with GL about life, work + flip-cup, went to a restaurant called Knife + Fork, which is tucked away on E 4th Street. There's almost no option for true vegetarians there, but there's a great selection of seafood (Pan seared scallops + caviar, followed by grilled black sea bass were my choices) on the menu. We (Nadine + Mary + Me) also had an in depth discussion about a forthcoming trip to Maryland, which may or may not involve a view of the sunrise from the beach at Ocean City. The last time I experienced that was about six years ago, when I was still drunk from the night before, decided that I also wanted to go surfing + I had to start a shift at work in three hours.

There's also a pretty dingy hookah bar around the corner from the restaurant, which was more compelling than the desert menu (The dish having run away with the Spoon meant that they only had a choice of two from the menu) so we decamped there until the early-mid hours of the next morning. The hookah bar seemed to be a big hit with the NYU crowd, American students experiencing cultural diversity no doubt, and was run by a bunch of guys from the Lebanon. I think at some point I did apologise for Israel's demolition of their home country, but it was more out of empathy than an apology on behalf of the Israeli goverment - which I don't think I'm eligble to give. But they were very accomodating and the apple hubbly bubbly + more drinks got me ready for bed + slightly dizzy (Julien is going to have to give me more lessons on the pipe to avoid that in future).

Sunday to the coach to Washington, DC to visit Courtney for a few days and get a new passport after the old one took a trip on the Electrolux-Warm-Cycle-Fast-Rinse ride. The journey isn't as quaint as the New England scenery, more of a schlep through such East coast charms as New Jersey, Delaware + Baltimore.

Oh yeah, it also got cold a few days ago... just so you know.

The antiretroviPod?

An iPod to cure AIDS? Well that's what I understood from the headline in this story... Apologies for lack of medical knowledge, but I'm not sure a portable music player will have any effect on the virus?

The red iPod costs $199 and - get this - $10 of the purchase price goes to the Global Fund to fight AIDS. With Apple set to post yearly profits of circa $1.9bn, am I the only one thinking, "That's probably not the most altruistic thing they'll ever do"? Another great headline from the news was "Bono to Fight AIDS With RED iPod and RAZR." I can't wait to see how he gets on with that...

Will brands please stop using the red gimmick as something to make us all feel so much more warm and cosy? Motorola, Apple, AMEX - you all exist to make money for your shareholders, not to fight global pandemics... please do not insult our intelligence so much by insinuating that the token 5% of revenue from novelty products is really doing your best to help one of the world's biggest problems. Anyway, if you really want to "fight AIDS" then you're probably better off without an iPod, and putting your $199 straight here anyway.

Chicago, the show not the place

Just got back from seeing Chicago... Usher was meant to be in it, but he called in sick (lame) but it was pretty good nonetheless. Despite my natural inclination away from musicals, I enjoyed myself and would recommend it - the jazz isn't groundbreaking, but the band was very tight and the cast looked to be enjoying themselves, which is always a good sign.

Other recent gems have been the Met and the MoMa (Museum of Modern Art - the New Yorkers like to shorten things into acronyms or similar e.g. SoHo = South of Houston; Tribeca = Triangle below Canal; Nolita = North of Little Italy and my personal favourite DUMBO = Down under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) although I lament the US' lack of subsidy for museums so that most charge an entry fee unlike the ones in London. It's worth thinking whether the Tate Modern would be so popular if there were a £15 entry fee to navigate?

What's next? GoogleSpace?

Is there any pie this company doesn't want a substantial piece of?

We come in peace.

I couldn't help notice the irony of reading a deeply troubling passage from my current reading material, which I'm ploughing through in preparation for my trip to the Dominican Republic in a couple of weeks, and watching a parade on Columbus Day, to celebrate the explorer's arrival into the New World in 1492.

While the colonisation of the Americas is broadly recognised as a good thing in the long term, and while we now have a multitude of committees, charities, and trusts set up to preserve the heritage of indigenous cultures, the initial outlook towards the native people of these countries was less than hospitable.

Colombus' reports regarding the people of Hispaniola, what is now the DR and Haiti, outlined two tribes (Taino and Carib) and highlighted their suitability for slavery, the Taino for their submissive and accomodating nature and the Carib, simply because he believed their 'barbaric' ways made them undeserving of anything more than subjugation.

So why is the day set aside for celebrating his achievements? Has Colombus been mythisised or assimilated into a fictional adventurer by those who retell the story with movies and novels? Is the spreading of European culture and religion a sufficient enough outcome to counter the atrocities of almost 500 years ago? I don't know and I'm not in a position to make a judgement on it even if I did have an inkling, so I'll just keep reading.

Want some Chaada?

Yesterday, I returned from a three day trip to visit Suba (LSE friend) in Boston, where she's studying for her Masters in Public Policy at Harvard. Aside from the usual sightseeing activities, I was smuggled into one of her classes on ethics - Utilitarianism to be precise. The class was an interesting mix of those who understood how philosophy works, and those who just have strong opinions. As far as comparing it to my own experience of University teaching goes, I was told that it wasn't the standard, which was a relief, but it was a little eye-opener into just how mythical the gap is between the UK's top postgraduate programmes and those of the big brand name US ones. Very reassurring and some points in the pro column of a potential Harvard Business School MBA in a couple of years.

Boston is what you'd call a nice town, its rich in American history and culture, and has a central place in the country's story of independence. This results in a mix of architecture that spans colonial through to recent times - although in keeping with its small town mindset, the John Hancock Tower at 200 Clarendon Street, named after the first person to sign the United States Declaration of Independence, is perhaps the town's only true skyscraper.

Boston is also home to the well known Museum of Fine Arts, which - when we visited - has the added bonus of an evening reception for members/friends/interested folk on the first Friday of each month. This included access to a part of the museum that is usually closed at that time as well as a free cocktail, compliments of the lovely people at Bombay Sapphire. The MFA obviously relies on the bulk of the attendees being well to do and upstanding arts fans, muddling sinus-cleansing martinis with priceless European renaissance paintings without too much concern for potential damages.

On the eating and drinking front, I tried my first ever Clam Chowder (pronounced something like "Chaada" in Beantown) and was pretty pleased with it, and a lobsterburger - not so good.

Newbury Street is the central shopping, eating and hanging out area, and although it doesn't take any more than an hour to wander down it, there are a couple of gems including a perfectly decked out Ralph Lauren "Rugby" store and a Puma shop, where you can design your own shoe by scanning individual pieces of material to designate certain parts of the trainer. An online version is available here although its more bulky and less impressive than the real thing.

I-95 and all that...

The I-95 - where I stands for Interstate - is the road that takes you from the Bronx, in the northernmost part of New York City, along the Connecticut coastline past Stamford, New Haven and eventually to Providence, Rhode Island. The road makes up about a third of the trip to Boston and takes you past some fantastic scenery - expansive rivers and creeks, gorgeous houses with their own private jetties.

After New Haven, the route turns inland where the notorious autumn foliage of this part of the country becomes more and more prevalent as you approach Massachusetts.

There is such a huge contrast from the last time I made this trip back in March, when there was a covering of snow over the landscape, looked over by a grey and forboding sky. Where the trees were bare, the starkness of the branches has been replaced by a symphony of leaves that are a unique mix of light and dark greens, copper, orange, olive, ochre, maroon, chartreuse and rusty brown; where the ponds and lakes had frozen over, the sun now reflects its brilliance from their still water surfaces, fecund with plant life and beautifully unaware of the highway running past its own idyllic mini-ecosystem. It's strange feeling a sense of familiarity about a place or setting that has become so radically different to that which you know. Boston is a new town to me, yet I've been here before, it seems more alive, more positive and more friendly - is it simply because the sun is out, the snow is nowhere to be seen, Frog Pond is no longer an ice rink and it's not -8C outside?

Half way through the US sojourn

The half way point of my stay in the US was marked with a trip to two of my favourite places in New York in one day. Veselka is a Ukranian diner that sits at the heart of the East Village, a pretty gauche part of town with boutique vintage clothing shops, dive bars and record stores characterising the streets around the southernmost part of 1st and 2nd Avenues. Its reminiscent of Old Street and Hoxton with some Camden charm thrown in for good measure. Veselka serves the usual diner fare as well as its Slavic specialties such as a great borstch (beetroot soup) – which harbours beans and vegetables in contrast to the Polish mushroom dumpling version – pierogi, and kielbasa. Clientèle is a mix of Ukrainians, Russians, and other interested parties, mostly the creative student types – one of NYU's college buildings is a just across the street – musicians, fashion conscious Asians, and fans of Ukrainian food such as myself. In fact, the place seems to have developed a bit of a cult following and has been able to profit from its Manhattan monopoly, adding extra outdoor seating since my last visit (maybe two years ago) as well as a kiosk serving a take away menu just outside the nearby F line subway station. The waiting staff are also very friendly, and appear to be truly flattered by any foreigners ordering their native cuisine.

The second place was Pegu, a very laid back and sophisticated lounge, named after the original Pegu Club in Rangoon, which was a favourite spot of British colonial officers in the early 20th century and renowned for the skill and creativity that goes into making a cocktail. The place does have a Burmese feel to it, with dark woods, decorated trellises at the windows and soft lighting throughout. Those who know where I like to drink will know that its my kind of place, and whilst my date was content to play it safe with a glass of Pol Roger, I tried the Jabberwocky Fizz - London Dry Gin, Drambuie, Lemon and Lime Juice, Soda, served in a hi-ball - which has a sharp sparkle to it that was rather enjoyable.

Brooklyn Sunday

After Arielle's birthday and the McKinsey party last night, today's ingredients for relaxation were brunch at our local haunt - The Farm on Adderly, a trip to Brooklyn's botanic garden, rounded off with a movie - Little Miss Sunshine - yes, in Brooklyn. If you're not sure if you like photos of natural things like plants, look away now.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden is 4 years off its centenary and is a 52-acre urban garden featuring more than 10,000 different kinds of plants. It's not on the same scale as Kew in London, but the effort they've put in to creating a real variety of environments in which to provide an inspirational and educational setting for visitors is notable. The Japanese garden is particularly well designed, and seemed to be one of the more popular spots. The gardens also contain Brooklyn's very own walk of fame. A lot like Hollywood Boulevard's version, only with fewer tourists and less glitz, Celebrity Path has stepping stones inscribed with names of famous Brooklynites past and present. The walkway was donated by the Brooklyn Union Gas Company in 1985. Each celebrity honoured has their name embedded in an 18-inch by 24-inch concrete paving and decorated with a stylized leaf outline cast in bronze. Each paving also contains a bronze medallion of the Brooklyn Bridge, encircled by the phrase, "The Greatness of Brooklyn Is Its People." New names are added to Celebrity Path each June on the borough's annual Welcome Back to Brooklyn Day, and current honourees include - Woody Allen, Lauren Bacall, Steve Buscemi, Aaron Copland, Neil Diamond, Richard Dreyfuss, George Gershwin, Rita Hayworth, Harry Houdini, Harvey Keitel (second name check), Norman Mailer, Barry Manilow, Arthur Miller, Mary Tyler Moore, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Smits, Barbra Streisand, Marisa Tomei (another second name check), and Mae West. Jay-Z isn't up there yet, but it can't be too long.

More information on our eating hangout of choice... The Farm on Adderley comes from an expression that the founder's family used when something was a long shot. They would say, "If that ever happens, I'll buy you a Farm on Adderley." Adderley is a busy, commercial street in Cape Town, South Africa where having a farm is impossible. For them, the restaurant has always been a dream, something he never thought would happen... Ditmas Park was once occupied by farmland, and by using ingredients from local and sustainable sources, The Farm is being true to those roots - and the food is good too.