Tickle · the · Pear

Believe or not, I have never been to Hawai'i (except for stopovers to/from the Philippines), but if I were ever to visit I'm sure I'd feel right at home. Every year the Smithsonian organizes the Hawai'i Festival, and on Saturday I took a break from reading proposals to see one of the performances.


The building design allowed for a lot of vantage points.

Hawai'i Festival by sylviaburkina

I think it's always more fun to dance with accessories.

Hawai'i Festival by sylviaburkina

Especially the beloved ukelele!

Hawai'i Festival by sylviaburkina

When one find Marimekko fabric for $5.95/yard (at the Crate & Barrel outlet) instead of $48/yard, and one is about to go to lands where one finds a tailor or seamstress at a reasonable price, one buys a lot of cloth.

So this


marimekko by sylviaburkina

will soon turn into four of these (handy slash pockets not visible):

marimekko by sylviaburkina

May is Asian-American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I wasn't able to go to the Dragon Boat race but I managed to make it a couple of fun events last Saturday.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Bangkok and Washington DC, and the city arts office organized a performance of traditional Thai puppetry. It was gorgeous and amazing, though strangely the troupe is called "The Joe Louis Puppet Theater." The performers are classically trained dancers, and their movements reflect the puppet's (or vice versa). The puppets themselves were beautifully detailed.



Joe Louis Thai Puppet Theater by sylviaburkina


Joe Louis Thai Puppet Theater by sylviaburkina


I walked down Pennsylvania Ave. to check out the Fiesta Asia Street Festival. I was impressed that there was a real effort to include the Asian-American experience as well as the usual folkloric dancing and food kiosks. The concept of "Asia" was pretty wide as well - there was a belly-dancing stage and a big tent for Tajikistan.

I really wish I had this outfit.


I'm glad we made the effort to see the annual airshow at Andrews Air Force Base because the Pentagon had announced that due to budget concerns the Joint Services Open House will be held every two years from now on. Luckily Sunday was a relatively cool and overcast day; I think I'd die if it were hot, humid, and sunny. The military excels at logistics, and we were transported to and from FedEx field in cheery yellow school buses guarded by men in black with weapons. Of course everyone came to see the Blue Angels but the other acts were fun to watch as well, especially one where a group of planes formed a heart and one plane shot through the center. I knew taking photos was going to be a futile effort so here are galleries from DCist and WaPo.

It's been a happy convergence of spring going into summer events and my lack of travel (til Bangkok in July) that accounts for my frenzied schedule. The latest rundown (apart from the recent drama with the Caps):

Last Saturday, the international mother's day bazaar at the Islamic Center, which drew a lot of people who were also attending the EU Open Houses. MoBob and I went with three Moroccan friends, for whom it was their first visit to the mosque. Two ladies provided caftans and headscarves at the entrance, and, as always, I looked like a Malaysian exchange student.

That evening we attended "The Spirit of Polynesia" show at the Washington DC Temple Visitors Center. We were seated way in the back (Moroccan/Polynesian time) and heard a young man with a big, booming voice over the course of the evening. During the Samoan segment, we saw him bound down the stairs and start dancing on stage. It was a homesick Samoan elder! I hope he didn't get reprimanded for that.

Plus, I love that we were probably the only car with a Cal bumper sticker in the parking lot.


We were planning to see the Song1 installation but the skies didn't cooperate until Wednesday. MB and I brought camp chairs and enjoyed the projection. So beautiful. I actually teared up, though not at the specter of Giant Tilda Swinton. We were next to a young woman with five little ones who all looked under the age of 6 or 7, who sat calmly in the dark. We were all transfixed.

This is the stuff I've been working on: Obama Unveils Private-Public Partnership on Food Aid.

I was glad to see Daniel Libeskind speak at the Goethe Institute. The public was invited to listen to him converse with the director of the National Building Museum, which was a nice format. I took a look at my notes:
architecture is a musical performance
there is an urgency to history
history is what architecture is
the notion of a collective memory is very abstract
what is the difference between space and void?
there is a tension between the building and the exhibits it holds
Jacques Derrida was a friend of mine

And for the start of the weekend, we went to the famous Bistro du Coin. It was OK. The waiter was authentically distracted and rude, but accepted our orders in French.

To a Child

The leaves talked in the twilight, dear;
Hearken the tale they told:
How in some far-off place and year,
Before the world grew old,

I was a dreaming forest tree,
You were a wild, sweet bird

Who sheltered at the heart of me
Because the north wind stirred;

How, when the chiding gale was still,
When peace fell soft on fear,
You stayed one golden hour to fill
My dream with singing, dear.
To-night the self-same songs are sung
The first green forest heard;
My heart and the gray world grow young—
To shelter you, my bird.

Sophie Jewett

This week went by very quickly, and I'm afraid that my weekend will be sucked up by 100+ proposals I have to look at. I'll be spending Saturday holed up at the local coffeehouse. Normally I'd work at home but I can concentrate best in a place where I can't just take a nap.

Last Sunday we went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. We went several years ago with mokey4 and this time toasted her with a root beer. On the way back we ate at a Waffle House and checked the results of the French presidential election on our iPhones. The waffles were good, but the rest of the menu was not so good. I couldn't believe that I couldn't order any fruits or veggies except for a limited choice of salads. IHOP was a lot better in that respect.

MoBob in his element



That night I met up with the Cal alumni supper club at Distrikt Bistro for Jewish Moroccan food. We'd eaten at the DCJCC before but this is a new restaurant. The food and service were okay - as usual the lively company was the best part of the evening. I wish I'd gotten a photo of my seatmate wearing a Cal yarmulke.

Thursday night we went to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy perform with the National Symphony Orchestra. The last time I'd seen them was on the Millenium Stage; this time the venue was much posher, but without any room for dancing. Alas.

Faithful readers may recall that from time to time I engage in a self-improvement kick (which, oddly, never seems to involve diet and/or exercise), and in the latest stage I hired Sal at Already Pretty to help me figure things out. I knew or suspected some of her recommendations, and others were a a complete revelation - I'm long-waisted? I need to wear shorter skirts? What was really helpful was for her to point out entries on my fashion blog of outfits that worked best, plus she drew up several polyvore sets for me. The hardest part of me was to actually inventory my wardrobe. It took me a couple of hours to type everything up. Granted, it was when moving items between seasons, but it was still a long process.

What apparently looks good on me:

Dresses for work by sylviacabus featuring a floral print cardigan

Pant suits by sylviacabus featuring a one button blazer

One day I wore my purple dress with a red cardi, accessorized with a big black flower pin and my black ballet flats, and got many compliments.

One of the many reasons I like living on the East Coast is that it's relatively easy to get around. If I were living in LA, for example, I don't think I'd just pop over to San Diego for the evening. But that's what I did for my lightning quick visit to Philly to speak to the "building global bridges" class at Drexel. I had originally planned a four day visit, but since we had a staff retreat on Monday, I just went up for Tuesday evening. My talk went well, and the kids had good questions - and I was envious because they were learning all sorts of stuff that I didn't even get in grad school, like how to write a proposal. I exchanged my ticket home for an earlier Acela train. Very nice and well worth the extra cash.

I went to a presentation from the nutrition research center on links between agriculture and nutrition. i.e. there is no automatic correlation between more stuff grown or more money with lower malnutrition rates. I pointed out that for the Bangladesh info we should talk about how men do the grocery shopping, and one of my (female) colleagues (with a PhD in plant physiology from Harvard) chirped up, "Can I move there?" ha ha sigh.

We went to see our dear friend Maryam talk about her new book. She looked as wonderful as always, and it was just so much fun to catch up with her and other friends from Morocco (Moroccan and not).

On Friday afternoon (working from home!) I finished up early and ventured over to the flower market at the National Cathedral. The craft kiosks and food trucks greatly numbered the number of actual flower/plant stalls, and there were performances and a real merry-go-round (or carousel?). It really was a different world - I never knew there were even flower patterned lacrosse bags. I strolled inside the cathedral and though I didn't see Darth Vader I was happy to look at the space window.

This afternoon I attended a delightful lecture on comedy in ballet. Or, rather, comedic ballets. I especially loved the excerpts from Jerome Robbins' "The Concert" which even non-ballet specialists can enjoy.




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On the Metro today there was a large group of Filipino teenagers on board. I sat across from a smaller gaggle of girls. I know they were trying to figure out if I were Pinay or not because I understand *that much* Tagalog. They were pretty freaked out by a big guy who was walking up and down the aisle yelling "You have to love the black man!" He stepped off at Metro Center but they stayed on til Smithsonian.

For some reason the girls made me think of an experience I had when I visited the Philippines during college. My cousins and I paid the equivalent of a $1 to attend a dance that was held on the high school's basketball court. The basketball court was in a sunken part of the yard, and when I looked up I saw crowds of people above us. They were kids who weren't able to pay the $1 watching the kids who could.