The NY Children project

The NY Children Proyect has a relatively simple objective:

"Photograph one child from every country of the world. "

But there's a twist:

Each child must currently live in New York City.

The result is a stunning slideshow of some of the 151 beautiful little faces captured by the project so far. Each child is from a different country and each lives in New York.

Little expats. :)
The photos are spectacular, as well.

Big Think

When I was in my twenties, I spent long nights going through The Book of Questions with the man who was then my closest friend. Today I stumbled upon a website that takes that same idea - simple, direct and thought-provoking questions - and brings it to the web, and best of all, to well known "movers and shakers".

On Big Think, Mary Robinson, Deepak Chopra and poet Billy Collins (just to tell you with whom I spent this afternoon) along with politicians, writers, business moguls and nonprofit leaders answer easy and not so easy questions in short videos. The videos are relaxed and informal, leaving the "experts" to comfortably stumble and wander through their answers. My visit gave me the odd sensation of having shared a cup of coffee with Mary Robinson, and gotten up up the nerve to ask her about her philosophy on life.

Then, after telling me he believes life is about learning to "smash moments", Billy Collins accepted my invitation to recite Questions about Angels!

Altogether, quite an afternoon.

Big Fun in a Little Pueblo

"It's a windy, stormy, sunny Sunday in Castilla-Leon, and we have no roof on our house."

So opens the first post in Big Fun in a Little Pueblo. Big Fun is written by Rebekah, an American living with her British husband in a tiny town on the Camino de Santiago in Palencia. Rebekah lives in Moratinos, near Palencia's border with León, toward the end of the Camino's long march through the "meseta" more than a few (sadly mistaken) pilgrims dread, or trade for a bus ride from Burgos to León. Flat and virtually treeless, with endless horizons and perpetually changing skies, the meseta was one of the most memorable stages of my Camino. The meseta taught me patience and filled me with huge helpings of silence and hearty food while it introduced me to an evocative form of traditional architecture I'd never known existed in Spain: mud houses. Truth is, we could easily blame my photo posting delay on my fascination with - and propensity to click in front of - the meseta's mud houses.

Rebekah lives in one of those mud houses, which she is restoring "to offer some kind of hospitality to pilgrims."

As delighted as I was to discover Rebekah and her blog, my visit's sweetest treat was the EB White quote that closes her profile. If you ask me, EB's hit the nail on the head about living anywhere you've pushed aside that pesky and "idle pursuit of making a living" to make room for something else. He's done a fine job of describing life on the Camino, too:

"E.B. White wrote, 'Just to live in the country is a full-time job. You don't have to do anything. The idle pursuit of making a living is pushed to one side, where it belongs, in favor of living itself, a task of such immediacy, variety, beauty, and excitement that one is powerless to resist its wild embrace.'"

Rebekah will be showing up soon on my Webs I Wander list.

The world is small, and round.

I've been outed.

To Kiva, at least.

In their own words, "Kiva.org is a non-profit organization revolutionizing the fight against global poverty by enabling people to connect with and make personal loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world." If you'd been reading me a while, you know it's also an idea I (frequently) get (vocally) passionate about.

Ann from Kansas City, with whom I seem to have all kinds of things in common, wrote today to tell me she's been reading me on and off for a year or so and:

The reason I decided to write you today is this -- I learned about Kiva on your site a while back and last week finally made a "loan." My two kiddos (10 and 7) and I had just watched an amazing show on PBS, following the education challenges of seven or so kids around the world. It was so moving and my kids, especially the 10 year old, were so engaged. I decided that would be the night to finally do the Kiva thing and together we picked two enterprises to help fund. While on the site, I noticed a volunteer opportunity to translate the project descriptions from Spanish to English. Capitalizing on the rush of great feelings I had gained by loaning, I e-mailed to volunteer.

That's when it got fun. She mentioned in the translator application that she'd discovered Kiva through this blog. Which sent Kiva's translation coordinator to the web to check out the mysterious Kiva-plugging blogger.

Who turned out to be me, one of the first members of her Spanish to English translating team.

El mundo es un pañuelo.

It's a small world - and I'm convinced it's a world we can improve through simple little acts like clicking your way through an online loan or two at Kiva. If you've yet to wander far enough into this blog to read my previous posts about Kiva, now is the perfect opportunity.

Better yet, check out this video: New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof travels to Kabul to meet the baker he loaned to through the Kiva site.

This Kiva post I have a new idea. As I told Ann in my e-mail this morning, the only thing that comes close to the rush I feel reading payment updates from the Kiva businesses I've helped fund is the grin that spreads ear to ear every time I translate an entrepreneur's story from Spanish to English so his business can be posted on the Kiva site.

If you have the ability to translate from a language of the developing world to English, stop by the Kiva volunteer page to see if you can help out. The site lists Spanish, French, Khmer, Russian and Ukranian as the languages most needed at the moment. You'll find non-translating volunteer opportunities posted, as well.

I led Ann to Kiva, and Alex, too, as I recall, and Laura, all by simply yapping here and pasting a banner in the sidebar. You'll also find banners, email footers, links to Kiva groups on Facebook and LinkedIn and all kinds of neat ways you can help out just by spreading the word at the Kiva Get Involved page.

I promise you'll be helping motivated, hard working people change their lives for the better. That's a good thing, but I tell you, you'll also taste this magic rush Ann and I share - this simple but rockin' rush at knowing you stopped simply caring, and did something to make a tangible difference.

A mis 95 años, or, if you ever needed a reason to learn Spanish

I'm very late to this party, but I discovered a warm, funny, entertaining and inspiring blog yesterday: A mis 95 años.

A mis 95 años is the blog of a 95 year old grandmother (soon to be great-grandmother, as she enthusiastically announces on the blog) from Muxía, Galicia. María Amelia talks about the history she's seen and lived, current Spanish politics, the best way to prepare Galician dishes, life in her seaside pueblo, daily life at 95 and whatever else occurs to her, while her grandson types. The blog was a gift from that grandson:

Internet friends, today I turn 95. My name is María Amelia and I was born in Muxía (A Coruña - Spain) on December the 23rd of 1911. Today is my birthday and my grandson, who is very stingy, gave me a blog. I hope to be able to write alot and tell you about the life of a woman my age. (my translation)

How cool is that? She talks, he types. Man, to give a blog and a grandson like that to more people who have lived (and continue to live!) like María Amelia.

When she first started her blog, María Amelia claimed the title of oldest blogger in the world. She's since lost that crown to an Australian woman over 100, a woman who says she was inspired by María Amelia.

A mis 95 años reached 100,000 visitors in its first month online, and María Amelia was invited to interview with websites, newspapers, television shows and radio stations all over the world; the interviews are now posted on her site.

But I say it wasn't María Amelia's age that kept me at her blog for hours last night. It was her blogging...er....talking.

She's frank. She's funny. She's wise. She's warm, even when she's feistily telling off a reader who's spewing partisan politics in the comment box or suggesting her grandson and readers are manipulating a helpless (hah!) old woman.

And she's lived the 20th century. Her first memory is World War I, and she's posted photos, stories and memories of her life before the Spanish Civil War, and during, and after. When she writes about an army officer she believes was her family's salvation at the war's outset, the man's nephew writes in to compare notes, suspecting the officer might be his uncle, who had been in her village when the war broke out and died later, in combat. Within a few e-mails, they piece together the officer's story.

When a 15 year old Spanish boy asks her a series of questions about the Civil War for a school project, she answers politely, and then asks whether he likes spending time talking about war. Because she doesn't.

She clamors in post after passionate post for ADSL in every pueblo in Spain, including hers. When her cries fall on deaf ears at Telefónica, she posts an open letter to José Luis Zapatero, the current president of the Spanish government, suggesting that her many years of loyal service as a Socialist alone ought to earn her ADSL access, and that he is her only hope of persuading Telefónica to offer it in her area.

She is beautifully open about expecting death. Before she leaves on a trip to Brazil she leaves orders to ship her ashes back to Muxía if she doesn't make it back alive. (She not only makes it back, but gets up to dance at the dinner she attends the night of her arrival in Brazil - after a 20 hour flight! I want to be 95 like María Amelia.) She celebrates her birthday monthly, since, according to María Amelia, that's what you do at 95.

At the end of one of the interviews posted on her site, the interviewer asks María Amelia a question I suspect he poses to all the bloggers he speaks with: what do you think your blog will be like in 5 years?

A few excerpts from my new blogging hero's answer (translated quickly by me):

Well, God gave me this spirit and he's going to laugh. I want to live. I'll have to die by force, because I don't feel at all like dying. Are there things to make us sad? Okay, but there are joys as well.

....I'm keeping my feet in the earth until I just can't anymore. I like this world because it's beautiful. We don't know how to respect it. But it's a paradise!

And the 95 year old blogger closes:

If at the age of 100 I'm not a mummy, well, this will be a very big blog. Because I have a lot of grandchildren.

En fin. If you can't read María Amelia in Spanish, go learn.

Wandering Spain

Well that faceless roving photographer has finally published some of her photos of our wanders in Cáceres, La Alberca, Mogarriz, Ávila and Salamanca. Her photos say what I'm not sure I've managed to say in two years typing about what a pleasure it is to wander this little corner of the world. She's captured the magic, as I knew she would.

And yes, as she so boldly announces in my comment box, you can also meet me face to face in an interesting (to say the least) portrait of the wandering tour guide and the photographer's husband here.

A little bit of everything

A hornazo of blog tidbits, to keep you busy while I travel:

I've spent three glorious days listening to every archived program currently offered on Carlos Perez's elclubdejazz.com.

For an ear to ear grin, try a search in Google Elmer Fudd. Vewy sweepy, fow exampwul. Ow twy wabbit. Cwazy wabbit.

Better yet, go straight to Google pig latin. Eelingfay Uckylay? Hmmm?

El País told me last week that during one hour in the metro station at L'Enfant Plaza in Washington DC, 1070 people rushed right by the violinist playing in his heart out. 27 people threw him a coin, nickels, the odd quarter. He made a little over 32 dollars in that hour. Rush hour. One woman, a young employee of the US Commerce Department stopped, stared and listened. For an hour.

She recognized the violinist, since she'd seen him perform 3 weeks before in the Library of Congress.

The violin was a 1713 Stradivarius, and the 40ish man playing it, in baseball cap and jeans, was Joshua Bell.

Leonard Slatkin lost a bet in the whole deal, according to El País. He was sure a crowd would form, and 50 and 100 dollar bills would hit Bell's violin case.

Made me wonder what prodigies and wonders I walk by every day, going where I have to go, without ever knowing......
Walk slowly and listen. I'll be back next Sunday.

2 expats, 2 cameras, 1 passion to create...

If you haven't discovered Natural Light, the new photography blog following the camera-wielding exploits of my fellow wandering woman and Alison - a Kiwi and a Canadian in Belgium - you're missing beautiful photos and thoughtful, intriguing conversations about creativity, photo-snapping, and life in a place other than your own (or your original, I'd rather say....)

The blog's title:
Natural Light: 2 expats, 2 cameras, 1 passion to create....

and a daily opportunity to grin ear to ear, says me.

While I'm at it, I recommend occasional strolls through wandering Di's photography website as well....

A Year in Europe - That's not crazy, is it?

A post by Ben at Notes from Spain led me to A Year in Europe.

I was following the trail of this spectacular photo of Córdoba, hoping to find more just like it. I did. A trip to Andalucía may be the only cure to my reaction to a ayearineurope's flickr account.

A Year in Europe is a blog, a spectacular photo trail and a series of podcasts chronicling the adventures of an American couple who quit their jobs, sold their home, and set off on a year-long wander through Europe.

From Córdoba, ayearineurope's photos took me to Sevilla, to the only place I'll eat breakfast in Seville, Bodega Santa Cruz (tostada con jamón y tomate, or salmorejo...and well worth a stop back in the evening for pinchos), then on to a flamenco performance at Casa de La Memoria.

A small excerpt from Say What?,
the post that started this visual treat of a trip:

We’ve lived fairly safe lives so far, each following a predictable and somewhat unfulfilling career path that has left us both asking, “Is there something more?” And over the past year or so, we’ve had a few significant experiences that have reminded us how short and tenuous life really is. So we’re doing something about it. That’s not crazy, is it?

I secretly hope they plan on passing through Salamanca. Pinchos are on me.

Jo Berry: Building Bridges

Last Saturday El País published an inspiring interview with Jo Berry and Pat McGee, two of the participants in a recent conference sponsored by a Basque organization dedicated to promoting nonviolence and dialog as a solution to conflict.

Jo Berry is the daughter of Sir Anthony Berry, a member of the British parliament killed by an IRA bomb at the Conservative Party conference in Brighton in 1984.

Pat McGee set that bomb.

They now call each other friend, and speak together about the journey they've both been on since meeting each other, at Jo's suggestion, in 2000.

You can read an inspiring English language interview with both of them at a wonderful site, The Forgiveness Project. I promise their story will get you thinking - about division, and "forgiveness". And dignity.

After her father's death, Jo Berry went to Northern Ireland to hear the "other side's" stories. She found the "other side" far more interested in her story than people back in England. She listened and she talked, and eventually she worked her way into a meeting with the man who had killed her father, through mutual contacts.

A few excerpts from Jo Berry's telling of her story:

Perhaps more than anything I’ve realised that no matter which side of the conflict you’re on, had we all lived each others lives, we could all have done what the other did.

My commitment is to see the humanity in everyone.

The website of the organization Jo Berry founded, Building Bridges for Peace, links to all kinds of good things, including Action Transport Theatre, British theatre group currently (I think) presenting an original work based in the story of Jo Berry and Pat McGee.

Bruno Morandi, Photographer and Traveller

Visit this photography site - Bruno Morandi's site.
Just go.

In the interview with Bruno published on his site, he talks about looking for movement in his photos:
"What interests me in photography is the ephemeral."
He captures it. Each photo is a poem, a frozen moment.

I was compelled to take this quote with me, as I left his site:

The right shot at the right moment does not come because you do not let go of yourself. You do not wait for fulfillment, but brace yourself for failure....The right art is purposeless, aimless.....letting go of yourself, leaving yourself and everything yours behind you so decisively that nothing more is left of you but a purposeless tension.

Eugen Herrigel

Replace "shot" with high note, solo, poem, paragraph, wheeled pot (chuckle, yes I can relate), whatever, huh?


I found Bruno through woman wandering over in Belgium, who was tipped off by Manic.

Wheylona in the Painted Forest

Wheylona's posted about her trip to Ibarrola's Bosque Pintado, the painted forest I mentioned here.

She's posted gorgeous photos of several of her recent wanders through Basque Country, in fact. I'd hit the main page and plan to scroll awhile.

Mondomix

Check out Mondomix if you're in the mood to discover some new World music. The site's chock full of interviews, reviews, artist profiles and an MP3 store, Mondomix Music where you can download all kinds of good music.

I found them through a backward link from this review of Buika's CD, Mi Niña Lola, in which Daniel Brown quotes my comments on her concert in Salamanca. I don't think I'd yet appreciated what a still-too-rare treat I'd had hearing her live.

By the way, Buika is playing November 28 at the Palau de Música (wow! what a venue!) in Barcelona as part of the Barcelona International Jazz Festival. I'll be heading back from the States then, but if you're in Barcelona, I can't imagine a better treat than hearing Buika in the Palau de Música.

Of course, if the wall becomes self expression...

John responded to my wall post with this fabulous link to photos of the street art showing up on the Israeli wall in the West Bank. Scroll through the 5 or 6 photos to the right.

Ahhh, creativity can make anything beautiful. My day is restored, thanks to John. My favorite is here....hmmm or is it here?

If they build this bleeping wall across the Mexican border, I have an idea. Who wants to go paint a piece of it? Laura, you in? John?

Virtual wanders and a breath of autumn

Well, that was a long absence.

Let me welcome me back with a couple of delicious virtual journeys.


Go catch up on the New York Times' Why We Travel slide show. Just go. I guarantee you'll come back aching for a journey. Or to read about one of mine. :)

That wandering upstart who travels the North under a name remarkably similar to mine posted a link to this wonderful, inspiring, just-go-brew-a-cup-of-tea (or pour a splash of your favorite red)-and-lose-yourself-here-for-a-while site of Scott Stulberg's photography.

Air's chilly in Salamanca, days are shorter, students are back in full force, fair's over for another year. I'll hope to be here for a few days, before heading to Madrid to pick up the visiting Chicagoan who has been duly warned to bring a sweater.

Surfing: Novica

An article at the very crowded if intriguing World Changing site led me to Novica, a nifty site giving artists in developing countries a web portal through which they can access all of us.

From the site:

NOVICA unites you with more than 2,000 extraordinary master artists around the world. Read about their lives, explore their fascinating cultures, and select from more than 17,000 handcrafted works of art.

A quick surf to the jewelry page showed me lots of treasures a tad outside of my gifts-to-myself budget right now, but I get the feeling I'll be back at Novica.

The interview with the site's cofounder, who started the business after a career as a UN officer, is a great read.

As are the reports by the site's Wander Woman, (dear God, now there are three of us) who files reports from afar as she travels the world meeting talented artists in farflung places.

Nice work, if you can get it.

It's a Sign

Wheylona is a self proclaimed "gringa" living in Donostia. And she got a full force belly laugh from me with this post.

Robert Leon and Tribalcog

2 new, delicious finds for vicarious keyboard travelling:

Robert Leon
My personal favorite? His photos of Cuba.

Then wander through Tribalcog.

Chromasia Photoblog

This you must see.

Pour tea, wine, whatever and browse these thumbs.

Is this photo from just a few days ago my favorite?

Hmmmm.....I don't know. Why do I love this so?

Link today, Lisbon tomorrow

Lisbon report tomorrow, I promise. Today got completely away from me, as the first day of a vacation week should do.

Meanwhile, I found this MP3 blog today. Every entry is a visit to a song, a personal tour of a cut from a blues, or jazz, or who knows what recording, many of them Bsides, others the original recording of a classic, many of them taken from vinyl. The MP3s are posted temporarily, to give you enough of a taste to send you out to find your own copy of the recording. But it's the posts, and the background and the links that had me hanging around for far too long tonight......