Fellowship-filled Fourth of July

J. and I had the pleasure of hosting three of the six European Memorial Marshall Fellows for the Fourth of July along with Spring 2007 American Marshall Fellow Heather from Seattle.

Here we are after dinner... pregnancy

And all of us again with Heather's friend Nate in the picture on the left. We had a great time getting to know each other, talking about European institutions versus the American versions, and the unique experiences they had already had in their travels around the U.S.

Such as the church two of them visited in the south that was celebrating military veterans on the Sunday they attended services. In addition to the Marine-turned-pastor who gave the sermon, several Marines rappeled from the ceiling of the sanctuary during the services!

"This is very different from churches in Europe," one of the EMMF's said, still surprised by the event even in the retelling.

"Uh, that's very differnt from most churches here in the U.S.," I clarified.

They were all as smart and accomplished as the other fellows I've met to date, although they of course had the added skill of speaking multiple languages. They each spoke at least three to four, which reminded us Americans in the room how much of a disadvantage we're at on the international stage due to the typical American educational system's approach of not teaching foreign language until middle or high school.

Linguistic regrets notwithstanding, it was a wonderful evening and I hope they enjoyed a typical American fourth with a fairly typical American couple as much as we enjoyed them.

GMF ties revisited

The German Marshall Fund contacts we made told us fellowship participants, "You're now part of a network of fellows around the U.S. and Europe." I had a sense of that in meeting European Fellows who'd traveled the U.S. for their fellowship and welcomed us as instant friends, and before I left for my trip when I called a couple fellows from other years for guidance. Without knowing anything more about me than than I was about to embark on the same wonderful adventure they had, they opened up and provide great tips and insights.

Now that I've returned to my regular day-to-day grind, I was reminded of the camaraderie of the trip and the network to which I do indeed belong when I received a call from a fellow traveler, Carrie from Chicago.
She was coming to town for a short visit and we had a chance to get together, reminisce, and catch up on changes in our lives since the trip. The most obvious difference: I've gained some girth and she's lost over a foot of hair!

She also had a chance to catch up with Heather, another fellow in this area. I didn't get a chance to catch up with them again, but it's nice to be reminded that we are indeed part of a unique network of people from all walks of life who are interested in building ties with people across the Atlantic and across the U.S.

I'll get a chance to increase my ties later this week when I host some European Fellows as they travel through the area. I don't think we can match the grandeur of some of our visits in Europe, but we'll try to show the Northwest in a positive light. More fun sure to ensue!

Fellowship continued: Portugal's high art and lower classes, all in one day

So I've decided the toothpaste is out of the tube and all I can do continue to post periodic highlights of the tail end of my fellowship trip before the warm glow and memories fade. There's no way to fully capture the wealth of experiences, connections, laughs, surprises, frustrations, and insights I gained during the three weeks, so I'll just touch on the big stuff, to use a technical term.

So after leaving the awesome Gulbenkian museum, we headed to the suburbs of Lisbon to meet with some of the city's immigrant residents and several community activists working with them to provide services to youth. This was a major highlight of the trip because we actually had a chance to talk with immigrants to the area, instead of just talking about them, which is how a lot of bad public policy happens.

Over the course of 2-3 hours, we visited a class for children at risk of dropping out. It reminded me the Boys and Girls Clubs in the states because the program serves a dual purpose of providing a safe, welcoming place for kids to engage in constructive activities, have fun, and be with caring adults. In addition, this program worked specifically with children of immigrants who are struggling to learn Portugese, have sometimes-difficult family lives, and are either out of school for disciplinary reasons or at risk of dropping out. The kids above were doing a project that uses construction of model airplanes to learn about math and technology. They were like most 8-14 year olds: energetic, some shy, some self-assured, and all eager to connect with us. They practiced their English, asked us about the U.S. and where we were from, and a couple kids showed off their dancing skills demonstrating traditional African dances that they have melded with hip-hop-inspired music. Despite the challenges the kids face, they clearly felt at home in the program classroom and the room was just filled with typical youthful exuberance. The kind that lead adults in the program to quietly pull one or two rambunctious kids aside and firmly suggest that they cool it.
From there it was over to a settlement where we were instructed to leave our valuables in the van with our driver because it was going to be a lot rougher neighborhood. Once we arrived, we met a resident activist (third from right below) who moved to Portugal himself 17 years ago from one its former colonies in Africa (Cape Verde I think) and now helps more recent transplants navigate the system to get documents, work and other resources.

He showed us around the settlement, set into the hills outside Lisbon. It's basically a shanty town that is allowed to exist sort of outside the law. Every few months, the authorities come and bulldoze a few homes, and residents simply cobble them back together from scavenged cinderblocks, tin for the roofs, and other materials. I snuck the picture below as we crossed a roof in one of the areas. You can see how they've managed to cobble together a community.As illegal immigrants in many cases, they exist on the outskirts of the city and of the law, so when the bulldozers come, they leave, and return when it's safe to rebuild and begin anew. Talk about resiliancy.
Despite these challenges, activists like our host are trying to make life better for the younger generations who have been born in Portugal and know nothing of their parents homeland in the former colonies, beyond the language and customs maintained at home. Like many 2nd generation immigrants, they struggle between cultures trying to find their own identity which is inevitably different from their parents' but not quite that of the country where they were born, all of which creates family tensions between generations.This is the computer lab the activist helped build with other community members. When the young man in the middle heard we were from the states, he said, "Oh! Whassup! Thug life!" A reference to 2Pac Shakur. Great. Europe exports fine wine, luxury goods and centuries old languages and art. We export teachings from dead rappers. I was at least heartened to see that they were all busy using localized versions of Google and Windows programs to look up high end cars and other consumer goods that are completely out of current reach for them to create powerpoints and montages of their favorite things. It all shows the reach of computers, the internet and pop culture, even in the midst of poverty.
Our host was great and wonderfully candid about the situation there and what they face day to day. It provided much more insight into the complexities of immigration issues than some of the discussions throughout the trip with academics who were well-versed in the theory of immigration, but not so much the day-to-day reality.
The visit continued at another nearby location. More on that soon.

Art that angers and a cool museum that doesn’t

So on our third day in Portugal, after I retrieved my luggage and caught up with my group, we had several amazing opportunities: to visit the Galouste Gulbenkian Foundation and museum, to visit an alternative school program for at-risk immigrant youth, and to meet with people in two settlements of residents mainly from former Portuguese colonies in Africa.

First, the museum. It was amazing, but like most museums, prohibited pictures inside. Here's the short story. Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869 - 1955) was born in what is now Istanbul, the son of a wealthy family of Armenian merchants. He multiplied his family's fortune with early deal-making in the burgeoning oil and gas industry and later in life settled in Lisbon. He was an avid art collector and upon his death, gave some of his amassed collection to the Portuguese National Art Museum, and also provided for a foundation bearing his name, where his collection in its entirety could be reunited and preserved under the same roof. It later expanded to fund and include philanthropic, artistic, scientific and educational purposes. More info available online: http://www.gulbenkian.pt/english/headoffice.asp

So at one of the two museums I had a chance to visit in Europe, a guide said they believed that art is supposed to move you, even if it moves you to anger. That made me reflect on the role that art has for many Americans. It seems that many Americans don’t develop an appreciation for art in a variety of forms because most of us are taught that art is something that’s old and framed and hanging in a boring museum that you go see on a school field trip because you have to. It’s something to be endured, not something that’s part of daily life. Again, this is for many Americans, not those who are very involved in the art world or artistic endeavors or just art lovers.

Europeans seemed to be a lot more open to a wider variety of art forms than in the U.S. and to be fine with art-induced anger. The U.S. seems to be more concerned with displaying art exhibits that first and foremost don’t offend; probably because Americans (what with freedom of speech and all) are much more likely to publicly express their displeasure with an installation by going to the media, picketing, or starting calling campaigns with like-minded fellow offendees.

Taking all this to heart and in light of the “move you to anger” comment, I was looking forward to seeing different types of art in Europe and went into the Gulbenkian Foundation's museum prepared for anything and with no preconceived notions. Especially since the collection was amassed by a private individual. It absolutely blew me away, as much for its quality as for the diversity. Paintings, sculptures, textiles (rugs and weavings from the centuries ago), jewelry, intricate tilework, bowl, platters and other display pieces. For a multi-millionaire industrialist, this guy knew good stuff when he saw it.

One installation that really impressed and awed me included oversized, high-resolution photographs of natural disasters over the past century and their aftermath. It had pictures of things like raging wildfires, the aftermath of flooding (including Katrina), and erupting volcanoes, including Mt. St. Helens, which I remember. I was almost 10 and spending the weekend with family at my grandparents cabin in near Ocean Shores, WA. When my cousins and I woke up and looked outside, we thought, “Yay! It snowed.” Actually, it was a layer of ash covering all the cars, trees and nearby homes. We hit the road for home in the slow-moving trail of cars on the interstate inching along because of the reduced visibility from the ash that continued to drift down and the clouds of it kicked up by the vehicles on the road.

But back to the museum: the ancient handicrafts were also amazing. As with my entry on Versailles, I’m always amazed by the workmanship and details in handicrafts from earlier centuries when there was no CAD software (computer aided design) or other modern conveniences.

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but those were the rules. But suffice it to say, if you ever find yourself in Lisbon with a couple hours to spend, head to the Gulbenkian Foundation and Museum. The grounds themselves are also impressive, with a great public park and outdoor amphitheater and the facility often hosts speakers and musical performances.

Lisbon: beautiful water-side city rolls out the red carpet

Lisbon, Portugal is a beautiful city. It ranges from winding, narrow, cobblestoned streets on steep hills, down to a flat area along the waterfront next to the Tagus River, which runs west to the Atlantic Ocean about six miles away.

Here's the basic stats:
Population: 681,063 (city); 2,000,000 (metropolitan area).
Ethnic mix: 70% Portuguese, 20% smaller minority communities from Macau, Brazil and other parts of Europe, 10% African.
Religion: Predominantly Roman Catholic.

Click here for cool Google satellite map of Lisbon, which is called Lisboa in Portuguese.

Immigration
Immigration was a major theme in all of our city visits. I enjoyed the discussion and activities in Lisbon the best because, as in Copenhagen, we had a chance to talk directly with people affected by the process and policies. Portugal was a bit different though because, as you can see from the demographic info above, they have a relatively diverse population resulting from a long history of seafaring explorers and ties with several former colonies, including Brazil and Portuguese-speaking African Countries that includes Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Principe.

Portugal has been a member of the European Union since 1986. Although most EU members have been very cool to immigrants, Lisbon's political leaders have been relatively welcoming of them (within certain constraints).

An important fact to understand about Portugal's recent history is that it was a right wing dictatorship from 1926-74. Within my lifetime! A bloodless coup in '74 ended the dictatorship and led to a democratic government that set about correcting some of the problems of its past.

Given that history, the country's progress over the past 33 years is remarkable. They have strong democratic institutions, including the parliament that we had a chance to visit. Here are some pix.

Our Lisbon crew looking distinguished on the dais at the parliament.

The country's history of dictatorship would be referenced later when we had dinner with an Ambassador and several of his friends and the talk turned to the United States and its history of revolution.

One of the women there started talking reverentially about America's founding fathers and what they'd set in motion with the drafting of the constitution and the Federalist Papers. She was almost tearing up talking about democracy and, while moved almost to tears myself at her earnestness and regard for the institution of American values, to be honest, I was doing mental contortions trying to retrieve factoids from middle school history to dredge up the definition for the Federalist Papers. At the time, all I could remember were they were some sort of blueprint for how the country should be run.

To be more precise, thanks to Google, they were a series of 85 articles arguing for the ratification of the United States Constitution that were written by Alexander Hamilton (first Secretary of the Treasury), James Madison (4th President of U.S.), and John Jay (the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court). Read the whole shebang here for yourself and be moved too. To read them and what they proposed given Portugal's relatively recent history of dictatorship, I could understand the woman's fervor.

Setting aside for a moment my lingering consternation that women and people of color were not included in the Federalist Papers' original vision for the country, it's still a pretty amazing document, especially given how flexible it's been in the ensuing centuries to make up for its original deficits.

I left that dinner feeling more American than ever, and proud of it. Because that conversation and others during the trip underscored something many of us GMF fellows talked about when processing each city's adventures and activities. The people we were meeting, regardless of their feelings about the current U.S. administration (usually negative), admired America and Americans for our history, our approach, our propensity for action over discussion, our lack of angst over the past and historical lessons, and our work ethic, even as they talked derisively about us for some of those same traits.

They're like a guy sitting on the porch with a cool drink in hand surrounded by an overgrown lawn while pointing out the flaws in the techniques of a neighbor busy doing yardwork next door. "He's crazy to work in these temperatures," the man says aloud, while secretly wishing he too could pull himself out of the shade and into the heat of the day.

"But this is who we are," said the Federalist Papers-loving Portuguese woman at the dinner party. "We love to eat, to drink, to smoke, to make love. You may get more done, but we live a great life." Can't argue with that. :-)

Reminds me of the fable of the Mexican fisherman and the businessman. Click the previous link to read. I was reminded of this often during our trip as we had lively, lengthy dinners with people just enjoying us, each other and the sharing of time, with no thought to how late it was and what was to be gained from the interaction. I've vowed to try to bring some of that feeling home. I haven't yet succeeded in replicating it. :-)

More about the museum and settlement visits next.

Another GMF blog to read

Until I get my rear in gear later this week, you can check out some more pictures and commentary from the GMF trip on a blog by BryAnn from Atlanta who heads a non-profit for women refugees in the U.S. Check it out here: http://www.refugeewomensnetwork.blogspot.com/

The delay continues, temporarily

It's been ages since I posted and I have lots of great pictures and posts from Lisbon (wonderful), Belgrade (eye-opening) and Brussels (enlightening) to upload. But here's the deal: I returned from the trip one week ago and I'm STILL exhausted. Partly it's the single day off I took between landing back in Seattle and returning to work. But mostly, it's because I'm a narcoleptic.

Okay, I'm not. Actually, I'm pregnant. But it feels like the same thing: uncontrollable need to sleep and all. I managed pretty well on the trip since I was blessed to have absolutely no morning sickness. (Yes, I know those who did suffer with it or suffered along with someone who did are gagging right now just pondering that sentence.)

Although none of the women fellows on this trip had kids, many of the men did, so they were amazed at my stamina and lack of wacky pregnancy-related behaviors or moodiness. Although I did once glare menacingly at a waiter in Serbia who took the bread basket before I was done scarfing yet another homemade roll. One person asked if I was craving anything. Yeah: MORE. And I seemed to have a Teflon stomach: pickled fish for breakfast in Copenhagen? Yes please! Smoked mystery meat in Belgrade? Two for me, thanks!

Luckily, we had lots of lavish meals, as evidenced by some of the earlier pictures. This trip was perfect for someone who was eating for two. Which is really not accurate, since the second being was about the size of a plum most of the trip. But I still chowed down like a marathon runner carbo-loading before a big race.

Nearly every meeting featured fresh pastries, breads, cheese or fresh fruit, in addition to the ever-present water (with gas (bubbles) or without, as they said), fruit juices, coffee and tea. The lunch and dinner meetings always featured a wonderful array of breads, salads, meats and desserts. In fact, my only occasional food challenge was when lunch started later than expected (1:30 0r 2pm). Luckily, I usually stashed fruit or bread in my bag from breakfast or earlier meetings to tide me over. My "bottomless bag of plenty" kind of became a running joke and provided sustenance to some of the other fellows on a couple of occasions when meetings ran long and blood sugar levels dropped.

More often, my challenge was staying awake after some lavish lunch in a hot (albeit somewhat smokey) restaurant, followed by an in-depth discussion of European expansion policies and immigration challenges. Jeez: why not just give me a Tylenol PM and be done with it? More than once I took advantage of the cover provided by one of the larger guys on the trip sitting between me and the speaker to hide my whiplash-like head nods. But generally I was able to maintain my composure and interest since the topics and speakers were actually incredibly interesting.

So now that I'm back and fully immersed into my work-a-day world again, I haven't really completely recovered from the trip. But I'm getting there and hope to finish off the trip posts this week. Expect short, picture-filled missives soon. Thanks for your patience. :-)

Lisbon: lost luggage, mummies, and cigars - oh my!

So I bid goodbye to our coordinator and travelmates in Copenhagen and made my way to Lisbon, Portugal, by way of Milan to hook up with a new crop of GMF fellows. It was a tight connection, but I arrived in Lisbon without incident. Almost.


After my flight, I walked the gauntlet of smokers IN THE AIRPORT (!) to stand alone at the baggage claim in a foreign country where I could not speak the language and watched as everyone from my flight retrieved their bags and took off. As the number of bags and passengers dwindled, I tried to reassure myself: "At least the belt is still moving. I'm sure mine will be out soon." Then the belt stopped. And I suddenly started sweating. I had nothing but the clothes on my back, a laptop, and a small carryon bag of reading material and must-have toiletries.

I looked around trudged towards a pictogram that seemed to indicate lost luggage. I think it was an airline employee-shaped stick figure kicking a luggage-like object into an abyss. Okay, I made that up in my frustration, but it wasn't far off. I found a line of people in a chair-less waiting area also having luggage problems and took a number: 194. The sign indicated they were now serving number 178. I kid you not.


Nearly an hour later, after growing so tired I grabbed and sprawled out on a luggage rack, I filed a missing luggage report and made my way to a taxi and on to the hotel.


It would be three days before I had my luggage in hand again. Three days of handwashing my clothes, blowing them dry each night with a hair dryer, and calling Portugal Airlines every few hours for updates. And I use that term loosely, since their "update" consisted of telling me the bag had made it to Milan, but they "could not confirm that it was on its way to Lisbon."

They couldn't confirm this because they had no phone contact with the airport authorities: they only worked by Telex. Not e-mail. Not fax. Telex, which is a computer networking system first used in the late 1930s and which is the same system used for TELEGRAMS. No [STOP] stinkin'[STOP] way [STOP].


On day three, I'd had enough. I showered, put on my slightly damp clothes, and took a taxi to the airport. At the lost and found, a woman looked up my missing bag report and led me down a hallway to a secure area that looked like the dingy evidence locker on old police shows: a warehouse-like room accessed through a chainlink gate with a surly uniformed guy out front checking people in and out.


After being security wanded, the airline lady took me inside a room that had literally HUNDREDS of missing luggage lined up. On carts, on the floor, piled in pyramids, and lined up in rows that stretched out for yards on the cement floor. "Do you see your bag anywhere?" she asked. Uh, I'll need a minute, I thought.


So I dived in. Stepping over luggage, poking my head under the cart shelves, pulling bags aside, searching for MY black suitcase among the hundreds gathering dust in the room. Growing discourage and rounding my third large pile, I spotted it, sitting there with the others. I snagged the handle, double checked the tags, signed the release form and headed out. But first I snapped this shot with my cell phone.

I think my thumb got in the way but you get the gist. Imagine these bags times 30 to get an idea of the scope. Unbelievable.


I loaded my bag into a cab and settled back for the ride to the hotel (and cleaner clothes) reassured in my belief that ultimately, I know I can always depend on myself to get stuff done right. Take that TAP Airlines. I'd insert a 'flipping the bird' symbol if I could find one. ;-)

So despite the bag snafu, at least we had great rooms at the Hotel Tivoli Lisbon. This doesn't quite do it justice but it was big, with a king size bed, fresh fruit and bottled water awaiting us on arrival, and this great view.
The picture below is our first night in Lisbon.

Jeff from NC, Carrie from Chicago, Shyam from Atlanta, Tracy from Cleveland, and me, rounding out the Lisbon Crew.
Our first night, we were invited to visit a pharmacy museum after hours, which seemed quirky but turned out to be fascinating.

We learned that French royals took mummies from Egypt and crushed them to make face cream because the oils used in the mummification process were beneficial to the skin. At one point, they commissioned Napolean to handle this task and he brought back 30,000! It's a wonder there were any left for archeologists.
Ancient medical texts.
Our group with the museum director, who was a wonderful host and who had staff prepare a sumptuous dinner in the museum dining room. I think I ate too fast to get pix.
The streets of Lisbon at night.
An amazing and informative lunch during out stay with the president of the Portuguese Parliament and several political party leaders. That's Carrie to the right of the President of the Parliament.

Check out the waiters in tuxes serving us delicious food off silver trays. Tracy, a vegetarian, is being stoic about the rack of lamb on display before her.One thing that took a lot of getting used to for us Americans was the amount of smoking in Europe. There were ashtrays on the tables in meetings and restaurants. At this lunch, after plying guests with food, wine, cognac and brandy, cigars were offered to finish of the meal.
As you can see, the president of the Parliament puffed away, as Tracy and Carrie tried to find pockets of fresh air to either side. I was lucky: only one of my lunch companions lit up and it was just a cigarette. See: I can find the bright side. :-)

But I went through a lot of Febreze in Lisbon trying to rid my clothes and coat of smoke after meals and even some meetings. Europe is apparently changing, but smoking is still alive and well in most cities.

Last night in Copenhagen: what’s with the gravy?

On our last night in Copenhagen, we had dinner at the home of a TV news anchor from one of the two national stations in Denmark. He invited several of his friends who are also in the news business. They were all incredibly fun, smart and welcoming and provided a perfect end to our visit.

One of them had studied at an Ivy League schools in the U.S. for undergrad and when asked what he remembered most about living in the U.S. compared to Denmark, he said, “The food commercials. In America, commercials never had a simple picture of food, it was always an incredible amount of it.”

I completely agreed. The next time you're watching food commercials, check out the proportion of the screen filled with closeups and oversized portions. They don’t just show a small trickle of gravy; there’s a wave of it washing over mountains of mashed potatoes big enough to ski down.

Saturday Night Live did a great parody of this phenomenon with a skit called "Taco Town", which featured a trio of hungry guys raving about their "awesome" favorite order, which grew more awesome every minute with additional ingredients until it was comprised of:

a crunchy all beef taco smothered in nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato, and special Southwestern sauce; wrapped in a soft flour tortilla with a layer of re-fried beans in between; wrapped in a savory corn tortilla with a middle layer of Monterrey jack cheese; wrapped in a deep fried gordita shell smeared with a layer of special 'guacomolito' sauce; wrapped in a corn husk filled with pico de gallo; wrapped in an authentic Parisian crepe filled with egg, gruyere, sausage and portobello mushrooms; wrapped in a Chicago-style, deep-dish, meat lover's pizza; rolled up in a blueberry pancake; dipped in batter and deep fried until it's golden brown; and served in a commemorative tote bag filled with spicy vegetarian chili.

It was ridiculously hilarious, because we're already subjected to fast food items that are not far off from this fictitious gut buster. Case in point: the KFC Famous Bowl. Ingredients, copied from the KFC website: a generous serving of our creamy mashed potatoes, layered with sweet corn and loaded with bite-sized pieces of crispy chicken. Then we drizzle it all with our signature home-style gravy and top it off with a shredded three-cheese blend.

Mmmm. Pass the defibrillator...

Freedom of speech, cartoons and media

On our last day, we met with the editor whose paper sparked the Mohammed cartoon crisis that landed Denmark among the small group of countries to have its flag burned and reviled by international protestors. BBC overview available here.

Given its small size and relatively innocuous activities around the world, many Danes were shocked by the response from Islamic communities around the world to its printing of cartoons considered blasphemous to many Muslims. We sat down with the editor to get the back story, which involved a discussion of increasing censorship pressures and even self-censoring related to Islamic issues in the press. Meaning people choosing not to run articles, images or artwork about or critical of Islam out of fear of repercussions. The response to the cartoons and accompanying/edifying article (which was given short shrift in most coverage) seemed to validate these concerns.

Although the editor, paper and cartoonists did receive support from some Muslims, most of the response was negative, fanned apparently in some cases by activists who used the controversy to raise the profile of their organization or themselves: guess that happens worldwide.

Now, more than a year later, some of the cartoonists whose art accompanied the censorship article still live under protective measures (!) and threats continue to come to the newspaper periodically.

In addition to the obvious questions this issue raised about censorship and media coverage of religious issues, it also again pointed up the shortcomings in U.S. media coverage. While this was a HUGE issue for Denmark and the Muslim community worldwide, the coverage it received in the U.S. focused almost exclusively on the protests that erupted across the Muslim world. There was very little analysis of the issue or explanation of the backstory on the matter.

The lack of U.S. media coverage of international news came up for discussion in each city we visited. Thus, many of us will be returning home with an vow for more diverse news consumption from international media outlets, such as www.bbc.com, which is pretty universally praised in Europe for its in-depth, balanced coverage of world events.

Danish immigration debate from the other side

In each city, the German Marshall Foundation provides us with a city coordinator who plans our schedule and group meetings, sets up personal appointments with people in our areas of interest, helps us get to and from each appointment and generally serves as our cultural guide and point of contact. In Copenhagen, our coordinator Kristina did a great job of connecting us with interesting people, taking or pointing us to notable local sites, and generally making our visit productive, informative and useful.

Our last two days, she set up meetings for us on the topics of immigration and freedom of speech. The same day as the embassy protest, we met with Danish Red Cross officials and representatives of several other organizations working with immigrants and refugees to improve integration through access to services such as job training and community involvement. Interestingly, the overall numbers of people immigrating to Denmark hasn’t changed much in the past 10 years, but where they’re coming from has.

• 1995 – 37,879 - mostly refugees and asylum seekers
  
• 2005 – 40,392 – mostly EU transplants and people coming for employment from Eastern Europe.

These are a couple of the speakers, who both came to Denmark in the last 25 years. They provided wonderful insight on the issue from an insider's point of view.

Currently, the largest group of immigrants comes from Turkey (18%). The next largest group influx to Denmark came from Iraq (8%) and Lebanon (7%). Despite this growth, the country still has just 3.7% unemployment.

There were lots of factoids flying during this discussion, but the main takeaways for me were that many Danes and government officials feel they’re already doing a lot to integrate newcomers and that the immigrants are somewhat “ungrateful.”

But the newcomers feel that for those who are really trying to integrate and become full-fledge residents/citizens, Danes still hold them at arms-length and lump all immigrants together, whether they’re productive contributing residents or not. As an outsider, it’s clear both sides are talking past each other on many levels and simply have different views of the same situation. Clearly the U.S. is not alone in trying to find a better solution to the complex issues surrounding immigration.

For these last Copenhagen meetings, we especially appreciated the speakers' time since they met with us for a few hours on a Saturday. Also, it was much more edifying than our discussions on the same topic in Paris because we heard directly from people who had come to the country from elsewhere. This would be taken a step further (and to even greater effect) in Lisbon.

On a completely unrelated note, after several sunny but nearly warm days, we got a taste of Denmark's true weather on this last day: cold temperatures, some snow/rain mix, and winds so strong they blew one of my gloves away as I rushed to capture the embassy protestors. Although it seems counterintuitive, it turns out that one glove is not almost as warm as two. One is like having none, a problem I would need to rectify in Lisbon, Portugal.

You call this a vacation? Long days, no weekends, but great sights, people and food

I’ve already heard from some folks back home about what a great “vacation” this is. Let me clarify: vacations involve downtime, relaxation, no schedules, and hopefully, fruity drinks. Using those criteria, this experience does not qualify.

We have very full daily schedules and our days typically begin at 9am for a group meeting and travel to the first of several lengthy group meetings and discussions with local officials, personal appointments with local leaders and activists in our areas of interest, more meetings/discussions with officials and Marshall Fund contacts over lunch, followed by more meetings or tours of historical sites or political institutions until 5 or 6pm.

Barring travel time, we may have a short break before heading out at 7 or 8pm for dinner meetings that often last until midnight or 1am. In every European city we’ve visited thus far, lunch and dinner are long meals (2-4 hours) and dinner especially begins and ends much later than most of us are used to at home.

For this reason, breakfast is critical, and fortunately, it’s been included with our room stay in every city. So here’s an example of a power-up breakfast to get me through the day in Copenhagen. Tasty, yes? :-)

The Danes typically start meals (including breakfast) with fish, such as pickled herring, as evidenced by this herring “bar” at one restaurant. I tried it and enjoyed it, but one of my lessons of the day in Copenhagen was that pickled herring on an empty stomach does not really agree with me. Another fellow suggested I start with a bread buffer layer on future attempts. Note to self.

We usually spend 4-5 days in each city, with at least a day, sometimes more, spent traveling in or out. The remaining 3-4 full days, weekends included, are packed with meetings and activities. So I’m often up until 2am or 3 am just handling other daily duties, such as checking in by e-mail or phone with family and friends, and most importantly, doing laundry in my room.

Dry cleaning is exorbitant everywhere in Europe, so I took the advice of previous fellows and brought lots of stretchy but business-appropriate cotton/lycra shirts and sweaters (not to mention underclothes and even one pair of suit pants), which can be washed by hand and dried over a night or two. This would come in handy when my luggage took off on a side trip of its own partway through our travels. Twice.

So while this trip is providing unparalleled access to international locales, leaders, sights, sounds, and cuisine, it is not a vacation. Although I did finagle one fruity, non-alcoholic drink in Paris. ;-) Bottoms up!

Copenhagen days 2 and 3: Immigration, politics, police and cake

The theme of many of our meetings in each country has been the challenges European countries are facing in dealing with integration of immigrants. Denmark is struggling with integration of its growing immigrant population, which includes 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants who were born in the country. Unlike in the U.S., being born there does not automatically bestow citizenship. After nine years, residents must apply to become a citizen.

To close out our second and third full days in Copenhagen, we met with:

• Mehmet Necef, an associate professor at the University of southern Denmark’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies
  
• European GMF fellow Christopher Arzrouni, personal advisor to the minister for Social Affairs and Ministter for Gender Equality.

They each provided great insights about the Danish approach to immigration, which really only began in earnest in the 1960s (!). Before that, Denmark was even more homogenous than it is today.

In fact, I only saw a handful of other people of color when we walked the pedestrian shopping area in Copenhagen, and they appeared to be of African descent. Everyone else was white or tall or blonde, or all three. At one point, our small group of fellows became separated as we perused the shops. We all then stopped to scan the crowd for each other and reconvene.

“I thought we’d lost each other,” someone said.

“Well I know you can find me in the crowd,” I replied, “But I don’t know about the rest of you.” :-)

Non-homogenous me, in the crowd

Over the next few days, we learned that there is great concern among Danes and the Danish government about the viability of their current system of providing generous social benefits to its residents, including immigrants; benefits such as free schools, healthcare, and elderly care, and subsidized housing costs. Unemployed people also get 80%-90% salary (slightly less for unskilled workers) until they return to work. The system is funded by the extremely high taxes working Danes pay: about 45% personal income tax, 25% sales tax on goods, and an eye-popping 300% tax on cars. Still, the country had its lowest unemployment level ever this year: 3.8%.

Still, there’s resentment from some native Danes that the generous benefits are extended to immigrants who, in some cases, don’t speak the language and thus can’t work, and thus can’t pay taxes to contribute to funding the benefits. There is also resentment from some immigrants who feel that even when they do go to Danish schools, learn the language, and become productive citizens, they are still seen as outsiders, even after years or generations of Danish residency. For example, one person we met described himself as “not a full Dane” because his grandparents on one side of the family had immigrated there decades ago. Very different from America where many 2nd generation immigrants describe themselves as American or a hyphenated American even if they arrived very recently.

The government officials we met with are approaching the problem by trying to revamp the benefit system to reduce its cost in the coming years by raising the retirement age, and reducing some benefits, but there is obvious opposition in some quarters to that approach.

We also had the opportunity to meet with Brian Mikkelsen, the Danish Minister for Culture who is with the Conservative Peoples’ Party, and Jesper Gronenberg, the Secretary General of the Social Liberal Party. They each gave us an overview of the Danish political system and how it has worked over the past few years.

Jesper and our coordinator Kristina

Interestingly, the conservatives have been in power there for six or seven years after narrowly losing the prior election to candidates who espoused a very nationalistic, anti-immigration, ultra-conservative agenda. Their leaders, vowing to never again be out-done on conservative issues, allegedly followed the playbook of Newt Gingrich’s successful, conservative Contract With America approach in the late 1990’s and took power the next time. Since then, the conservative leadership of the Danish government has continued to be a strong ally of the Bush administration – a contrast to sentiments we heard from most other European officials and residents we heard from, who are quite vocally anti-Bush.

In fact, we would see this in action a day later on the 4th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War when we passed a crowd of chanting, sign-waving Danes headed to the American Embassy to protest Bush and the war.

Coincidentally, we’d learned a lot about how Danish law enforcement handles unruly crowds the day before when we spent the morning with the National police and the Copenhagen police learning about innovations in riot policing and crime prevention.

Just two weeks earlier, the police had put their refined tactics to use to end several nights of rioting by people angered after being evicted from a youth house they'd been given by the Danish government nearly 25 years ago. According to CNN here, the house had been used as a popular hangout and cultural event site by anarchists, punk rockers and left-wing groups.

Despite more than 600 arrests, only one person was reported injured - facts which seem to point to the success of the police officers' approach, which they refined more than a decade ago after a protest turned violent and resulted in more than 100 severe injuries to participants and a similar number for officers. We visited the site the next day.

The Copenhagen Crew

House had already been bulldozed, but many people were still gathered there, placing flowers on a small memorial and yelling at officers finishing cleanup work.

I asked whether they had studied the WTO riots in Seattle a few years ago and not surprisingly, they had. Their new approach is based on best practices (and lessons learned) from riot situations and police agencies around Europe and U.S.

One thing we found so endearing about the Danish police we met was that, on the surface, they had that cop demeanor we’ve all seen at home in the U.S. or on TV: imposing, businesslike, straight to the point, and clearly able to handle any situation that might arise. This was true of the women we saw too. They comprise 25% of the police force. We felt very secure in their presence.

At the same time, they were very friendly and welcomed us with delicious chocolate cake, pastries, coffee, tea and soda, all while outlining the intricacies of police work and crime prevention challenges in their country, and giving us a tour of their riot police equipment and vehicles. It was like: “This is how we subdue and remove a violent protestor so others in the crowd don’t get hurt. Can we get you more cookies?” Gotta love that. :-)

Me in the circular internal courtyard of Danish Police headquarters, built in the 1920s.

My favorite moment was when a burly, 6’3”, bald, riot police officer escorted me through the circular, cavernous police headquarters to the bathroom and along the way told me about the building’s history, takeover by the Nazis during WWII, subsequent return to Danish control, and the meaning of the decorative scrollwork lining the corridors. He then waited patiently outside and delivered me back to our group’s meeting with a noggin full of interesting historical info. I’ve loved the numerous, slightly surreal moments like that on this trip.

Later that day, we met with the Deputy U.S. Ambassador and several of her colleagues from the FBI, DEA, and the Embassy staff at her residence in the suburbs of Copenhagen. We had more sweets, treats and snacks there, coupled with interesting conversation about historical connections between the U.S. and Denmark and the state of U.S.-Danish relations today (very strong).

There is so much information to process from each day’s meetings, but we are all so busy that time for introspection and journaling time are scarce. When possible, we meet over drinks or breakfast, or during walks/taxi rides between meetings to compare notes and impressions. These moments provide an additional benefit of this experience.

Everyone is so smart and insightful and brings such a range of knowledge and experience to our interactions that we all learn and discover even more by sharing our individual impressions of group meetings, along with lessons learned from personal appointments. I feel very fortunate to now be part of the GMF network.

Copenhagen - Day 1

Every day in Copenhagen was chock-full of meetings and interactions with interesting and influential Danish leaders. First up: a meetng at the Ministry of Environment with Thomas Becker, Denmark's lead negotiator in climate change of the Subsidiary Body of Implementation under the UN Climate Change Convention.



Mr. Becker provided a great overview of Denmark's efforts to reduce global warming by changing personal habits and industrial energy use, in addition to increasing the country's output of green energy, like wind power. In fact, one of the global leaders in the field is a Danish wind turbine company called Vestas Wind Systems. This article talks about Denmark's plans forn using offshore windpower to reduce global warming and reduce the country's dependence on coal, oil and gas.



Next up was a visit with Michael Ulveman, also a German Marshall Fellow, and the Spokesperson for the Danish Prime Minister, which was a real treat for me since we do similar jobs and both have a background as a reporter. He gave us a great overview of the Danish political system, the challenges their country is facing with immigration and the burden on citizens for supporting their very generous benefit system. He outlined options the administration is evaluating and talked about Denmark's role in the EU and on the world stage.


A theme we would here many times is that "(insert country here) is so small compared to the U.S. but we are taking action to deal with (insert regional or global issue) so that we can create a better future for our country and for the world." I felt bad sometimes because it was so clear that the U.S., in contrast, was not being as proactive, despite its astronomically greater size and political power.



It was stated implicitly in some cases, explicitly in others, that part of the reason there is such animosity towards the current U.S. administration from many Europeans, is that we have all this power and influence but we squander it and don't use it positively or productively to compel others to do what's best for the global community. Instead, we sit navel-gazing and getting worked up about purely selfish interests and ostracize other countries, instead of building coalitions to affect greater change and more positive outcomes for people and countries around the globe. Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.



Afterwards we toured the Prime Minister's offices, including coercing Chad and Michael to sneak a seat at the PM's desk. That's our group below in the Prime Minister's very cool media briefing room.And we saw just h0w committed the Danes are to reducing greenhouse gases and dependence on foreign oil. Men and women (often with kids in tow) bike all over the place, rain or shine or snow in Copenhagen. Bikes littered the sidewalks in many parts of the city and there are bike lanes all over. Granted, Copenhagen is almost completely flat, which makes this much more feasible than in say... Seattle.

Still, even their leaders are in on the action. Down below is a shot of the Prime Minister's car. Notice the bike on back. He apparently is driven to meetings that are far away, but sometimes bikes to them and back, or gets a ride home. How cool is that?

That afternoon, we talked Danish Integration with a professor and another GMF fellow who is the advisor to the Minister for Social Affairs and the Minister for Gender Equality. That one was chock full of info too. But that's later. You can see why we are beat by the end of each day: it's a lot of back-to-back meetings on very thought-provoking topics, followed by discussions of the same over dinner. It's a real treat though to spend all day on such interesting issues. More later!

Closing out Paris

This trip has been nearly non-stop with activities and meetings. It's been fun, illuminating, enlightening and draining. But I'm meeting such interesting people and learning so much that I fall into bed happily exhausted each night.


Our last night in Paris, I met with Marie-Claude Peyrache, President of European Professional Women's Network-Paris (PWN) and former director of Communication at France Telecom. Their mission is to work women's progress in the business world.

I'm very interested in professional and leadership development for women and communities of color, so I found PWN online before I left and asked to meet Ms. Peyrache or someone from the organization. The group began as a way for professional women in Europe to build the kind of networks that can help them blossom professionally, develop leadership skills, and build confidence in their ability to join and succeed in the executive ranks.

Ms. Peyrache said women in Europe have only started to really move up into the professional ranks in large numbers in the past 10 years. The organization has chapters in most of the major cities in Europe, except in Germany: there is still more pressure on women there to stay home with young children rather than entering the job market outside the home. I would later learn this is very different from Denmark, where 80% of women work! But the Danes also have a very strong benefit system that provides a year of paid maternity leave, similar availability for men, and low-cost, subsidized childcare. The result is a society with strong support for families and work/life balance, plus very low unemployment among native Danes. Hear that U.S. lawmakers?

We had a very good meeting and she provided some good tips for growing your membership, providing networking opportunities, and assisting with professional development and mentoring that I'll be taking back to the Seattle Urban League Young Professionals, a professional development and social service organization with which I've been involved for the past couple years.

The highlight of the Paris stay came that evening when I joined GMF fellows Chad from DC and Carrie, a museum administrator from Chicago at the home of Cyril, a former European German Marshall Fellow for dinner.

He and his family lived in the suburbs of Paris, which are much more diverse than the area around our hotel. His wife would later explain that she'd intentionally moved to that area because she felt their former neighborhood had been too homogenous and she really wanted to be aroundm, and have her kids experience life with, a variety of people.

They welcomed us into their home and plied us with delicious appetizers, food and drink for several hours. On a work/school night, no less! Cultural lesson of the day: Europeans generally entertain for several hours. This would be echoed in Copenhagen where our coordinator explained that people usually come for appetizers, drinks and dinner around 7 or 8pm and don't leave until after 11pm but before 12am on weeknights. On weekends, there's no set ending time. I loved it!

At Cyril and Caroline's, we met their sons (who were adorable and smart), and listened to great jazz music while getting acquainted over wine (juice for me, as usual), bread, cheese and olives. We eventually moved over to the dining room where they ramped up the gastronomic pleasure level even more with scallops and oysters in a delicious butter sauce (perfect for sopping up with the bread), followed by roasted lamb and fingerling potatoes. Then there was a cheese course, and we wrapped up with ice cream and sorbet.

As if that weren't enough for a wonderful evening, they were all very interesting individuals and talked very candidly about French life, politics, the issue of immigration and integration of ethnic minorities (Caroline volunteers as a tutor for immigrant women to help them learn French and become more self-sufficient), and work/life challenges and options.


It was simply a wonderful evening and made me long to do more entertaining back home in Seattle. Rather than just waiting for the mega-holiday dinners, I plan to host more small dinner gatherings. With our fast-paced lives in the U.S., it's the only way I'm going to get to enjoy friends on a more regular basis.


Additional take-away from this experience: entertaining is not about volume or intricacy of food or whether everything is Martha Stewart-perfect, it's about spending time, building relationship and sharing time, food and home with someone simply because being in their presence is enjoyable. I'll try to keep that in mind as I return to the busy life back home.

French National Assembly

Tuesday, we visited the French National Assembly, which is its parliamentary body. We'd planned to meet with a member who is a leading figure in the conservative caucus of the assembly, but election duties had called him away. So one of his staffers gave us a tour of the facility, which was very regal and impressive, as legislative buildings are wont to be,
especially French ones that go back hundreds of years.

Inside, they had these great gifts for political junkies: dinnerware to let the world know just what side of the political spectrum you (and your food) are on. Droit is right, gauche is left. They'd work just as well in the U.S., given our red/blue state divide after the last election.



Also inside, this cool bronze sculpture of a painter working by Louis Mitelberg entitled "Daumier creant Ratapoil." I just liked it for some reason.




...and this Versailles-esque dining room being set up for an official function. Get a load of the gilt, chandeliers, and ceiling frescoes. Why do I get the feeling that were this room in the states, it would cause a stir for being too ostentatious for elected officials?

Here's the chamber where the members meet to make decisions. GMF Fellow Michael from Austin, served as a spokesmodel for this shot after showing me how to adjust my flash for the lighting conditions in the room. Camera mechanics, energy policy, knowledge of obscure political facts and research, and cracking the rest of us up with his asides are just some of his many talents.

We also passed through the members' library, which is an almost perfect replica of what heaven looks like in my brain, except that in addition to floor to ceiling books, my version has dogs underfoot and hot chocolate on tap. Guilty confession: I've been drinking almost one hot chocolate a day on the trip(!). They've been exquisite in both Paris and Copenhagen. Good thing we're walking a lot.

Over in the mail room, which was where members of parliament used to come to read and respond (by hand) to constituent letters, they have these great chairs. They were built oversized so that members could read a wide open newspaper without disturbing or encroaching on each other's space. How's that for form following function? I love it! And I want one. Note to Jason.
PS - you'll notice the functional hair I'm sporting. That's what happens when your flat iron falls victim to the quirks of international voltage changes. To do list for the evening: find a store with hair appliances.