Folkmoot Dance Festival USA

Folkmoot is traditional dance event that brings groups to western Carolina from several nations every year. There are only two such events in the US according to their emcee. This year the featured groups were Mexico, Slovakia, France, Japan, Poland by way of Chicago, Martinique,Thailand and an ethnic Canadian group performing Scottish dances. I think Folkmoot draws its groups from CIOFF as did the Kucukcekmece festival I attended in Istanbul last year.

My daughter and I passed out magnets to performers from France, Mexico, Slovakia, Japan and Martinique.

 These are the stilt dancers from southeast France. It originated with shepherds, hence the sheepskin vests. The stilts were worn by the herders so they could look out over the top of their herd. Or so we were told.

 Thialand. They stayed behind the curtain during intermission so I couldn't give them magnets. I sure do like those brass fingernails.

 Japan had a few different costumes, the kimonos being the most colorful. Wow. The magnet actually went to a female dancer who performed the drum dance.

 Ah, Mexico. You can always count on them to be colorful dances. The females wore wide skirts, each a different color, that swirled beautifully. The male dancers performed a dance that involved fancy moves with machetes that was really fun to watch. I gave a magnet to a girl in a flashy orange skirt who told me they are from Morales.

 These are the Polish dancers, part of an ethnic federation in Chicago. That almost seems like cheating but their dances are indeed authentic as are the costumes. I saw the real Poles at Kucukcekmece Festival in Istanbul last year.

These women are from Martinique. The photo is fuzzy but we weren't allowed to use a flash with the camera.

Sailing the Carribean

Well over a year ago I sent magnets, lots of them, to the mother of the girl in the Panama post. This, Heidi, woman and her husband in their sailboat, Act III, went island hopping in the Carribean for quite a long time. I feel sure it was over a year but confess that I lost track. Below is a photo of their sailboat and, below it, are quotes from Heidi's emails:

"My magnets are safely stored against breaking and rust and I'm looking forward to having memorable moments as I pass them on. Did I mention to you they are lovely? The biggest story for us so far is crossing the Gulf Stream earlier this week, from Miami to Bimini. You're right the weather has been unusual and tricky for sailing...most cruisers report they have never seen such patterns.  Our trip is terrific, but only now are we beginning to feel 'foreign'."

" I did not leave one in Bimini, as the right situation did not come up.  I did, however, give one to Darcy, in Warderick Wells Cay, Exumas, Bahamas. For the past 6 years Darcy has worked at this unique Land and Sea Park, coordinating moorings for vessels wishing to stay at this park. It is spectacularly beautiful here, pristine and full of fish and lobsters and healthy coral reefs,
due to the park's "no take" policy."

"You can put pins in Dominican Republic (Luperon) where I gave a magnet to the lovely woman who makes breads and jams to sell at the weekly swap meet at the marina.  Also Boqueron Puerto Rico, where I used one to say thanks to Raul "Rolling Thunder", the man who facilitated our check-in. There's been no obvious place in the USVI to leave one, but I expect to find a home for one in Tortola.  They are great fun "trade" for a surprised smile."

"We've left magnets at every island we've gone ashore.  On our way south, we mostly stayed aboard because we were in a hurry to get south, below the "safe" hurricane latitude. We spent the summer in Grenada, where the sweet barmaid was delighted and charmed with your project.  I dropped on on a Rasta in Bequia (one of the Grenadines associated with St. Vincent) and in St. Vincent proper I gave one to the young "boat boy" who paddled out to us at the anchorage.   In many of these islands the locals greet your boat way out of the bay and want you to pay them for a mooring that they don't actually own, or buy something, or guide you around, or they even just ask you, "do you have a fishing rod, surfboard, or goggles for me?".  They can be aggressive nuisances, but this boy in St. Vincent just chatted and didn't ask for a thing--he appreciated a gift."

"We left a magnet in Martinique, at our favorite bakery.  It wasn't long before the young lady knew to put 2 baguettes into a bag when we came in."

"You can put another pin at Portsmouth, Dominica, where we left a magnet at the Kalingaro (Caribe) village.  Don't know if they have any fridges to put them on, but they make awesome cassava bread with a foot-pedal-operated grater for the cassava root."

"Also, at Les Saintes, Guadeloupe (Terre d'Haut) we gave one to the sweet man who came to our boat every day to deliver fresh baguettes and croissants."

"We're now in Antigua, just checking in with customs.  I have a magnet ready for delivery...who knows where yet."

"...we've had great fun dispersing your magnets.  Our boat (and a magnet) are currently in Bocas del Toro, Panama, and you can add Isla Mujeres MX and Grand Cayman Island to your list, if they're not already covered."

Namibia, Africa

My mother bought some magnets from you and she gave them to me to give away in Namibia, Africa this summer. I was there as a short-term missionary/volunteer for a month. I helped at a school called Talitha Kumi Christian Academy and I also helped out a family that has several children that go to the school. I gave the frog magnet to the family as a way for them to remember me. They absolutely loved it! 

Now let me tell you a little about the family. Buella and her husband are raising seven girls. Two are their own children and the other five are their foster children. The family is part of a ministry called His Promise, which is an organization that helps care for vulnerable and orphaned children. Buella is an amazing woman who loves these girls like her own.  Shecares for them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I was helping her girls learn how to use a laptop computer and they were so appreciative.  Saying goodbye to this sweet family was very hard and tearful, but I am grateful to have met them.  A piece of my heart will always be with them in Arandis, Namibia. They have the frogmagnet to  remember me and I have a picture of them.

The community of Arandis, where I spent most of my time, is in the middle of the desert. It's about an hour from beautiful sand dunesand the Atlantic Ocean.  It's a very unique place.

This is the website for the organization: http://www.hispromiseministries.org/
...and a comment from her mother:"...As she gave it to the family she remembered an appropriate saying "F"ully "R"ely "O"n "G"od "FROG!"

Alaska, Sort of...

How sad that this couple left their magnet in their hotel room. Having nothing to pacify this ferocious bear they had to resort to human sacrifice...

Somewhere In Mexico, Maybe

I had a conversation with a girl who shared a hostel dorm in San Miguel de Allende Mexico and told her of my 'magnet project'. She seemed interested but I missed her because we both left the next day. In my next hostel, in Guanajuato, I met yet another person from the previous hostel and he mentioned he would be seeing her at the next stop. I sent one magnet to go to her and another to take to his home in Spain.

I did get an email response from her and a link that I'd like to share:

"Thank you for my lovely magnet!!! - it is Great!!!...a wise little owl to guide me on my way. :)

I was in my dorm the other day and Issac popped his head around the corner!! :) It was such a nice surprise and an even bigger surprise to receive a present from you through him. I think your magnets are great and I think the whole project is Great. It's big. A really magic idea. 

 

Here are the details of Las Pozas, the sculpture park built by Edward James, near the town of Xilitla (it is in the very south of San Luis Potosi). Primera Plus busses go to Xilitla - you can check on their website where from - http://www.primeraplus.com/. Here is a website with more info http://www.xilitla.org/. Images are here https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Las+pozas+xilitla&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-gbGB483GB483&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=wnk2UZbdFIqfrAHEr4GIBg&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1137&bih=527

 

Cenotes are amazing Mexican caves filled with turquoise water, that have vines growing down often through an opening in the roof, that the sun steams in through. You can swim in them, and they look like this. They are all over Mexico (mostly in the south I think) and they are magical to be in."

 

 

Aprylle is British but would like to settle in Mexico City and the above are some of the places she has visited. I haven't a clue where she or the magnet will end up but, for now, I will tag it in Mexico.

 

China

An acquaintance was teaching English in China after having taught before in South Korea where she actually left a magnet. I just don't recall those details. This time around there were some health issues so I don't think her stay was the best. Below are some comments from her emails:

The students are delightful and exhausted due to a rigorous schedule.  Some still email me and I still hear from one in Korea. I have a photo album to remember them as a gift. I feel for the students, 10 hour days in school. I was unpacking and one of the teachers in the dorm admired your magnet and I gave it to her.

I am sick again, and in a country that you need a prescription for aspirin. For some reason there is some anti-Obama sentiment with the kids. I do not talk to the adults about it. 

 

Alaska

On a cold, windy, rainy day in Juneau my family went on a whale watch excursion, if you can call it that. Our guide was Cap'n Allen of Adventures In Alaska. Had we not made our reservations well in advance we would certainly have chosen a better day for it. As it turned out, we were the only ones on his boat so we got a custom tour. We saw several humpback whales but only their backs and tails, not fancy leaps from the water. We saw a sea lion popping up in the wake of another boat and, seeing that we enjoyed that, Captain Allen took us to a buoy where the sea lions hang out so we could get a close look.

These whales head south for the winter just as a number the people and birds from this climate tend to do. The whales come back through about this time of year to feed on the herring and krill, about a half ton a day. They blow just before they surface and a little misty spout can be seen above the surface of the water. Then the back shows as they ready for the next dive. The tail is the last thing seen before they disappear for six to ten minutes. Its hard to tell just where they will resurface so the boats just hang around and wait...and hope. There are so many whale watch boats that there is a CB radio channel specifically for whale watch and the captains help each other out by broadcasting the general locations of their sightings.

Cap'n Allen now has a bear magnet on his boat. It was a challenge finding something metal on that mostly fiberglass boat to stick a magnet on. He was even kind enough to ham it up for the camera.