Georgian National Ballet in Managua

A string of coincidences lead us to bring V to The Teatro Nacional Ruben Dario here in Managua to see the Georgian State National Ballet perform.

Photos courtesy of Russian Music and Videos

The only other time we've been there was via the Norwegian Embassy's invitation to a concert (Piano in A minor) by a guest Norwegian Pianist (apologies as my memory fails me again big time) and the Nicaraguan National Orchestra to commemorate Edvard Grieg's 100th year death anniversary.

We love the performing arts but not enough (I guess) to really pay attention to what's going on in the theater circuit. If we're lucky enough to be informed of some performances we might be interested in, we go. We try to expose V to the various forms of art and its appreciation, but only lately as I have been very careful not to force him too much to it (lest he's not yet ready) as he also might develop abhorrence towards the activity.

The (real) first time was last year in New York where we brought him there precisely for the purpose of exposing him to Museums and Broadway. Although having been slowly exposed by a string of International and Scandinavian schools, it must be more fun visiting museums with your peers than doing the same for longer periods of time with your parents. At the end, we asked him to stand for at least 20 seconds in each piece that catches his attention and tell us what he thinks about it or what he sees. I imagined him counting silently 1..2..3..4.....20 ha-ha. But then after the trip, we found out that the Picasso pieces in general interested him and his favorite museum was The Museum of Natural History and Guggenheim his least. That's a start.

Sometimes our own ignorance (okay, mine) makes us miss some must-sees. V was invited by his music teacher to be a guest performer (recorder) at the Teatro National Ruben Dario this June where he will have a solo number - 'La Mora Limpia'. We accepted the invitation and of course wanted V to be familiar with the Teatro (the stage) where he's going to perform to dispel some of his nervousness. Our opportunity came when we received this email from M:

Dear All

On a good friend's insistence, I was dragged along last night to see the performance of the Georgia National Ballet at the Ruben Dario. And what an amazing experience that turned out to be. I hadn't been exposed to Georgian culture before and didn't really know what to expect. It was a heady mix of folk dance, acrobats and ballet with everything from peasants to princesses and cossacks to ninjas. The music, though simple, was mesmerizing; a 4 piece band consisting of clarinet, 2 accordions and drum evoked flavours of ancient Persia, Byzantium and modern Russia. Similarly the pageantry of costumes traversed Eastern Europe to the Middle East over the last millennium. The visual and audible feast absolutely entranced the audience; the dancers and musicians got a long standing ovation.

The good news is that they are repeating the performance next Tuesday night. Seriously consider going and do take along children - who will equally love it. Be prepared to see sparks flying, whizzing daggers and women in long dresses who float across the stage as if being transported on an invisible pulley.

M

M described it really well, more than I ever could. So folks, the Georgian National Ballet (Although picked up from Youtube, It's exactly the same performance that we saw, only this one has some sort of intro where you can see them practicing), if given the chance, don't miss them perform. A unique experience that our whole family enjoyed, specially V.

An anecdote: When V learned that we are going to a ballet -because that's what it is, after all - I saw him grimace a bit. We reminded him how he enjoyed Billy Elliot....that worked.

V's never ending celebration

I don't remember celebrating my 13th birthday in a particularly special way. I don't think I even considered it a milestone. V's 13th was a really big thing for him, we actually felt it coming to pass like a series of terrestrial rumblings that are sure to culminate in an eruption. Weird, I thought but maybe that's just how kids are now a days, they just mature earlier than we did during my time.

V is now in that place where on the one hand, he likes to talk and act like an adult - like when he insisted on taking me out to dinner on my birthday (T was out of the country for work) in a fine dining restaurant and not only paid but acted like an escort. I can already see the gentleman behind the awkward haircut and unsure gait - while loving to indulge in the silliest physical games on the other.

I shouldn't even have worried, he is more talk than action at the moment as evidenced by how he celebrated his birthday party with his friends.

Like any other children, they only wanted to eat:

Have loads of fun (read: be silly):

Play:

Make noise (WARNING: Ear splitting, watch (and listen) at your own risk - not recommended for those truly musically inclined):
V

S

Hang out:

Pass out (thank god!):

Only to re-fuel:

For more activities.
I guess the biggest change is the company he prefers to keep. Doesn't matter what they do as long as they do it together.

And where did mommy and daddy figure in all these? Well, we too had fun if not more being spectator ions, for a change.

PS - After all that fun, V was grounded on the Monday following his birthday weekend. It turned out that he was not able to do his homework from the previous week for being so excited for his party. There was a lesson to be learned there and a week's grounding should do it. It's ok to have fun as long as we do not forget our responsibilities. We have to do what we have to do and birthdays are no exceptions.

Bank account details, my A*S

Sorry for the title but I mean it. Sure it's in my spam folder which I check every now and then as legitimate mails sometimes for whatever reason gets redirected there. $12.5M does sound REAAALLLLY good but not good enough for me to throw my details around. Are there honestly st***d people who fall for these kind of scams that's why they still proliferate? Unbelievable!

If it's real...I just lost $12.5M. I can live with that.

FROM MRS GRACE COMPAORE,
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER,
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPT,
BANK OF AFRICA (BOA),
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO.

MY DEAR,

I AM MRS.GRACE COMPAORE, THE BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER AT THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE DEPARTMENT OF BANK OF AFRICA (BOA) OUAGADOUGOU IN BURKINA FASO. WITH DUE RESPECT AND REGARDS, I HAVE DECIDED TO CONTACT YOU ON A BUSINESS TRANSACTION THAT WILL BE VERY BENEFICIAL TO BOTH OF US AT THE END OF THE TRANSACTION.DURING MY INVESTIGATION AND AUDITING IN MY DEPARTMENT, I CAME ACROSS A VERY HUGE SUM OF MONEY BELONGING TO A DECEASED PERSON, A FOREIGNER WHO DIED IN A PLANE CRASH WITH HIS ENTIRE FAMILY.PLEASE THIS IS A CONFIDENTIAL MATTER AND IT REQUIRES URGENCY.

THE FUND HAS BEEN IN HIS ACCOUNT WITH THE BANK WITHOUT ANY CLAIM OF THE FUND IN OUR CUSTODY EITHER FROM HIS FAMILY OR RELATION BEFORE OUR DISCOVERY TO THIS DEVELOPMENT.ALTHOUGH PERSONALLY, I KEPT THIS INFORMATION SECRET WITHIN MYSELF TO ENABLE THE WHOLE PLANS AND IDEA BE PROFITABLE AND SUCCESSFUL DURING THE TIME OF EXECUTION. THE AMOUNT INVOLVED IS USD$12.500, 000 (TWELVE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND U.S DOLLARS.) MEANWHILE THE WHOLE ARRANGEMENT AND DIRECTIVES NEEDED TO PUT CLAIM OVER THIS FUND AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO THE DECEASED WILL BE FORWARD TO YOU UPON YOUR ACCEPTANCE. INFORMATION WILL BE RELEASED TO YOU AS SOON AS YOU INDICATE YOUR INTEREST AND WILLINGNESS TO ASSIST ME AND ALSO BENEFIT YOURSELF TO THIS GREAT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY.

IN FACT I COULD HAVE DONE THIS DEAL ALONE BUT BECAUSE OF MY POSITION IN THIS COUNTRY AS A CIVIL SERVANT, WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO OPERATE A FOREIGN ACCOUNT AND WOULD EVENTUALLY RAISE AN EYE BROW ON MY SIDE DURING THE TIME OF TRANSFER BECAUSE I WORK IN THIS BANK. THIS IS THE ACTUAL REASON WHY IT WILL REQUIRE A SECOND PARTY OR FELLOW WHO WILL FORWARD CLAIMS AS THE NEXT OF KIN TO THE BANK AND ALSO PRESENT A FOREIGN ACCOUNT WHERE HE WILL NEED THE MONEY TO BE TRANSFERRED INTO ON HIS REQUEST AS IT MAY BE, AFTER DUE VERIFICATION AND CLARIFICATION TO DESIGNATED BANK ACCOUNT.

YOU CAN SEE THE WEBSITE BELOW COVERING THE PLANE CRASH BY CNN & BBC NEWS.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/12/26/benin.crash
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3348109.stm

I WILL NOT FAIL TO INFORM YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% RISK FREE. ON SMOOTH CONCLUSION OF THIS TRANSACTION, YOU WILL BE ENTITLED TO 40% OF THE TOTAL SUM AND 10% WILL BE SET ASIDE FOR EXPENSES INCURED DURING THE BUSINESS WHILE 50% WILL BE FOR ME. YOU HAVE BEEN ADVISED TO KEEP TOP SECRET AS I AM STILL IN SERVICE AND INTEND TO RETIRE FROM SERVICE AFTER I CONCLUDE THIS DEAL WITH YOU.

I WILL BE MONITORING THE WHOLE SITUATION HERE IN THE BANK UNTIL YOU CONFIRM THE MONEY IN YOUR ACCOUNT AND ASK ME TO COME DOWN TO YOUR COUNTRY FOR SUBSEQUENT SHARING OF THE FUND ACCORDING TO PERCENTAGES PREVIOUSLY INDICATED AND FURTHER INVESTMENT, EITHER IN YOUR COUNTRY OR ANY OTHER COUNTRY YOU MAY ADVICE ME TO INVEST IN. ALL OTHER NECESSARY INFORMATION WILL BE SENT TO YOU WHEN I HEAR FROM YOU. I SUGGEST YOU GET BACK TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE STATING YOUR WISH IN THIS DEAL.

PLEASE REPLY TO MY MASSAGE BY INDICATING YOUR BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS WHERE THE FUND WILL BE TRANSFERED TO. ALSO, SEND ME YOUR PRIVATE PHONE NUMBER FOR EASY COMMUNICATION.YOU SHOULD CONTACT ME IMMEDIATELY AS SOON AS YOU RECIEVE THIS LETTER.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,
MRS GRACE COMPAORE

V's coming of (a certain) age

Today's going to be a very busy day. V will be celebrating his 13th birthday tomorrow andis very excited about it too because to him (and to him alone - he will always be my baby - I'll get over it but more later than sooner) he is officially a teenager. I must admit that I have already seen drastic changes in his preferences since he was 11 to in fact, herald this era.

He is still the sweet kid that he is and is not afraid to show affection in public albeit less than before. He likes making his own decisions specially regarding his clothes and....ooohhh, our perennial fight, since last year...his hair.

On the plus side, his birthday celebrations has become easier to plan, not necessarily cheaper, on the contrary, just less guests (only good friends, sans parents - unless they're good friends of ours too - and sans nannies) therefore less logistical nightmare. No more piñatas (yehey), therefore less small candies but bigger ticket item give-aways. I remember when we had to prepare for 50 people where less than half of them were their nannies or drivers.

But then the gift also gets bigger. This year (quite late compared to most) we're taking him for a weeks trip to Disney World in Orlando and a Seven day Cruise up to St Martin. We can't of course, NOT let him NOT open a gift on his day (just seems cruel somehow, so we still got him his very first real hand-held radio with an 18 mile range which he has been hankering for since Christmas. Hard to win huh. Last year we got him a Wii console (that came with a game) with the agreement that he buys the games out of his own savings. Still we gave him Wii accessories last Christmas -Game Cube controllers. T and I have already agreed that he'll get his own laptop next year because he's been using mine a lot for his homework and researches. Yes, it only gets more expensive each year.

This year will be a long birthday celebration. He's planned for a pool party for Saturday 1pm - 6pm where some close friends (about 8) will be sleeping over. They have agreed to rent some DVDs that's supposed to scare the cr*p out of them and then play Paintball on Sunday after breakfast, then Pizza lunch before they finally part.

That suits us just fine. as you can see, it doesn't require our involvement much (no more emceeing...and no more clowns!!!). Just the food prep and the obligatory candle blowing on the cake. For the menu, he actually wants prepare it yourself meals. So we agreed on: Hotdogs, burgers and Kentucky-type but home made fried chicken. Except for the chicken (and the Lasagne), they will have to make their sandwiches themselves...I'll just have to put all the garnishes on the table, which suits me just FINE.

To all the Moms (and to you too Mother!)