Dawn Ceremony

Sometimes I love Washington. There really is a great amount that happens here. Of course, it doesn't hurt to work where I do and to know some of the people that I know....

The National Geographic Society opened a new exhibition at their museum on Wednesday about Whales. It's from the Te Papa Museum in New Zealand. For those of you who don't know, this museum is one of the world's premier museums, and is an indigenous museum. It's really incredible. As a result of the exhibition, members of the Maori and the museum and the government were in town for the opening. So several of us from our museum were invited to the opening. Given Maori custom and protocols, the opening was scheduled for 6:15 in the morning, in order to incorporate a traditional dawn ceremony.

The weather was warm and somewhat humid, and my bus was late. But it was incredible! The group exchanged openings, then chanted and blessed and opened the gallery. We didn't have much time to see it then, but I can't wait to get back. Then back outside we had a traditional North American indigenous blessing, then the Maori dawn ceremony. After that, breakfast, and a performance of traditional dance and music from the Maori. Hard to believe that when it was over, it was just after 8:00 and we still had to go to work! An incredible morning.

We had the good fortune to see them again the next day, at our collections facility, where they had a special tour. That day I was also helping with a tour for some folks from a museum in Colombia, looking to work more closely with indigenous peoples. It's been a busy week, especially as we've also been getting ready for the last two venues for this year, both of which are next week.

So, I also thought I'd give a quick update on things. I head out to Alaska on Tuesday; the conference is Wednesday through Saturday. I'm staying Sunday and Monday to enjoy the area a bit. Looks like we might get some snow! The whales have already started migrating down to Hawai'i, but I'm hopeful that there may still be some excursions to see them.

I return late the following Tuesday night, and Wednesday afternoon head up to New York City, for our Board of Trustees meeting and for another Indigenous Geography meeting with the community host there. I'll be back Friday (Halloween) night. I thought I might get to see my folks that weekend, but I've got prior appointments booked on Saturday and Sunday, and one of them is for work, so sadly not. But them I'm in DC for the rest of the month!

And, I just bought my plane tickets to Vietnam. Not nearly as easy as I'd thought. The airline where I had the most miles was not cooperative. I could buy the mileage difference on the phone, for 50% more than on the web, which then made my ticket at least as expensive as buying a new ticket, and that would also exhaust my miles. I could buy the miles on the web and wait until they credited my account, and then hope that a mileage ticket was still available. Or I could just suck it up and buy a new ticket. Turns out that the U.S. dollar has rebounded a bit, especially compared to the Australian dollar, so my tuition and lodging rates were much lower than expected. All that savings is now sunk into an airline ticket. But, at least it's done! Now I just need to finish my visa application and office paperwork.

And for next year, I'm hoping for fewer trips, especially as the ones already on the book are longer and further away. Here's my early guess:

December: Vietnam. Holidays in Connecticut.
January: Peru
March: Film Festival, NYC; conference presentations in Portland OR?
April/May: Ecuador?
May: UN Permanent Forum, NYC; Canadian community grant?
June/July: Hawai'i, Australia, New Zealand

I'll keep everyone updated, but in the meantime, I'm ready for Alaska!