A GREAT reminder of home

I’m just on the train back from a trip to New York City—my first excursion out of DC since arriving in the US at the end of November. Of course, I’ve been to NYC many times before (indeed Layla and I went there on our honeymoon) but it’s a very different experience to go to the city and be plunged immediately into meetings with giants from the business, academic, and think tank worlds. Indeed I found myself a little star-struck after a meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations with Professor Bhagwati—our conversation ranged from subject to subject, and he talked brilliantly on all at a moment’s notice.

It was very cheery to be in the British consulate on the day that officials learnt that NYC is to be one of main cities to host a launch for the UK’s GREAT campaign, a campaign showcasing the areas of British excellence, including two of my favorites—shopping and knowledge (or the pursuit thereof). The genuine excitement from the staff there was quite striking—even to one who is as generally enthusiastic as me (and who therefore expects others to be so). I am sure part of it came from what seemed to be a very cheery can-do attitude in NYC generally. But it also flowed from the considerable enthusiasm of the new Consul General there, Danny Lopez – a man bursting with energy and drive.

Outside of work, I had a fun time reacquainting myself with some of the cultural offerings of NYC. Not that DC has been short on such things—it’s turning out to be far from the one-horse town that it is sometimes characterized as. But London and NYC really are hubs of culture and a little of that sort of thing can help one feel at home in a new country. First up was a really excellent three-man play by Catherine Trieschmann called How the World Began, which explored conflict coming from the very different cultures within the United States, starting by playing to the assumed outlook and prejudices of the audience, and then subverting them. Thought provoking stuff.

Next there was the work of British photographer George Georgiou at the New Photograph Exhibition 2011 at MOMA which explored Turkey’s struggle to maintain its traditions and landscape in the face of change and development, and the juxtaposition of two co-existing worlds. I missed the Buildings=Energy exhibition at the AIA Center for Architecture which I had nerdily wanted to see, but ran out of time. But I made it to the NYC Public Library’s exhibition celebrating 100 years of the museum.

The familiarity of my old haunts of theatre and exhibitions almost lulled me into forgetting that I was somewhere foreign—particularly given the lack of jetlag.