On the road again…

(late January-early March) What’s the best way to combat restlessness and hot weather in Rio? Get a job at the UN in New York City in the dead of winter! The horrendous earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia brought the UN organization I used to work for in Angola—OCHA, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (http://ochaonline.un.org/) — to the fore of international news. When the head of OCHA used the s-word (stingy) referring to developed countries’ overall level of international assistance to developing countries (which obviously peeved George Bush who was on vacation at his ranch in Texas), well, I felt that being involved with the tsunami-relief effort would be a really good thing. Three weeks later, I was working on the 36th floor of UN HQ in NY. Some of the work was tsunami-related and some was humanitarian business as usual (if there is such a thing).

UN Headquarters

I must be a very lucky woman, because Roque was able to join me and Alex. We rented a “big closet with a kitchenette and window” right across the street from the UN in Tudor City (www.tudorcity.com), a quaint neighborhood in the middle of Manhattan.

Tudor City

With Grand Central Station (www.grandcentralterminal.com), the NY Public Library (www.nypl.org), and Times Square (www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare) just blocks away and some of the best museums and theatres in the world, I had great visions for exposing my son to the finer things that NYC has to offer. Alas, I forgot about the weather during January and February in NY— bitter-cold temperatures, frigid winds blowing off the East River and creeping around every corner, and plenty of snow. When I left Rio, it was about 92 degrees F. (33 C.) and when I arrived in NY two days later, there had recently been almost 9 inches of snow, the high temp was 24 F. (-4 C.) and the low was 8 F. (-13 C.). More than 15 inches of snow fell in February and although I am surely exaggerating, the temperature seemed to hover slightly above freezing in the day and much colder in the night. Was I (were we) obsessed by the weather? Heck yeah! It took a great deal of effort to put on enough clothes to keep me and Alex warm. On any particularly cold day, I could have 6 layers of clothing around my growing belly. Uggh! Although we were more than blessed to have a sunny apartment with free heating (which my tropical husband definitely took advantage of), I begrudgingly admit that life in NY ended up being more stay-at-home than I had envisioned. Still, we ventured to “The Gates” exhibition in Central Park (http://christojeanneclaude.net/), movies in Times Square, Riverside Church, Greenwich Village, the Brooklyn Bridge, a few museums, and discovered the best pizza in the food court in Grand Central Station. Roque became an expert on all the Indian restaurants in the neighborhood. We got to visit with friends Leonce and Gaudence, Melissa, Bill, and Brian, sing ABBA songs at “Mamma Mia” on Broadway, and have high tea at the Plaza with my Mom.

Central Park

All in all, the trip was fantastic for the whole family, particularly on the professional side. Roque got a job as Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville (www.virginia.edu) (to begin in Fall 2006) and a book contract from Cambridge University Press. It may seem like a long time away, but at least we’re beginning to have a sense of medium-term stability for our family and Alex can look forward to not being “on the road” and moving every couple of months. I, of course, really enjoyed working at OCHA, meeting new people, learning how the UN system works, and actually knowing what’s going on around the globe.

Click HERE for more photos.