Love.

A few days ago I made a bunch of ginger tea at the house where I nanny. Ginger tea is a delicious and simple thing to make. My students in China made it for me when my stomach felt a bit uneasy. To make it, chop lots of fresh ginger and boil it with water for 30-60 minutes. Whatever. You can also add some slices of fresh lemon.

Irina thought up a wondrous drink with the leftover ginger tea I'd made.

Mix:

1/2 a glass of cold ginger tea
1/2 a glass of mineral water or seltzer or bubbly water (whatever you like to call it)
a few tablespoons of pure maple syrup

Drink it out of a wine glass if you like. That's what I'm doing.

On my last day at the zoo my Japanese friends came to visit me and brought me a lavish, beautiful picnic feast. This beautiful display is just about 1/6 of all the food that was brought. My half hour lunch break turned into 1 hour in a split second. I wanted to sit at our lovely picnic the whole afternoon.

Now I'm a part time nanny for an interesting Russian family in my south Philly neighborhood, and they're also training me in HTML so that I can help them a bit with their web design company. It's be a good skill for me to have in this modern day. The baby's name is Lev. It means 'lion' in Russian.

Today I am going to the Art Star Craft Bazaar in Northern Liberties with Yoriko, Yoko, and Matty. Local artists will be selling their hand made masterpieces. Yay.

But then I thought about what I did right here in Philadelphia yesterday and concluded that I couldn't be more immersed in international opportunity.

I woke up at 8 and took my 40 minute bike ride over to Tremain Smith studio, who I assist on Monday mornings. After building a panel for her and staining and sealing another, I got back on my bike to begin my new part time job of nannying for a Russian family while getting a web-design internship from them too. But on my 40 minute bike ride back to their adorable little south Philly house, I ran into my Japanese friend Yoriko who was on her way to Yukari's house for a homemade feast, to which I was immediately invited. I told Iria I'd be a little late and I ate a delicious meal on the floor of Yukari's home, and our friend Toshika joined us too.

Then I biked over to Irina's house to help her with her baby and housework and I took the baby for a stroll over to the park where I hung out with some sweet Mexican girls who were studying Chinese at school! We spoke a little to each other.

After my nanny job I biked home and dressed up a little to go to a wine and cheese gathering of about 6 female photographers who do a lot of shooting abroad, but who live here in Philly. I was invited to this gathering by a photographer friend of Tremain's. I sat with these fine women for 3 hours laughing and telling and hearing stories and eating hummus and pita, olives, white bean soup with roasted red peppers, peach apple crisp, chocolate covered almonds, etc.....yUm!

So after thinking about these several experiences, I felt aptly international, but still felt a little jealous of Sienna.

Yesterday I woke up early and hopped on my bike at 8 to run some errands around the rainy city in my green raincoat. I picked up sushi at Trader Joe's which I pass everyday on my way to work, and spent the day stocking the zoo shop with more stuffed animals and books and talking to funny kids and my funny co-workers. On my way home I called my friend Bronwyn who lives a few blocks away and was invited over to dinner at once. We sat on her roof and dined on white bean and mussel salad with spinach and grilled lamb sandwiches with homemade fruit-nut bread. oooooooh yum.

I met Aaron Stewart later than night in center city at a tiny, quaint little hole-in-the-wall theater called the Roxy. It's the very theater Quentin Tarantino would have wanted us to see his new film. And we did. I was doubly impressed with Grindhouse. (hee-ha.) I am convinced that Tarantino thrives by making films that are creative as possible and as offensive as possible. But hiis creativity will never cease to captivate me. I fear the sorts of things that he throws into the minds of the general public, but his work fascinates me on so many levels. His characters are extreme, but always desperately human too. The first film opens with a go-go girl dancing around provocatively in a strip club. Her moves are sexy, but far from perfect, and as she's dancing, tears are streaming down her eyes. (I know the first film was Rodriguez', but I'm sure the two influence each other heavily.) I'm always interested in the side characters in his films also. He's so incredibly attuned to detail. In some horror scene, there'll be a dorky fat person who looks like a random crew member running in the side of the frame. I love that junk.

So, enjoyed the mess of a movie incredibly, though I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that. Aaron and I both agreed that we were shown simply too much, as one always is when subjecting oneself to Tarantino's films. I am a discerning viewer though, and have so many thoughts hopping around in my head about what I saw. Call me if you want to have a discussion!

Woke up early this a.m. to eat breakfast with a cool woman and her kids in my neighborhood and biked to work again where I roamed around the zoo talking to people and snapping cheesy pictures of them, which some of them bought, and some of them didn't. Arrived back home to a delicious meal of veggie french onion soup and home made bread and iced licorice tea with my host family and now I'm chilling in my room.

I really wanted to go hear Barbara Kingsolver speak tonight at the big beautiful library about her new book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life", which is all about the year her family spent eating nothing but locally produced food. But the talk was 12 bucks and I'm tired and feel that money is flying out of my pockets accidentally all the time. It's so hard to save when one is surrounded by such delicious food, amazing clothing, fun events, and places to buy drinks, which are absurdly expensive.

So I'm messing around in my room.

Anyone want to come visit me? I have millions of ideas of ways to entertain you in this sweet city.

Sharon and Oliver and Simon came to visit.

Katherine came to visit Matt.

I work at the zoo and wear pleated pants all the time and pink rain boots sometimes.

Life meanders on.

Look at me! I'm a mommy model!

If you're in Wal-Mart or Barnes and Noble or some other place that sells American Baby magazine this month, you might flip through it to see me in the baby carrier feature. One of our mommy models couldn't make it to the shoot I assisted Linda on a couple months ago, so I filled in. It's pretty dang horrifying, but a fun anecdote.

The picture I posted is the rough proof. The pictures look normal in the magazine.

Lately I haven't been able to see far away street signs as I'm biking around the city. So I got an eye exam, a prescription, and found a cool woman who sells vintage frames. I bought the frames and took them to a place she refers her clients to to get the frames filled. I love these ridiculous frames! They make my pimples look cool!

Bronwyn is a new friend of mine who's a photographer. We hang out in cafes, take bike rides, and go to a weekly small group together.

Isn't she charming?

Today I met this girl named Genell. I saw her photographs from Japan hanging in a cafe and I emailed her to tell her how much I loved them. Turns out, she's 22, from Maryland, and a pro roller skater, lover of Asia, and photographer just like me! We're going out dancing tonight.

The other day I babysat for this little girl. I met her mom through Circle of Hope church. We dressed up as fairies and played on the playground across the street from her house.

There is soooooooo much other newness, but I've got to go to work now. More pictures tomorrow or the next day!

One more fun tidbit: found this funky salon on a bike ride through the city today. They only charge 35-50 bucks for a hair cut and the atmosphere is totally hip and fresh!

It's called American Mortals . Click it and check it out!

There are so many artists, new ideas, and explosions of thought happening in this city that I call my home.

Look at my new, vintage, wool, warmest-ever, thrifty, electric red coat! I'm in love.

(Here I am doing handy-girl work for the encaustic painter, Tremain Smith. I help her on Monday mornings by building her panels, which involves electric sawing and sanding, nail hammering, staining, sealing, measuring, and gluing. I want to be a carpenter! Working with my hands resonates with my heart. And I love the smells of carpentery materials. mmmmh. Tremain blesses me with her presence simply by letting me work for her at all. She doesn't quite need an assistant, but simply getting to talk to her and experience her joyful creative energy every week is incredibly grounding for me.)

After a month of riding my bike around this city like it's my job, I am so incredibly empowered by the dignity of having a job! Several, actually. This spring and summer I will be:

a barista at a gourmet coffee shop that lets me drink all the lapsang souchang tea i want!
a roaming photographer at the zoo
a part-time assistant to Tremain
a volunteer ESL teacher at the iHouse
working at a funky neighborhood outreach thrift shop once a week

I will do all of these things in small amounts. I think my days will not feel monotonous. These things will bring in plenty of money for my simple single life while I apply for 'resume-building' positions for the fall. HA!

If you could be a combination of any three people, who would they be?

I'd like to be:

Annie Hall
Harriet the Spy
and
The Black Mamba

Because then I'd be a bad-ass, determined, independent, observant, creative photographer and crazy driver and writer. That's what I want to be.

Yo. Check Pax's blog! Click above.

This city is a collage of the corporate and indie, rich and poor, cool and uncool, tall and short, and everything inbetween, and yet it still maintains a sort of neighborhood feeling of down-to-earth friendliness.

Many of my own pictures will come when my new 250 gig external hard drive arrives in the mail tomorrow or the next day.

Stay tUned yo. And visit me in the mean time!

Love, Brae

-eating Annie's home made granola at the breakfast table with Tony while reading 1 Kings 17-19

-meeting Sarah Mueller for lunch at Reading Terminal and chatting for an hour over a yummy chicken pesto sandwhich

-sitting in old city and talking to my sisterinlaw-ish friend Kiko

-mozying around Chinatown, speaking Chinese to lovely Chinese people, and buying a pair of much needed house shoes for a dolla'!

-(lots of bikeriding)

-doing laundry

-sitting in a cool cafe called The Red Hook, applying for more jobs, sipping yummy tea, and admiring the photos of artist Genell Canty. (Her name is clickable, but I don't know how to make a hyperlinked word a different color. Anybody know?) This girl's photos were from a study abroad semester she spent in Japan. Her website isn't as colorful and simply graphic as the photos were. I liked them a lot and they made me thirst for Asia.

-setting a lunch date with my new Japanese friend Yoko who I met at a cool place callled the
iHouse (international house) while sitting in on an oral English class last week. I'll be volunteering there this summer teaching ESL classes a few hours a week.

-feeling grateful for the kind and interesting family I live with.

Philadelphia is treating me well. But I greatly anticipate the moment when cash comes into my pocket. Pray, somebody, anybody.

I live with a very friendly, interesting, eccentric older couple called the Hagerts. They are Annie and Tony, pictured above in their youth. They met eachother by playing in a band together.

Annie is a guidance couselor to foreign students at the University of the Arts here in Philly. Tony researches musical instruments and writes books about them and constantly fills the kitchen with the aroma of delcious foods; herbed broiled tomatoes, sausage, barbeque pork, stewed beats, and other tasty treats that quite please my taste buds.

They have a row house on South Broad street in south Philly. I live on the third floor in a nice little room and I've got my own bathroom. My view is the noisy city street of Broad. I wake up to taxis and shouts or sunlight or the hum drum of city-ness. I am still looking for work, but I've got a cool place to live.