Nordic Cool

In a land defined by drastic extremes and opposing forces, never have I met a people more balanced.  The land of Fire and Ice, where volcanoes meet glacial ice, and the sun either never sets or only peeks its head above the horizon for a moment.  There the people are known for the most equal female/male ratio in public and private leadership roles, it's actually recently mandated that women serve on company boards, and many believe that if this regulation were in place years ago the financial collapse would never have happened.  If world domination were measured by paternity leave days...  I'm obsessed with Iceland since Mari and I took a 5 day trip there last December.
The Kennedy Centers is hosting a month long theater, dance, music, visual arts, literature, design, cuisine, and film festival called Cool Nordic and on Monday I took the kids.  Nala likes that Iceland is represented in pink on our globe.  Kaio likes two Scandinavian exports: Angry Birds and Legos.

This is what you see when you walk in!

A thousand shirts donated from people in DC area turned into a boat broken into two pieces.

On the Faroe Islands you're never more than 3 miles away from the coast at any point.  Sheep outnumber the people!  The back windows of the Kennedy Center are decorated with glass birds, representing the migratory seabirds of the Faroe Islands.

On the third floor an interactive play center is set up, highlighting the importance of integrating children into the event and the central role youth play in their culture.  The play area features developments of Nordic designers, Legos and a handful of computer apps you can play on ipods.

Nordic themed murals made from lego bricks. Tactile fun.

On of my favorite exhibits: a multisensory interactive file cabinet of 52 Icelandic waterfalls.  You pull out the slide image of a waterfall, and speaker projects the actual sound recording from that spot.

It's a normal practice to add coffee sacs to the soil for raising the acidity and fertilizing the crops.

Nordic knit fashion

A wedding dress made from Snowy Owl feathers.

So many things to see, Nala felt the need to meditate and recenter herself after leaving.  Kaio still can't find Denmark on the map, but I'm sure these types of excursions are enriching him in some way or another.

I couldn't let you off without sneaking in some pictures from our trip to Iceland.