Education in far away places

What is school like when you live in the mountains of Columbia or on an isolated island or in the desert? This is Learning World from Euronews. I filmed the part in Indonesia!

http://www.euronews.net/2010/10/11/education-in-far-away-places/

Los Angeles, California

Cultural melting pot in LA.

Today we are trying to pick up some more shots of the city. LA is dead on the weekend, but it might also be the weather that keeps people inside. We filmed the tourist sites with the stars embedded in the sidewalk and Hollywood.

What are all the pillows for? 7 of them!!

Los Angeles, California

The LA Philharmonic, a full house.

The story is a portrait of Gustavo Dudamel an orchestre conductor. He is from Venezuela and is now a very famous conductor at the LA Philharmonica. He first conducted an orchestre at the age of 16 and is now only 29. He is the product of and now a benefactor of a program to help poorer city children to get interested in school through music and the arts. He is known for his energy and enthusiasm both in life and conducting. I always enjoy talking with people who are pasionate about what they do and Gustavo certainly is that.

West Hollywood

Filming musical artists is not easy. We are limited in what we can film and how much of the music we can use in the report. And all that is strictly controlled. But here in LA it borders on the insane. Apparently unions control everything and don’t allow us to film in the lobby and even exteriors of the building are difficult. On the streets of LA and some other big cities, you can't film using a tripod. This comes from maybe a misinterpretation of a law that calls for film crews to get authorisation to film because they have many people, trucks and equipment and block traffic. Somehow we fall into that catagory even though we are just one or two people. Even setting up a small tripod on an empty sidewalk becomes illegal and a big hassle when you try to get a few steady pictures of the city.

View outside my hotel room.. a wet, empty downtown.

The weather hasn’t cooperated with us. Not typical LA weather, it is cool and rainy with low clouds hiding the tops of the skyscrapers. Ah, worked with another cameraman, Andrew Mungai who is Kenyan and who has been here in LA for a little over a year. We even have a couple of common acquaintances. Our sound engineer is Olivier Virmont, a French guy living in San Diego, born and raised in Senegal. Another very international crew.

Los Angeles, California

A very talkative departure. In the business lounge (not flying business, just have a frequent flyer card that lets me use the lounges), for the first time, I meet people I know. A friend working for the association of banks in Luxembourg is flying to Zurich for a meeting and then to Santiago, Chile for a conference. Another friend, a doctor and cancer researcher is going to a biotech meeting in Shanghai, China. The world is moving ! Both fly almost as much as I do. The researcher said he would be in Seoul, Korea the same time as I will. He even has some interesting projects that might be good for a report. Have to talk to him about that in Korea!

It’s amazing how many people are in the air at any given moment.

Now I’m in the business lounge at Frankfort and the flight leaving just before mine is going to Narita airport in Tokyo… the same flight I took just a few weeks ago. Out the window I see the Airbus A380, probably the same I took. Today, I think it will be a normal 777 or A340.

Video de Khan Shatir à Astana

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQbZSvhH2Bg

Astana and back to Luxembourg

The Mosque in Astana.

Got some sleep and at the airport on time. Because we had changed the date on our tickets and they had some computer problems at check-in, we had to wait almost an hour and a half. But they were nice about it and we finally got our boarding cards. The customs and passport control asked how we liked Kazakhstan and I told them how much I love Kazakhstan. They were very happy and laughed.

That was the end of smiles since we arrived in Frankfort airport where smiles are forbidden. The flight was fine because for the first time in a long time, there were many empty seats. I was able to stretch out along 3 seats and got some good sleep.

A big commercial center near our first hotel.

I have never figured out why they make a special police control of passports when you exit the plane, since everyone is going to passport control anyway. It just wastes everyone’s time. Anyone know why they do that? I have only seen it at Paris and Frankfort airports.

Security was very slow with tons of people. I wonder if there has been a change in the searches since the security alert has gone up in Europe.

When you thought I couldn’t say anything more negative about Frankfort’s airport,… I have another gripe. There is no business lounge in the domestic/Schengen area. The only business lounge is in the international area. At both Paris and Amsterdam, there are many lounges.

It’s a beautiful day and I am at terminal B in Frankfort… one good thing is that they have a coffee machine for everyone which is free. One lonely point for Frankfort.

Astana, Kazakhstan

A relaxing morning at the hotel, doing some translation and gym of course. Then we took a bus to the center. It was about 25 eurocents and very comfortable. When you board, a young girl comes up to sell you a ticket. We tell her where we want to go and when we decide to get off early because we want to walk, she even makes sure we know that we haven’t arrived at the stop we requested. The people are all very nice. When I got on the bus, a young man offered to give me his seat. I must be getting old or maybe, as I like to think, the big bandage on my head from stitches made him pity me. But, when I refused and said thank you, he got up anyway for a women who boarded on the next stop.

Spent the day again at Rafé’s coffee shop talking with Constanino and Ainash. There was even a big TV screen there and Euronews was on. When our report came on the air, I made big waving signs with my hands so people would watch and then pointed at Constantino when he came on with his stand-up. People laughed and pointed. It was fun.

Back to the hotel to sleep or try to sleep until 2 when we have to get up to go to the airport.