In less than 24 hours we will be on a plane. We are leaving behind our nation's capital which we just began to get to know. Though I'm far from a seasoned resident, I am walking away with a pinch of familiarity and have definitely enjoyed our time here. It has certainly been a learning experience.
D.C. is an ideal training ground for those about to venture abroad. You can't help but gain a swelling of pride as you wander the monuments to our nation's founders and their revolutionary ideas. The diversity of the museums reflect the diversity of our country while they remind us of the complexity that makes our republic so amazing and unique.
Living in America's Mecca also allows you a opportunity to relate to people around the world. I can understand why so many have such negative opinions of Americans as a whole. Stereotypical American Tourists. They are devoid of commonsense and consideration and expect everything to be obvious and on a silver platter. Please, if you plan to visit anywhere beyond our borders, or Washington D.C. for that matter, leave the fanny-packs at home and don't stop at the top of an escalator to look at your map.
Showing posts with label Washington D.C.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Washington D.C.. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Getting Closer
We have what looks like a very nice, not to mention huge, home waiting for us in a neighborhood near the Hebrew University and not too far away from the Old City. It sounds like we will have fantastic views that on the clearest of mornings will stretch all the way to the Dead Sea. Our neighborhood is even rumored to have a Domino's Pizza that doesn't adhere to kosher rules. Hooray for pepperoni pizza! We haven't quite decided how much of our furniture we want to ship to our new (fully furnished) home. We certainly don't have to bring any of it, but it would be nice to have a few things to make it feel a bit more like OUR home. I do have plans to stock up on all sorts of space stuff from the Air and Space Museum to decorate Q's room. His plans to be an Astronaut when he grows up (and on Halloween) are resolute. I also have plans to do some painting. This should make the house feel more like ours and give me something to do with myself.
The closets here in DC are slowly filling up with things we think we need to stock up on. Not so much because they aren't available in Israel, but because prices there are quite high. We have a stockpile of diapers that we hope will last us up to Ozzi being potty trained. There is a copious amount toilet paper ready for our spoiled American behinds. We have yet to get a few of the essential to survival food items like Mac & Cheese. Unfortunately, it's just not practical to amass a cache of bacon and pork chops then ship it halfway around the planet.
Beyond these more material preparations, I've spent as much time as I can researching all prospective adventures in our next locale. To give you an idea what we have to look forward to, here are a few of my favorite online resources:
TWO WEEKS! OY VEY!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Down On The Farm
Today we went to the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, Maryland for their annual Harvest Festival. We met up with our neighbors there and I gotta say, for the 2-3 hours that we were there, it was like being back in Minnesota... well, except for the 78 degrees in October.
Hooligans in the hay.
Candle Dipping.
Diggin' with goats.
Getting lost in the giant corn maze.
Arts and crafts.
Hooligans in the hay.
Candle Dipping.
Diggin' with goats.
Getting lost in the giant corn maze.
Arts and crafts.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Q is no Pele... K8 is no Spielberg...
but 4 year old soccer is certainly one of the more entertaining moments in life.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Bumps in the Night
The last few nights the boys have been waking up around 3 am and we haven't really figured out why... until tonight.
"Quentin, why do you keep on waking up at night and coming into our room?"
"The ghost lemur keeps trying to jump on my head.", Q says very matter of fact with no fear or stress.
"The ghost lemur?"
"Yeah."
What the hell good is an imaginary friend alligator if he sleeps through nightly attacks from a ghost lemur?
"Quentin, why do you keep on waking up at night and coming into our room?"
"The ghost lemur keeps trying to jump on my head.", Q says very matter of fact with no fear or stress.
"The ghost lemur?"
"Yeah."
What the hell good is an imaginary friend alligator if he sleeps through nightly attacks from a ghost lemur?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Our Anniversary in D.C.
Over the past week, I had planned out an elaborate scheme to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. I wanted to make this one, our first since joining the Foreign Service, especially memorable. My plans involved intrigue, diamonds, the finest dining, mysteriously vague love notes, and a pedicab.
On the morning of, things appeared to be falling apart. Forecasts of rain all day and the pedicab company wasn't answering the phone. But, it seems, Serendipity loves me. The sky cleared up, in fact the weather was perfect, my pedicab guy called me back as I waited for the Metro, and everything else seemed to fall into place just in the nick of time. Our night even had a surprise celebrity guest.
Behold, The Interactive Map of Love!
View Our Anniversary in D.C. in a larger map
On the morning of, things appeared to be falling apart. Forecasts of rain all day and the pedicab company wasn't answering the phone. But, it seems, Serendipity loves me. The sky cleared up, in fact the weather was perfect, my pedicab guy called me back as I waited for the Metro, and everything else seemed to fall into place just in the nick of time. Our night even had a surprise celebrity guest.
Behold, The Interactive Map of Love!
View Our Anniversary in D.C. in a larger map
Friday, August 28, 2009
السلام عليكم
While K8's brain is being bombarded with daily tsunamis of policies, acronyms, and bureaucracies, the boys and I continue to explore. That is, when we are not occupied by the pool, playground, or new friends.
On the occasion that I am afforded any real time to do so, I've been attempting to learn Arabic. My efforts in Hebrew are less pressing, as most Hebrew speaking Israelis also speak English fluently. Thus far, my success in Arabic has been limited to a few different ways to say hello and about 20 other words that I have bouncing around in my head, of which, I cannot recall the coinciding meaning.
Being in our nations capital has spurred us to bone up on our U.S. History a bit so we've been watching HBO's John Adams series on DVD. It is a fantastic look into the personalities and realities that led to the formation of this country.
The movie, coupled with my labors in language, has produced dreams that are quite bizarre... especially last night. Yesterday evening Q "captured" an imaginary alligator that, according to Q was skilled in automotive repair and medicine. Unfortunately, this new imaginary friend later fell 4 stories down the apartment's elevator shaft along with my not imaginary belt that he was using as a leash. This resulted in a tear filled meltdown of epic proportions until, "Q, what's that noise? Is there something scratching at our door? Let's go see. Oh, my goodness, it's Alligator. He climbed out. YAY!" Crisis averted but a dream about trying to get your oil changed by an alligator that only speaks Arabic dressed in colonial attire makes for a rather restless night.
On the occasion that I am afforded any real time to do so, I've been attempting to learn Arabic. My efforts in Hebrew are less pressing, as most Hebrew speaking Israelis also speak English fluently. Thus far, my success in Arabic has been limited to a few different ways to say hello and about 20 other words that I have bouncing around in my head, of which, I cannot recall the coinciding meaning.
Being in our nations capital has spurred us to bone up on our U.S. History a bit so we've been watching HBO's John Adams series on DVD. It is a fantastic look into the personalities and realities that led to the formation of this country.
The movie, coupled with my labors in language, has produced dreams that are quite bizarre... especially last night. Yesterday evening Q "captured" an imaginary alligator that, according to Q was skilled in automotive repair and medicine. Unfortunately, this new imaginary friend later fell 4 stories down the apartment's elevator shaft along with my not imaginary belt that he was using as a leash. This resulted in a tear filled meltdown of epic proportions until, "Q, what's that noise? Is there something scratching at our door? Let's go see. Oh, my goodness, it's Alligator. He climbed out. YAY!" Crisis averted but a dream about trying to get your oil changed by an alligator that only speaks Arabic dressed in colonial attire makes for a rather restless night.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Playing Tourist
While we've been here we've spent a great deal of time getting acquainted with our surroundings. The boys and I have wandered through many a monument and park, many a museum has been perused, and a slight sampling of restaurants have been... well... sampled. Here are some of our findings:
Smithsonian Air and Space is the bee's knees. Since we visited the location on the mall, Q has been persistent in a new goal of being an astronaut when he grows up. When we visited the Dulles location we were amazed. Not just at all the fantastic and historic planes and rockets but also at Q's unrelenting excitement throughout the entire visit. Hell, even Ozzi dropped a bunch of, "Oh wow!"'s there. Of course we couldn't leave without getting Q his own orange astronaut jumpsuit.
The National Zoo is fantastic!!! Elephants, hippos, giant octopus, and naked mole rats, zoos don't get much better than that.
Visiting the monuments have been an interesting opportunity for me to try and explain aspects of American History to Q, some of which is a bit difficult. It's one thing to tell a 4 year old that Abraham Lincoln was the president a long time ago (and "No he wasn't that big when he was alive.") but a whole different thing to explain what the Vietnam Memorial represents and "Why is that man crying?"
I had to take the boys hiking around Theodore Roosevelt Island, Q being named after TR's youngest son and all. We even got up close and personal with a couple of young deer.
As for restaurants, 2 Amys has easily replaced Punch as my all time favorite pizza outside of Naples... especially with fresh Burrata on the menu.
A few other highlights thus far, Old Town Alexandria with this guy,
The National Gallery with it's underground passageway,
The Einstein Memorial,
And making some great new friends. Including our new next door neighbors who are from the Twin Cities and knew our neighbors in St. Paul and have a girl the same age as Q.
Smithsonian Air and Space is the bee's knees. Since we visited the location on the mall, Q has been persistent in a new goal of being an astronaut when he grows up. When we visited the Dulles location we were amazed. Not just at all the fantastic and historic planes and rockets but also at Q's unrelenting excitement throughout the entire visit. Hell, even Ozzi dropped a bunch of, "Oh wow!"'s there. Of course we couldn't leave without getting Q his own orange astronaut jumpsuit.
The National Zoo is fantastic!!! Elephants, hippos, giant octopus, and naked mole rats, zoos don't get much better than that.
Visiting the monuments have been an interesting opportunity for me to try and explain aspects of American History to Q, some of which is a bit difficult. It's one thing to tell a 4 year old that Abraham Lincoln was the president a long time ago (and "No he wasn't that big when he was alive.") but a whole different thing to explain what the Vietnam Memorial represents and "Why is that man crying?"
I had to take the boys hiking around Theodore Roosevelt Island, Q being named after TR's youngest son and all. We even got up close and personal with a couple of young deer.
As for restaurants, 2 Amys has easily replaced Punch as my all time favorite pizza outside of Naples... especially with fresh Burrata on the menu.
A few other highlights thus far, Old Town Alexandria with this guy,
The National Gallery with it's underground passageway,
The Einstein Memorial,
And making some great new friends. Including our new next door neighbors who are from the Twin Cities and knew our neighbors in St. Paul and have a girl the same age as Q.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Air and Space
Sorry it's taken so long for me to get another post up. We've been busy getting acquainted with our new surroundings... oh and K8's been busy with training and hammering out the bid list. We feel like we've gotten our bearings here and our final ranking of the numerous available posts around the world was turned in late last week. Yesterday we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum out at Dulles Airport and tomorrow we go to Flag Day to find out where our first assignment will be. I will do my best to post our destination asap. Until then...
air and space from tapirspoop on Vimeo.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Made it!
We made it. Q and I via 2 days in an over packed Honda Element...
K8 and Ozzi via 2 hours in a plane. Their trip may have been quicker but they didn't get to see the Goodyear Blimp. Then again they didn't have to drive through Gary, IN, all boarded up and burned out, looking for a place for a 4 year-old to poop.
The new apartment is very nice. The pool is great and the walk to the Metro is pretty quick. The apartment management has all sorts of community activities going on, which is great since most everyone here is with the Foreign Service. We've already met quite a few people in various stages of their FS lives. Today I took the boys to one of the play-times in the activities room and walked out with a play-date for Q on Thursday.
Yesterday we went to the Air and Space Museum having forgotten that it was the anniversary of the moon landing. Luckily we got in before the big crowds showed up. Q went bonkers over all the rockets and planes. Ozzi was less enthused. The significant historical day had several news crews in the museum trying to do their pieces. One lady from Fox News had the nerve to actually shush Ozzi as we walked past. Had we not needed to get home for Ozzi's nap we would have parked right next to them and let Ozzi scream his way through her entire taping.
Of course, all this fun doesn't meen that we don't miss our friends and family. We do, greatly.
Road Trip to DC from tapirspoop on Vimeo.
K8 and Ozzi via 2 hours in a plane. Their trip may have been quicker but they didn't get to see the Goodyear Blimp. Then again they didn't have to drive through Gary, IN, all boarded up and burned out, looking for a place for a 4 year-old to poop.
The new apartment is very nice. The pool is great and the walk to the Metro is pretty quick. The apartment management has all sorts of community activities going on, which is great since most everyone here is with the Foreign Service. We've already met quite a few people in various stages of their FS lives. Today I took the boys to one of the play-times in the activities room and walked out with a play-date for Q on Thursday.
Yesterday we went to the Air and Space Museum having forgotten that it was the anniversary of the moon landing. Luckily we got in before the big crowds showed up. Q went bonkers over all the rockets and planes. Ozzi was less enthused. The significant historical day had several news crews in the museum trying to do their pieces. One lady from Fox News had the nerve to actually shush Ozzi as we walked past. Had we not needed to get home for Ozzi's nap we would have parked right next to them and let Ozzi scream his way through her entire taping.
Of course, all this fun doesn't meen that we don't miss our friends and family. We do, greatly.
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