Brooklyn Bridge

I went to New York a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty awesome, but considering how far behind I am on my blog, I will just post a "sneak peak" picture.

Me. New York. Brooklyn Bridge. Life is a dream.

When it Hails...

I spent a large portion of my life in Utah. And as everyone who spends even a little time in Utah knows, the weather is CRAZY out there. Sometimes it snows in June and sometimes it's hot in October.

And one time, last year, we had a blizzard that was SO BAD that they closed all the stores and the schools. They practically chased me out of the building, it was so bad. I mean, the sun was shining, but it was JUST IN CASE. Because the blizzard was COMING.

Four hours after everything shut down, we got a few flurries for 20 minutes. 20 MINUTES, folks.

Anyway. This post is not about the lamest blizzard Provo never got. It is about Washington, DC.

And the crazy weather here.

Several weeks ago it was so hot, it was almost unbearable. I was sitting at the Smithsonian, using their free wireless on the lawn in front of the main building.

All of a sudden, a piece of plastic dropped on the ground beside me. I naturally got up to inspect. And as I picked it up, it started melting in my hand.

Yes, friends, it was hail. HAIL. In the middle of 80+ degree weather. I was shocked as more pieces of this hail (it was HUGE, too, which is why I thought it was plastic. They were like mini ice balls) began to fall. I grabbed my computer, stuffed it inside my purse, and ran over to the African Art building for cover just as the sky opened up and the rain came pouring down.

Rain mixed with huge hail chunks.

It was the craziest thing I have seen out here yet, weather-wise. I guess Utah isn't the only place with abnormal weather conditions!

Philadelphia

More pictures from my trip to Pennsylvania. The day after Valley Forge, we went in to Philadelphia. The itinerary: Liberty Bell, the Constitution Center, Benjamin Franklin's grave, town hall, the Masonic Temple (the 3rd largest in the world, I think), a Philly cheesesteak from Reading Terminal, Independence Hall, pizza for dinner, and then drive home.

Yeah, it was a pretty chill day. :)

Guess who wins the prize for fool of the day?

Sometimes I like to pretend like I am important. I live in DC (which makes me awesome), I work for the government/military (which also sounds cool), I work with high-ranking international military officers (even cooler), and I have this awesome government id that lets me into all military bases and government buildings.

Yeah. I'm pretty cool.

But things always happen to remind me that really I am not as important as I would like to think.

Like yesterday.

The new class of international officers (67 of them) just came in this past week and Monday was their first day of briefings at NDU. Many of them have never been to the US before and some of them are still struggling with English. So as a staff, this first week they are here we have the opportunity to orient them to how we do things in the US.

I was assigned a group of 9 officers, and after taking them around to get id cards, etc all day, I took them on the NDU (actually the Coast Guard) shuttle to the metro to show them how to use both the shuttle and the metro.

The Coast Guard building, where the shuttle stops to pick us up, is right next to NDU and about a 4-5 minute walk from the building I work in. I walked 6 of the officers (the other 3 didn't need metro orientation) to the shuttle, but right before we got to the stop, I realized that I had forgotten my metro card. Panicked and feeling like an idiot in front of these officers, I told them to wait right there and I literally ran back to my office to get my metro card. And then I ran back.

Don't worry, I only ran out of my heels twice. And it wasn't even awkward to be running along in heels and then lose one of them and have to run back for it.

Anyway, I ran back to the officers and, just my luck, the shuttlewas still there, just 100 feet in front of us. However, when we were about 20 feet away, the shuttle closed its doors and drove away!

Still panting from my run, I just chuckled when one of the officers said, "He did that on purpose." He must have seen me running and thought it would be funny if he just left me!

Anyway, I was trying not to be frustrated as I waited for the next shuttle while explaining the metro map to the officers. It was such a hot day (probably in the 90's) and I thought I was going to die of heat. The black pants and heels were just not cutting it for me, and I seriously thought I would pass out from the extreme temperature.

And then, as I was riding the shuttle to the metro, I realized that I didn't even need my metro card because I wasn't riding the metro! I was just taking the officers there and then riding the shuttle back to work!

Yes, friends. Sometimes I act first and think later. And for this, I win the prize of fool of the day!

Drawing Pigs was NOT in the Job Description

This past week at work was the only week of the year that we didn't have 100+ foreign military officers in our sphere of responsibility. Graduation was last week and the new officers don't come in until this next week, giving us one week to do everything to get ready for the new class (including housing, medical insurance, flights, rides from the airport, etc). We were also finishing up all the things from the previous class.

Sounds like a party, eh?

Well, my boss decided that since this was our "vacation week" (when he said that at staff meeting everyone broke out into overly-stressed giggles) we would have a little "party."

"Mandatory fun," the staff members called it.

Anyway, Thursday for lunch we ordered pizza and had a "get to know your coworkers" activity. The assignment? Draw a pig.

For those who are unfamiliar with my incredible drawing skills, this assignment made me more nervous than anything I have yet had to do at work, including driving a van around DC without a map and speaking to hundreds of strangers.

I can't draw. It is no secret. When I was four I think I decided that my drawing skills were awesome enough and they have stayed at that level ever since.

This is a close replica of what I drew:

Go ahead and laugh. All of my coworkers did. "It looks like a dog! Or a bug!" "That is the ugliest pig I've ever seen." "What is that?!"

Yep, I got it all. I can now claim that I am clearly the worst artist in the office.

But hey, drawing pigs was NOT in the job description!

Valley Forge

So a few weeks ago I went to Pennsylvania. I went to Valle Forge on Friday and then Philadelphia on Saturday. It was thrilling and rainy and I even dislocated my shoulder!

The party started when I saw the (quaint? creepy? still-has-a-working-dumbwaiter-full-of-spiders weird?) housing.

Why yes, I did sleep in an L-shaped closet...

During the "exploration period," I found the dumbwaiter and someone found the drop-down ladder to the attic. You can bet that I jumped on that boat and went up to explore!

Unfortunately there was nothing up there but old mattresses and spiders...

The buildings were great. They looked old and smelled old, the paint looked like it was at least 20 years old (and especially thick on the window panes), it was surrounded by wooded areas and open fields, and it really felt like we were miles and miles away from civilization. Perfect for a weekend getaway.

The best part of the housing (besides the working dumbwaiter) was the wall decor. Have you ever seen such creepy paintings? They had all the presidents and their wives. Unfortunately I only snapped a few shots, but my friend saw some of the paintings and said that if she was one of them, she would come back and haunt the place until they took down the horrible painting!

Can you guess who they are?

This is a random old tractor...but painted red, white, and blue!

I don't think I really understand (or know) the history of the place, but it has this lovely wooded area with a WWII memorial (even though it is at Valley Forge...) for each of the 50 states.

There is a nice little path that winds through the woods, where the memorials are placed.

It was raining pretty heavily when we got there (they said it had been raining for 12 days!) so the woods were nice and green (and flooded!).

Like everything else, I don't know they reason for all of the birdhouses painted different colors hanging everywhere...

Here is part of the WWII memorial for Utah. They honored fallen soldiers as well as the people who donated money to make the memorials. Like I said, I don't really know why they have this, but it was cool.

There were these cute benches and a small stage set in the back of the wooded area. I was delighted to have stumbled upon this...because doesn't the red and green look so good together in the rain?

In case any of you have forgotten what I look like...

In the afternoon we went on a "tour" of Valley Forge. Our tour guide was spectacular. He even dressed the part. He was like a wellspring of information about what happened at Valley Forge, and he wasn't afraid to hop up and down with excitement about it.

On a hill overlooking the far-off area where the British camped

It was pouring rain, which only added to the excitement.

Too cool for umbrellas, we're just going to stand under the tree and pray we don't get hit by lightning...

We saw the cabins (replicas) that the men lived in during that long, long winter. 12 men slept in one of these! And what is even more horrifying: leaving the cabin to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night when it is 20 degrees and the ground is covered with ice was not always an option the men wanted to take. I won't tell you what they did as an alternative, but lots of death-by-disease in the camps came because of unsanitary conditions.

Inside the cabin. 12 bunks (6 are gone), concentration-camp style, a fireplace, and a center area.

We didn't get the "real" Valley Forge experience because the ground wasn't covered with snow, but it sure was beautiful!

The stove where they cooked most of the bread (according to Wikipedia, about 1 pound/man/day)

My professor and the tour guide

Washington lived in a house a few miles away from the main encampment. 

I don't know if this bench was part of the original decor, but it sure made for some great pictures!

Our tour guide explaining the flag outside Washington's house

They have "room reproductions" inside of Washington's house. The dining room, front room, office, bedrooms--all are roped off and set up to look like they might have during Washington's day.

"My hat, it has three corners..."

It finally stopped raining and the sun came out just in time for me to snap this beautiful picture.

 Our final stop before we headed home (to the Freedom Foundation lodges) was this delightful church with beautiful windows depicting scenes of Valley Forge and American independence. Unfortunately they were having a wedding practice (which is something I've never understood. If you have to rehearse your wedding isn't it getting too complicated? How hard is it to say "I do?" Are they afraid you will forget what to say--or worse, run away, runaway-bride style?) so we couldn't go inside the chapel. The windows outside, though, were almost as good!

I think the church looks almost like a fort...

These delightful little archways made it obvious why people would want to have their weddings here! 

And what old church is complete without a graveyard?

 After we got home (and after I dislocated my shoulder--story to follow!) the real festivities began. We ate dinner and then Abigail Adams herself came and visited us. She spoke to us for about an hour and then opened it up for question and answer--which was the most impressive part, in my opinion! She answered questions about her views on the role of women in society, how she felt about her husband's role in government, and how it was to be the wife of a president, all in character. She was great.

 Freedom Foundation (the place we stayed) even has a non-denominational chapel. The hymnbooks inside have Catholic, Protestant, and even Jewish songs of worship so that all can use it.

I also started to discover how awesome night pictures could look when I messed around with my ISO! Success!