Culture Extravaganza and Projects

Hello Blog Followers!
This was another week of working pretty intensely in my cubicle writing the lesson plan/unit that is the main focus of my time here in D.C. Unfortunately I won't see the finished product until I am back in Alabama, as they have more details with rights, photos, etc. that are under their control ....my end of the bargain is almost done...

After a fruitful Tuesday meeting with Carrie, my supervisor, all the puzzle pieces clicked into place for organizing it! Those of you that know me well, and have seen me get that look of "I'VE GOT IT!" will know what I'm talking about.... in about two hours, I had reorganized my original 23 page document and broke it down into all the component pages for each individual link that will bounce off the main lesson site! I sent my mock ups to the graphic artist of what I was thinking, and on Thursday, he called us up to look at them and I did my TOTAL NERD dance of excitement that many of you know well! To see my ideas slickly designed with the Smithsonian logo was a thrill! Yeah, yeah...it was a worksheet and some object cards that no one else would find exciting...but it was from MY idea....so of course I was grinning all afternoon.....there are still lots of edits and Jenny (my other supervisor) is back from Taiwan, so she has to read through all of and she is like a SUPER genius and has GREAT ideas that encourage me to think HARD...she's 25 by the way....it's RIDICULOUS how smart and efficient she is! I have LOVED working with her and Carrie!!

So that was my work week....but of COURSE I played a bit, too! On Monday I got to eat dinner with Tom Denney and Foster Denney's godparents (who live up here), so it was nice to see familiar faces and we ate at a wicked good Italian place called Bibiana's...i had veal ravioli.....it was pretty good....but Tom and Pat's dishes were way better!

On Thursday, i decided to go to the Kennedy Center to see the Classical Mystery Tour with the National Symphony....I can't even put into words how awesome that evening was.....to hear a Beatles tribute band play Eleanor Rigby backed by symphonic strings LIVE....amazing! It was a very fun night and I enjoyed hearing ALL my fave Beatles songs and the tribute group were REALLY spot on with the costumes, wigs, and banter....a night to remember...

Then on Friday I went with a friend for Mojito's and ceviche at Lima Lounge....we threw in some empanadas and Spanish wine for good measure...very fun evening!

Then Saturday was a super fun night because Eve the Artist invited me to another art gallery opening AND she was performing in her belly dancing recital!! One of the things I love so much about this town, is ALL the things you can learn to do! And the cool thing about this belly dancing studio, is that they go to a Moroccan bar to perform! About 100 women, every age, size, color, and shape imaginable filled Pasha's with their AWESOME spangly skirts tied over shorts, pants, skirts, sweat pants, whatever...to show off their belly dancing moves...it was truly girl power in there! All the classes came to watch each other and all dance to Middle Eastern music in club remix form in between performances....like a giant slumber party...but no one stayed over...and there were cocktails!! After Eve's class shimmied, wiggled, and grooved, we realized we were CRAZY hungry, so we headed downstairs to the restaurant below called Marrakesh Palace and I ate the most AWESOME dinner! I had Chicken Mkali (a tagine dish) which was YUMMY and had roasted bits of lemon peel in the rice...so good....also their olives (served complimentary with the bread) were outstanding!! I, of course, ordered baba ganouj.....i'm determined to try it wherever it is on the menu so I can say with certainty who's is the best (so far Zatinya's).....it was a lovely evening .

On Sunday, I took care of errands, and then decided to go check out the drum circle in the park across from my apt.!! WOW....totally worth going to people watch....as I was by myself, I didn't join the African dancing, though the man who appeared to be the leader encouraged me too, but that's not the kind of dancing you can do while hanging onto your purse....and i wasn't really comfortable abandoning it, even though everyone was SUPER engaged in the performance!

So now I have another work week ahead of me and I'll be reviewing existing materials and some new to be published work created by the Smithsonian folks, for teachers to use.....and then on Saturday.....MY XAN MAN ARRIVES!! Can't wait!! And before I know it....I'll be winging my way back home....to the things I've missed...some that I knew I would...and some that have surprised me.......to Auburn tap water.....my car....my bed....my pots and pans...my Kroger....and my sweet, precious three men....