Days 4, 5, & most of 6....

Hello Blog-followers.....
I decided to condense days as the last few have proven both uneventful and eventful at the same time......

Day 4 Thursday- No communication with Smithsonian as supervisor was interviewing all day....so the day started off depressingly boring....sat around getting in Eve the Artist's way, who has been unable to work, as I've been lurking in and out of the apartment all week....she's super sweet, but she is as ready for my paperwork to appear as I am....if not more so! Finally I think she took pity on me and invited me to come with her to an art gallery for an opening...tre' Chic! i felt very citified at the invite and promptly hopped into fancy duds! We taxied to the Longview Gallery which was VERY hip.....which means completely concrete floor and white walls.....with some CRAZY art! When we walked in, you IMMEDIATELY knew who the artist was, by her avant garde outfit.....leggings, black and red tunic and SOME kind of asian-y hat......She's Swedish by the way.....interesting feminist art...don't know why, but made me think Mexico and Day of the Dead...I thought Matt L. would find it super groovy...REALLY cool mosaic techniques, or pen and ink with the most incredible detail work....it was pretty amazing to realize she'd done ALL of it..and it was a LOT, in less than 8 months.

After noshing on some killer nibbles and wine, i ended up meeting another Southerner who has transplanted here, and we swapped some funny stories. She was super kind hanging out with me, while Eve made the rounds with all her artist friends. After it was over, Eve decided to blow off the after party and I'm SO glad she did, b/c she took me to this funky place called Madam's Organ in the Adams Morgan district....love the world play..We were there to hear the salsa band that Eve The Artist's friend plays drums for.....Let's just say I've never danced so much or so hard in my LIFE!!! Open air, nude paintings everywhere, and I thought a kind of voo-doo kitsch decor and a salsa band.....what more do you need?? Then we met this chick named Eva who REALLY salsa dances.....she's the one who pulled me onto the floor and I could only WISH to keep up with her footwork!! However..the BEST part of the night came when Eva (who'd learned where I was from) went to the salsa band....and the next thing I knew....the salsa version of Sweet Home Alabama was blasting from the band......it was perhaps the greatest moment ever......:-) Of course I threw in my "War Damn Eagle" in all the right parts, as I'm sure the bar patrons at that point thought I was on some form of hallucinogenic....but to salsa dance to THAT song....yep....definitely a highlight...even better....all the patrons from ALL kinds of ethnic backgrounds SANG ALONG!! Knowing that moment couldn't be topped we headed home.....

Day 5 Friday.....finally heard from Smithsonian......at FIVE O'CLOCK that my paperwork was cleared.....some woman named D.... sounding VERY much like Meryl Streep in Devil Wears Prada called to inform me i needed to sign stuff...when I made a faux pas comment about me calling my supervisor to let her know I needed to do that first thing on Monday, she immediately and in a VERY superior way informed me SHE would be calling her.....I was duly chastened and have now learned there is MOST DEFINITELY a way of doing things here....and I just need to salute and agree! :-) Luckily D....(AnnaWintour) will NOT be working directly with me...WHEW..... Pretty much all there was to Friday.....though my supervisor did ask me to work on writing a formal lesson plan for something I mentioned I'd done in my classroom....so my Friday was spent researching and writing and turning that in by 5:00, followed by a million episodes of Arrested Development that I'm now addicted to....loving netflix free trial and HOW did I miss that show when it came on????

Day 6 Saturday.....decided to venture out and researched a fun place to eat back on 18th street. Las Canteras is a Peruvian restaurant that serves brunch and I LOVED it! I felt like Racheal Ray on $40 a day show as I sampled the vittles....Very tasty...then i thought i'd head to the Tidal Basin and enjoy some monuments.....and I finally got lost for the first time.....not really lost...but had to walk almost back to my apt. to find the street I needed to get to the metro....those little side streets throw me...and somehow walking on 18th and seeing S St, T St, and then trying to get to U St for the metro.....there was suddenly V St......As I teacher, I pride myself on knowing my letters and such.....so I found myself silently reciting the alphabet with, I assume, a very confused look...thinking perhaps I missed it, I walked back from whence I came.....nope.....someone apparently decided to build a block right there....and yes, there was a sign that said U St. this way down a side street.....but I didn't believe the sign.....not really sure why now.....so after another Death March in completely stupid shoes that SHOULD have been comfortable....but were not.....I finally found U St....and thank you Lord...a Rite Aid that sells various and sundry band aids in all sorts of sizes for all of the various and sundry blisters I have now accumulated! ...and it was RIGHT across from my metro station!


Many things I learned on this walk....
1. Crazy men high on crack who follow me and yell unintelligible words at me don't scare me in the daylight....as other passersby didn't seem to be phased either...I figured I was okay....but it was definitely weird.
2. Seeing police officers in full vests carrying assault rifles walking purposely down the metro platforms don't scare me.....Whoever they were looking for probably might scare me....but I felt safe knowing the police were there....
3. Seeing a lady with tourettes?? on drugs?? dressed like my grandmother and looking every bit the grandmother, was a little weird...especially when she went down the metro escalator right in front of me and then began hitting herself and cussing herself out.....got to the bottom and turned to get right back on going up....apparently she didn't need to go that way and was MOST upset about the delay...

I finally made it to my Smithsonian Metro stop, but by this point between blisters and humidity the likes that only the South can know, I was exhausted....so I made it to the National Mall on the Washington Monument end.....sat on a bench in the shade with a delicious breeze watching interesting people and LOTS of school groups walk by....also major tentage occurring in preparation for SOMETHING big....I know the Smithsonian has a Folklife Festival coming at the end of June....so considering it takes two months to get paperwork accomplished.......maybe it takes them three weeks to set up tents.....hummmmph.......they should see Auburn University on game weekend and how quickly THEY move......the federal government could learn a lot from game day efficiency....though we could DEFINITELY learn a lot from D.C. about public transportation!!

Tomorrow's plan includes services at the National Cathedral and an early dinner at a place called the Sequoia which overlooks the Potomac! Going on the recommendation of a friend....hope it's a fun time to be had!

See you soon Blog-followers!!