Snow! Baltimore!

It snowed last week. Unlike Texas, when it snows In DC you don't get the day off, people do not begin hoarding food and water and there is not wide spread panic. But it does mean that traffic is much worse than usual, there is salt all over the road and you have to walk through wet snow wherever you go. I think I finally realize why snow can be such a hassle. When you have to go to school or work in regular clothes (as opposed to ski apparel) your shoes get messed up and your pants get wet. We went out to play in the snow anyway, and its a good thing we did because by the next morning it had transformed from nice new snow to sloppy, wet day old snow mixed with mud.

We went to the nearby Iwo Jima Memorial to play in the snow. Although it is dark out it was only about 5:30 pm. It gets dark very early here. Mary looks extra cute in the snow.

Our Snowman is disfigured. We did not build it from scratch. Someone else built it, then someone knocked it over, then we tried to fix it. The end result looks like the "Thing" from the Fantastic Four.

The Iwo Jima Memorial looked really cool with snow on it.

Last weekend we went to Baltimore again. We had three things on the agenda. First we wanted to see the Edgar Allen Poe House. Second, we wanted to go to the National Aquarium and finally, we were going to have dinner (Maryland Crabs) with our friend from FSI, Diane Holcombe, who lives in Baltimore and commutes to DC every day. Of course we started the trip by getting lost trying to get on the George Washington Parkway and spent the first half hour of our trip going in a big circle. Once we got to Baltimore, as we were driving to the Edgar Allen Poe House, I commented to Mary that I thought Baltimore's reputation as a "rough" town was undeserved, in fact I thought it was rather nice...then we went four more blocks and found ourselves in the worst area I have ever been to in my life. The website for the Edgar Allen Poe House said it was not walking distance from downtown (about 10 blocks) or the B&O Railroad Museum (3 blocks). I now understood why they discourage walking. The buildings were boarded up, covered in graffiti and a rag tag assortment of people shuffled up and down the street, some pushing shopping carts, some just huddled on street corners occasionally casting glances over their shoulders. A man was having a loud, obscenity laced cell phone conversation within about three feet of some little children playing "vampire". I thought we might be lost, then I realized we were right in front of the Edgar Allen Poe House. It is fitting that Edgar Allen Poe's house is in a very scary neighborhood. The house itself is about the size of a three story walk-in closet. They keep the front door locked, you have to knock to get in and there are warnings not to give money to panhandlers. The tour took about ten minutes and we were out of there. I was worried the whole time that the car tires would be missing when we returned.

We then made our way over to the Aquarium and discovered that it was $1.00 day and everyone in Baltimore and the surrounding area was there (regular price is almost $30). The aquarium was sold out. The Inner Harbor was jammed with people, because not only was the Aquarium a dollar, every attraction in Baltimore was a dollar. Surprisingly, there was not a big crowd at the Edgar Allen Poe House. I guess they were all at the Inner Harbor.

We had some time to kill before meeting Diane for Dinner so we climbed to the top of a big hill and took a picture.

Dinner was good. We ate crabs. In the final irony of the day, we dined on Gulf Crabs from Texas because Maryland crabs are not in season.

I finished Con-Gen on Thursday (I graduated with "honors" since I only got one question wrong out of all four tests). Now we have to get ready for the move. In no special order we need to arrange for our HHE to get to Caracas, line up the movers to pack our apartment, ship the car, square away insurance, get the car serviced, visit Hagerstown (where our stuff is stored), get my passport (the diplomatic one) get our visas for Venezuela, stock up on all the supplies we are going to take to Venezuela (chronic food shortages), square away our travel plans, get the dogs squared away for travel to Venezuela (go to the vet, get required certificates and inspections) and do all the other things I have forgotten about, but have to be done. But, there is always a rainbow at the end of the storm.

The Great Falls of the Potomac

With Dan and Kathy Baker.

Did I Mention the Drag Queen Races?

The Night Before Halloweeen.




Sheer camp madness.




Dame Edna was my personal favorite.

Someone Told Me Its All Happening at the Zoo...

I do believe it, I do believe its true.

Its a light and tumble journey
From [Arlington] to the park;
Just a fine and fancy ramble
To the zoo.

But you can take the [DC Metro]
If its raining or its cold,
And the animals will love it
If you do.

Somethin tells me
Its all happening at the zoo.

The monkeys stand for honesty,
Giraffes are insincere,
And the elephants are kindly but
They're dumb.
Orangutans are skeptical
Of changes in their cages,
And the zoo keeper is very fond of rum.

Zebras are reactionaries,
Antelopes are missionaries,
Pigeons plot in secrecy,
And hamsters turn on frequently.
What a gas! you gotta come and see
At the zoo.

Last Sunday it was a beautiful, cold, clear day so we set out to do something we have talked about since arriving here in the DC area...we went to the zoo! The National Zoo ( http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ ) is located in Rock Creek Park ( http://www.nps.gov/rocr/ ) and is situated between two Metro stops in a very cool older neighborhood. The Neighborhood is not old by DC standards but by my standards it is older. Most of the area buildings are of the “art deco” style, which I have always found appealing.

We took the Metro which is an easy ride, although , as is always the case we missed the train by about 10 seconds. We actually saw it pulling away from the platform as we raced down the escalator. So, we had to wait an agonizing fifteen minutes for the next train. I always feel compelled to run to the Metro station in order not to miss the train, but whenever I run, I get there a few minutes after the train leaves and I have to wait. Of course if I simply stroll to the station I get there as the train leaves and spend the next fifteen minutes silently berating myself for not running to the station.

The main attraction at the National Zoo are the Pandas, which were very cute although I thought the “Panda Sperm” exhibit was a little over the top.

Because it was cold outside the Pandas were quite active. They ate, rolled around, tussled with each other a bit (to a loud chorus of “ohhhh” as in “how cute” from the gathered crowd) and generally lived up to their billing as really cute. However, the tigers were the best part as far as I was concerned. I learned several things watching the tigers. First, tigers swim. In fact, they swim quite well even when it is about 40 degrees outside. There is a moat around their enclosure and they have some large floating balls to play with. The tigers would just jump right into the water and splash around playing with their ball. So, if you are ever being chased by a tiger do not jump into water. The second thing I learned is that a tiger can cover about fifty yards in about three huge steps. Their enclosure is about that long and one of them literally bounded from one end to the other to pounce on a mate (who had the coveted ball) in three huge leaps. It took about 1.5 seconds. I remember thinking that I would be tiger food before I even realized what was happening. The third thing I learned is that tigers are very patient. One fella simply watched the others until they got near him and then pounced. I have to admit...I like tigers.

Other animals on display included Hippos, Elephants, Orangutans, Zebras, various birds from around the world, including a very orange bird from Venezuela and some really small horses from Mongolia.

Speaking of Mongolia...I failed to mention in my previous post that I sold my Xterra to a gentleman from Mongolia who was purchasing the truck for his brother who still lives in Mongolia and planned to ship the Xterra to Mongolia. Imagine that, my Xterra is going to be in Mongolia. Cool.

We spent Thanksgiving with friends and ate a wonderful turkey dinner. Of the seven adults present for dinner, four spoke fluent Japanese and two, including Mary, spoke fluent Spanish.

We also had two French speakers. I contributed a salad and after-dinner songs on the guitar. I have learned to sing, actually I have learned not to care how bad I sound, and have realized that everyone else sounds pretty bad as well but no one really cares.

We went on a nice walk to Roosevelt Island ( http://www.nps.gov/this/ ) on Thanksgiving and we went for an earliny morning walk to the Lincoln Memorial ( http://www.nps.gov/linc/ ) on Sunday morning at about 7:00 am.

Other recent events...Friday I went to Dulles Airport with my CON-GEN class and we watched the DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security, which now includes what used to be Customs and INS) at work. We got to stand in the booths as people are questioned as they enter the US. These were all non-citizens on visas (because issuing visas is a big part of Foreign Service work). We got the full tour including the dreaded “secondary” area where the rubber gloves are kept.

That same night we went to see Alejandro Escovedo (http://www.alejandroescovedo.com/ ) play at the Wolf Trap ( http://www.wolftrap.org/ ) which is a national park that is a concert venue. In the summer it is an outdoor amphitheater, in the winter the shows move inside. The acoustics are incredible in the “barn”. Alejandro Escovedo played with a string quartet (cello, violin, two acoustic guitars) and for his last five songs he played without any amplification at all, not even a microphone for the vocals, which is almost unheard of for a modern concert.

In the coming weeks we will be seeing Handel's Messiah performed at the National Cathedral and we have tickets for the special New Years Party at the Kennedy Center.

Mary is now in CON-GEN and we are beginning final preparations for the Departure to Venezuela. So much to do...