Milking Washington

Last Friday, as part of our courses at ASP we got to go to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (OEOB to you Oliver North readers). There we met with the Deputy Director of the Public Liaison of the Executive Office of the President and the Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. They spoke about their work and their views on how their work and politics in general related to faith.

By Monday, I was on the South Lawn of the White House. My buddy who interns at the Pentagon hooked myself and others up with tickets to the arrival ceremony for the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. We got up early and headed off to the White House where we gathered to watch the fanfare of troops, military bands, and two heads of governments showering each other with compliments. It was really cool seeing George Bush for real and being that close to the White House. Now if he would just let me inside...

Monday night, I grabbed a student rush ticket to the Washington Capitals hockey game which got me a great seat in the lower section to watch the Caps play my old favorite team the Vancouver Canucks. It was cool seeing the Canucks again, watching an exciting hockey game, and having my new favorite hockey team beat my old one. During the game I called one of my Vancouver friends to let him know I was at the game he was watching on TV. As I was talking to him, Vancouver scored. I groaned and then five seconds later he suddenly cheered. Forgot about the delay. After exiting the game, there was a really cool jazz/dixieland band playing good music and partying it up. It was a roaring good time until the cops came and broke up the good time.

Tuesday night we had an important paper due at 11:59 pm. One energy drink later, I emailed it in at 11:41 and felt more alive than I had felt in a while. It's amazing how much stress affects you subconsciously. Wednesday after work, class, and family dinner night, a group of us went ice skating. Afterwards, we tried to catch some of the debate at the nearest pub that was showing it. As we went into the room with the debate on, it was clear we were not in the best place to watch it. The doorway had an "Arlington Obama supporters" sign and the tables were filled with various sign-up sheets and Obama paraphernalia. Everyone in there was clearly and vocally an Obama supporter. We finally tired of that and left.

Thursday was actually pretty busy at work. I gave two tours, one surprise one in the morning to a group of German high school students. Luckily they knew English. The tour in the afternoon was for a group of 8th-graders who were pretty fun for a while, but they had been up since 2 am and by the end of the tour they were exhausted and so was I. ("Guests, guests...")

PSA: If you are ever going to be on a tour of the Capitol, or anywhere for that matter, please be aware of the fact that you take up a certain amount of space and the fact that that space and your use of it affects everyone else. Follow your tour guide and stick close to him or her to both hear what they have to say and to stay out of other peoples' way. Listen to what they say. Do what they say. It is not your space. It is a privilege to be there. When you enter a room, do NOT stop in the entrance and take all your pictures then no matter how much you block the entrance and your guide beckons you onward. Pay attention to where your group is. Do not leave your group. Ask good questions. Don't discuss my, I mean, the tour guide's position on the election. If you follow these simple guidelines, you will have a better tour and your tour guide will not say mean things about you after you are gone.

So basically, work ran me into the ground. But after a quick change and a quick bite to eat on the way, I was off the last DC United soccer game at home. Unlike the last game we attended, we got tickets in the supporter section. It was sweet! We had great seats close to the field and the supporters' section was constantly raucous. We waved flags, joined in the constant chants and cheers, and yelled until we were hoarse and we had a 2-1 victory. What a night!

Friday night we went out for dinner for one of the guys birthday. We ended up walking around Dupont Circle until about midnight. Today, I spent the day at Mount Vernon. It was a beautiful day. It's just at that point where it is tipping toward the chill of fall, but still clinging to summer's warmth. We got to walk around a really pretty, green, open, and forested area of land, which I appreciated. Saw some animals, got a wagon ride, roasted apples, observed a different way of threshing grain, and met George Washington. It was a fun day.

So here I am, trying to catch my breath and trying to look past my white knuckles clinging to this adrenalin-fueled carousel ride and see just how lucky I am to be here and milk Washington for all it is worth.