Where to begin...I'm definitely not so full of material to share tonight as I have been in the past weeks...Monday, the group from Indonesia arrived and it was quite a good time. I joined them for lunch and spent the majority of the day with them, aside from running a few administrative errands (copying passports and flight itineraries, printing out a waiver form). Each group that comes in listens to a presentation on federalism, as an intro to our government and how our system is run. The man who gave the presentation - so I've been told - is the best, and he really enjoyed giving the presentation, he had such enthusiasm and even a grin that repeatedly appeared on his face throughout. (This picture is obviously not of any of the visitors, but it is from the Indonesian Embassy :P)
Later in the week, Thursday, the groups final day in D.C. I sat in on a panel discussion with a police officer from Montgomery County, MD, a representative of the Catholic church's organization which deals with Human Trafficking, and another woman...who seemed to be the leader of the group, but I can't remember what her title was :/ The discussion was interesting.
The Indonesian group seemed to get along really well. They had three that at least used their English skills. Two of the men introduced their selves in English on Monday, and used their skills throughout. One was definitely more capable than the other. Thursday I discovered that one of the woman had excellent skills in English, surely better than the two men. They left behind a nice neon green T-shirt for me (which I assume was just an extra, as it was on my desk when I came back from lunch).
Friday night I went out with two guys from the singles ward and two guys here in the Barlow center. We had dinner at some Thai place (3/5 stars - my rating) and then, after wandering a bit, ended up at a frozen yogurt place. It was quite an interesting shop, very small but jam packed with discounts. If you can stand on one toe with your eyes closed for 15 seconds then you get your frozen yogurt for free! If you let them put their stamp on your forehead 'Yogato' then you get a 10% discount. We came up with 10 countries with only four letters in their name, as well as four countries beginning with 'h'. After we got our yogurt we played Boggle which they had among their collection of games.
Saturday I didn't do too much as some plans fell through, but I did get to watch a Korean film called May 18 about a military massacre in Gwangju, South Korea. It was very
tragic, so it wasn't the most pleasant addition to my Saturday afternoon, but it was a worth while experience. Sunday, today, I attended a Unitary Universalist service. It was interesting, and the choir was awesome. I was just disappointed that they never mentioned God in the sermon. (The picture is of the Union Station, where I met up with my friend. It houses a metro stop, shopping center, amtrak stop among other things. It's right next to the Capital.)This evening I went with a new friend to play games with some friends of his. We played Rook, Boggle, and Ticket to Ride. I enjoyed it quite a lot. It was nice to get to know some new people. One was from Idaho and another was from Salt Lake City.
I have a paper due this weekend, so I don't really look forward to this week :P but I'll make it through. Until later.
PS I'm excited to start attending the exercise classes at GWU. It only costs $26 for the whole summer!
PPS I'll do better taking pictures next week...I think :)
It sounds like you had a lot to talk about after all :) So, since you promised pictures we are all going to hold you to your word! This summer would be so much more fun if you were here! Playing Spoons just won't be the same without you!I suck though, which, I suppose, isn't always a bad thing (if you're bored you get out of the game). OK, well I hope you are having fun out there. Do you miss all of us? We miss you a lot too, Randal! Hopefully, you never have to go away for so long ever again!
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