An ode to Washington D.C.

Sunday, 19 July 2009 06:37 by The Lunatic

It was one year ago today, July 19, 2008, that I moved with my family to Washington D.C.

And in ten days from now, we’ll be leaving! We’re moving back to Europe next week.

We knew our stay in D.C. would be only a year, which was fine with me.  I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy the nations capital. Although I was born on the east coast, we moved to Spokane, Washington in 1968, when I was five years old, and I lived on the west coast for the next 38 years.  Prior to moving here, my only visit to D.C. was a quick business trip in the early 80’s – for a trade show, which meant I spent the entire time at the convention center and didn’t really get out to see anything else. About the only thing I remember from that trip was A) it was the middle of winter, and whenever the roll-up doors were opened to let a truck into the exhibit hall during setup, there was an arctic blast of horrendously cold air, and B) I had to drive to New York after the trade show, and I got lost trying to get out of Washington D.C.  All the diagonal streets are horribly confusing for a first timer.

But in the year that we’ve lived here, I’ve really come to love Washington D.C.  Besides the obvious More...

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I’ll drink to that!

Thursday, 16 July 2009 04:11 by The Lunatic

Here’s a funny story from when we lived in Europe a few years ago ...

Our kids went to a Montessori School in Waterloo, Belgium (famous for the battle of Waterloo, where Napoleon was defeated) and one sunny spring day the school had their annual fund raiser – an “International Day” where all the families brought foods from different countries, and visitors paid a few Euros per plate to sample all the delectables. They had song and dance performances from all over the globe, and a big auction of some of the students’ artwork and other donated items.  And of course, as expected at any good Belgian event, they served copious amounts of beer to the parents, teachers, and visitors. Good, strong, Belgian beer.

After the day was done they had about three cases of beer left over – which the teachers piled in a very neat stack in one corner of the third grade classroom. This stack of beer was there in the class for a few months until their next school event came around, when it was finally More...

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