Peace Corps Interns on the move

What could have easily turned into a debacle was actually an incredibly fun evening. So as part of my program, we're scheduled to not work on Fridays, but I was headed to work at 5pm on Friday afternoon and I was really excited because one of the Peace Corps interns sent out an email to all the interns at the Headquarters to go out to dinner and then perhaps Jazz in the Garden. Apparently "Jazz in the Garden" happens every Friday night in the garden by the array of Smithsonian museums, and it is immensely popular in the DC scene. So being a new Peace Corps intern, I was really looking forward to meeting other interns! And not having work, I had gone out to lunch at an adorable little cafe after class and then relaxed for a couple hours in Dupont Circle (as much as I could relax - my roommates and I were waiting to hear back from our Program Advisor about the possibility of moving apartments. About a week ago we discovered a mouse, and over the course of just a couple days there were scratching noises in the walls, nibble holes things strewn about the kitchen, and mice actually seen emerging from our stove burners. Normally I can handle the idea of mice, but this just seemed like a health hazard. Don't worry, we moved apartments this weekend!). It was fun to write in my journal and sneakily take photos of the men playing speed chess in the closest thing to a park in downtown DC.

Anyways, I arrived at the Peace Corps at about 4:50 to meet the other interns, but after showing my badge to the security officer, the officer at the security desk then asked, "Are you here for that intern thing?" After my affirmative reply he proceeded to hand me a pink note that said "Hey, Kathryn! All employees got sent home at 4, so we headed out but call this number if you want to meet up with us." Apparently everybody got to go home an hour early for the 4th of July weekend, but the intern I had met just a day earlier and is coincidentally in my program as well was so sweet in leaving a note for me! So I set off in search of the Peace Corps crew, and as they wandered unsure of what restaurant to go to, a couple metro switches and quite a few phone calls back and forth to pinpoint each other's location later, I finally found the interns heading into Ruby Tuesdays and graciously thanked my newfound friend Tschuna for all her help. It was great to hang out with the other interns, though only 5 others could make it, and they're all great people I can talk about serious matters but also be silly around as well. A pretty relaxed crew. Following the dinner escapade, the now notoriously indecisive group splintered off and I headed to Jazz in the Park with Brittney and Tschuna.

The Garden was completely packed! Tons of people had brought picnic blankets, others brought treats to share with friends, still others met their parties by the large wading pool seemingly not permitting wading.
Brittney and me, Tschuna and me


Common practice, though, was to submerge your feet into the pool to attempt to cool off as you listened to some fun music and watched people dance. People were actually dancing! Watching others salsa and chatting about hobbies with the girls really re-energized my love for dancing, and Tschuna even asked me to teach her how to salsa (sometime when we weren't around throngs of people)! Not like I know much, but it's incredibly fun.

As the jazz ended for the evening, something perhaps completely normal but entirely unexpected for us was people started running through the pool in pairs! Some couples, some friends, but it seemed like the object of the game was to be received by the crowd on the opposite side from where you started from and to avoid the park security circling the pool to escort you out of the supposedly forbidden water. The observers lived and died with each hop, skip, and trip of those who dared attempt the crossing!



After this absurd ritual, Brittney headed home, and Tschuna and I made the decision to stay downtown and wander around the Smithsonian area and the capitol at dusk. The lights were beautiful, the buildings majestic, and the conversation incredibly entertaining as we divulged some of our life stories and silly little personal quirks. And somehow all this wandering led to the perhaps impulsive decision to wander even further: we decided to walk back to Georgetown from the capitol! And meandering through the routes the monuments gave us an approximately three mile route we completed in about an hour and a half (without boredom or blisters!). My luckiness of schedule flexibility, a little built-up city directional intuition, and some new friends made for a great day.



We listened to the orchestra's rehearsal for their 4th of July concert!


World War 2 Memorial











Quotes and thoughts:
- "This is Georgetown University, one of the most expensive universities and they can't even take care of their freaking mice!"
- "I just feel dirty, I don't want to find mouse poo in my cereal, I don't want to eat mice for dinner or shower with mice." I find this reasonable...
- On a bus ride through what is termed "Embassy Row," I read the huge banner on the Finnish embassy saying it is now "green" and is the first LEED certified embassy in the US! It was strangely comforting to see such a modern-looking building with tons of beautiful glass windows with ivy coming down the sides of the building.
- Having had my Comparative Economics final Friday morning, I very well could be done with econ forever!
- The new apartment just feels so much cleaner. How much we rejoiced in the simple pleasure of having no navy colored mold above our showers.
- I love learning! I love learning about people, about things, about culture. And I am quite excited for Georgetown's take on US foreign policy this coming month.