It has been a little while since I have blogged. This is due to a dire combination of laziness, and being worked to the bone. So far, my roles in the Senator’s office have included such important tasks as sorting his photo collection, and walking his dog. To be honest, walking his dog was the highlight of my day on Wednesday, even though it was rather senior in years, arthritic, and I was terrified of killing it. That would not be a great start to my internship.
They are very dog friendly over here; it’s rather disconcerting to see a border collie being walked across the foyer of the main Senate office building.
The weekend in D.C saw a night of excellent barhopping and a rather sore head the next day, invigorated by a stroll round the Martin Luther King Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. Lots of inspirational quotes carved in marble. The MLK and Jefferson Memorials were grand, but my favourite by far was for FDR. It was gentle carved, low stonewalls, waterfalls, and beautiful bronze statues in amongst Japanese cherry blossoms – trees I am told are quite a tourist destination when they flower. I also had a chance to check out the Smithsonian Natural History Museum – the hall of stuffed mammals was quite amazing, as was the collection of dinosaur skeletons and rare gemstones.
While the working week is not as enthralling as it might be, it is excellent spending time in D.C. Today we had lunch with the ambassador Mike Moore. Lunch was hilarious; he was quite the amusing host. Mum, you clearly have not trained it into me hard enough which side your bread plate goes on – I had an awkward moment when I placed my bread on the ambassador’s plate. Not that he cared. It was nice to hear some Kiwi accents though!!!
This evening I had dinner with a girl who was on exchange at Cantebury in 2010 – the wonders of social media connections! I have a few interesting engagements coming up, such as a Congressional Christmas party, and an Alaskan State Society Holiday party. Missing the sunshine back home – it has got very cold here, very quickly.
A Kiwi in D.C. 