Washington Wizards!

  Last weekend, on the 16th, Caitlin and I drove to the nearby Costco because we're obsessed with their broccoli cheddar soup, so we needed to get that and got the potato soup too, and apples and some granola bars.  We love going to Costco.  It was a crazy busy day there and there were lots of samples.  A black lady working at a sample station was waiting for her samples to finish baking so no one was over there talking to her, and she was just staring at me and Caitlin.  After a bit she yelled over to us, "Y'all look like Ken and Barbie."  Caitlin and I were laughing pretty hard.  It's fun being the minority here.  In Provo, if there was a black person in Costco everyone would notice them, but here everyone notices us and people here aren't as shy or timid as they are in Provo and just say what they want to to us.

  After we finished up at Costco, we rushed home and printed out tickets for the Washington Wizards basketball game.  My coworker, Josh, and his wife Amanda picked us up and we went into DC.  We ate at a place called The Shake Shack.  Caitlin has been wanting to go there for a few weeks now, so I was happy when Amanda suggested it.  We weren't super impressed with the food though.  Then we went to the game where we met Shannon Rosell from Brea and her husband Jonathan.  It was fun to see them.

  Our seats weren't too close, but the tickets were cheap which was nice.  Here's our view -

Washington Wizards vs Phoenix Suns

  At halftime we went to a lower section since there were tons of open seats.  There were employees at every entrance to the lower levels to check tickets and Caitlin and I were the only couple that was asked to show our tickets, so we never got into the lower level just by walking in.  I'm not sure how Josh and Amanda and Shannon and Jonathan got away with it and we didn't.  Josh borrowed tickets from people they were sitting by in the lower level and brought them out to us, so we were able to show those tickets to get into the lower level.  It was kind of nerve wracking to sneak into the lower level like that.  Caitlin and I felt like we were 13 again trying to get away with breaking a rule.  But the view was much better!

  After the game, Josh and Amanda drove us back to Silver Spring and we went to a frozen yogurt shop and ate yogurt and talked.  It was a really fun evening.  Oh, it was Kids Night at the arena so we all got Washington Wizards lunch pails and they are awesome!

  Sunday we were invited for dinner to our home teacher's house.  They made fish tacos which were delicious.  They have a 3 year old boy and an 8 year old boy.  Not too long after we got into the house, the dad said to Caitlin, "Jackson (3 year old) has a special request that you play with him.  Is that okay?"  Caitlin was thrilled because usually little kids like me more, so she was playing with him and it was way funny.  Here's a picture that I sneakily took while they were playing -

  The 8 year old (Lincoln) started playing with them too, so they were running and playing all over the place.   It was a fun night.

唐人街和肖像畫廊和咖啡館裡約!

Hey so on March 9th we headed to Chinatown.  It was a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but it was still pretty neat.  Here's some pictures -

Here's the Chinese thing that goes over the street.  Sorry, I realize that is not the best description...

Here are dead ducks hanging in the window of this Chinese restaurant

  After Chinatown, we headed over to the Portrait Gallery.  We really liked the Gallery because it had portraits of lots of famous people and also a section with portraits of all the United States presidents.

Joseph Smith

Me and John Brown being crazy. The gallery police made me wear my backpack on the front in case you were wondering. It's a precautionary thing they make people do.

Caitlin posing like Philip Sheridan

Pocahontas and Caitlin.  If Caitlin were a Disney princess I think she would have been Pocahontas.

Looks like she's really there watching the storm come in right?

Caitlin and her brain twin

Smirking

Smiling

Staring contest with Thomas Jefferson.  I won...

Abraham Lincoln

  We were so tired from walking through this gallery!  We had to sit down and rest and play with the camera.  We love our camera!  Here's some of the funner pictures we took while resting -

 And the best for last...

  After the portrait gallery, we walked briskly to the White House.  There were some really neat looking homes, like townhouses, right near the back of the White House that we want to purchase.  We think they are probably like $1,000,000,000,000 though.  We couldn't get very close but here are some pictures we took of the White House.

Back

Front

  We had to hurry back because we planned on going to Cafe Rio with all the other inters I work with.  We were way excited to go because Cafe Rio is a favorite in Utah. Caitlin and I went to the metro stop that my intern buddy lives by and they picked us up in their car and we headed over to Cafe Rio. While we were waiting at the metro stop, a scary-looking black man with an unlit cigarette hanging in his lips came up to us and we had the following conversation -

"Hey, is this your wife?"
"Yes it is."
"Is it your wife or your soon-to-be wife?"
"She's my wife. We're married." (At about this point I was really nervous, but not showing it, obviously)
"How old are you?"
"I'm 26." "I'm 23." (Caitlin is actually 22, but she said she was 23. She must have been nervous too)
"You two are a beautiful couple!" (He shook our hands)"I just had to stop to tell you that. I just want to take a picture of you two and send it to my mom! Have a blessed day!"
"Thanks! You too!" (Then he walked away)

Cafe Rio was pretty fun, but it wasn't as good as Cafe Rio in Utah.  It was fun hanging out with everyone.  I lucked out and work with a good group of interns.  Here's a picture of the group -

From the left going clockwise: Josh, Jordan, Andy Chapman, me, Caitlin, Andy Reuss, George, Alyse, Amanda (Josh's wife)

Snow Day!

Hello!  I am writing this post from the comfort (or semi-comfort) of our bed at 11:30 AM on a Wednesday.  You may be asking yourself "why is she at home at 11:30 AM on a Wednesday?  She should be at school!" Well, well, well let me just tell you that a miracle has happened.  And that miracle is SNOW!  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!  School got cancelled today because of a snow storm!  Hooray!  I really needed a break.  So this was the best thing ever to happen.

Here is the view out my window currently...

You can't even really tell that it's snowing from that picture.  But trust me, it is.  And its great.  Thank the heavens for this snow!  I was praying so hard that school would be cancelled and let me just tell you...prayers are answered!  Woo!  There is no better feeling then waking up at 5:20 to start getting ready and seeing an email on your phone that school is cancelled then going right back to sleep...ahh it's the best.  Poor Billy still had to work though :(  Today would have been lots more fun if we could have gone and seen a matinee movie or something. 

Also, I was just reading some of our old blog posts from when we first got here and let me just say that I am glad we are not at that point anymore!  I am so much more used to it here now.  And now I am in a routine that is very intense, yes, but at least I am used to it and know what I am doing.  In fact, I think I will be sad to leave here in May.

Also in other news, I have applied for 2 teaching jobs!  They are both in Arizona because my friend Caitlin Allsop hooked me up with some pretty sweet contacts.  I'm just waiting to hear back from them, but we'll see if I end up being a science teacher in Arizona!  I'm also planning on applying for some jobs in San Diego.  I am also researching grad school, but I won't be able to go until later since applications for grad schools are due in March.

Anyways, that's all I have to say.  I'm off to work on school stuff to try and get ahead (say what?!)!

Oh my gosh I just got an email from my mentor teacher with a link to the video we made for class last Friday.  All the 7th grade science teachers (and student teachers) got together and made a really stupid video of us singing/dancing the V-I-S-T-A dance (Variation, Inheritance, Selection, Time, Adaptation) to help the kids remember the steps to how Evolution happens.  We showed it in class and the kids LOVED it.  Thought I'd share it with you guys too even though its super embarrassing.



I'm on the left (obviously), my mentor teacher is in the space suit on the right (she is pregnant and wearing a space suit...so funny), and Mindy the other student teacher in my program is on the back right. Ms. D'Antonio is on the back left, Ms. Giron is in the front center and Ms. Rhoads is the one singing. I work with some pretty fun people :)

Gettysburg!!

So last weekend on Friday we went out to a nice dinner at the Macaroni Grill because sometimes you just need a nice night out ya know?  Date nights on Fridays are always so refreshing and relaxing...my brain can calm down and its nice just to have fun and not think about school!

On Saturday we headed back to the Holocaust museum to finish it up.  It was way sad and took SO long to get through (like 3 hours even though we had already started the week before).  After that we headed over to the National History Museum.  We were way museumed out though so we kind of just walked through part of it and then left.  We did get to see the flag that was waving when Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner.  That was way cool!  We will have to go back later and finish.  Then we went to Costco yay!  I love Costco.  That was basically our whole weekend!  I don't have any pictures of it at all...awesome.

So THIS weekend...we went go Gettysburg!!  My BYU program was going and we weren't going to go because I'm still sick but then we decided to go!  So Friday we headed out to Fairfax on the metro and my adviser, Becky's husband came and picked us up.  Becky got us set up at a lady in her ward's empty apartment which was SO nice!  It was so so fun being in a 1 bedroom apartment...it felt like we were back in our Provo apartment!  We just miss having our own space you know?  It was so so nice spending the night there...made the whole trip worth it.  There was a giant teddy bear in there for some reason...so we got some pics with it.

Haha pretty funny.

So Saturday Becky picked us up in the morning and we headed first to Harpers Ferry which is this little town in West Virginia that has a ton of Civil War history surrounding it.  We learned all about this guy named John Brown who had a gang of slavery abolitionists and they all attacked Harpers Ferry to try and get all the slaves freed.  It was unsuccessful but it was a big move toward getting slavery abolished.  We learned a lot about the area and about a little college that was there.  It was really cool.  Here are some pictures of the town.

A cute little store

The town

Another view of the town with my head

Where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet

Birds

It was really cold.  It was snowing.

Idk why but we thought this was funny

A picture of John Brown (real picture...jk)

Jefferson's Rock...where Thomas Jefferson liked to go because it had a beautiful view and you can see West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland all from up there.

The view

An old chapel that's there

It was a pretty cool place. 

Then we were off to Gettysburg! There was lots of driving yesterday.  First we went in an watched a movie about Gettysburg, then went into this circle room where there is a huge oil painting showing what the battle at Gettysburg looked like.  Then we walked through the whole museum which was awesome.  I didn't know very much about Gettysburg at all but these museums we get to go to are great because they teach me everything!  The Civil War was so stupid but so cool at the same time.  I learned a lot and loved it.

Ready for battle

That big painting in that circle room...crazy

 After the museum we went and did the driving tour around the fields of Gettysburg.  We listened to a CD that went through the details of what happened where.  It was awesome.

This is a picture looking down on Devil's field (or something, can't remember the name).  This is where thousands of people were killed.  It was said that there were so many bodies you had to walk on them to get around.

Cannons in the sunset

The Gettysburg Cemetery... for those who died during the 3 day battle

A castle thing...not sure what the purpose of this thing was but it was way cool so I went on the top to get a picture

And that about wraps it up!  The Civil war was really sad and devastating, but it is cool that it helped strengthen this nation and give us more of a strong desire for freedom and equality.  Slaves were freed as a result of the Civil War, but we are still working on equality in this country.  Crazy how it has taken hundreds of years for the ideas behind the Emancipation Proclamation and other documents to become more of a reality. 

After the car tour, we headed home!  What a great day spent in one of the most historic sites in American history.

Valentine's day and Elder Holland

So I am way backtracking here.  Sorry I have gotten so far behind on blogging, I have just been so dang busy!!  The time I used to use to blog I now have to use for school stuff.  I should be doing school stuff right now actually.

Just a few quick current updates.  I have taken over teaching 100% now at school.  I started getting sick this past week and with teaching all day every day, I totally lost my voice!!  My mentor teacher had to take over Thursday and part of Friday for me because I totally could not even talk.  This week we gave a little diagnostic quiz and I had to share this quiz...the answers were pretty funny.  There were lots that were funny.

"Differences within a species are fur"
"The process of certain individuals surviving better and reproducing more than others is strange?"

Haha pretty funny.

Billy's internship has been going well as well.  He has lots of fun and does good work.  I'm always jealous of him!  His job sounds so fun!  

Anyways, so the week of February 11...I can't remember any of it.  Besides Valentine's day.  Billy got up in the middle of the night and decorated our room with construction paper hearts which was so sweet.  I stopped by the store on the way home from school and got Billy a 12 pack of coke (and carried it all the way home...that was definitely part of the gift).  We are so busy these days that we didn't have time to celebrate more than that but it was great anyways.  We ate ice cream and went to bed early :)

That weekend we headed into DC to see the Holocaust museum.  We only had an hour and a half to see the museum which we thought would be enough but it definitely was not enough time.  We started it and then we had tickets to see Elder Holland speak at the House of Representatives so we had to head over there!  We were way excited to get to hear Elder Holland in a small room setting.  It was a great talk!  First we heard his son speak, then Elder Holland spoke about getting a higher education.  It was pretty good.  And it was really fun just seeing him in person so close up.  We weren't able to meet him which was a bummer but that's ok.  

After Elder Holland we stopped by the Capitol building and Billy showed me the old bath tubs that people traveling from far distances used to use to wash off after being on their horses for days.   These bath tubs are down in the basement of the Capitol and its weird because they are in this like mechanic room right next to a modern toilet and stuff its pretty funny.  They aren't blocked off or anything so we just got right in and were pretending to be old time politicians taking baths.

This is me pretending to fall asleep in the tub and then get sick and later die just like a vice president (not sure which one) did one time...

Me and a giant statue of Benjamin Franklin

This is the view out the front of one side of the Capitol

After the Capitol we were invited over to a couple's house in the ward for a Valentine's party.  It was fun and so nice of them to invite us!  This ward we are in is so friendly...it's great.

And that was our weekend!