44 miles and still standing

I can't help but sit here and smile after yet another glorious week! All signs point to one more for the finale until we depart on Saturday already. For those of you in love with this blog, maybe we'll continue to leave some posts as the next few years will undoubtedly contain a few memories with both of us in CO!
Looking back to last week, I recall a cold start on Monday, intensified by a shivering experience at the National's baseball game. It was exciting to be there, and we had some great seats, but the cold was nearly unbearable, for how we were dressed at least! Tuesday Sean went out to eat after a long day at work. I had a tour that day of the National's new ballpark, which is now under construction, followed by a long night working on some remodel plans for my employer.
Wednesday, always an exciting day, we departed at 9:00am for the National Zoo, where we experienced the pandas, elephants, snakes, gorillas, among other animals. A zoo is always a good time, and we were able to thoroughly enjoy the entire thing by half-past noon!
After class Wednesday we went to the National Mall (park) for a picnic, followed by a visit to our cook's house where Sean and I were able to clean spotless! Needless to say, our evening was nearly shot so we returned home for some sleep.
Thursday I departed at 3:30am for Raleigh (by plane) for a day-long business trip. It was very exciting although I was a bit exhausted throughout the whole thing! I was home by 1:00am, and as you all know, Sean was fast asleep. I'll just say he had a boring day since I forget the details! Friday Sean was able to meet a few players at work, which I am constantly jealous about. It was my last day of work so I packed up my things, printed off a few final documents, said a few goodbyes then went out to a final lunch with my supervisor. Class went well - we had Steven Garber one more time, always a great speaker!
Friday night we relaxed, finishing a few papers. Today we woke for our weekly pancakes, then departed on a round-trip, 44-mile bike ride to Mt. Vernon which has left us exhausted for eternity! The ride was of the most beautiful experiences ever though, on an 80 degree day! We were along the Potomac the whole way, except for when we rode through Alexandria, where I believe we would both LOVE to live. Mt Vernon itself was spectacular. We paid the $13 entrance fee, one of our largest spending sprees yet, and got the mansion tour. We walked around for 4 hours, preparing ourselves for the trek home!
I feel the need to apologize for our amazing experiences here. Just remember that you all have many friends and family to spend time with, while it is just the two of us out here. So we are enjoying this at the expense many relationships! Luckily in a few weeks we'll be seeing a lot of you! Thanks again for your prayers. On many of the excursions we've needed them!

House to the Graves

It's really too bad that before the incentive, we had lived and traveled believing only a select few cared about us two lonely boys on the east coast. If I'd known I would have written twice a week, given this flood of comments! An additional advantage is that I won't have to dig deep into the memory bank to remember what happened - since it was just Wednesday that I last posted!
So, beginning Thursday... We had another exciting full day at work, which ended just in time for a group meeting to prepare for Friday's presentation. About ten minutes into the meeting I received a phone call for two free concert tickets for an Irish group. We didn't go, and this is important to share because it proves how dedicated to our schoolwork we've become! The meeting ended up taking us until about 11:00, and the following day was a little important, so we hit the bunks a little early (for me, not Sean).
Friday morning we arrived back at the apartments after our half day of work and finished up our preparatory work. Feeling confident, we headed to the Cannon House Office Building for our presentation. We felt official, and I'm pretty sure half of our class was quite confident that our decision would be used by the President - meaning it was quite heated, but exciting! We each were representing the US as experts on our respective countries (listed in the last post). Sean and I opened up the show with our introduction speech, leading in to a two hour discussion with everyone desiring any opportunity to voice their opinion.
Following the excitement, we rejoiced to be on the downhill towards completing the semester, although there are many things we'll miss when we leave! Sean had to get up early to begin preparing for DC United's home opener Saturday night so he went to bed quite early, as I wasted some time in my room, then took the lengthened nap.
Saturday, since Sean was at work, I went to my B&D supervisor's house to get some measurements for a plan I am drawing him, and enjoyed some pancakes and fruit as well! I got back, ate some lunch, and took off on a bike ride. I went up Massachusettes Ave, past Cheney's house and hundreds of Embassies from China and Korea to Great Britain, Brazil, and South Africa. I also saw the naval observatory and statues of Churchill, Ghandi, and Sheridan. Quite an amazing place! On the trip back I visited Ford's theater for a short play about the players involved the night of Lincoln's assassination.
Then a large group from ASP headed to the soccer game. We had great seats next to a drunken fan club lighting smoke bombs and throwing toilet paper the whole game, which made it an experience! After the game I got a picture with Eddie Johnson, arguably the best striker from the United States World Cup team. That ended Saturday.
Today we slept in til 11, made the 11:30 service at Union Station, then took a nap and traveled across town to Arlington Cemetery; one of the most beautiful places in the area! We arrived 'home', and I went to play soccer in the Naval Yard for a few hours. I just arrived back to the apartment and have not seen Sean yet, so that's all I can do for now. Hope that wasn't boring... the experiences are limited with the short timeframe! Thanks, and we'll see most of you soon!

Please come to Boston in the Springtime.

I just took three minutes to think about the way I seem to often begin my blogs, and have realized that the reason I no longer post every week is that I enjoy apologizing? So once again, sorry for the delay, but I will run you through the last ten days as educationally as possible, including an exciting trip through eight states!
The second and third of the month were far from special, filled predominantly by frantic notetaking and exciting interviews for our foreign policy presentation. We got in a few days of lifting before our four day weekend began Thursday morning, and enjoyed a few filling college meals as well. Wednesday we made another trip to the two senate buildings (Russell and the other one), raking in 6 personal interviews with LAs and LCs to Obama, Clinton, Lieberman, Harkin (Iowa), Murray (WA), and a Colorado one. Feeling a bit accomplished, we left for our rooms to get a quick bite before class, which was super exciting (I think that was sarcastic this time?). Following class, we purchased a few bus tickets, packed our backpacks, and stole some solid shut-eye.
We woke at literally the break of dawn to catch our morning bus enroute to Boston, with a few stops along the way. We drove north through Baltimore, into Pennsylvania to Philly, dropped off a few people, snagged a picture or two and left for New York (through Delaware and New Jersey first). In New York we hit Chinatown and walked to two blocks to our new bus, which was conveniently located next to a 1/4 lb. $0.92 jumbo hot dog shop, claiming to have the best weiners in NYC! We graciously accepted the offer, and have now tried the best hot dogs and the best pizza in New York.
Our second bus was a bit nicer than the first, and more time-efficient... We drove over the Manhattan bridge, through Queens, along the coastline into Connecticut, and north into Boston, where we caught the "T" at South Station. A general note about Boston: beautiful city, great skyscrapers and architecture (and history), clean, easy-to-understand subway, and friendly people. Well we took off for a friends house (member of ASP), where we stayed the night after checking out the Atlantic for a bit.
The next morning we awoke and hit the city, seeing the Garden, capitol, Cheers, graveyard w/ Hancock among others buried, Quincy market, and a bunch of other visuals. I met up with my friend AJ from the navy (currently stationed in Connecticut) and he joined us for that day and the next. It was a great time as we rested by the harbor, then left for a different view of the Atlantic. It made me realize how lucky we "coasters" are to have the ocean RIGHT THERE! I'm going to be taking a little greater advantage of that come summer!
Well we stayed the night at this friend's sister's house in New Hamphire, adding to our list. In the morning we went downtown to Kitty O'Shea's pub to watch the DC united soccer game. We were given a private area where we could have the volume up... as not to annoy the regulars I presume - I guess there was an exciting Masters on? The night ended with a drive around, another stop at the ocean, and a late night crash. Oh, and we had a GREAT homecooked lunch in Northern Mass Saturday!
We summed up the trip with an 8:00 Easter service which was excellent, then an amazing brunch before we caught the bus back home. Monday and Tuesday were awful days filled with lots and lots of homework, preparing for today's presentation which went EXCELLENT. Ask Sean or I what the US policy in Iraq should be and we'll have the best answer, slightly tainted to the interests of Jordan :).
Well, now it's time for a bit of sleep to prepare for our second presentation Friday. Our "senior members" enjoy doing this to us. As I will to any students I may ever be in charge of... so help them. Take care and thanks for the replies. I'll make a deal and say if I receive 5 replies by Sunday night I'll write again then. It's up to you... and I'm not even sure if that many people read this still! Night.

An exciting weekend

Hello again! In my phone calls across the country I understand you all would have loved to be here this past weekend! Washington's getting the rain, Colorado the snow, and Iowa the cold. We have a beautiful weekend with some great memories once again. Before I forget, a special thanks to grandad and granny for the 'gift', the coons for the easter snacks, scott for your box and M&D for yours! I believe receiving mail is among our favorite things to... do, and a box tops that!
Well this past Wednesday was a little disappointing since I managed to get off of my cold just as Sean began his session. So Wednesday was a sleep day for him as I worked on checking a few things off of my to-do list. It's good that Sean is feeling better, but he's at sleep a bit early after another busy weekend!
Thursday and Friday were a bit of the same with Sean hitting the hay early. Saturday, there was an adult soccer tournament next to the reflection pool, and DC United sponsored the event. The only two staff members 'supervising' were Sean and the other intern. Sean and I each held a two hour session as the mascot of DC United, a talon (eagle), which was quite the experience. It's exciting when every person you walk by wants to meet you and get a picture taken with you. Although we made over a hundred kids happy, Sean managed to make a couple cry and I made an enemy in a golden retriever! It was fun none-the-less as you'll see in the posted pictures!
The tournament was Saturday and Sunday, which virtually took up our whole weekend. Tonight was opening night for MLB, which is exciting for a few people I understand. We had a wiener roast and watched part of the game, but decided 3 innings was enough.
After we left the game we went outside, where likely the most memorable experience of our time in DC happened! We walked outside and went to cross the street, but there was a parked car that blocked Sean's vision. Anyway, he ran our into the road and got hit head-on by a Dodge Caravan. Luckily the car was beginning to slow for a stop sign, so he just fell backward and rolled a bit on the ground. After getting up he felt OK so we didn't have to go to the hospital or anything, which was nice - because it was late and we're tired!
Among these thrills, my mother and father, along with Buhee, were led to believe that Sean and I got arrested this past weekend for stealing from the Air and Space Museum, forgetting today is also April 1! Sean's parents were led to believe that I was engaged. We're not always the sweet little angels over here :). You can re-read the last paragraph with today's date in mind if you wish. Hope you all have a good start to the week... here's to some nice weather!

Tiresome Traveling

Well we had one of our busiest weeks, followed by an even busier weekend... Monday and Tuesday were much like Mondays and Tuesdays always are, with a little added calamity finalizing hotel and travel plans for our coming weekend. Wednesday we stacked a 4 hour moving session on top of our kitchen cleaning which brought us well into the morning. However, we had plenty to talk about given an exciting day on the town! Sean had reluctantly woken at 7am, which is a feat in itself, to run with me to the Washington Monument, where we got in line to receive tickets to go to the top - only a limited amount of people make it up each day. The tickets sold out in the first half hour, and we hear the online tickets, which cost money, are now booked through July! Concluding, the trip to the top was remarkable, and we finally understand the 'smallness' of DC, as we got to see Reagan National Airport and the Pentagon, as well as where the waterways run. DC truly is a beautiful city!
Thursday we learned of two papers that were due Monday night... not a problem unless you're leaving for New York on Friday for the weekend! So we rushed to get a start on those, which didn't end up happening because we still had to throw some clothes together, work full days, and lift weights. Thankfully we managed to have a spell of free time on Monday night to complete the two - although fellow students continue to question us as we always seem to take less time - but receive decent grades none-the-less. All due to a Dordt education we tell them.
On Friday evening we stepped aboard a bus enroute to Chinatwon NYC! The bus smelled bad... extremely bad. But we managed to complete the four and a half hour trek, only to find ourselves lost in a whole new country! Literally, Chinatown NYC is 10 times that of DC. But we followed a kind couple for a 15 minute stroll to the subway. We found New Yorkers to be among the nicest people we have met in our entire lives! Virtually everyone we asked went out of their way to show us how to get places - I guess we got lucky?
Well we found our hotel, got a good night's rest, and woke around 9:00 for breakfast. Our parents would be ashamed to hear we ate pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday, but it was well worth it (in addition, we ordered delivery Friday night at midnight). NY pizza is like nothing else! We went on our tour of the city, catching Madison Square Garden, the Empire State Building, The Late Show, Central Park, plenty of monuments, the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site, many cathedrals, Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange and Bank, Staten Island (momentarily), and plenty more. I know you're thinking of something I missed, but believe me, we probably made it there! We've been exercising for this vacation every week in DC so we were eager to save a little money and walk rather than ride the subway too much, although we did experience it plenty still!
All in all, we were thrilled to get back to nice, little, quiet Washington DC. Odd that when we left DC was a place we'd never live because of its fast-paced lifestyle, we now have a COMPLETELY different opinion of it. NYC was something completely out of the ordinary for us. However, we will be stopping there on our way to Boston next week. Wednesday we take off for Philadelphia, then leave Thursday afternoon for New York (QUICK stop) then Boston through Sunday. Should be another unforgettable weekend!
Tomorrow we have another day off so the plan is to knock off our last two museums, which we have already completed in part, make a stop at the bank, and enjoy the weather. Hope you are all doing well. Remember us in your prayers as we head into the final leg! Are we supposed to be having this much fun because it seems as though the rest of the ASP students are missing out! We're killing ourselves non-stop, but it's all worth it. See you all soon!

Coon Vacation

Well we thoroughly enjoyed our week off, but sadly it's back to the routine studying. However, Sean and I are a bit more excited that we'll be looking into the US-Iraq foreign policy over the coming 4-5 weeks. We took full advantage of this past week and weekend, which began last monday with a normal week opener - the highlite being our mealtime. Tuesday I can hardly share any news since I worked on a side project at work until 11pm, and when I arrived home Sean was fast asleep. We woke up early Wednesday morning, got our lifting out of the way, and took off anxiously in the 75 degree heat for the Washington monument. Our plans were crushed when we learned the available tickets/day had already been sold - making our three mile run pointless (apart from the tremendous health benefits). We immediately set out our plans for the 21st to arrive at 7:30am to assure a seat in the elevator to the top!
Given the nature of the city, we knew there had to be something to drain our spare time, and we walked the block to the holocaust museum and walked right in (which was amazing since there were 200+ in line on our way out!). After the tour and the heighted dislike for Hitler, we made our way on the grass towards the capitol, up the hill and back to our apartment where we relaxed on our rooftop deck in the sun.
The night held another great experience, as we were treated by our program to dinner at a middle eastern restaurant. The joys of the sun were immediately dashed the next afternoon as the temperature faded, clouds rolled in, and we were graced with a temperature in the 30s and a thunderstorm for the remainder of daylight lasting til bed. This would have been perfect for sleeping, but DC United had their semifinal match of the CONCACAF cup vs the Chivas - mexico's number one soccer team. The excitement replaced the sobering rain, as the score ended in a tie via a United goal in the 92nd minute (last couple minutes of the game)! The intensity of the fans was astonishing - but then again it didn't feel like we were in America as we were outnumbered 100:1 mexicans to americans. Americans seem to be 'fare-weather fans'.
Well Friday was the beginning to our great weekend, please stay with me because the excitement continues! After work and class at the American Institute of Progress (great discussion on Iraq!), we met with the Coon family. I actually spent a bit of time at my office celebrating deadlines, but met up with Aaron Coon and Sean later for some pool and NCAA basketball.
Saturday morning we began our role as tourguides, and following our weekly pancake breakfast across the hall, met up with the 'parents' for a day in DC. We experienced the metro, plenty of Irish restaurants to celebrate st. pat's day, a handful of monuments and museums, a trip to the steamrooms, and enough walking to deserve a great night of rest! Sean, Aaron and I decided to view the monuments once more lit up in the night.
Sunday began with some time at the Union Station church, followed by lunch, and a LONG nap for Buhee and I, while Sean was lured in to work for a few hours. A relaxing afternoon and another night in the steam room ended my weekend with the Coons. Great food, company, and Irishness will always make for an unforgettable weekend!
Now the bed's calling - a full day tomorrow including a spell in the Old Executives building (beside the white house) for class. Thanks for reading, rest the eyes, and I'll try to condense it next time. Oh, and welcome Klara Mae, my 6 lb. 5 oz. niece, into our lives (Scott & Manda's second)!

Look, the world's comforter, with weary gait,
His day's hot task hath ended in the west:
The owl, night's herald, shrieks--'tis very late;
The sheep are gone to fold, birds to their nest;
And coat-black clouds, that shadow heaven's light,
Do summon us to part, and bid good night.

apologies

Many many apologies for the time since the last post. Many things have changed since the first of March, most favorably the weather! Today we enjoyed our walk to church in the 65 degree weather, just below yesterday's 75... Our 'spring break' as our program pathetically calls it has been quite an enjoyable time here in DC. Our possible trips to Philly and Chicago both gave way due to conflicting schedules so we enjoyed a few of the cities offerings instead.
Looking back for a quick recap, Sunday night was the night our procrastination ended. Our papers were due monday - final draft tuesday - so we decided Sunday night would be a good time to pump them out. However, with 45+ sources it is difficult to write a 5 page, double-spaced paper on such a complex debate. It ended up being a little more time-consuming than originally planned, and two nearly sleepless nights took their toll on our bodies. Luckily we had Wednesday off of work and slept deservingly until 12:30. We awoke, and proceded to the kitchen to make and serve lunch, immediately followed by a one hour class, then cooking and serving dinner, followed by cleaning. Seven hours of work in all, followed by a half hour of spreading salt after our one inch snow storm! Thursday was our last day of work for the week, so we celebrated, lifted weights and went to bed.
Friday was another exciting day where we began the early afternoon with a visit to the Smithsonian Art and Portrait Museum. Quite the place indeed, and we saw a lot of interesting work of our presidents among others. We then walked around Georgetown a bit, watched some NCAA basketball and returned to our apartments.
Yesterday was quite possibly the greatest day of our time here yet! We woke up at 10:00, had our pancakes that some of our 'leaders' prepare every Saturday, then ran to a gym on the other side of the district. There we played basketball for 2-3 hours with some decent competition, winning a few games, enjoying most all of them. We ran from their in search of a Chipotle, but found a McDonalds instead to which we held coupons. We filled ourselves and then ran to the mall area in front of the capitol. We played soccer there for about an hour with a group of guys that meet every Saturday, then went back to our rooms. We ate a bit more, lifted and ate again. We both fell asleep exhausted and woke three and a half hours later, refreshed. We checked some basketball scores, watched a few games, then went back to bed. A very relaxing and quite entertaining day :)!
Again my apologies on the untimely post, and I will work a bit harder in the coming weeks. Hard to believe we're under seven weeks now! Time flies, take care.

Clear things up...

We did not speak with Obama or Lieberman. We talked to their 'Legislative Fellows' - one was a woman and we do not know what you call them... Legislative Woman? Obama and Lieberman wanted to speak with us but they didn't call us for an interview. Hope no more questions arise out of this matter.

Short stories

Well today was the closest to a normal day as we've experienced thus far. It began like any other - only I've decided to begin riding a bike to work each day. Work went fine for the both of us, Sean's began a bit earlier because of his monday morning meeting. Speaking of which, I learned at a DC United opening game viewing party/dealio, where our food tab was completely covered, that they'd appreciate me volunteering to help at their home games - meaning I also get in free and get the box seats with Sean!
Well continuing with the exciting day, I enjoyed a little Subway (thanks mom) and headed back to the room. We decided a nap was necessary, given our late night paper writing the night before. Waking up from the nap, we took off for class, which was in the Senate office building. We imagined the comparison to Dordt... Classroom building versus the Senate Offices... hmmmmm.
Following our meeting with a Legislative Fellow of Senator Feinstein, we walked through every level of the building, stopping by the offices of Obama, Lieberman, Cantwell and the Senators of Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas. We stepped inside and held short but helpful interviews in six of the offices (including Lieberman and Obama), realizing that it was easier than we thought. We were also dressed in suits so everyone knew we were important.
Our evening ended with research, writing, lifting and hopefully sleeping. The days since the last post were exciting as well. I can't remember every day, but I recall that we found a place to get 12 wings for a dollar on Tuesday nights - so that will be our outing tomorrow. We also paid a visit to the Sierra Club and the American Petroleum Institution for some exciting classes. Saturday we went on a run... ya, it got above 60 degrees so now we may begin running once again... and we ended up at the National Gallery of Art. We viewed EVERY PIECE in the east and west buildings, even though the thousands of pieces began to look very similar. We then ran across the mall area to the Hirshorn Museum to conquer another Smithsonian, and stepped through the Smithsonian castle into the Museum of African Art, Sackler and Freer galleries. Although the feeling of accomplishment was at a maximum, our energy and food levels were low so we returned 'home', ate as much food as we could, then left for Virginia, where we played a little basketball and sat in a hot tub at a member of ASP's house.
Sunday we had an unexpected snowstorm. After church at Union Station we went to a free college-aged pizza event-thing. To make the day better, we had a snowball fight the mile and a half back to our apartment. Then we grabbed our shovels and got to work for three-plus hours. Wednesday we hope to visit the DOA and get Sean a bank account, then thursday is the DC United game, followed by another promising weekend. I feel I've covered it all. We're still waiting to see if we'll ever have a day to relax! Until then, the posts should stay interesting. Thanks for the cookies Mutyu!!! Goodnight all.

Pittsburgh

Well we just returned to the district... which was weird. We just find it odd that we were 'vacationing' in Pittsburgh, then left to go back 'home', which is neither Washington/Colorado or Dordt. The weekend was great, and definitely the relaxing time away from the busyness. We stayed at the Hilton on the edge of downtown Pittsburgh, which we'd both argue is the nicest place to be in Pittsburgh. Against our preconceived notions of this city, it was actually quite nice. The buildings were all HUGE and quite congested. Our hotel was at the point of three rivers, and our room - on the 20th floor - overlooked the water, PNC park (Pirates) and Heinz field (Steelers).
We spent our late evenings walking all over the city, being sure to cover the whole area - much simpler than conquering DC. We found a drugstore close by, and purchased our weekend meals of peanut butter, bread and chips - the water at the hotel was free (haha)! A lot of the people with us wanted us to go out to eat with them but they wouldn't pay for us so that idea ended as quickly as it was introduced. The praise and worship, guest speakers, and breakout sessions were very good. 1800 college students make singing a different experience.
We were on a charter bus with students from Georgetown, George Washington, George Mason, American University, and our ASP member. There was lots of southern gospel singing on the drive home, which kept us entertained, along with the movies. The trip was a little over five hours in all. We got back to DC and watched the end of the All-Star game, then shoveled/threw down salt likely for the last time of the season. We're looking forward to some nicer weather - since the first practice for our church's flag football team is next saturday!
I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning. Sean's company chooses not to observe the dedicated work and vital importance of our nation's presidents, so he'll be heading off to work once again. This week will likely hold a few more interviews, and a lot of paper writing! Sounds exciting, I know, we'll talk later.

Oh the Busyness

We've been a little busy lately, so I'll quick give a rundown of the last couple days then I gotta get a little sleep. I guess we've done the typical work and class speel, but yesterday we had a snowstorm, so our class was cancelled (it was going to be in Virginia), and we didn't have work. SNOW DAY!!! However, we are the snow shovelers, so we were up at 7 to shovel. It was pure ice, and we HAD to get everything perfect... Just the two of us, and it is the street sidewalk, the walkways to the houses (there were four houses), then the back where there are four 2-4 car parking lots. We finished at 1:30.... We ate lunch/breakfast, then at 2:30 set up the tables for the valentines day dinner (as the 'kitchen crew'). Finished at 3, then sean took a nap til 5 and I drew some pictures on the whiteboard (in the room the dinner was). Then we went to the kitchen to start getting some food ready, served, ate, cleaned, and finished that at 9:00. We went to the weight room at 9:30 and lifted until 11:30. Rough day on the body, righteous on the wallet! Tonight we went out to eat with godmother Hand(?) at a cuban-puerto rican restaurant, which was very good! Then liften, showered, and here I sit - with lots of homework to do, packing, and leaving for Pittsburgh at 12:00 tomorrow (work at 9). So it's been busy, but it's still a lot of fun and a great experience.
We'll let you all know how Jubilee goes this weekend. We are both looking forward to it, simply 'getting away' for a bit. Happy day after Valentine's Day!

A REAL Journey

I have to say before I start that I'm ready for bed, and we'll both sleep one of the greatest sleeps ever tonight! Sleep has become an extremely cherished period of time, being that we're always SO busy with things. Take today for example. We woke up at 7am and shoveled snow/scattered salt for two hours (made $30), ate a quick breakfast, went back to sleep until 11:30, then dressed for a mild winter afternoon and took off for lunch. We decided to use one of our recently awarded free large pizzas from Papa Johns, and the 3.21 miles (mapquest) seemed well worth the trip. Being Brett and Sean, we walked instead of taking the metro. Florida Avenue is a diagonal street running almost directly into Papa Johns, but we kept zig-zagging, not knowing for sure if we were going the right way. Well, 6+ miles later we found Papa Johns, enjoyed the BEST pizza EVER (given the toil), and started home on the right path, which sensably took us half the time. Sean brought up how many of our DC experiences thus far will allow for future father-son "When I was a kid" stories, involving our ENDLESS walks in the cold weather. It isn't all roses here. After our 10 mile excursion, we were exhausted and hungry, so we made ourselves another meal and went to class. Being a wednesday, class was directly followed by setting the tables, eating, and 3 hours of dishwashing ($32 more). We FINALLY made it into our second home (the weight room), and managed to finish shortly before midnight. Following one last meal, we are both very excited for some sleep once again!
Sean begins his work week tomorrow. Sadly, he had to take monday and tuesday off, since he must take an all-inclusive business trip to Richmond, Virginia - simply meaning free travel and food. In my first weekend alone, I'm excited to say I'll be able to get lots of reading done! We just got our syllabus for the next five weeks and there aren't many words to describe it. At this we discussed switching to pass/fail, which really isn't possible but was exciting to imagine. Last Sunday we attended church in the lower level of Union Station which was VERY good, and will likely be our church "home" for the next few months. Monday night we sadly watched the greatest NBA team of '07 lose a tough battle to a worthy opponent. We had some tickets to see the Sonics take on the Wizards, which was a decent game until the Wizards realized who they were playing in the 4th quarter and took away any remaining hope. And that about sums up our week thus far. We're excited for our trip to Pittsburgh next weekend, and another free pizza for dinner tomorrow night. We'll try to take a few more pictures, thanks for the comments!

Quick note of how to live in the city:

Well, after work, lifting and class - we immediately started our night of serving. The people attending were from Ghana, St. Petersberg, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Bolivia... and a few more places. In the middle of the dinner, which included plenty of filet mignon, our leader from the program introduced Sean and I to the 'foreigners' and asked us to describe what we had learned, and how it is affecting us. The impromtu went better than expected, and we received several compliments from the attendees. I believe we're guarenteed A's as well, or that's what the CCU President (of the whole group - worldwide) told our leader.
Well after serving we loaded our plates with as much filet mignon as we could, stuffed it down (and have TONS of leftovers that the cook put in tupaware for us to have), then she drove us to meet the presidents at the theater by the Verizon Center, which was rented out to see 'Amazing Grace'. We're supposed to spread the word and get people to go see it. It comes out February 21 and we were both VERY impressed. So this isn't simply a sales pitch! Well we got out of that one quite late, walked around a bit, watched another movie, and just got back to ASP (it's 3:30). So we gotta get going on our 3 hrs of clean up, but hey, we're getting paid - paying the bills (donations are readily acceptable and actually encouraged). BYE!

Another week of events

Well now we have some news to share. We've both decided that there will be PLENTY of things to keep us busy here for the next three months! Having wednesdays off of work has been a good break in the middle of the week, and hard as it is to believe, we didn't even sleep in this week! We went to 'conquer' a number of museums, but ended up covering just half of the air and space museum! It's the number one most-visited museum in the world, kind of amazing. So that's where we'll be starting this Saturday, but hopefully we'll get a bit more done.
Last week Saturday, as you read, we went to the Capitols game, which ended up being well worth the wait. Sean and I asked a lady, while we were in line (#13 and # 14 or 400+) if they had any jerseys to give away and she went inside and came out with the last two. So our free items of the night were the tickets, a large pizza, jerseys, shirts, posters, autographs/pictures with players, hot chocolate, and seats 8 rows from the glass - although the rest of the 'free-ticket-holders' made their way to the 4th level (we're good). We went extra early to the game to make sure we'd get tickets, and ended up going to the Georgetown vs. Cincinatti NCAA bball game first for $4 each - bought from 'some guy' interested in getting rid of them.
Sunday we visited the Washington Community Fellowship which was good but long. Next week we're checking out a church in the lower level of Union Station - should be interesting. The rest of the day was spent finishing our papers, which are now turned in and 'forgotten about'.
This week has been quite typical, with work, lifting and cleaning dishes (and touring yesterday). At work today I got the invite (to bring Sean as well) to play some basketball at a gym a guy from work is renting saturday. So that adds to our weekend plans. Tomorrow night we'll be serving a bunch of college presidents coming in for a formal dinner of some sort - part of our kitchen job. After that we're going to a free movie showing (the presidents rented a theater showing of a flick I forgot...).
The final excitement I told many of you about. But we had to go on our rooftop deck to watch a helicopter circling a house a block and a half away, while 35-40 police cars barricaded the streets off and were running all over the place. It was a robbery, shooting, stolen vehicle - went on to hit a bicyclist, and standoff. 3 of the 4 suspects were arrested while the 4th barricaded himself in a house until midnight when the cops busted in and arrested him. I can tell you more if interested but it was pretty crazy.
Well congrats if you made it to the bottom. We'll try to live interesting lives here so there's something to share with the rest of you. BIG day tomorrow so it's time for a little sleep. Snow is expected so we'll have to get up a little earlier to shovel... hasta luego.

The Cheap Life

Hey world, I can't really say A LOT has happened since the last post, but we are in a little bit of a better mood at the moment. I guess I can talk a bit about work since we understand a little more of what we're doing. Sean is doing a lot of marketing and sales with DC United. He packaged up a bunch of Freddie Adu jerseys and balls, posters (signed) and has been doing quite a few different jobs. A big part of his internship for the next little while is researching ways to get more college students to the games. My work at the moment is with two college campuses, University of San Diego and San Jose State University. San Jose State is just some research involving how must they use the rec center they have now so that's not too exciting but the USD project is pretty fun. I need to do a lot of background research because they're going to build a new housing facility and they need to know if the price is feasible, where to build it, etc. So we're both doing a little bit of work... learning something.
As for class, we're done... Yup, Sean Coon and Brett Van Andel are the only two of 31 students, mostly political studies majors, that have all of their work done (it's due next friday). So now we get to relax and enjoy a weekend and a few days week days off, hence our heightened mood! The classes are really interesting too. We had a really good lecture on Monday (first guest speaker) , which is hopefully a promising sign for the future.
As far as weekend plans, Sean is coming to see my work on tomorrow night - we have a sort of dinner social thing since they now have a new intern... Saturday we're planning on checking out the Washington Capitols (NHL) since the first 700 college students get in free plus free pizza! Our last good news, which really made our week, is that we picked up another job as the two snow removers for ASP. So hopefully we get some snow hear at the tail end of the winter to make a little extra spending money. Finally (I know I said "last" already), President Zylstra is taking us out to lunch on monday the 5th since he's going to be here for a few meetings. That night there is a president's dinner with college presidents from around the country and guess who the servers and dishwashers are? You guessed it! Well its time for a bit of sleep, we're representing you well and trying to pass some laws here in DC. Goodnight.

Last Few Days

Well I'll begin quickly by our adventures thursday... We both visited our interships, were dually impressed, and excited that our two internships are the only two in the group of 31 that allow a "business casual" dress code. We will feel a bit underdressed walking/riding the metro to work since EVERYONE here wears a suit and tie. Our short meetings basically consisted of a quick introduction of too many names and a tour of our future day-time homes. We still have a limited perspective of our entire job specs, but those will iron out tomorrow morning I'm sure.
Thursday night, we noticed there were a lot of dishes after our barbecue, so we decided we should take it upon ourselves to clean the cafeteria and kitchen again. Two hours later, the group decided to head out for a "guided" tour of the city just as we were finishing our cleaning. We stayed back and read, being the studious college kids we are. We actually spent nearly all of thursday night, friday, saturday and today reading. I think most of you would be proud to know that we are done with all of the reading for the next two weeks (no others of the other 29 are) and just have to conduct an interview and write a paper. We're hoping to completely get these out of the way by thursday so we can take off after class friday and head up to New York for the weekend. It's a nice option to have I'd say.
Friday night we toured Georgetown with the wrong people, resulting in a lot of walking with a lot of people, the wrong person in front and no particular destination. We made up for it on saturday with a quite productive day. Apart from reading we got our Library of Congress cards and proceeded to get lost in the Jefferson, Madison and Adams buildings, then joined a group touring the inside of the capitol and were kicked out.. apparently there is a limit to the number of people...
We checked out the Botanical Gardens, the museum of the American Indian, and a sculpture museum - where we met Bryan Burgers and went on to the Verizon Center (Washington Wizards), ESPN Zone, and McDonalds. Sean got some insoles because his feet hurt, then we caught the metro back to our apartment, played pool, and went to sleep, dreaming of another glorious day filled with magical readings.

New Jobs

This post has to be kept short because it's getting a bit late and my sleep time is valuable. Good news and bad news. The bad news is that we went over the syllabus for the next 2 1/2 weeks and we'll be reading 4 books and 4 smaller packets, then writing a paper on all of it. I guess it's a disguised blessing that we don't have a tv here - so whoever prayed against distractions... thank you? Honestly, our time away from our internships, eating, sleeping, class and working out will ENTIRELY be spent reading - sad.
The good news... well we scored the sweetest jobs in likely all of DC! We worked 5 hours tonight in the kitchen. The first 1/2 hour was spent setting up the tables, followed by an hour of eating (for which we continued to get paid), and then completed with dishwashing, setting up tables and general cleaning of the kitchen/dining area. To top this once-per-week job opportunity off, we get two-plus meals to take back with us each wednesday. Today we were told to bring some tuppaware down to our "supervisor", which she filled with chili, then added to other containers: cheese, garlic, cheesecake, mandarine oranges, and apples. And finally she gave us each a gallon of milk. That's right, paid to eat - with free food at the end. Keep praying, you're doing well!

Long walks in the City

Well we arrived safely... sort of. We got off of the plane and jumped onto a bus which took us downtown DC to the metro station. From there we road the metro to Eastern Market, where we met our first native, Russel. After the 20m convo with the 35 yr. old janitor, Sean got his phone number in case we ever wanted to "hang out" in town. Then we stepped off the metro with all of our luggage, and struggled the 9 blocks to the ASP building, where we had our sweaty pictures taken (it was 66 degress). The first night was productive - we found a 7-11 that should be able to provide all of our meals for the rest of the semester. That night we walked the 8 blocks to the capitol, supreme court, and a bunch of other LARGE buildings that we should probably be able to identify...
Today we got up bright and early for orientation, and played some "fun and exciting" games to learn more about everyone's backgrounds. Then we split into four groups and went out for lunch, followed by 4-hour service projects. They're attempting to get us acquainted with our fellow ASP members and introduce us a bit to the district this week, as we'll be consumed with our classes and internships next week.
Well after pizza for the second night in a row, we took off on another little tour of the city. I think our plan is to discover all there is of DC these first few days so that the rest of the semester can be spent visiting individual places like the smithsonian, spy museum, botanical gardens, museum of art, etc. At the moment we're just ready to sit down for the rest of the week, eat and sleep. And Sean says "Hi."

Welcome?

Good day friends, family, relatives, and people whom we felt obligated to invite to these postings...

I really can't share too much relating to Washington and our plans for the coming 3 1/2 months - apart from that we are excited and a little nervous for these first couple weeks, getting accustomed to the metro and living in the middle of our nation's capitol. We will be arriving in DC on monday, where our first goal of finding 327 8th St NE will start. We are both meeting with our internship companies (which are described at the upper-right corner of this page) on thursday, but are a little unsure of what the American Studies Program (ASP) has in store for us this first week. We'll try to keep you all updated as the weeks go by, hopefully finding time apart from working, studying and traveling. Posts are welcome, but neither of us thoroughly enjoy reading essays - so be short or call - take care and keep your jealousy to a minimum!