Live from Halloween celebrations in the US V

The best costume I saw all day was not the skinny dude covered head to toe with green lycra (we asked him what he was and all he said was 'green'.) but the girl walking next to Michael Jackson number 32587 (so many Michaels, and all different). My friend Robert asked her what was her costume. I managed not to crack up when I heard the dialogue. 'What are you?', The girl smiled 'I'm a fan'. Robert was lost. 'A fan of what?' She looked at him like he was stupid, then at her Michael Jackson buddy, rolled her eyes then said with a clear voice: 'A fan of Michael Jackson'.

And with that note, I'm off to bed. Let's hope no one trashes the place, I ate most of the chocolates :)

Live from Halloween celebrations in the US IV

My biggest surprise all day?

Two guys sitting outside my local supermarket, smoking and relaxing ask a guy in a costume 'hey, dude, what's this Halloween thing all about?' The guy in the costume smiles and keeps walking. I stop and start to chat. 'I mean, where did it come from? When did it start?' So there I was in front of two Americans who had little or less clue than me.

Live from Halloween celebrations in the US III

Things confirmed by the movies:



- You don't give chocolates/candies then your place gets trashed/pranked/something happens.

- People of all ages dress up, there are people in costumes in every corner, in every street.

- There are so many parties and events it's hard to decide where to go.

- Never seen so many pumpkins...

Live from Halloween celebrations in the US II

What I didn't know about Halloween before actually being in the States during the holiday and before being surrounded by Americans:

- Moms go trick or treating too. In most movies I saw the kids go out alone and adventure off, apparently to get candies and chocolates for free at strangers' homes, what I actually saw was moms (ok, ok, I saw ONE dad too) waiting by the gate while the kids walk up to the door. One mom was scarier than her kids' costumes.

- No one gives fruit or cereal bars anymore. Too many people died from it, stuff got put inside fruit, poison etc. As I heard this I chuckled and said I thought all that were urban legends, then 3 grown mature people stared at me super looking all serious, 'real people died.' Right. Got it.

- Kids come up to your door, they say 'Trick or Treat' and then YOU, the person holding the chocolates decide what they get. Chocolates, or a trick. My friend Robert had a kid howling. I love him.

Live from Halloween celebrations in the US

First of all, we regret the weather. We, of the skirt wearing kind, regret it even more.

In the movies we don't see people shivering or wearing raincoats, do we? We also don't or at least I haven't seen women dressed as witches walking their dogs. Why is that? It would work for me as an audience...

Live Halloween posting (considering the time difference most of you won't really care about the live bit)

the live posting starts in 5 minutes. I'm not ready are you? :)

My first Halloween themed party

It happened to be a kid's birthday party but it had Michael Jackson's Thriller dance, food and drinks so does it matter?
The house was unmissable. Imagine driving in while hearing kids scream in the background. Passers-by stopped to chat as well, it was very nice.

I still think this 'clown' was the scariest bit. I slept in the living room that night and kept having to remind myself it wasn't some creep sitting down watching me.

This was the toy I hated the most, you hear screams and shrieks every time you press the button so of course the kids pressed it every five minutes.

The spiderweb touch was a great detail, it's still all over the house. I hope I'm not the one that has to clean it up.
The spiderweb included details such as different size spiders hanging from the ceiling.

As well as a tiny doll trapped in the spiderweb. Clearly I was born in the wrong generation.

Halloween is already next weekend!

Man, where does time fly off to? This weekend is homecoming weekend, DC is insane with parties, events and general celebration. Homecoming, if I understand it correctly, means celebrating the return of students/alumni. There are balls, galas, parties and of course, alcohol. And before you have time to recover from homecoming weekend, Halloween is already here.

I haven't been taking my camera with me lately so you'll have to take my word when I tell you that each day there are more Halloween decorations popping up. The supermarkets have an extra aisle for chocolates, pumpkins are seen everywhere, scary and funny costumes are sold on the streets. I think only now do I realize I really am in the States. This Sunday I'm attending a birthday party whose main thing is doing the 'Thriller' choreography. Life is good.

I've recently discovered cupcakes. So far my favorite are the peanut butter cupcakes.

48F or 9C

Whether you're thinking in Farenheit or Celcius, it's cold. However all DC folks say 'it's chilly'. Also, it doesn't rain, it 'drizzles'. Who's with me in thinking I'm going to enjoy winter?

Supermarket

You'd think any Western supermarket would be simple for a Westerner, right? At least that's what I used to think.

Just imagine the biggest supermarket in your country and know that that's a normal size one in states. Then imagine different names for things you knew all your life. Not just different names but different packaging. Different places to put things.

Imagine all that and try and go and shop under 20 minutes.

It can't be done.

This is the main reason why the kitchen cabinet is full of Oreos and apples.

American ads

You have not seen advertisement until you've watched American TV. A single children film (yes, I watch kids' stuff) has at least six or seven commercial breaks.

Here is what I've noticed so far:

• Lose weight ads come on mostly in the afternoon, specially lunch time.
• Halloween is coming. There are ads, cartoons and movies about it.
• Thanksgiving is coming. Now that I don't eat meat I see tons of turkey. Typical.
  
• Christmas is coming. There are more toys' ads now than all summer together.
• Starwars is still going strong. Silly me, I thought it was over and done with.
• Michael Jackson mania. ('nuff said)
• If you have a new drug to sell mention 3 good things about it then 32 side effects (I've heard stuff from hallucinations, depression, losing of arm and leg control, to losing ability to speak, you know, minor things.)

And yes, some of pharmaceutical ads go on during the day. It's hysterical.

Love of information

Americans love being informed. Love being the source of information. They love information period. And they're very practical about it.

In the beginning it annoyed me. It really did. 'What is the purpose of your visit?' 'How long are you staying?'

Then it started being entertaining. 'This bus ain't movin' until everybody moves to the back! So if you want to get to work today I'd get moving!'

Now I depend on its precision. 'Ladies and gentlemen, the metro will begin moving in 20 seconds.'

I guess love can start with annoyance first, hun?

A-going to the States

New adventures, old friends. yay!

Thai cheetos

I was so excited when I saw cheetos in Thailand! I love cheetos. Then I opened the package...

Nightllife

It took me about 15 shots to get these two. Next time the tripod will not stay in the car...

Thailand posts returning tomorrow

Bangkok: weird, insane and lovely

Took me a long time to get this photo without cars in it, long live the Queen.

I clearly did not go to smart school...

A market can be anywhere really, just need a few inches.

I do not want this guy job.

Believe it or not it's the inside of a shopping center.

Entrance to a alley market/ collection of tiny shops in an alley.

He looks happy enough with braces, come and be happy too!

What other name would a postcard store have? in small letters it say ''love blood & love u".

Bangkok: Wat Pho PT II

Welcome to the reclining Buddha temple. Make yourself at home, I'll keep an eye on you...

These are donation/prayer pots, you get a little tin bowl filled with one satang coins ( 1 cent sort of) and drop one in each pot. Not familiar with how it works beyond that but I can share that the sound of coins being dropped in a row in an empty temple is something I shall not forget anytime soon.

I knew the statue was going to be big but I was still impressed.

The feet are decorated with mother of pearl. Remember never to point your feet at any Buddha statue or Thai person, very disrespectful.

Even His back shines, those sculptors really paid attention to detail. Don't forget to visit the statue when you go to Bangkok.

Bangkok: Wat Pho PT I

Wat Pho is located about 1km away from the Grand Palace. It's famous for its reclining Buddha. It's probably the biggest statue I ever saw. However I spent over one hour taking photos of the temples statues and... cats. Don't worry I won't show all the pictures I took, just a few. The Buddha photos will be here tomorrow if blogger stops saying 'bad request' when I try to upload them.


Wat Pho also includes a nice Thai massage school. The streets around the temple are full of oil massages and other material. It's a interesting experience for your nose.


notice the little black cat on the left corner. when I first looked at the statue it scared me, then I saw the cat and relaxed.

I want his life. Look at that peace of mind...

Bangkok: Grand Palace's statues

Entrance. A relaxed statue welcomes us.

All over the palace and temple there are statues, literally all corners and plants had one or two.

These reminded me of India a lot.

I personally prefer 'the guardians'.

Yep, those are some big statues... If you go and visit take lots of water, the place is bigger than it looks. I ended up having to get my head wet and sit in the shade every chance I got. All afternoon in there and there were two places with shade...

A two-in-one shot, two guardians together. The poor human guards cant move or talk. I asked him to blink once if I could take a photo...

Bangkok: Grand palace & Esmerald Budha temple

It's hard to miss the Palace and the temple (it's inside the Palace's grounds) but somehow it had eluded me so far.

Believe it or not I forgot to ask how long it took them to build the place.

A lot of people call it the Golden temple. I think you can easily understand that.

It's always full of tourists, for some photos I had to wait a few minutes or reshoot a few times in order not to get some blonde in it. Don't get frustrated, see it as an opportunity to really find the perfect angle. Most of all I enjoyed the statues, tomorrow's post will be dedicated to statues and other 'creatures' I met at the compound.

And the palace...

When I grow up I want an entrance just like that one.

motion stop

As you might have noticed, my life is never boring. There is always something going on.

As such it's time to announce that another adventure has popped up and that the Thailand one will be done for the time being. I do hope to return soon.

I shall miss most of all the kids, the food, the weather and the calm. My favorite: rice soup with vegetables, Oishi green tea with honey and lemon (and banana pancakes, though not in the picture).

No, I did NOT teach them how to do that...

Here we have typical boys growing up in Thailand as normally as they can.

And yes, they are hitting themselves with inflatable thingies indeed.

What Jesse is telling them in Thai is that she could hear them all the way in the bathroom and that she thought they were playing 'Muay Thai' (Thai boxing) not that.

Thai and Burmese portraits pt III : smiles and laughter

Since my black & whites are so popular, I'll add a few more before posting some videos. Today's theme is laughter and smiles. Most photos were a result of some giggle fit or game, the rest were taken while they were with their friends.

One of my personal favorites. All his friends were jumping around and in front of the camera, there was too much jumping around for me to even be able to focus the zoom, then cuteness here looked me in the eyes and nodded. I got the camera up and he got this cool pose. 0.2 seconds later the crowd knocked him to the floor. There was a 2 minute break to laugh.

Finally got Lek to smile on camera, not a big open smile but still...

Get your weapons...

Another poor victim of the water balloon fight, actually with this class it escalated from water balloon to buckets of water being thrown... inside the classroom.

Her friend kept making her laugh and look away, it actually worked better on film than she thought.

He had just won a yo-yo and some candy. Life was too good.

See-saw is so much fun. I tried to get on it but the girls said 'no'. I was too big they said. Humpf.

How come one friend was soaking wet and the other was dry? Well, before I could ask someone got a bucket of water and justice was served.

The official translator. Look at him: cute and smart, already speaks 3 languages...

the last 3 photos are just perfect smiles, aren't they? Really, some kids are too damn cute.

Number one.

they love each other now but two minutes later they were fighting over a yo-yo. No photos of that as I was in the middle trying to sort out who started it (I still dunno...).

Fan the teacher. They thought it was hilarious but I was really out of breath. Do not attempt to chase kids in tropical weather, people, it's quite a kick to the lungs.

Thai and Burmese portraits pt II

Some of you asked for comments or details of the portraits but it's difficult to explain each moment. I'll give it my best. This beautiful little girl was probably my biggest challenge, it was the first time she went to school and she was very shy. I noticed her straight away, I mean, just look at that face!She didn't know what I was doing with the camera and only after 15 minutes did she look at me long enough to take her picture. I tried to show her afterwards (usually the kids' favorite bit) but she ran away...

Yep, there are two of them. I had been taking photos of one twin for the last minutes when he brought his brother along, I was a bit confused for the first few seconds. This little girl seems to share the moment with me.
After a big water balloon fight most tshirts needed to be rinced. This time having the camera on me saved me a bit. This boy will be breaking hearts soon enough, he's too cute.

The two official translators of their class. One translates from Thai to Burmese, the other to Karen (one of the Burmese tribes) , a third one translates to Mon (another tribe). It was a bit insane to hear five languages in one single class: Jesse said it in English and Thai, then the kids repeated it to their classmates in Burmese, Mon and Karen... it was the longest bingo game I ever played.

The talcum powder question has been popping up in my email a lot, basically they use talcum power after taking a shower, also during the day to help with the heat. The Burmese also have another power, a yellow one, that they put on when it's really hot. If I'm not mistaken this kindergarden item we see in the photo had never seen his face on a screen before, he stared at it with such awe...

One of my easiest subjects, I asked if I could take his photo and was offered this great look and then several poses (more photos to come over the next few days).

Some are just too cool...

While others just can't help but to appear on film.

For some reason the boys were always more eager and easy to photograph, most girls refused . The boys were actually fighting to be the first, several times I had to give them numbers in order to calm them down. This little girl just queued with the boys and calmly waited her turn. I told her she was beautiful but I didn't know how to say in Thai 'you have amazing eyes'.

This baby was so much smaller than his classmates I didnt see him at first. He pulled my tshirt and got in pose mode.

Queue to the photographer, it was not planned but they didnt let me leave the room until every single one of them had at least two photos. I had so much fun!

Sangklaburi's river

You can tell the water level rose a lot, I used to walk a bit before reaching the pier, now it's straight from the steps.

In the West we assume the rainy season means rain and high level of water, no one teaches us that the heat is still there, the steam is in the air, we sweat a lot, the mud strangely enough does not dry, the mosquitoes are even more present, snakes, snails and frogs show up a lot as well.

The wooden structure on the right is a fishing boat/raft. I forgot to ask if there is more fish during this season or not.

Before the dam was built there was a temple somewhere to the right, now it's underwater. During the summer you can see bits of it out and visit it properly. It will be for next time for me.

My office: children of the forest

The view from my office window.

Roof tops are not the same around the world.

Children of the forest is , as the name implies, not in the middle of Bangkok or in the middle of a busy intersection. It's either a 20 minute walk through a forest or a bumpy motorbike ride downhill. It's worth the walk and the bumpy ride is fast, just make sure you're driver is sober (yes, experience talking).

The scenario is quite beautiful. Just add the fact that you're sweating buckets most of the time, the fact that there is mud everywhere, that your clothes will always be dirty...

My favorite bit when walking to the office in the morning is watching the clouds in the distance. It gives me a great boost for the rest of the day.

Thai and Burmese portraits pt I

The short life of a water balloon

First, the balloon get filled with water. Then it finds a kid.

Then the kid finds a target.

The target tries to run.

The target fails to get away and must return to face the laughing crowd.

The balloon had a successful life.

details that got my attention

Teacher Jesse gets greeted by part of her class.

A chicken approaches the cows... Isn't there a cartoon called 'Cow & Chicken'?

Nice helmet for a construction worker, hun?

The dogs clean up the floor after the kids are done eating.

Breakfast line at the school.

Pass the pen with your feet alone.

First day back at school

First, a word about the rain season: wet. Besides being obvious it's persistent. Imagine never being completely dry. Imagine your clothes smelling like they've been in a basement for the last 3 years, imagine your hair damp all the time, imagine constant rain - or when it finally does stop raining there is still water in the air... Imagine snails at every single spot, walls, floor, you name it. Imagine frogs and toads of all sizes crossing the street, hoping right next to your feet... Imagine all that and you're starting to get the general idea.

Getting to school in this season is also tricky...

But we pass some nice areas. (notice the tiny girl watching us go by...)

We did a treasure hunt, the clues were given after the completion of certain tasks such as pass the water balloon, do a crazy dance etc
Playing pass the water balloon means fun and...

a wet classroom

and wet feet. Those pants and socks were white when I arrived in school that morning...

Me helping my kids build the world's tallest stick tower.

Lunch time. See the size of that pot, I don't know how they manage to cook for 350 kids... This was vegetable and chicken stew with ginger and of course, rice.

I'm back!

First of all, to all of you that donated books: they are here!! yay! Thank you.

Since most kids can't read this level of English we decided to use them as a fundraiser.

The books I had left behind were covered in dust, was I gone that long?

My friend Pi Wee Wah missed me, no matter how hard she hits me. And that blanket was made by her mum specially for me. :)

I missed Thai food more than I thought... This is fried rice with egg.

I'm up, I'm up!

The average Thai wakes up around 5am, and that does not include those who work at the market. For me waking up before 7am is wrong, just wrong.

This morning at 6.15am I woke up to strange noises coming from my night stand. Being me I immediately thought the world's biggest cockroach was going for the chocolates. As I tried to focus and adjust my eyes the noise gained momentum. It was my next door neighbors having sex. Sigh.

I tried to go back to sleep, naturally. A few minutes later the tap in the bathroom open all by itself and water was running. I have no explanation for that. I closed the tap and even before I reached the bed a sound like a foghorn blasted through the window.

I sighed and put on some clothes and went outside. Clearly, the world wanted me to be up and running.

(Today I take, once again, the wonderful 7 hour bus to Sangklaburi. Yay for motion sickness!)

A-going to Thailand: arrival in Bangkok

There is a significant number of things I had forgotten about Asia. Considering I was away only a couple of months I am oficially worried about my memory. And no, I didn't drink that much in Belgium.

I had forgotten the amount of people, how it's hard to walk in a straight line as you keep moving away from little kids, adults speeding up, ladies with bags, adults speeding up while dragging little kids (those are very dangerous - if the kid is really small you only see them after you bumped into them), old ladies that stop right in front of you looking around as if they just forgot where they are going..., the smell of 32 different dishes being prepared at the same time that comes at you from every corner...

I had totally forgotten that even when there seems to be a queue there really isn't one...

I had also forgotten how my body feels after being in the air for over 16 hours. It's not just tiredness, it's like my muscles are made of clay and are all stiff until they warm up. I was awake for 27 hours and as soon as I thought I was doing well I crashed, it just so happens that I was at the airport waiting for the bus when I fell asleep. I woke up 1 hour later...

Since I am still in US time it means I'm 11 hours behind Thailand time. Yay...

A-going to Thailand: quick stop in India

The stop in Mumbai was of only 2 hours but it was more than enough time to befriend a Thai lady who lives in Newark, to be harrassed by a few Indian men, to eat food so spicy I wondered if my teeth were going to fall off and to say once again ''only in India!''. It's a bit like the sign above, my Thai friend thought it was funny while I just looked at her with a serious expression and said 'you've never been to India.'. She was surprised. 'No, no I haven't.' I smiled. 'If you had you'd think that that sign should be in a more visible spot.'

One of my favorite bit was passing 5 security checks all with x-rays and the very modern system of... stamps. However my ultra favorite was being told to hurry to the gate, being told to walk faster to boarding, having of course 3 different queues each time and then... waiting at the stairs. Waiting for what? No one was quite sure. 20 minutes later the crew arrived and passed the crowd. We still waited. One passenger in the front was reporting to the back: 'It's raining.'

When at last the door was open, we were still stuck, the rain was ready to make boats out of the airplanes. There was only one light outside making the scenery even more eerie. Imagine hearing the biggest amount of water you'll ever hear falling while seing glimpses of airplanes (depending on where the lightning struck) and people walking back and forth. Part of the ground crew was chatting away next to us, oblivious to the moment.

I turned on my flash and decided to have fun. My feet were already wet so why not? After a few moments someone turned on the lights.

That dude with the automatic riffle was suddenly standing next to the passengers. Where did he come from? Had he been there all the time? I mean, had a creeepy guy with a gun been standing next to us in the dark?...
And this is how we entered the bus. We crossed a puddle that was anckle deep as quickly as we could (did I mention wheelchair bound passengers?), the lady with the umbrella was standing at the door instead of walking with us trying to cover us and the bus was wet inside, chairs included. And yes, we had to do the same while leaving the bus and entering the plane except that while walking to the plane we had a guy scream at us 'Faster! Keep going!' even tough there was only one door and five people stuck trying to get in. I was rarely that happy to be in shape.

Leaving for Thailand in the morning

Basically all I did in Belgium was eat, sleep and drink. The jet lag hit me hard this time, I even woke up twice as my friends were choosing what to eat for dinner...

See you in Thailand!

Back in Belgium again: Leuven

Some photos in and around the Leuven main square.

Don't let the sun fool you, after the hot weather in Washington Belgium feels like winter already.

I'm still recovering from the jet lag and it doesn't help that I don't have a watch. I keep thinking it's early in the morning while my friend is making lunch.

I guess that will only get worse as I go to and from Asia.

For example, at this very moment most of Belgium already had lunch and is thinking about leaving work in a couple of hours while I'm starting to think about breakfast.

Back from the dead

Apologies, readers. Life is crazy. Yes, that's my only justification. The blog will return to normal, I am beyond hope for that one.

I am now back in Brussels (arrived this morning) and I leave for Thailand on the 3rd of September.

A lot has happened but I will recover from the jetlag first before I lay it out for you.

Around Boston

Like the photos show it's a bit difficult to describe New England as there is a bit of everything, there is a lot of nature and I really like that. There are also a lot of huge houses. One of the things I liked the most was the proximity to sea, every little town had a marina and an ice cream shop. I know, I know...

Boston food baby

Before I let you see the pictures of the nice trip I had here are some that should help you understand why I returned tired and overfed. A bit like Hansel and Gretel after they escaped...

There were buckets of cookie dough ice cream...

Donuts...

Hangin' by the pool with Gibi...

And M & M's mountain...

yes, hard life indeed.

On my way back to DC

Hello y'all!! I am going back today to DC where I will have internet again, yes, expect photos and stories. I also return with extra weight, nothing like a relative to overfeed you...

I'm off to Boston

spending another day on a bus. Don't think I'll have internet access, please be patient.

I'm back but...

my photos are locked away in an infected computer. I'm looking for an exorcist right now.

Gonna be off the planet a bit

More posts and news when I return...

Central park

I still have a lot to see in Central Park (800 acres is no joke) but I loved every bit I saw.

From people just chillin', having fun...

To other places full of tourists like me.

And while sometimes I felt I wasn't in NY, some corners would always remind me of where I was.

Some bits were like in the movies.

Others were new, like the homeless guy that sold me a poem about love and then asked me what I was doing later...

A nice (big) walk in NY

Times Square by night and with an invading fog...

Manhattan view from Governor's island.

The idea was to see the Statue of Liberty but we ended up in Governor's island instead, it was actually a lot of fun. The view was not too shabby either...


It's these contrasts that I love the most in New York, how the huge skyscrappers still allow trees and churches at every corner.

And sometimes you think all there is around you are skyscrappers, big buildings and offices but then in the spaces there is sunlight, small buildings, gardens... almost like playing treasure hunt.

Live from New York

Nobody warned New York I was coming...

I know I should be raving the New Yorkers, the New York buildings and churches, how the skyscrappers cut off the light and how you can only see the sun while walking between buildings or how your neck hurts with all the looking up. Or even how much you can walk in one single street.

Or perhaps I should talk about how when we wanted to go to Staten Island and see the Statue of Liberty we ended up in Governor's island with a 90 year old that had more energy and life than the two of us together.


But really all I want to talk about is the M&M's store in Times Square. If you remove all the little kids running around and add some half naked people it would be my idea of heaven, even the music was great. Yes, I bought tons of chocolates. Life is good.

On me way to New York city

I haven't been to a national park yet but I've seen plenty of flowers and loads of squirrels.

This one got my attention because I had never seen one with the fur that color. I also saw him grab half a pizza slice and hop off with it... very cool.

Now I leave you with some DC flowers as I take a bus to New York...

A quick look inside the National Gallery of Art

Even with two visits I still didn't see everything there is to see. I was sort of hopping for more American artists such as Edward Hopper but those are either in New York or Chicago.

Besides the museum's collection there were 5 or 6 temporary exibits, how can one see everything?

The art of power.

Not everyone can keep up...

Ze Americans

Are so nice and cute AND TALKATIVE that I've been away from my computer... I hope the blog will return to its normal (normal?) functions as of today.

Sculpture garden

It's part of the National Gallery of art museum and sits right in front of the US Archives, the little lake helps a lot of turists deal with the heat. I know there is another sculpture garden far bigger than this one but I haven't seen it yet.

DC: US Archives

I've been visiting a lot of museums lately, it's hard to show pictures of that. I mean I am allowed to take photos of certain areas but I don't think it really does justice to the art.

So far I got lost in the National Gallery of Art and freaked out at the amount of kids in the Natural History Museum (not going back into that one...). In the Natural History museum shop I found a book I had almost given up on: The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean.

Now I'm going back to the Art gallery today, I have a map and some food in case I get lost again.

DC: views of Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill is where the US congress has its parties.

It's one of the buildings on my list of 'This building makes me feel small'.

I don't need to tell you the security is tight...

It faces the Washington monument (the Smithsonian museums are all around that park on both sides, that whole area is called The National Mall.)

Washington DC: Library of Congress

I was all excited about going to see the world's biggest library. I was a literature student and I absolutely love libraries...

I wasn't quite sure on what to expect but it certainly was more beautiful than I expected...

I also got to see Gutenberg's bible. No pictures allowed of course but I was happy just the same.

After two hours inside I only saw part of the first building, I'm going to go back and do an official tour later this week.

2nd day in DC: Georgetown and Union Station

Georgetown is a quiet neighborhood in Washington D.C. where you can see DC's oldest building, the Old Stone House:

It was built in 1765.

Yes, the school buses do exist, it's not just a movie prop...

Georgetown's university.

A building in one of the main streets...

Riggs Bank.

My first meal in a dinner. Brownie, icecream and whipped cream.

The spy museum in DC has some nice ideas for ads.

Yes, That's me under the flag. It's not just the country and the buildings that are huge, it's the flag too.

Both photos are outside the Union Station, the train station in Washington D.C.

The train station has a bookstore. 'Nuff said.

Washington DC: 4th of July

Only in a civilized country would an independance day celebration end with nothing being destroyed or with me not getting angry at drunk people. It also happened in Belgium but I'm still not quite used to it.

In the afternoon people were already getting ready for the fireworks.

Celebrating the end of 'being British and paying taxes to the king' included a picnic in the parc. There was also a free concert with several artists but as much I as I love Aretha Franklin, I couldn't queue all day. I caught only the end of the parade but I think I got the best part:

an Uncle Sam eagle that looked like a duck that you see on the right side of the photo and a Hare Krishna carriage being pulled by hundreds of believers...


I was also fortunate enough to arrive here in time to see part of the Smithsonian folk life Festival, it wasn't something I had anticipated but it was great. The Smithsonian museum includes several museums such as the Air and Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy Center, American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, American Indian Museum, American History Museum, National Zoo, Natural History Museum and many others. And the best part is that ALL THE MUSEUMS ARE FREE.

So after browsing through the folk festival, my first hours in DC were spent dancing away to a Columbian group called Las cantadoras del Pacifico.

Two of the singers were born in the 1930's and they could outdance anyone.

As the time for the fireworks approached the crowd went all the way from the memorial to the capitol hill, believe me it was more than a football stadium full of people, it was the biggest picnic display I ever saw.

America: the land of broken phones

For reasons that only my best friend would have, she couldn't pick me up from the airport. So she arranged for a friend to pick her up and another to lodge me for the first night. It all sounded perfect, but since it was me and her we were sure something would happen on my arrival to the United States.

Both planes were on time and I only got lost once in the New Jersey Liberty airport, so all was going well. I found out that my Belgian number doesn't work in the states so I bought a phone card.

I landed and picked up my bags and looked for a girl with bright clothes, maybe with a sign with my name on it (yes, that was the only description my best friend gave me, very detailed as you see). No such girl around. I went outside to the passenger pickup area and waited about 15m. I almost went to talk to an Indian-looking girl that had a bright orange blouse. After a bit I decided to give the girl a call. The first phone was out of order so I dragged my bags a bit more to the left and tried the second phone, also not working. I dragged the bags again... In total there were five phones not working in that whole row. When I finally managed to get a dial tone I only got her voicemail.

Sigh.

I called my friend and asked for help. Apparently the girl had already called her and was searching for me somewhere in the airport. I told my friend what I was wearing and my coordinates (I was very, very specific) and waited 10m. No one showed up. So I called my friend again. The girl had given up on finding me and was sitting in her car next to door seven (I was before door one).

'What car does she drive? there are loads of cars outside.'
'Oh. I should know this... I was already in that car....'
'Ok, never mind.'

I dragged my bags all the way to door seven. Luckily the girl noticed me and waved. As soon as I saw her I made a mental note to slap my best friend in the head for her wonderful description (girl, bright clothes), the girl was black and bald. Not wearing any bright clothes at all by the way. Very detailed description indeed.

After a long drive (this country is way too big) we managed to get to the area of where my friend lives. It took us 20m to get there as we circled it but couldn't quite find it. My body was telling me it was almost one in the morning but here it was only seven in the evening.

I went to the reception (my friend lives in a dorm) and announced myself and asked for the girl that was going to house me for the night. She didn't pick up the phone. We tried five times. I asked for a phone so I could ask my friend to call the missing girl. The phone was also not working. I laughed.

I sat on the reception area with my bags trying to think of how long it would be appropriate to wait until I started thinking of going to a hotel. A girl sat next to me and we started talking, she knew both my friend and the missing girl. She called her cellphone and of course she didn't pick up. I had been waiting for almost one hour by then.

A few minutes later the missing girl shows up in her pijama. She was surprised to see me. The phone in her room didn't ring. Yep, another one not working.


Now I'm going to see the 4th of July celebrations and not use a single phone over the next couple of days.

Here I go

To the States this Friday. Just in time for the 4th of July.