working out the kinks

yesterday we went to DC for the day. we met a couple of paul’s friends for lunch, where we had a crab stuffed pretzel, basically a soft pretzel covered in crab dip. I didn’t think to take a picture, paul apparently asked me if I wanted to photograph it before it was gone but I thought he was just giving me some to eat. after lunch we had a mini tour of the national right to life office, as one of paul’s buds works there. they still use slide projectors, but are very friendly and nice. she tried to give us a wine and cheese backpack but we didn’t want to carry it around all day. then we wandered around the mall until 3:30, when we went to the library of congress to meet amber cause she was supposed to work there. she met us a bit later, accompanied by Joel and Bret Funk, who they randomly ran into on their way to the library. of course, we weren’t allowed to go with amber into the actual researchy section so we loitered in the lobby of the madison building until we decided to talk a walk. of course, as soon as we left she was done. then we bid goodbye to bret as he was all suited and ready to go home and the four of us continued to amber’s place. it was very nice, though she’s still sleeping on the couch at the moment. she moves into a new place on wednesday where she has a room with an air mattress. but just as nice, she thinks. amber, joel, paul and I had dinner at an indian place down the street from her house and then walked around gardens until we had to catch the train home.

paul and I split a meal which came with indian-style crabcakes.  which was funny, since we’d been eating so much crab.  but very tasty.

yesterday we went into baltimore for the day. we met paul’s college friend (one of) at lexington market for lunch, where there were a million food stands and tons to choose from. I had a soft shell crab sandwich, which was a deep fried crab between two slices of wheat bread. it was pretty tasty, though I’d never eaten soft shell crab before at all so it was a new experience. very crispy. like I said, pictures once I get to MO.

we also had berger cookies which are cookies under a crapton of chocolate icing.

in the afternoon we went to the basilica, the first cathedral in the US. it was cool. they have great grottos underneath the church and their main dome is really beautiful. my first thought was that it was painted to show depth and distance but it’s actually sculpted. wooo.

then we went to the aquarium, which was fun. saw a lot of sting rays and sharks and fish and turtles. like you can imagine. after that we got coffee as we were lagging, and dropped by the MVC Baltimore house to hang out for a bit and sit down. the baltimore girls are cool. we’re friends.

in the evening we went to the Orioles game. they played the KC Royals! which would be my baseball team if I followed baseball, since we went to games when I was a kid and such. so that was fun. the Royals won 6-5 in the 11th inning so it was a pretty good game. I do like live baseball. I ate a hot dog, obviously. with mustard and relish.

we also ate funnel cake and french fries with Old Bay seasoning, which is the seasoning they put on crabs here and is a total Baltimore thing. it was mighty tasty on fries.

I’m in baltimore! or…the baltimore area, visiting paul’s family and eating baltimore foods.

yesterday we got crab cakes for lunch from a local place and they were very tasty. also, very attractive. I’ll upload the pictures once I get to my parents’ house later this week.

I almost forgot to take pictures, but paul reminded me, he’s so useful. then of course he had to explain to his parents why I was taking pictures of the crab cakes. he said something like “no, she doesn’t HAVE to, she just wants to” and I said “my family will ask.”

it’s true. I feared public outroar if I ate huge lump crab cakes and told you how tasty they were and failed to provide pictoral evidence. we also had snowballs yesterday afternoon and I took pictures of that too. I had the egg custard flavor and paul had skylite which was basically blue. the snowball is like a snowcone, but a better, more flavorful, with a marshmellow topping that’s like runny marshmellow creme. the egg custard is apparently one of the most popular flavors, and it was quite tasty.

I have two weeks of work left, after Paul and I return from our trip (for which we leave tomorrow, yipes).  even so, things are finishing up at work.  bro bob and I did my end of year evaluation yesterday (excellent, all the way) and I gave him my future contact info, which I think made him a bit depressed.  I’ve started cleaning out my desk, getting rid of anything left over from last year that I never used and all the junk I’ve accumulated.  I half filled our massive paper recycling bin.  we’re also finishing up all the end of year paperwork, due to cincinnati public schools next week.  this actually was quite fortunate, as our internet was out for a day and a half so I would have had pretty much nothing to do if I didn’t have files to sort, shred, and organize.  except for yesterday when bro bob made me tutor this kid and I yelled at him cause he was being stupid.  not bro bob.  the kid.  hmmm where DID I see Christ today?

continuing the saga of “buying a new wardrobe to go to south america,” I went to American Apparel today.

I went to Goodwill the day before and got a short sleeved dress shirt and a polo shirt and a blue tshirt with nothing on it, successful, but I couldn’t find hardly any tshirts (only one) without words on it, and I’m avoiding tshirts with words.  for a variety of reasons.  also this year, after working so closely with the poor and watching such films as “Life and Debt” which was very good but totally freaked me out because of the whole “made in USA” stuff not actually being made in the USA, I’m becoming more and more concerned about how the products I use are made and more and more frustrated that I can’t control any of it.  sometimes I need things!  also, my grey zippered sweatshirt that I got in middle school is quite literally falling apart at the seams and I’ve needed a new one but couldn’t find one that was just plain grey and not all embelished with patterned lining or made with stretchy fabrics and I suspected that at American Apparel I’d be able to find a normal one.  I was.

I got a new grey sweatshirt that’s made for girls but isn’t all short and is 100% cotton!  I also got some tshirts with no words in a variety of colors and sizes.  nothing that I tried on or wanted to try on had spandexy crap.  I mean, they obviously had stretchy clothes but that was all the ridiculous styles that are all trendy.  true, I did pick up an oversize tshirt which is pretty trendy but it’s quite comfortable and would go well with some of my pants and I could wear in ecuador cause it’s modest.