Week 14

Washington D.C. is still good. It's a pretty consistently fun place to be. Friday was World AIDS Awareness Day and a few of us from the Peaceful Solutions class met at Dupont Circle to participate in a candlelight vigil.

It was interesting because there is such a large population of people who are infected in D.C., much more so than the rest of the country. I believe the statistic is 1 in 20. It's strange to think there are so many people who have the disease. No one I know has HIV...at least that I'm aware of...so I don't realize how widespread the epidemic is, even here in the U.S.

Saturday my boss invited me to a cookie exchange party at her home. It was a good opportunity to solidify a relationship with her before I leave, and it was also nice to get to see her home and meet her family and friends. I brought my roommate along so I wouldn't be overwhelmed by the pressure to mingle. For about two hours, Michelle (the roommate) and I sat by my boss's fireplace and ate crab cakes other delectable finger foods. MAN we ate A LOT. We would eat as much as we could, then sit and let it settle and then try to squeeze some more in our bellies. After a while we got into some natural mingling, which was entertaining. Some people really like to talk. One of my boss's friends asked us if we were going to lots of holiday parties.... We hadn't even thought about the possibility that we could go to more parties. She told us how there are tons of parties going on, and invited us to her company's party next week. We're pretty pumped about that.

Monday my boss John took me out to eat. I think just because he's nice. But it might have been my "goodbye" lunch. We went to a restaurant that we had been to before. The previous time John had tried to hook me up with one of the waiters. He gave the waiter my business card and told him to call me. When the kid finally called a month later.... mmmm...I didn't call him back. So when we went back to the restaurant, of course John calls the guy over to our table and says, "So she said you called, but she didn't call you back!" Just called the guy out. It was pretty awkward, but really amusing. I just sat there and laughed. The waiter didn't look like he thought it was quite so fun. John teased me for the rest of the meal. He says he must be from the "old school," where consideration is in style. He is silly.

And finally, the big news of the week.... IT SNOWED! I love it! It is getting pretty brisk. But I need to get used to it because in TWO WEEKS I will be getting right back into it in Iowa. My mom booked a ticket to come out here to help me "move out." She basically just wants an excuse to come back to D.C. But heck, I guess more power to her.