Washington DC

Took a four day trip to Washington DC so that when I'm "over there" I can intelligently talk about "over here".  Or at least be up to date on our National Heritage.  My sister had most of this trip planned and then we added to - ended up running from 6am to 7pm, putting in miles and miles, and took over 300 pictures.  Caught myself spending 2 hours on the top floor of the Holocaust museum.  What a fascinating/scary thing propaganda is.  The most relaxing time was listening to the pipe organ at the National Cathedral (all 15 minutes at the start of Evening Song).  Followed this by a mile speed walk to catch the Metro to Arlington cemetery to find them closing down.
My brother has been helping me set up my computer so I will have access to family, and English-language news and entertainment.  Now all I have left to do is get my Nook under control and figure out how to download the library books.  And get all the shots my sister thinks I need!

Getting Started

Back in Feb I attended an oversea teacher job fair at Northern Iowa University.  There I met the gentlemen from QSI and signed on to teach in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia and thus starts the adventure.  They have a travel allowance so I set a limit of four suitcases and as soon as the cold weather was over (which in Nebraska this year was end of April) I packed winter clothes.  My daughter informed me I needed to dress nicer over there so I went bargain hunting.  Not sure what will be available so comforter, winter coats, boots, etc as well as towels, kitchen supplies, etc. are packed.  There's a roll of TP because I will arrive in the middle of the night and who wants to wake up to no TP!  That filled three suitcases.  I recieved a very nice retirement gift from the local school with which I purchased a very light weight sewing machine (I enjoy quilting).  The machine goes into my carry-on.  The suitcases can only weigh 50 lbs.  I went to the local hospital, weighted myself, went home and found out my scales are 8.5 lb off1  So I shoved material/books in to packed cases.  One case popped open so now I need to buy a suitcase belt.  Next was all my wellness check-ups and scheduling a haircut for the last possible minute.  How does one ask in Georgian to "take just a little off"?  I'm visiting family and friends, working on lesson pplans and waiting until it's time to pack summer clothes and go.