For those who have waited with baited breath, I have an update for you.
The Christmas Party is back on! Huzzah! After much stress, tribulation, and all-around drama, the Christmas party is a go. As far as anyone has told me. Because, of course, all information told to the intern is subject to change.
In other news, the dreaded strike is over. It lasted one day. I'll tell you what, the Irish have a lot of gumption, but little endurance. Every day I hear more whispers in the hall about another strike, but who knows if it will happen. I might just show up here to the Embassy one day when everyone is gone. If that happens, I will sit at the Ambassador's desk, prop my feet up, and watch Turner Classic Movies and sip on some Jameson.
To come back down to reality for a bit, quite a lot has happened since I reported last.
Last week I was listening to Garrison Keillor on the radio, and at the end of his monologue he said, "just like the weather, you never know what is going to happen next. Just hold on, something good may be about to happen." The next day I got to work and saw an email in my inbox from a woman named Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a linguist who is a member of the Italian Language group I am also a part of. She said that she had extra tickets available to an ice skating show at the Verizon center- featuring: Scott Hamilton, Kristi Yamaguchi, Nancy Kerrigan, and Dorothy Hamil. That was just the beginning of the excitement for me. Also featured: Singers Olivia Newton-John, some others, and DAVID ARCHULETA.
Now, I'm not proud of it, but this weeks has definitely been evidence to me that I have a thirteen year old girl inside of me. I screamed by guts out for this American Idol alum. Also I saw Twilight this week. (Hangs head in shame.)
The ladies I met up with at the Ice event were truly unique creatures. All middle-aged women from DC with seemingly one thing in common- ice skating. But soon we all found much more in common. We all were learning to speak Italian. We were all obsessed with Viggo Mortenson, and all of us lost it when Scott Hamilton did 3- count um- 3 backflips. I ate sticky cotton candy with my fingers and felt maybe even younger than 13. Maybe I felt 5.
All these youthful feelings fled the moment I returned to my internship, where I have spent most of these past days archiving old information to be sent to Dublin. It was a heavy work load, and I became very dusty and covered with papercuts by the end of it all. Now that the heavy lifting is done, I am working mostly on the computer end of it all, organizing the work that has been done by my colleagues and myself.
Between the very young and very old feelings, a day came that reminded me of my true age: My birthday. On Wednesday November 25th, 2009, I, Katrina Powell, turned twenty___ years old. It was freakin fabulous.
I spent my birthday at little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant at Second and Pennsylvania called La Lomita Dos. The place was brilliant. The walls were mirrors, and the ceiling was dripping with sombreros and confetti. Tacky perfection. My girlfriends and I dressed to the nines celebrated my new year over many, many margaritas (and champagne...and others ;) On the walk home on the abandoned Thanksgiving streets of Washington DC, the ladies and I took pictures in front of the Capitol, and just enjoyed the young night and our young selves. Truly, a birthday to remember.
The next day the same group of people spent Thanksgiving day at my brother's house in Fort Washington, Maryland. When I arrived to their house, they looked as though they had been cooking all night. The food was all laid out, and we had ourselves a wonderful meal with all the fixins. A great success! It was interesting to be in a new city, with new friends, and celebrate a holiday in a very "we are in our 20's" sort of way. I think we managed quite well.
Since I have returned to work I have experience an inordinate amount of disfocus. It is hard for me to look at a computer, and I detest the very feel of the keys beneath my fingertips. So I will make the rest of this short.
The beginning of this week has already made a promise to me that the rest of the week will be very, very busy. Tomorrow I am visiting my Elementary School Classroom on behalf of the Embassy, where I will make a presentation on Irish myths and legends. I am giving them a quiz on the lesson I taught last week, and the student with the highest score gets an Embassy notebook. Don't poke fun at the prize- I literally begged the Ambassador's assitant for one.
Also on the agenda for this week: more work on marketing, a seminar of international climate control, and a reception honoring the World Bank. Let's get this party started!
On a closing note- Recently, I have had to write many papers for my Washington Experience Seminar. Basically, these papers are very structured and thoughtful versions of my blog, so I will be posting those in a series this week. I hope that you will take the time to read them, as I believe them to be hilarious and intuitive.
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