What a weekend!

This weekend we attended a variety of inaugural events. We were very excited to celebrate our first inauguration in DC. I wanted to share some photos to give a sense of what it was like in DC. The atmosphere was one of complete excitement and jubilation. The historical nature of the event really seemed to bring people together, and Republicans and Democrats alike came out to celebrate and experience history. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced in my life. P has tons for footage on his blog. I have to say though while it was exciting--it was a long, cold, exhausting weekend and by the last ball on Tuesday, I was ready for bed! If you're interested click on the photo album below to take a look at some of the highlights.

Inugural Fever to Inugural Burnout

This is my first inauguration in DC. Well, sort of-- we lived in Alexandria during the 2005 inauguration, but we hadn't lived here long and did not have tickets to anything, and we didn't really understand how it all the logistics worked. So I went to the metro, realized how crowded it was and came home.

Given this year, we live in DC (within walking distance of the Capitol) and the historical nature of the event. We've decided to jump in with both feet. As of yesterday we had an astounding line up of events:

Saturday: Whistlestop Tour in Baltimore (we will be in Baltimore anyway)
Sunday: Free Concert on the Mall; Iowa Delegation Inaugural Dinner
Monday: Virgina Inaugural Ball
Tuesday: Parade Viewing Party from private offices on Pennsylvania Ave, the Iowa Delegations Inaugural Reception, The Midwestern States Official Ball, and the American Indian Ball

I went from being excited to having burnout over the course of this week. We're now told that for each of these events we'll need to be there anywhere from 2 hours to upwards of 8 hours in advance to get through Secret Service Security (the security is unprecedented, as there are an estimated 2-5 million people that will descend on DC) and we'll all have to go through metal detectors. It's going to make the airport look like a walk in the park. The traffic and road closures are expected to wreak so much havoc that the Members of Congress who live a little further out are sleeping in their offices Monday night, because they won't be able to get into the District in time on Tuesday.

As I continue to get updates on security protocol, crowds, and road closures I'm getting more and more discouraged. I've already decided I'm not going to any of the public events listed above only ones that I have a ticket for and I'm about two minutes away from just watching it all on TV!!!

More Inaugural Chaos Expected

Look at this map of the latest secured area for the inauguration. Our house is only outside of it by 3 blocks! And it encompasses my place of work. Wow--I can't imagine what DC is going to be like on inauguration weekend. BTW, for those of you who live in the area I just heard on NPR that parts of the 66E will be closed as will parts of the 395N on inauguration day.

It's happening already!!!

So today was my first day back at work after being out sick for over a week. I'm still sick, and would have stayed home had I not already been a week behind in work and Congress is back tomorrow, so I convinced my darling husband to chauffeur me to work this morning instead of my usual morning walk. Traffic was a nightmare! We live near Obama transition headquarters, which normally causes traffic problems, but now every road around it is shut down in anticipation of the inauguration. I work a few blocks away from the White House (and the Hay-Adams Hotel --where the Obama's are staying) and have to pass it on my way to work, all the streets around the White House are closed. Traffic nightmare!

Then, this afternoon I had a meeting on the Senate side of the Hill, my cab took forever to get to the Hill because of all the road closures, and we couldn't get near the Senate side because the roads were closed there in anticipation of an Obama motorcade. The President-Elect is on the Hill today. So fearing I would be late for my meeting, I got out of the taxi, and ran my flu-riddled-sneezing-coughing-hacking disaster of a body up Capitol Hill--in 3 inch heels no less. I had the bad luck of hitting the Capitol the same time Obama's motorcade got there. They even stopped all pedestrian movement! FOILED!!! Blah. I was 20 minutes late to my meeting. I can't even imagine what life is going to be like here during the inauguration.

Now Give Us Our Figgy Pudding!

Merry Christmas! P and I had a very quiet Christmas this year. It was really quite nice and relaxing. Alina came over, and as per our tradition we tried some new recipes. A samosa recipe--which really ended up more like an Indian eggroll. Not really any known dish, per se, but tasty none the less. The real highlight was our figgy pudding. Alina heard this story on NPR and decided any recipe that required enough alcohol to drive the NPR reporters from the room AND required us to set it on fire not once, but twice was something we had to make. I think the figgy pudding is a new Morris Christmas tradition. It was delicious and loads of fun!!! I highly recommend it. This is Alina and I with our finished pudding.

Mohammed Obama-Friend

So one of the highlights of Morocco was our time in Fes. While we were in Fes, we spent a good portion of one day at a leather tannery. Billy is writing an article on the tanneries so he needed to do interviews, take pictures, etc.

While Billy was down taking photo's of the vats of pigeon poo (read Billy's article to learn about the Fessian way of preparing skins--its worked for 700 years and starts with a good soak in pigeon excrement) we were up in a leather shop. I of course just firmly planted my bum on a bench--I could care less about shopping, particularly leather. Meanwhile, Peter was determined to buy himself a leather bag and jacket. He selected two items, and proceeded to start the bargaining game. (sidenote: P became sadly sadly addicted to bargaining..he even tries to bargain at Starbucks now!)

I got called in to be the bad cop a few times. 'You want to spend WHAT on that jacket?!?! Are you INSANE???' and so on and so on. Finally, Peter got to the point where the 'manager' had to intervene. And by manager I mean someone about our age, called Mohammed. Mohammed got the negations to within 200 dirham. He said he'd take P's hat ( a nike baseball cap) for the gap, Peter quickly said no way. Then remembered he had something in his bag, he rummaged around and finally pulled out a pin he happened to have on him. He offered it to Mohammed instead of the cap. The pin said 'Australiafor Obama.' (don't ask--long story). We had discovered during our first day in Morocco that Moroccans love Barack Obama. Mohammed instantly loved the pin, and put it on. As Billy spent a bit of time at the tannery we chatted a bit with Mohammed. He was very nice.

Later that evening, we had a rough time navigating Fes. The guides (or people wanting to sell you their guide services) were a bit relentless. As we walked back to our hotel we heard someone shouting 'Hello! Hello! HELLLLOOO!!!!' we ignored them and kept walking as we became conditioned to do.--then more 'EXCUSE MEEE HELLO HELLLO!!!" and then really loud 'OBAMA! OBAMA!!! It's me OBAMA FRIEND!' We turned around to see Mohammed.

Mohammed invited us over for harira (traditional Moroccan soup). We ate soup with Mohammed, he and P bonded immediately. He then invited some friends over and spent a good portion of the evening teaching Peter and Billy how to play an Arabic card game. As you can see, from the photos the evening with Mohammed Obama-Friend was a real highlight for us.

Here's Lookin' At You, Kid.

We just got back from Spain and Morocco! We had a blast! I’ve always wanted to go to Morocco (well since the first time I saw Casablanca anyway). We went with our friends, the Pulitzers. J.dub has already blogged about our trip with pictures—check it out here. I’m sure her blogs will be far superior (and likely more timely too) then mine.

I plan to post a few pics as soon as we finish sorting through the 8000 or so photo’s we took. A few highlights for me include:

Most novel site: The garbage donkey and coca cola delivery donkey

Most used Arabic phrase: LA! (means 'no'--followed by a strict wag of the finger)

Second most used Arabic phrase: Shokran (thank you)

Most worn clothing: all-purpose long black skirt (when cold I wore yoga pants underneath not just practical also classy) and skirt was able to double as a towel or napkin as needed

Most majestic site: the gorgeous stars above the the sand dunes in the Sahara

Surprising thing: being able to relate more to Jesus after experiencing a snippet of life in the mideast (or North Africa as the case may be)

Result of trip: A published WanMorris phrasebook for travelers to North Africa

Thing most missed: toilet paper and soap in bathrooms

Best friends made: Mohammed Obama-Friend (long story will explain later) and Akmed the Berber guide

Funniest site: Billy hanging out of car to ask for directions

Moment most feared for life: Taxi ride, bus ride, driving in Marrakech./Casablanca-- pretty much any moment in a moving vehicle

Proudest moment: only driver in car not pulled over by Moroccan police

Most shameful moment: nearly driving off road while trying to read sign in Arabic before remembering I can't read Arabic :(

Hobby likely to take up: flamenco dancing

Lifestyle most likely to pursue: life as a Berber nomad in the Sahara