Hi Everyone
A week ago, I was with my 8th graders on the back side of our DC trip. The next day I was moved into my apartment.
After my first day at work, I think all the excitement and stress of the first few days finally caught up with me. I had a back ache, a headache that turned into a fully-blown migraine, and ended up vomiting for, like, the first time in 5 years. It was a whirlwind of a few days where I literally had experienced no sense of familiarity in anything I did.
But that was the worst of it, and it's been up ever since! I'm still pinching myself that I get to walk past Apollo 11 on my way to the office every day. I'm glad I get to spend time at the observatory, where I can spend some time teaching, instead of just working at my desk all day. My co-workers are great, passionate, and enthusiastic. The Smithsonian was founded for the "Increase and Diffusion of Knowledge," and the mission of the Air and Space Museum is to "Educate, Commemorate, and Inspire." I'm happy to be a part of that, and I've only just begun.
I could look through the solar telescope all day. The image above is one I took by sticking my iPhone camera to the lens of our Hydrogen-Alpha telescope. It's not perfect, but it is adequate for this post. It doesn't do justice to the actual view, though. It's interesting how the sunspot activity has been increasing all week. On Tuesday, there were only two visible sunspots. By Saturday, there were at least 6 distinct and complex groupings. Amazing.
I can't really share many details of the project I'm working on, only to say that it will certainly change some of the way I do things in my class in Indianola... which is my desired outcome of the summer.
On Thursday, I went down the road to Lincoln Park to read for the evening. I live in a neighborhood called "Eastern Market," and our central park is Lincoln Park. In the center of a park is a statue of Abraham Lincoln that was commissioned by a former slave who put her first $4 she earned as a free woman toward the statue; the statue was entirely funded by donations from emancipated slaves.
Besides smelling like dog (because everyone in Eastern Market brings their dogs to Lincoln Park), it was a nice place to sit on a park bench and read for an hour or two).
I guess the most important thing is I feel safe in my neighborhood, and I'm starting to gain a since of familiarity with my surroundings. Most of the streets around here run East-West (named after letters) or North-South (named after numbers), but occasionally I end up going on one of diagonal streets (named after states) without realizing it. Just one of the funny things.
Oh... and I finally found a legitimate grocery store (praise God).
Friday, I decided on the spur of the moment to go to the National Symphony concert at the Kennedy Center. They played Brahms' Double Concerto for Violin and Cello, and Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 6 (my favorite Tchaikovsky Symphony). The Orchestra was great, but the audience could have used a little work... seriously, people in the front row stood up to give their standing ovation between the 3rd and 4th movements of the Tchaikovsky! Oh, the horror! I mean, c'mon people... this is the Kennedy Center! Don't you know proper classical music protocol?
On the way to the Kennedy Center, I shared a cab (long story) with a dentist who basically wanted to show me how rich he was. He said he worked at one of the most "hopping" places in town, where the rent is sky-high and developing rapidly. Patients will have $50,000 in work done at his office, which doesn't accept insurance, and pay with their credit cards. Then he gave me his business card, in case I want to have any work done.
Unlikely.
At least he paid for the cab.
Finally, I made a pilgrimage to National Cathedral for the service this morning. Went out to breakfast and it took about an hour to get to the Cathedral between the Metro and on foot, but it was worth it. I probably won't do that regularly though.
And there you have it, week one.
By the end of this week, I'll be heading back to Iowa for one of my best friend's weddings. A good, short homecoming.
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