...but I finally got to see the cherry blossoms (not at night or in the rain) around the Tidal Basin!
My friend Jen and I decided to take advantage of the fact that they hadn't all blown away yet, so on the morning of Conference Saturday we did a lap around the basin and checked out the parade in fast-forward. It felt weird not being a volunteer this year. I almost wore my "Volunteer" shirt so I could take extra liberties with crossing the streets and ordering people around and such.
In short - it was beautiful.
Breathtaking.
Everything I ever hoped for and dreamed of.
Can't wait to do it again.
I just love the Kennedy Center. I don't pay homage to this place enough. Did you know they have a free concert of some sort every night at 6:00? It's true!
While they boys were at Priesthood, a group of the ladies got all dolled up for a night out at the KC to see Buster Keaton's silent film, The General.
Except ours was backed up by the National Symphony Orchestra. It was glorious.
Sometimes, it's just fun to dress up!
We went out for dessert afterward, and the servers accidentally gave me someone else's free birthday dessert. We didn't realize until after they sang their song and walked away that none of us had told them it was my birthday. Awesome.
So this one time a few weeks ago, the telephone pole in my front yard cracked in half. I was home to hear the BOOM! And then the power went out. Naturally, everyone in the neighborhood went outside to check it out. This is what we saw:
Except that it was on fire. Yeah...I've had enough of those in my day, thank you. Don't need any more flames so close to my abode. But would you look at that thing? Should've been replaced eons ago, right?! I actually felt strangely vindicated, because on more than one occasion after I parked my car right under it, I had said to myself, "Hmm...is that thing supposed to sound like that? One of these days, it's going to blow!" And Viola! Thankfully, I wasn't parked under it today.
When the firemen and cherry pickers came, they made me go back in the house. No one else in my neighborhood had to go back inside. Only me. What's that all about? So I had to document from within the safer confines of my prison home.
To their credit, they worked into the night (with THREE cherry pickers at one point) to get things up and running again. We had our power back before morning.
To kill time while we were powerless, we went out to a shooting range with some friends (pretty punny). The boys all taught us how to shoot lots of different guns, and then we had target practice. They impressed us all with their patience and attention to detail in teaching us. Definitely a good thing, with something as powerful as a gun. In that light, I guess they had extra incentive.
My personal favorite was the shotgun.
My opponent disagrees.
And finally, for April Fools this year, we decorated Jeph's car. :o)
Sadly, it blew away before he ever saw it. But we still count it.
I posted this on my fam blog awhile back, but I forgot not everyone checks that one. So here's my biggest update. It's such an intricate story of networking webbery, I just had to include all of it.
Everyone knows I've been on the prowl for an internship for the summer. And everyone knows the market is ridiculous right now, and the odds of me finding one are pretty slim. And forget about any kind of paycheck! My whole class is all just trying to find people that will let us do a bunch of their work for free. (So far, 4 of 70 have secured summer employment.) It begs the question: what do I like doing enough that I would do it for free, just to have the opportunity to do it?
School has helped me to focus my mind and find the answer to this question. I am passionate about microfinance. It is the kind of work that I could be proud to stand behind, a cause that would get me out of bed every morning so I could help it to move forward. Whether or not I actually need an advanced degree to work in this field, my MBA already feels worthwhile because it's helped me to figure this out.
So. AU has a search engine called CareerBeam to help us in our quest. One feature I discovered is that you can look up a company, then connect to LinkedIn (Think Facebook, except for working professionals) and it will tell you the degrees of separation between you and someone who is affiliated with that company. I looked up the microfinance org FINCA International, and learned that I knew someone directly who had worked there before. I hadn't seen him in over a year, but at least I knew someone!
Two days later, I bumped into him at a party. (This guy is married, and this was a singles ward party, which makes the fact that we crossed paths even more amazing.) He was very willing to help me out, and suggested that I talk to a guy named Otso, because he also used to work with a different microfinance bank. Interestingly enough, I had met Otso at Institute earlier that week.
I sought out Otso the next week, only to learn that he used to be the CEO of Yehu Microfinance, an organization based in Kenya. Not only that, but he was still on the advisory board and still conducted interviews for internships. We talked some more, and through his questions ("Have you ever been to a third world country?" "What were the conditions like - did you stay in nice hotels?") I realized that this wasn't a DC-based office job where I'd be doing good from afar. It would be in Mombasa, Kenya, on the frontlines. There would be some office work, but I would also get to actually be in the bush where everything is happening, to meet the people I'd be helping. This is the exact setup I hoped for the chance to try (knowing that this summer would probably be my last window of opportunity) but I did not expect to find it.
Otso asked me to send him my resume, and we'd get together and talk. Even this aspect seems divinely guided, because my resume had just come out of a major overhaul that same morning, where everything my resume said was now intentionally geared toward attracting microfinance-related employment.
Needless to say, after our conversation, I was starry-eyed. This option just made so much sense, and the way everything had fallen into place was just too perfect to be coincidence. I felt so compelled to follow this to the end, and so sure that it was already a done deal - to the point that all other internship pursuits dropped off my radar. I figured, why bother? I already found it. Even the way I talked about it was always "when" I go to Kenya, not "if." I haven't even considered being concerned about the location because clearly I'm supposed to go there, so I'll be taken care of. And as mom pointed out, I'll be going through the temple just a little over a month before I leave, so I'll be extra-protected.
As you may expect after a sequence of events like that, it worked out. I'm going to Kenya!
I love when the Lord uses timing to remind us He's aware of us, and to make sure we know we're moving in the right direction. In this case, He seemed to want to make it painstakingly clear. (He probably figured I'd be a little averse to the extra debt and would need the push.)
Sorry for the delay. Thank goodness for Sundays, to give myself a self-imposed chance to step back and slow down. Last month I had my very first ever official spring break. (Yeah, bet you didn't know there's no such thing as spring break at BYU, did ya?) Thanks to Marcia and her willingness to serve (that's another story...that I would love to tell, if you care to hear it), I got to spend my break in beautiful Costa Rica. Just to give you a run-down of our adventures...
We first spent a day in San Jose. Coincidentally, a friend of ours had a cousin living down there, Sheldon, who took good care of us while we were in the city. He was there to get us from the airport, he showed us around and entertained us, and when we couldn't find our hostel he arranged for us to stay at the one where he worked. (Hotel Los Angeles. Great place. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.)
I can't say enough good things about Sheldon. Chivalry is not dead. I hope he comes to visit DC sometime so we can return the favor. He also took us to church the next day and dropped us off at the bus stop to take us to La Fortuna afterward. (One of the most adventurous and interesting parts of this trip - traveling via public transportation!)
We decided to take a later bus to La Fortuna, so we could explore the city a little. When we came back to the bus stop an hour later, we learned that it had been the last bus of the day. Interestingly, this did not even create a hint of panic in me, or in Marcia once I translated the news to her. We asked the guy if there were other buses in town we could take instead, and he told us we could take the one that was leaving immediately from that station, and connect in a different city. We stopped in Quesada, got off the bus, wandered around for a minute, and then heard some guy yelling for anyone who wanted to go to La Fortuna and got back on a different bus. Just like that, problem solved. It was almost too easy. We even got a sermon from a bus pastor (it was Sunday).
La Fortuna was the adventure segment of our trip. We rode on ziplines through the canopy (in the rain)...
...went horseback riding (and swam across a raging river to see a waterfall)...
...relaxed in some of the natural hot springs...
...and hiked around Volcan Arenal. Our guide for the hike was born in the area and was around when the volcano errupted in 1968. Prior to that, they'd just thought it was a big hill. When all the rivers started heating up, they didn't know what was going on - and then it just erupted! It's been doing so constantly ever since.
We didn't get to see any lava on that hike (raining), so the next night we tried again. We got a cab to take us to a bridge where we could try to see the volcano through the clouds. We thought the cab driver would get bored after 10 minutes and make us leave...an hour later, he was the one still saying, "You just have to be patient, as soon as the clouds move, you'll see lava!" Marcia and I sang songs to the lava and did cloud dances, and we tried sucking the clouds away. This was the result: The beach segment of our trip was spent in Manuel Antonio/Quepos. It was beautiful, sunny, and relaxing. We even got to watch the sunset!
Even though I spent most of the time in the shade and covered with sunscreen, I burned. Good ol' Scandinavian skin. At least it's consistent. But Marcia trumped me on the sunburn.
We also went on a tour of the mangrove with an AWESOME tour guide - by the end, we loved it as much as he did!
We also got to see the smallest anteater in the world (it has a prehensile tail!)
So, okay, we may have heard about a live band performing and gone out dancing on our last night.
I noticed that there are a lot of happy people in Costa Rica - all over the place, we'd hear people whistling or singing. It's just not possible to do that when you're unhappy! I also noticed a LOT of Americans in Manuel Antonio. What's that all about?
Over the course of the week, my spanish got gradually better, and I had two milestones to illustrate. I got into a long religious conversation with a woman on a bus somewhere between La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio. We both walked away feeling fulfilled. On the last day I got into a haggling session with a dude at the beach. I walked away feeling aggravated...and then it changed to exhilaration when I realized that I'd held my own in an emotionally-charged conversation in Spanish!
I close with a random list of some of my favorite Spanish words: catarata (waterfall), relampago (lightning), murcielago (bat - like the animal, not the athletic equipment), semaforo (stoplight), and Oaxaca (city in Mexico).
Time for the second annual 80's party!!! I think the pictures do a marvelous job of speaking for themselves.
******** Recently, a good friend of mine from the BYU Stats days, Lorenzo, came to town for a conference. I hadn't seen him since we graduated in 2005, so this was a great surprise. We got to hang out and I showed him all the monuments, and he also joined me for Dinner in the Dark, where he introduced himself to everyone as "Mario Cart." (He's very quick on his feet with the humor. He cracks me up.) At this activity, we literally had to eat in pitch blackness. Light was not allowed. It was actually a great time. We all learned to depend much more on our other senses...and everyone else there.
At the end, they gave us a "surprise" - everyone had glow sticks taped to the bottom of their chair!
Since we were always in the dark, I never actually got a shot of Lorenzo. You'll have to take my word for it that the jump-roper is him. If he sends me any pictures, I'll post 'em.
Lights back on - "Whoa, didn't realize the place was set up like that!" "Look how messy everyone was!" "Hey, we had egg rolls sitting right by us the whole time?!" "Wait, there are TWO tables??" "You're all the way over THERE?" "Ouch, my eyes! Turn the lights back off!"
******* It snowed again! And this time, I took advantage before a layer of ice could form over the snow and built myself a snowman!
...but the snow was a bit dry, so my little man of snow was a little squatty.
I shall call him Mr. Stubbs. My favorite is the Lifesaver eyes. That was Kassandra's touch.
I need to catch up before Spring Break. You'll see why, after Spring Break. (13 days!) Lots has gone on! In no particular order...
I went to see The Killers with Jeph. Naturally, it was amazing. It was the kind of concert that gets me excited down to my bones. It's hard to explain the feeling. It's the closest thing to spiritual that I've ever felt, without it actually being a spiritual thing. I've been to one other Killers concert right after I moved to DC - that was back when they only had one album, and now they have four! (Yep, I've been here that long.)
I just love watching Brandon Flowers. When he talks, he's awkward on the stage, like he just doesn't know what to say. But when he's singing, he is in his element and you can't take your eyes off him. (We wanted to make t-shirts that say, "I'm Mormon, just like Brandon Flowers!")
At one point in the show, some helmet-clad dude jumped up on the stage and started strutting around like he owned the place. He even gave Brother Flowers a big hug. It wasn't until he stopped singing and said, "Who is this guy??" that the security guards came running and hauled him off the stage. Of course, after the song ended, he made it a point to get a big round of applause for the Fairfax security guards and to say hi to the dude, since they just sent him straight back into the crowd. (We then changed our minds and wanted to make t-shirts with a drawing of helmet dude and "The Killers" on the front, and "Who is this guy?" on the back.)
My first friend in the DC area and longtime Census/workout buddy, Lauren, moved to North Carolina a few weeks ago. It's hard knowing she's not here, but it's like with family - I know I'll be seeing her around. Just not as often. But I did throw her a big Census dinner party before she departed.
I've started getting back into the Salsa scene lately. On Valentines weekend, for example, I actually went dancing both weekend nights. My date was Marcia. :o) The skills are coming back to me. It's bliss. Kassandra dressed up like she was going to an 80's prom. Doesn't she look hot?
I've gone to three birthday parties in the last two weeks. All of them have been on Thursdays. What's that all about? During one of them, I won a contest and my prize was that I get to be Shark's BFF for the next year. As you can see, he's very excited.
At another, I made a contact that could potentially lead to an incredible summer internship - but I'll tell you about that if it actually happens. This pic has nothing to do with the internship, it's just some fellow birthday partiers. (If you're curious, the guy on the right won - after about 5 minutes and two breaks.)
The third party was for my dear roommate, Jossy.
There ended up being two birthday cakes, so we just sang to her twice.
Just a word about school - a few weeks ago we had a case competition, which is really just a big opportunity for all the students to get a little exposure, show off their presenting/analysis skills, and network. Just like everything in business school. It's all about the networking. Basically, they give us a case and we have 3 days to prepare a presentation with all our solutions, then we present it to a panel of judges on day 4. But this comes in the middle of all the regular classwork, so you can imagine the good times. It was by far the most intense week I've had in school yet - I was either in class, doing homework, at a church function, or sleeping. But my group was delightful.
I think I've mentioned before that I sometimes get to show people around who are considering attending AU, to try to woo them to the program. I'll take them to class, feed them, give them a tour of the campus, and answer Q's. It's fun. Now they're talking about putting us up on the Kogod website so people can contact us directly. (You can see it here. Just scroll down a little, you'll be able to see a few more of my attractive classmates.) As a bonus, we got to take professional photos to go on the website. So, now you can all see what I'd look like if I were ever a professional. :o)
I recently learned about a massive service organization in DC called Greater DC Cares. So, the other night I attended orientation so I could start getting informed about all the service opportunities out there. I was very impressed with (1) how organized this thing is. It's very large scale, covering a lot of different areas and types of service, and it's all volunteer, which can get messy. But they've got it down to a science. (2) how many other people were attending orientation! It's just a really happy reminder that there are a lot of people out there who want to do good things, and all they really need is someone to take the lead and give them opportunities.
This weekend we had a big ice skating activity for Institute. The place was packed. I was playing tag with some people on the ice, but after awhile it was so full of people that we couldn't play anymore.
The only downside is that the ice was only zamboni'd at the beginning. 3 hours of 300 people going in circles doth ruts in the ice make. I actually took a pretty ungraceful spill (when I wasn't goofing around to deserve it) and now my right side is all bruised up. Totally worth it!
Phew! Caught up again! Keep checking back for more birthday and ice skating pictures.
