I arrived in D.C. yesterday. I love it here! It is hard to describe but the atmosphere is different but most of all is probably because Daniel is here. Last night we celebrated a belated Valentine's Day by going to a fondue restaurant. The evening was fantastic, complete with romantic candles and thoughtful gifts. What a guy!
Daniel's parents flew out for the weekend too because today marked the completion of Daniel's orientation in the Foreign Service. The ceremony took place in the top floor of the State Department building (aka "Main State"). It was breathtaking! From the outside the building looks like any government building (well except for the fact that it is surrounded by very serious looking guards) but the top floor is decorated in what Dan's dad remarked as reminiscent of Versailles in Paris. The floor consisted of several rooms that house historical treasures ranging from the Treaty of Paris to Thomas Jefferson's desk. The beauty and lavishness of our surroundings was typified by the exquisite marble washrooms! The ceremony itself was also very impressive. All of were seated in this beautiful hall. There were a few speakers. Secretary Rice had hoped to attend but was enroute back from the Middle East. The speakers successfully instilled pride and motivation in the new officers without being longwinded. The speeches even made this canuck misty eyed as they reiterated their noble aims for good in this world. After it all they called every recruit's name and asked them to stand as they announced their assignment. Every one remained standing until all of the class was standing. Then, each member was asked to recite their oath. Again, a really neat and emotional moment. After the ceremony were pictures and congratulations. I was so proud! All I could think of was my first date with Dan. He was leaving only hours later for San Francisco to take the oral exam and now, here we were; he did it!
I pretty much floated home (well as good as one can float in new shoes **ouch**). Mom, Dad, Daniel and I ate a light lunch while we watched a DVD of skits Dan's class put on while on their retreat in West Virginia- they were sooo funny!
After that I was a little sleepy so it was decided that I needed to be woken up and that the method of the choice was to get me to play "Spoons". For those of you not familiar with this game, such as myself, it is a mean and humiliating game- if you lose. One must get 4 of a kind in their hand (playing cards) and then grab a spoon from the middle however, there are not enough spoons for everyone. This is where it gets mean. I witnessed (and to be honest partook) of very physical efforts to be the final owner of a spoon, even if it meant prying it from someone else's hands in a creative manner. Each time you are the one left without a spoon you get a letter, when you spell out "s-p-o-o-n-s" you have to imitate a donkey. This is the humiliating part. Unfortunately when everyone was sitting pretty with "s" I already had "spoon". What was I going to do? Well, being the comeback queen that I am I pulled ahead of Daniel who in the end did a memorable impression of a donkey that I will treasure always!
After the admittedly lively game we played Kanasta and then headed out for dinner. Dinner at an Italian restaurant and desert at a fondue restaurant topped off what had been a perfect day. We walked home in the brisk, "winter" air and which brings me to now.
I plan on posting the day's pictures shortly, but hope this will tide you over until I do.
Until next time,
Katie
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