Fire in the RRB, popping balloons, and more fun in DC

It was an eventful week here in DC. Tuesday morning I woke up to the news that there was a fire in the Ronald Reagan Building, which is where most of the USAID offices are. A fire that started in the food court had spread in the ventilation system, so we couldn't get into the building until about noon. I spent the rest of Tuesday and all of Wednesday in a training course. There were a couple of fun activities in the training, including a game in which we had to pop balloons...I had some issues with my balloon popping ability, resulting in the photo below:

We could clearly count 13+ marks from my pen on the balloon where I attempted to pop it before I switched balloons with my neighbor, who created the lovely artwork.

Wednesday night I made cookies and brownies, which I shared with my DLI colleagues in my bureau on Thursday. Thursday was also the day that I realized that change is going to be a constant part of my life now when one of my cube-mates packed up his stuff to start language school in Arlington next week. It's only been a little over two months and already some of my classmates are off to language training, and a few are even beginning preparations to leave for their first posts. I'm wondering how I'll feel in 10 months or so when most of my classmates are (likely) gone and I'm still here in DC...it makes me motivated to work on my French as much as possible before I start class in April and I'm hoping I'll still be motivated enough to dedicate a lot of time outside of class to practicing. We'll see how I feel then.

I also got news on Thursday night that someone slashed all 4 tires on the Vue, which we had just listed for sale. Chris took care of the police report and getting the tires replaced on Friday, but it's frustrating that things like that happen. Luckily, Chris moved out of the city to South County and is now living with my sister, where hopefully there won't be any more problems like that.

It's a long weekend and I'm hoping to get out to explore the city a bit (if the weather stays nice)! I'll let you know how I decide to occupy my time...

Surreal weekend

This weekend was great for lots of reasons - most of all, because Chris was here. Even the most mundane things, like changing light bulbs or cleaning the kitchen, are much more fun when there’s someone else around to do them with. Chris got here on Friday night and we had some Thai food delivered to the apartment (first time since I moved to DC that I’ve called out for dinner) and we watched Parks & Recreation, 30 Rock, and The Office. Saturday we made some bacon and eggs for breakfast, then went downtown to see a movie (Cedar Rapids – I’d recommend it) and do some shopping before our big dinner at Komi.

So, Komi has been ranked the #1 restaurant in DC by the Washingtonian magazine for the past 3 years. Reservations are available exactly one month out, starting at noon sharp, for the dozen or so tables in the restaurant. Apparently, Chris called at noon and couldn’t even get through. We ended up with a 9:30pm reservation for dinner (luckily, someone earlier cancelled, so we ended up getting in at 8:45 instead). Anyway, so there is no menu at Komi…you sit down and are asked if there are any foods you don’t want to (or can’t) eat, and then the waiters just bring plate after plate of food (15 plates to be exact on the day we were there). They have a no photography policy, so no pictures, but here’s the run-down of what we ate, as far as we could remember:

1 – amuse bouche of some delicious pastry with house-made cheese and salmon roe
2 – crudo plate of whitetail tuna with chives, ? with toasted caper berry, and hamachi with wasabi
3 – scallops two ways – one thinly sliced with blood orange and one diced with coconut and cilantro
4 - lobster on pear & celery puree with diced pear, slivers of tumeric and Japanese mint
5 – spanakopita – liquid center of spinach, cheesy deliciousness in a yummy toasted pastry shell
6 – egg yolk raviolo with sturgeon caviar and chives
7 - foie gras with cranberry puree and ginger vinagrette
8 - half-smoke with relish and old bay chitterling
9 - dates stuffed with marscapone cheese sprinkled with parmesan and fleur de sel
10 - pasta with lamb ragu and arugula with shaved black truffle
11 - sliced Wagu beef with housemade pita and a variety of condiments (tzaziki, eggplant, pickled cabbage, hot sauce and herb salt)
12 - tiny little biscuit with slice of honeycrisp apple and quince with a delicious cream and thin-shelled chocolates filled with cardamom caramel
13 - 'lemon meringue pie' - lemon sorbet with shortbread biscuits and thyme
14 – peanut butter, salted caramel chocolate bar with crisp rice bottom with coconut foam and banana puree
15 - salty lime lollipop


Sunday we had a great brunch at Ted's Bulletin - a 30's diner famous for their shakes and homemade pop-tarts. Then we walked up to Eastern Market to browse before walking home. All in all, a great weekend. When I woke up Monday morning, it felt like it had all been a dream...

Best Day Ever!

Well, I was planning on writing a post when I got home tonight anyway, but now it will include so much more happy news! First, the original content I was planning...

My quad-cube is a much happier place now. I'm sure you're wondering, why? Well, in the past week, my cube-mates and I have acquired a Brita water pitcher, an electric kettle, a French press and a plethora of teas and coffees. We now have an unending supply of hot beverages at our fingertips! No more running out to the galley every time we are thirsty, standing in line to microwave some water, and dealing with the danger of unlocking the office door with a hot beverage in hand. It has changed our lives!

Secondly, one of my fellow trainees and I completed an economic analysis piece for one of the USAID missions and our supervisor gave us lots of praise for doing a great job! Wow, I am not used to that! It was so nice to, a) do something that is of great value to our coworkers, and b) be recognized for it!

And lastly, I GOT MY POSTING! An unassuming email arrived this morning from a HR employee that I don't know. I was cc:'d on the email and after sorting through it, I could tell it was my assignment. It was addressed to some of the mission staff, but nowhere in the email did it say the name of the country. Luckily, I noticed that the labels on the mission staff's emails was Tbilisi. Now, to be honest, I had no clue where Tbilisi was, so I had to look it up, and I found out that Tbilisi is the capitol of Georgia! So Eurasia here I come!

This was completely out of left field for me. I had been assuming I would be posted to a Feed the Future Initiative country, so Africa or Southeast Asia most likely. But don't get me wrong, I am SUPER excited about Georgia! I have to read more to figure out what's going on at the mission and learn as much as I can about the region. They've recommended 7 months of French training, with a short Russian course, as far as language. The weird thing is that most of the population speaks Georgian, for which I will receive no training. But I suppose I'll get by with English and basic Russian.

So everyone start saving now to come visit me in beautiful Georgia! I can't wait to find out more about my future home!

Some pictures to share...

So, I don't have anything too exciting to share, but I have a few pictures from the past couple days that I know a few people will be interested in...

Birthday flowers from Chris!

My new, huge purse....Wally is included in the photo for scale. I'm looking forward to carrying only one bag to work every day!

New rain/snow boots!

This was today's page on my calendar at work. I wish I'd had this at my previous job...where I was known to hit my co-workers (all in good fun, of course!)

Birthday Week

Well, my birthday was on Wednesday. My parents were in town to celebrate with me, so that was nice! They got here last Saturday afternoon and were here until Thursday. We went to the Holocaust Museum, the Museum of Crime & Punishment, and the Portrait Gallery last weekend before I had to head back to work on Tuesday. Plus, they helped me hang a large shelf in my apartment which was too big for me to do alone. So now I think the apartment is complete.

We ate dinner out every night while they were here, which was nice because I rarely go out to eat - it's not much fun when you go alone. We hit Ruby Tuesday, Old Ebbitt Grill, Cafe Italia, Fogo de Chao, and Founding Farmers...all of which have now been reviewed on Yelp :)

I got some super cute rain/snow boots from my parents, which I haven't had an opportunity to wear yet, but maybe this week. Also, some beautiful flowers from Chris were delivered to my office on Wednesday. Thanks to everyone who sent me cards or wished me well on Facebook! It was a good birthday, and hopefully the start of another good year!

Oh, and also, my blog got a mention on the Weekly State Department Blog Roundup last week! I'm moving up in the world! Maybe that will encourage me to blog more frequently...we'll see....

Haircut...and country assignments for some...

Well, since the last post, I did get my hair cut by Marsha at Tracy & Company salon...I love how it turned out! Marsha and the salon got a good review on Yelp!

This week is kind of like a DLI15 reunion because we are in "consolidated training week." We'll spend the week taking a bunch of required trainings. Yesterday we had a mini flag ceremony because half of the class finally had assignments! We knew that a number of people were already aware of where they were going, but everyone was hoping that maybe they'd have a surprise during the ceremony. Unfortunately, still no assignment for me - boo! But lots of others got theirs, including about four of the aggies, who are going to Bangladesh, Ghana and Kenya. I'm hoping my day will come soon!

It's snowing!! I'm hoping for some real accumulation this time...and a snow day tomorrow! A girl can dream...

Watch out DC-Area Businesses - I'm on Yelp!

So, two things today inspired me to join Yelp!

1)   I desperately need a haircut, but I'm terrified of choosing a new stylist. So, I turned to Yelp and went with someone who had great reviews. I'm looking forward to my haircut with Marsha at Tracy & Company salon next Saturday. I will definitely review my experience.

2)   I've been ordering groceries online from Safeway since I moved here. The first few experiences were okay...a few problems that I was willing to overlook in the name of convenience. That changed today.

I typically order all my heavy stuff to be delivered - cat food, cat litter, cases of soda, canned goods, etc. - about once a month. Well, I placed my order yesterday to be delivered today and there was only one time slot available, noon-1pm. A one-hour time slot runs you $12.95, but I decided it was worth it since I was stocking up on everything and probably won't need to order again for awhile. So, I'm waiting  at noon for them to come, and at 12:25 I get a call from the driver. He informs me that the store hasn't even pulled the orders for today and he can't guarantee when he'll be able to deliver. If I have any questions or want to cancel, I need to call customer service.

Since I had no plans anyway (I'm sick and staying home), I figured I'd let them go ahead and deliver whenever today. But at 3:45pm, still no groceries and I'm getting impatient. So I call customer service to see what's up. She tells me that the driver is unexpectedly running 3-4 hours behind on deliveries - well, no crap! No offer to refund the delivery fee or anything until I start complaining about how useless a service their delivery is if they don't get there even close to when I'm paying them to get there. She explains that it was unexpected delays, blah, blah - well of course it's unexpected! If you expected it, you wouldn't have offered me the option of a one hour delivery window from noon-1 today! It's 4:30pm now and still no groceries. Needless to say, I'm going to attempt to avoid shopping at Safeway now and decided to make my dissatisfaction known.

Thus, I will now review everything on Yelp! My Safeway review is already there, and I'm going to make an effort to write honest reviews of all the places I visit while in DC, because I know I use the site to find good companies too.

Recent reviews by Robyn S.

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