The Boys are Back!

Are you ready for some football? Ok, I know its not Monday night, but it IS the first Cowboy game of the season! Not only are the Cowboys in DC to play the Redskins today, but they are staying in the hotel that is literally 20 feet from our apartment!

Last night we decided to go for milkshakes after dinner. Usually, we cut through the Nordstroms to get to the food court, but last night I was wearing sweatpants and I feel like the people in Nordstroms judge what I'm wearing so we decided to walk around outside. As we passed the Ritz-Carlton, we saw a bunch of HUGE dudes in suits signing autographs for people decked out in cowboys gear. So, of course, we hid in the bushes (so as not to get in trouble for loitering) and watched. It was definitely the Cowboys. SO COOL! We hurried to get our milkshakes and came back and hid behind the bushes again. By this time there were MORE of them and they were all getting in cabs to go to dinner.

When we came home we got on the cowboys roster and looked at the pictures. We decided that we definitely saw the defensive ends and other defensive players. As Caleb said, that is the closest I have ever slept to the entire Dallas Cowboys team. I told him that we should walk into the Ritz, go to the front desk and ask for Wade Phillips and tell him we had a few things to discuss before the game: advice#1: Don't suck! The preseason has me a little worried...

I have also discovered that we are going to have to be Cowboys fans in secret. When we were at the Nats game the other night, two guys were walking around in their Romo and Ware jerseys. Not only were the fans giving them grief, but the stadium workers were seriously harassing them. I heard one woman say to them, "how dare you wear those *bleeping* jerseys in here. don't you know where you are? show some respect!" Lovely. And I thought Cowboys fans were intense...

All that to say, our drapes are closed, the lights are off and we are pretending we aren't here. BUT, in reality, we are SO ready for some dallas cowboys football!

Bring it on deadskins!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Tonight the FYC (Fun Young Couples sunday school class) had a social outting to the Nationals v. Marlins game. Originally, it was supposed to be the Stephen Strasbourg night but a few weeks ago things went south, so instead, we got.....

Not exactly Stephen Strasburg night, but o well. We had a great time! Unfortunately the Nats are...well... not so great. But at least we got to see the Marlins play! The weather was great too! The high today was 75 so by game time it was mid 60s. Usually the metro ride is AWFUL getting to the ballpark. We have to take the yellow line to the green line and switch. By some miracle it only took us 15 minutes! And we got to have seats!!! Here are a few pictures of our new friends!

And of course here is a picture of us!

Our metro ride home was pretty eventful. At our line switch we just missed the train and had to wait almost 20 minutes for the next train. During that time we got to watch a rather overweight girl using the most profane language I have ever heard totally verbally abuse a middle-age man and his wife. We also got to watch several armed police sweep the metro waiting area; while on the train we got to watch a young couple with matching haircuts interact and a lesbian couple be all over each other. Awesome. It topped off my day in the metro that started with a middle-aged couple this morning with matching mullets. Ah the metro! Caleb and I decided we could probably write a best-selling book based on our interactions in the metro the last month.

Well, its late. I better go to best so I'm well rested for my day of football watching on the couch tomorrow. I sure have missed college football. Go Ags! WHOOP!!

Tuesday-Thursday

It has been a BUSY couple of days. Since all of my classes are Tuesday-Thursday, those days all just seem to run together. First, I should start by confessing that I lied to one of my professors last week. She started the first day of class by saying, "I'm sure that you all read the Washington Post and New York Times everyday in addition to The Economist, Time Magazine and other periodicals." Of course I shook my head yes that of course I do and promptly went home and ordered subscriptions to all of the above. Caleb was thrilled. He's been wanting a paper subscription for awhile. It really has been nice to read all of them!

Wednesday is my crazy day. I TA from 930-11 and then don't have my own class until 5-9. It's kind of a waste to ride home, so I try to do work on campus. This week I decided it was time to brave the library and print off all of my readings for the next 3 weeks (thousands of pages). I didn't realize what a ridiculous task this would be. It doesn't sound like it should be hard, but GW found a way....

First, you go into the library and sit at a computer. Open your files and click print. Here is where it gets tricky, they don't actually print! You have to title your document that you want to print (in my case Stepho1, Stepho2, etc.). You click print. It still doesn't print. Once you have done this for all of the documents you want to print, you log off of that computer. You then go to wait in line for another computer. At this computer you have to swipe your student ID (which hopefully has 9cents/page you are going to print on it) and wait for it to load. When it opens, it shows EVERY document that EVERY student in the library has "saved" in the last 2 hours..... You have to search through them all and then hit print individually. Once you hit "print," it loads and takes approximately 1 minute before it prints you article. Of course, I had 48 print jobs. I was in the library over 2 hours..... by the time I finished I was in a FOUL mood. Just in time for my lunch date with Caleb : )

Luckily, Caleb has a break in the afternoon so we usually have lunch dates somewhere on campus and then go study together somewhere for a few hours. I have a quiet area in my school where I usually go, but this week it was not quiet at all. I ended up giving up on reading and sleeping on the couch for awhile.

I spent 13 hours on campus on Wed. It was not fun. Well, maybe part of it was fun. When I got to the class I TA, the professor did not show up until 25 minutes late!!! The students got kind of antsy so I had to vamp. I took attendance, answered questions about the course, introduced myself, told my life story and spent about 5 minutes talking about Scarlett before he luckily showed up. They didn't seem to think that she was as cool of a dog as I did. O well. This professor grew up in Puerto Rico. His mom is from Hungary, his dad is Columbian, and he studied in Cuba.... He teaches Russian history.... Ya. This is also his first time teaching so after class he always asks me for advice and tells me to tell him what to do. Like I know? O well, its an experience

I like Thursdays because I don't have to be at school until my office hours at 4pm. Usually this is an interesting hour because it is when I find out what strange assignment the Ambassador has for me. Today, I only had to make one copy BUT he told me that we were taking a field trip. Seriously? A field trip!

I should back up by saying that this week we watched The Quiet American on Tuesday and read the book for today. The students have been studying the Vietnam War and it had really been interesting to listen to them discuss what they have learned and bounce ideas off of the Ambassador. So, he felt like it would be appropriate, after discussion today, to walk down to the Vietnam Memorial. Personally, I found it a little humorous but also inspiring to watch an Ambassador walk 60 students of all different backgrounds down to the Vietnam Memorial. I have pictures but my phone is not cooperating and I can't upload them. Maybe another day...

Well, its very late and I better get to bed. I have a busy day of Eggo Waffle Auditing and putting 55 cent off labels on Zyrtec for Crossmark tomorrow!

Hypothetical Question....

Law school is in full bloom in our apartment. Caleb is really enjoying his classes. Most of his homework seems to be reading and analyzing case studies and he likes to include me. Every now and again, he'll come out of the office and the conversation always starts like this "hypothetical question..." We then discuss ridiculous situations and he tries to teach me the law. Here are a few samples from today:

Hypothetical question......
Caleb: Say I punched you in the face, what can you do in return?
Me: Can I punch you back?
Caleb: Yes, if it was self-defense. What if I run at you with a knife?
Me: Can I steal your knife and stab you to death?
Caleb: Only if you thought my intention was to kill you.
Me: Ok, could I stab you once and run away?
Caleb: Yes.
Stephanie: What if my one stab accidentally kills you. Am I then liable?
Caleb: Not if it was really an accident.
Stephanie's Lessons learned: Self-Defense is a tricky subject. Basically your response cannot be greater than the attackers. This conversation led to this one...

Hypothetical question.......
Caleb: Say I broke into your house and tried to steal all of your things.
Me: Could I shoot you?
Caleb: Not if I had no intent to injury you.
Me: Bummer.
Caleb: Remember, you can only kill me if I threatened to kill you. What if you rigged up a shotgun to shoot if anyone broke through the door. Are you liable if I am shot breaking into your house.
Me: Um, no. Your fault... you chose the wrong house to break into!
Caleb: Actually, you are. Remember, I had no intent to injure you, just steal your stuff so your response (the shotgun) was too extreme.
Stephanie's Lessons learned: The only crime where you can kill someone outright no matter what is if they are trying to rape you. Also, do not rig up a shotgun in my deserted property.

A little while later, Caleb walks into the bedroom:

Hypothetical question.......
Caleb: Say you own some property in the forest, but you don't actually live there. There is constantly people breaking in and stealing stuff so you put up a barbed wire fence. A thief gets caught in your fence and is injured. Are you liable if they sue?
Me: No way! They were stealing and on MY property!
Caleb: Actually, unless you have a no trespassing sign, you are liable.
Me: Really? Wow. Ok, let's change this scenario. Say I'm a crazy old lady with bear traps in my yard. Innocent hiker gets lost in the forest, stumbles upon my yard and gets caught in a trap. Am I liable?
Caleb: Yes, I believe so.
Me: What if I had a no trespassing sign....
Caleb: I don't know. I better keep reading...
Stephanie's Lessons learned: No trespassing signs are very valuable and powerful tools. Caleb will get back to me at a later date to tell me just how powerful.

This is where our conversation has ended so far this evening. Obviously, I am learning alot about the law. I just hope our neighbors can't here are conversations through the walls or they may think we are crazy or extremely violent.

And before you think I'm incredibly selfish and not sharing what I'm learning with Caleb in return, he has already asked me to explained the security implications of the monsoon floods in Pakistan. But... its midnight and we're both still studying so I'll share that with you all another time!

Goodnight and Happy Labor Day!

Ode to a Grocery Cart

Ok well this isn't really going to be an ode, but I do have to discuss how we grocery shop here in the commonwealth. Lucky for us we live about 1/2 a mile from a grocery store, Harris Teeter.  And while it really is a pleasant walk over there, once you stock up on groceries, the question becomes how do you get them home?

When we first moved here, we noticed quite a few people walking down the street dragging what appeared to be a folded up homeless person cart. Every now and again the carts would actually have random stuff in them. It took a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond and the mystery was revealed! For $40, you to can have your own, shiny, new, fold up grocery cart!!!!!

Isn't it a beauty? And let me tell ya, you feel SO cool wheeling this baby down the street. And, as you can see, it's not exactly the biggest cart in the world so grocery shopping has become strategic. Here are Stephanie's Top 5 Grocery Shopping Rules:
1.) Make sure your shopping list does not exceed the space/weight limit of your cart
2.) Heavy items (i.e. drinks) must be put in the cart first as to not crush the other groceries
3.) Cold items must be purchased last because they will melt on the 1/2 mile walk home (it's very sad, believe me)
4.) Do NOT go shopping between 5 & 7pm when everyone else does. Southern hospitality does NOT exist here- people will hit you with their cart, push your cart out of the way, or look at you ugly if you even stop to consider whether to get red or russett potatoes!
5.) At no time, think about how ridiculous you look wheeling this cart of food around, especially if you choose to cut through the mall on the way home where your only choices are either to wheel your cart right past the Ritz Carlton or through Nordstroms.

I made many of these mistakes on my shopping trip last night as I battled the labor day crowd. By the time I got home and put everything away, we were too tired to cook and picked up Vietnamese take out. There is this little Vietnamese place called Saigon Saigon down the street that makes the most delicious Pho. YUM, but that is a different story for a different day. To give everyone their final laugh of the night, here is what I looked like when I got home from the store last night. Tell me, if you had seen me wheeling down the street, what would you have thought?

The First Week of School

Before I discuss my first week of school, I first have to say how glad I am that college football is back. To top it off, we woke up this morning to a BEAUTIFUL day- sunny, slight breeze, 75 degrees - football weather! Unfortunately, I am quickly learning the downside to the East Coast means that I get to watch Big Ten football. Awesome. And while watching the Liberty Flames play the St. Francis Red Flashes is interesting, I would much rather be watching my Aggies. O well. Football is football and Michigan is currently winning, so its a good day so far.

Anyways, back to school. Tuesday was my first day and I actually TA-ed a class before attending one of my own. Tuesday and Thursday I am TA-ing Ambassador Indefurth's Film and Foreign Policy class. On Tuesday, class starts at 3:45pm. I showed up at 3 just in case something came up, I would be prepared. Sure enough, I was right. I walked in and he immediately handed me multiple articles that he wanted copied on different colors in different ways. No problem. I headed to the copy room and got it done. Next problem, he had not yet approved the corrections to the syllabus that his assistant had made and she had to leave at 3:15. So I waited outside his office for him to give me the final copy so that I could run copies before having to run down to the classroom and set up the film. 3:30.... 3:35...3:40. I was panicking. At 5 minutes to class, he hands me the syllabus and the film. I had 5 minutes to make 70 copies of the syllabus (stapled), run down to the basement, set up the film on the equipment (not easy) and take roll because he needed to take a personal phone call and would be a few minutes late. Seriously!!!! Good thing I like intense situations! Everything got done in time and class went great! I think I'm really going to enjoy working for that class.

My class on Tuesday is called "Uses and Misuses of History in International Affairs." Apparently most sections are exactly the same- read the same books, same material, etc. HOWEVER, I guess there is one section that is different and of course I someone signed up for it. It is still the title, but that class is focused on the former soviet union and central asia. So it is right up my ally! My professor works at the State Department in the Bureau of Intelligence by day and teaches us by night so he has some great experiences to draw on. It's alot of reading but I'm really excited about it.

Wednesday- At 930 in the morning I am TA-ing a class called "Intro the Russia and Eurasia." It is taught by a Puerto Rican professor (go figure) teaching for the first time so its a bit of a challenge. At least I really like the material and its a great reminder of things I've studied in the past. After this class I don't have my own class until 5pm so Caleb and I had a lunch date in the student center and then found a quiet area in my building to do some homework together. It was nice to actually get to see a little bit of each other that day. My Wed. class is the mandatory Intro to International Affairs class in my program. For 2 hours we listen to a professor and Ambassador Inderfurth lecture us and then we have 2 more hours of discussion. Again, alot of reading, but seems interesting.

Thursday- I hold office hours for the film class at 4pm but until then, I actually have a free day! To be nice, I prepped Caleb's dinner (since I don't get home until 930). It's a little weird to make a lasagna at 10am but I'm sure I'll get used to the routine. As expected, no one showed up for my office hours but the Ambassador had some interesting "tasks" for me to work on so I wasn't bored! His class meets on Thursdays from 5-630 to discuss the film from Tuesday. His students are very opinionated and very vocal so it should be interesting!

From 7-9 I have my own last class of the week. This was the one that really got to me. It's my into to security class. One of the things I have quickly realized is that I am one of the youngest in the school, not just age wise but in experience. Usually I can find someone with at least 2-3 years of my age, but not in this class. We had to go around the room and talk about what we did. Most of the students are currently working in the State Department, Department of Defense, on the Hill; their positions have taken them to Yemen, China, Africa, etc. It was EXTREMELY overwhelming to listen to their experiences. That class is completely discussion based- their knowledge and experiences are so advanced to mine that I was terrified to open up my mouth. That class is DEFINITELY going to be a challenge.

Friday's I don't have class (yay!) so I did some Crossmark work yesterday. I attempted to drive around DC which I have learned was a mistake. Either take the metro in or don't go- traffic was a NIGHTMARE! I am also learning the "lingo" up here pretty quick. For example, I don't go to school in DC, I go to school in "the district;" we don't live in Virginia, we live in "the commonwealth;" people don't work at the state department, they work at "state;" its not the department of defense, its "DoD." People look at you funny if you say it wrong so I'm trying to pick up the lingo. It feels like everything is an abbreviation up here.

Today has been clean the apartment day. Things are so wild between Tuesday and Thursday that nothing gets done around here. We also realized today that we have yet to clean Scarlett's potty mat out on the balcony. I figured it couldn't be too bad to do. WRONG. That is one of the most disgusting things I've ever done and Caleb didn't help at all it was so gross. Needless to say, it will NEVER get that bad again. Luckily I've had college football to help me get through it.

O! I forgot the other great news from this week. On Wed. we became an aunt and uncle again! Baby Samuel was born and the pictures are absolutely precious!!!! I can't believe we won't get to see him until Christmas! Congratulations to Josh, Mandy and Noah.

I haven't posted pictures in awhile, so I figure it is time to unleash these on the world. Caleb and I had our student IDs made (they are called GWorld cards). Caleb likes to say that we have crazy eyes in them, I choose to believe we are just wide-eyed and excited students! You may make your own judgements...

Everyone enjoy college football Saturday!!

CRAZY WEEK!!!

I know I know. I did bad updating the blog this last week. ALOT happened and most nights I was lucky if I made it to 9pm without crashing in bed. Here is a quick recap of the week:

Wed.- My first day of orientation, technically site visit days. I had to be on campus, at the Elliott School by 730 sharp or they said they would leave me. This meant I had to be getting on the metro at 615 and get up at 445 to make sure I was ready. Man, being an adult and waking up at the crack of dawn is NOT fun! But this day it was TOTALLY worth it! I chose to go on the intelligence site visits which meant that the school took me to the CIA and the ONI (office of naval intelligence). I'm not exactly sure what I can post up here about my visits, but what I can say is that a) Security was INTENSE! b) I really want to work in intelligence and c) if you ever get a chance to go visit either of these places, you should, its awesome!

Anyways, by the time we got back to the school at 5 I was completely exhausted. Being professional and networking is so exhausting. I walked down into the metro and made my first metro riding mistake. Looking back, I'm not sure if I fell asleep on the bench, zoned out, or just was not paying attention at all. Anyways, I got on the wrong train and rode it 4 stops before I even realized it.....embarassing....so then I had to get off and backtrack. Needless to say I pay alot more attention now!

But by the time I walked back inside our apt. building I got the phone call that I had been waiting for all week. A few weeks ago I applied to by the teaching assistant for an undergraduate class in the Elliott School. It was a film and foreign policy class taught by Ambassador Indefurth (the director of my masters program). I applied thinking there was no way I'd get it because I wasn't qualified. Well, I got a phone interview, then a real interview, then they offered me the job!!! So, twice a week I'll be in the class helping the Ambassador teach his class and then grade all of the papers for him. I'm way excited! Since people have been asking just who Ambassador Indefurth is, here is his bio from the Elliott School Website:

Karl F. Inderfurth


John O. Rankin Professor of the Practice of International Affairs

Director, Graduate Program in International Affairs
 
Expertise:


U.S.-South Asian Relations; National Security Council; United Nations and Peacekeeping; Disarmament and Security Affairs



Background:

Ambassador Inderfurth served as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs (1997-2001), Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State for Global Humanitarian Demining (1997-98) and U.S. Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations, with ambassadorial rank, where he also served as Deputy U.S. Representative on the U.N. Security Council (1993-1997). Ambassador Inderfurth has worked as a national security and Moscow Correspondent for ABC News (1981-91) and received an Emmy Award in 1983. He has also served on the staffs of the Senate Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees and the National Security Council. He co-authored Fateful Decisions: Inside the National Security Council (2004), along with Professor Loch K. Johnson, and is a frequent op/ed contributor and commentator in the national media.

Needless to say, I had an awesome Wed.
 
Thursday- This was my official orientation day. We attended lots of seminars on academic success, career center counseling, plans of study, etc. I met lots of great people but it was pretty intimidating. I was surrounded by these amazing people who have been doing incredible things with their lives the last few years. It's kind of awkward when you ask someone "hey, nice to meet you, what have you been up to before you came here" response "oh, you know, I've just been working in Bolivia with an NGO to bring clean water to dying children. what have you been doing?" my response: "wow, that's awesome. I've been working the front desk of a lousy hotel in college station, tx." Lame. Oh well, I got in based on my past experienes (i.e. Kyrgyzstan) so usually throwing that detail into the mix made people like me a little better. During lunch I had to sneak away to fill out my newhire paperwork. Somehow our schedules worked out and Caleb and I were able to find a bench halfway between his school and mine to have a lovely lunch date! We'll definitely have to find time in our schedules to do that more often. At the end of orientation we had a "networking" event on the roof of the school. First, let me say that the view was AMAZING! You could see the entire Washington monument, the Capitol, State Department, most of the memorials. Wow. They served fru fru food (i.e. hummus) and drinks and told us to network with fellow students, faculty, staff, and employers. After these first two days it became clear that "networking" is one of the biggest things that the Elliott School pushes.
 
Friday- Friday I attended an orientation session for the library. After YEARS of library presentations, I have to say that this one was particularly entertaining. Plus, who can complain when the library actually lets you eat and drink in the library! Amazing!!!! After the library, I had several Crossmark retail projects to do from Maryland, DC and Virginia. Since Caleb is done early on Fridays, he went with me. It was nice to actually spend some time together that wasn't both of us sitting at our desks in the office.
 
Saturday- To escape from a week's worth of law school, Caleb got up early on Saturday and went with a friend from the Bush school down to the Glen Beck rally. The metro was so packed that they ended up WALKING to the Lincoln memorial. That's about a 3 mile walk, around the Pentagon and across the bridge. I can't believe they walked that far. Anyways, they really enjoyed that rally and according to them, there were 500,000 people there. By Saturday night, I needed a break from the apartment, so we road the metro down to the Capitol and went to a restaurant called "Good Stuff Eatery." It's a burger, fries, and milkshake place and it was AMAZING! If anyone watches Top Chef on Bravo, it's Spike from a few seasons' ago restaurant. It was easily the best burger I've ever had. And the place was PACKED! I'm thinking about having my birthday dinner there.
 
Sunday- Since we got up here, we have been attending First Baptist Church of Alexandria. It's really funny, for MONTHS before we moved up here we prayed and prayed that God would show us the perfect church to go to. The first weekend we were up here we just happened to visit there because it was close and someone from Caleb's church in Little Rock suggested it. So far it has been amazing. The church has probably about 2,500 people in 2 services on Sunday, its a perfect mix of classic and contemporary service, they are VERY misssion oriented, especially towards Central Asia and have even had a Kyrgyz yurt up in the church the last few weeks and served Kyrgyz food as a way to tell about their mission work. We have LOVED the sunday school class we have been visiting, the Fun Young Couples, which includes an Aggie couple, a Baylor couple, and several others from the South. AND, yesterday I caught up with one of my sorority sisters who apparently that is her home church! It's amazing how God brought us directly to this church. Anyways, on Sunday we joined! We just felt like it was so perfect we wanted to go ahead and join and get involved. We came home and made our own fajitas for lunch, which was great and then just spent the afternoon hanging out.
 
Monday- Caleb headed back to school. He feels like he is getting a good grasp on law school, which is good! And it seems like he keeps meeting more people like him. Yesterday he met an Ok. Sooner that he liked. Yesterday I ended up having an interview for ANOTHER teaching assistant position- this one for an intro to Russian and Eurasian history course. I thought the interview just went okay. Then, I had to meet with the Ambassador to prepare for the first class on Tuesday. He is already putting me to work! I'm a little nervous. As Caleb and I met up to ride the metro home together, the other professor called and offered me the other TA job! So now I'm "teaching" 2 classes!!! I'm super excited- and we definitely needed the money. This way I'll be on campus more, can probably see Caleb more, and can hopefully keep on top of my own work.
 
Tuesday- Today is my first day of class! I have to prep and assist the Ambassador's class at 3:30 until 6:00 today and then I have my first class from 7:10-9pm. Since the Elliott School only has night class, I'm having to adjust to living my schedule backwards. Now, I get up early and do all of my work and when everyone else is finishing school around 3-5, I'm heading TO school. I was nice today, I laid out everything for Caleb to cook dinner tonight. Ah, the roles have reversed. Should be interesting!
 
I promise to be better about updating. If there is anything else you want to hear about from us just let me know! Sometimes I feel like my updates are boring. Have a great day everyone!