Blogs from District of Columbia, United States, North America

Despite my many visits to Washington, DC, I have never been here during the prime viewing time for the cherry blossoms. So, I go into this trip with no expectations, and can only hope the cherry blossom spirits are on my side. Peak bloom is now April 6 to 8 (today!). But perhaps more importantly, Sakura Matsuri is the largest one day display of Japanese culture held in the United States. It is held in April, as the climax to the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The Japan-American Society of Washington was formed to promote friendship and understanding between Japan, and the greater D.C. area. The Society introduces all forms of of Japanese culture to Washington DC audiences. The Society runs the area's oldest and largest Japanese language school for adults. One of the Society's major tasks ... read more

Well, we didn't make it to Baltimore. There was a miscommunication with the bus company, so we will be going to Baltimore on Friday. Instead, we walked the National Mall. With a strong wind and sunshine, we trooped past the Washington Monument (being repaired) and all the way down to the Lincoln Memorial. After seeing it in so many movies, it was quite amazing to be standing there in person. And the small display - funded by students - was very interesting because it had many of his quotes, the tools used to sculpt the Lincoln statue and pictures and video of all the things that have happened on Lincoln's steps. My favorite part of the Lincoln Memorial was seeing where Martin Luther King stood to give his speech. It was very cool to look out ... read more

I knew that taking 14 middle school students from Venezuela to Washington, D.C. would be both a challenge and an adventure. And I knew that the most challenging part would probably be getting from Venezuela to D.C. - but I was hoping that it wouldn't be quiteso challenging. Murphy's Law states that "anything that can go wrong, will go wrong", and we certainly lived that out on our way from Anaco to D.C. It started with our flight out of Barcelona being delayed three hours. Annoying, but not too big of a deal as we were spending the night in the Caracas airport anyway (and to be honest, I expected a delay of some kind). Night in the airport = I try to sleep and the students try not to sleep, which gives you very tired ... read more

I was lucky to be in Washington for an important date. The presidential inauguration ceremony and the 30th anniverary of Martin Luther King's day. The city was hectic, they were people everywhere and the metros were completly cramped. for the 3 days preceding the ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, we decided to give it a shot and head for the mall to catch a bit of the speeches. It was complete failure as the entire downtown (something close to 18 square km) was closed by gates the army and the police, and they would not allow anyone in Downtown DC. if they were carrying a backpack, which was my case. It was still interesting to see all the crowds, the flags and the multitude of toys, mugs, t shirts, badges carrying Obama's face. At ... read more

We saw planes today and made David Jealous... read more