Mr. Scott goes to Washington - Act Two, Scene Two: Thank Goodness it's Friday!
Well, what a week it's been. As I'm sure you can tell from the sharp reduction in blog entries, I've been quite busy.
I've been leaving my apartment around 8 every morning, and getting home after 7 every night (in fact, this was the first night I've been home before 7!). It's been three days, I think, so I'll give you a quick overview of what I've been doing.
Wednesday was the big embassy fundraiser for hurricane Katrina, which turned out pretty well. They had a US military band and a big tent set up, and I think we ended raising over $20,000. Claire and I helped take donations for an hour and a half, before grabbing lunch with Pratima, and taking off to a House Energy Committee meeting (basically, the house counterpart of the Senate meeting we watched on Tuesday).
Yesterday morning I went solo to a Senate Banking Committee meeting, which I feared would last all day, but thankfully only took about three hours. I got lost trying to leave, and while wandering around the bowels of the Senate office building I ran into Joe Lieberman and a cadre of press people following him around. So that was cool. However, it took me like 1/2 an hour to get back to the Embassy. Claire was quite concerned.
After returning to the Embassy, being debriefed on the Energy meeting from the day before, and grabbing lunch, Claire and I went off to represent the Embassy at an Economic Forum at the IMF (International Monetary Fund). This was easily the highlight of my week. The panel of Oxford-grade economists were talking about the pros and cons of loan conditionality, and ended up mentioning about all kinds of economic things that I actually kind of understood. I decided that I should probably get an economics degree, too.
This morning, I wrote and submitted my first written brief, on the Banking Committee meeting I'd attended yesterday morning. After lunch, I spent some time working on some class stuff for the Washington Center before researching a couple of bios for people attending a special lunch with the Ambassador next week. Then I was charged with finding answers to some questions related to US trade organizations, which culminated in the second highlight of the week: me calling and talking to about four people at the State Department! It was awesome. When you tell them you're calling from the Embassy, everyone is extra nice to you...
Then, Claire and I went to the gym (as we've actually done every day this week, except for Tuesday 'cause we didn't know there was a gym). It struck me today, as I was reading the Foreign Policy Journal, while riding a stationary bike, in the gym of the Canadian Embassy, that this is probably the best time of my life.
That brings us up to now, as I'm sitting here watching a Red Sox game with one of my roommates. This blog entry ended up being fairly concise (for three days' worth); I suppose the key is to just touch on everything briefly. How uninspired. As for tonight, I'm optimistically estimating my bed time to be 9.00 pm, and estimating my wake-up time as somewhere around 2:00pm on Sunday. We'll see.
--
Oh, I think I forgot to mention on my blog for Tuesday that Claire and I ran into John Kerry as we were returning to the Embassy after the hearing on our first day of work. It just goes to show what total political geeks we are that we were totally awestruck. However, I'm proud to say that we maintained our composure until we were in the elevator at which point we both freaked out in a fairly embarrassing manner.
Also, I'm supposed to mention my dear friend Natasha, who's feeling left out as far as this blog goes. I pointed out to her that she's neither in Washington, nor has she left a comment on the blog, so I really had no reason to mention her... but I feel bad leaving her in the dark. (Natasha - I was going to mock your earlier geographical mix-up, but after reading your posted comment I figured It'd be like rubbing salt in the wound...)
I've been leaving my apartment around 8 every morning, and getting home after 7 every night (in fact, this was the first night I've been home before 7!). It's been three days, I think, so I'll give you a quick overview of what I've been doing.
Wednesday was the big embassy fundraiser for hurricane Katrina, which turned out pretty well. They had a US military band and a big tent set up, and I think we ended raising over $20,000. Claire and I helped take donations for an hour and a half, before grabbing lunch with Pratima, and taking off to a House Energy Committee meeting (basically, the house counterpart of the Senate meeting we watched on Tuesday).
Yesterday morning I went solo to a Senate Banking Committee meeting, which I feared would last all day, but thankfully only took about three hours. I got lost trying to leave, and while wandering around the bowels of the Senate office building I ran into Joe Lieberman and a cadre of press people following him around. So that was cool. However, it took me like 1/2 an hour to get back to the Embassy. Claire was quite concerned.
After returning to the Embassy, being debriefed on the Energy meeting from the day before, and grabbing lunch, Claire and I went off to represent the Embassy at an Economic Forum at the IMF (International Monetary Fund). This was easily the highlight of my week. The panel of Oxford-grade economists were talking about the pros and cons of loan conditionality, and ended up mentioning about all kinds of economic things that I actually kind of understood. I decided that I should probably get an economics degree, too.
This morning, I wrote and submitted my first written brief, on the Banking Committee meeting I'd attended yesterday morning. After lunch, I spent some time working on some class stuff for the Washington Center before researching a couple of bios for people attending a special lunch with the Ambassador next week. Then I was charged with finding answers to some questions related to US trade organizations, which culminated in the second highlight of the week: me calling and talking to about four people at the State Department! It was awesome. When you tell them you're calling from the Embassy, everyone is extra nice to you...
Then, Claire and I went to the gym (as we've actually done every day this week, except for Tuesday 'cause we didn't know there was a gym). It struck me today, as I was reading the Foreign Policy Journal, while riding a stationary bike, in the gym of the Canadian Embassy, that this is probably the best time of my life.
That brings us up to now, as I'm sitting here watching a Red Sox game with one of my roommates. This blog entry ended up being fairly concise (for three days' worth); I suppose the key is to just touch on everything briefly. How uninspired. As for tonight, I'm optimistically estimating my bed time to be 9.00 pm, and estimating my wake-up time as somewhere around 2:00pm on Sunday. We'll see.
--
Oh, I think I forgot to mention on my blog for Tuesday that Claire and I ran into John Kerry as we were returning to the Embassy after the hearing on our first day of work. It just goes to show what total political geeks we are that we were totally awestruck. However, I'm proud to say that we maintained our composure until we were in the elevator at which point we both freaked out in a fairly embarrassing manner.
Also, I'm supposed to mention my dear friend Natasha, who's feeling left out as far as this blog goes. I pointed out to her that she's neither in Washington, nor has she left a comment on the blog, so I really had no reason to mention her... but I feel bad leaving her in the dark. (Natasha - I was going to mock your earlier geographical mix-up, but after reading your posted comment I figured It'd be like rubbing salt in the wound...)
posted by Scoops at 7:30 p.m.
7 Comments:
I'm startint to make my way around this "blog"....very nice, except the part about me(I'm cleaning up my comments for some of scott's "viewers")...although, I think I caught a spelling error....they just called Celine Dion "the skinny girl from Quebec" on some show...hilarious!!!
Anyway, great blog scotty, love the Bran comments...pure gold - tasha
damn...forgot to proof read again!! I'm just not learing here
I can't beleive I just did that - tasha
Scoops, just finished reading the entire archive tonite and enjoyed it immensely.
I will be spreading the word and your readership should be doubling in no time.
I must say I'm surprised to learn you're hanging out at Starbucks! Is that an Ancaster thing? You don't sound like the kind of guy who needs to get more wired before going in to work! Especially on such expensive tall, grande, mocha latte thingees or whatever they call coffee in those shops. No Tim Hortons in DC?
I was interested in your comment about learning American spellings...I noticed a few in your blog that didn't appear to be either Canadian OR American, but we Scoopers are very particular about spelling (and grammar! Please note that "I" is only to be used as a subjective pronoun!)
Nonetheless, your tales are lots of fun and it's nice to know that Mr. Lieberman is not entirely forgotten!
Keep up the great work Scoops!
Hey Scott,
I just thought you'd like to know that reading about your adventure is helping to pass the time in my adventure....I'm bored and lonely in Heathrow right now. Anyway, freaking out over John Kerry is nothing to be ashamed of. Earlier I thought I saw Ben Stein...turns out it was just a guy. Take care
- Fraser
Scott: Commerce and law and economics? Oh my. Lieberman and Kerry are lightweights. When you've spotted Hilary, I'll be really impressed. Love Mom.
Scoops!!!!!!!!
So sorry for so long without a blog comment - school has been incredibly busy! It sounds like you are having a fantastic time. I must say that I'm VERY impressed with the gym going. I wasn't sure if you two could do it, but you pulled through. Bravo.
-Lindsamuffin
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