Mr. Scott goes to Washington - Act Four, Scene One: Back in the Habit
Hello again, my long lost loyal readers.
I've decided that the time has come to write the final chapter of my adventure in Washington (and only five weeks or so after it actually ended!). I guess it's taken me this long to come to terms with the fact that I'm back at school this term, and that I won't be returning to the center (spelled -er, of course) of the universe in the near future.
Wow, even though it was done to make a point, I must say that I definitely shuddered at my spelling 'centre' in the American style.
As an unfortunate side-effect of this time delay, though, many of the inane details of my day-to-day life (to which you have surely become accustomed) have been lost to the sands of time. At any rate, I should be finishing off this account of my adventure in four short scenes covering my last week in Washington. This entry will cover my birthday, Sunday December 11.
Sunday morning I woke late, before meeting up with Claire downtown to go to brunch. After a bit of confusion over where we were meeting (one of the subway exits was closed, causing only mild disorientation), we proceeded to the Corcoran Gallery where we had arranged to meet some of our friends from the embassy. The Corcoran is a beautiful old building which is now famous, I think, largely for housing the Andy Warhol collection. At any rate, on Sundays half of the giant atrium in the middle of the building is set up for brunch, where they serve the most spectacular buffet spread I think I've ever seen.
More importantly (who am I kidding, it was totally subordinate to the food...), they bring in black gospel choirs from local churches to perform while you eat. They were very entertaining on their own, but the best part (or so I thought) was when this one middle-aged white guy decided to get up and sing and dance along with the choir. It was a pretty funny scene.
Anyway, before long, one of the choir members called out to see if anyone was celebrating a special day, like a birthday or an anniversary. Of course, my friends being the wonderful people they are pointed at me and screamed "Scott's having a birthday!" It felt not unlike the time I had to stand on the table at East Side Mario's...
... at which point they hauled me up, along with two other people, to the stage (such as it was) while they sang Happy Birthday to us. And, of course, when they asked me my name and age I had to say "21," because we were served champagne with brunch. I will say this - that archaic drinking age is the one thing I will not miss about Washington, but I digress.
The choir did (I think) four verses for us: a slow, gospel-y "Happy Birthday to you" verse, followed by an upbeat swinging "Happy Birthday to you" verse, then an upbeat "May God bless you" (to the same tune) verse, and closing with a spectacular (think Sister Act!) "Happy Birthday to you" verse that had us all swinging and clapping along.
It was awesome.
Apparently there are pictures, which I will have to try to track down.
That afternoon I had several birthday conversations with family members and friends. Beyond that, I can't recall what else happened - I think I spent most of the evening procrastinating, and then preparing (quite unnecessarily, as it would turn out) for my exam on Monday.
I've decided that the time has come to write the final chapter of my adventure in Washington (and only five weeks or so after it actually ended!). I guess it's taken me this long to come to terms with the fact that I'm back at school this term, and that I won't be returning to the center (spelled -er, of course) of the universe in the near future.
Wow, even though it was done to make a point, I must say that I definitely shuddered at my spelling 'centre' in the American style.
As an unfortunate side-effect of this time delay, though, many of the inane details of my day-to-day life (to which you have surely become accustomed) have been lost to the sands of time. At any rate, I should be finishing off this account of my adventure in four short scenes covering my last week in Washington. This entry will cover my birthday, Sunday December 11.
Sunday morning I woke late, before meeting up with Claire downtown to go to brunch. After a bit of confusion over where we were meeting (one of the subway exits was closed, causing only mild disorientation), we proceeded to the Corcoran Gallery where we had arranged to meet some of our friends from the embassy. The Corcoran is a beautiful old building which is now famous, I think, largely for housing the Andy Warhol collection. At any rate, on Sundays half of the giant atrium in the middle of the building is set up for brunch, where they serve the most spectacular buffet spread I think I've ever seen.
More importantly (who am I kidding, it was totally subordinate to the food...), they bring in black gospel choirs from local churches to perform while you eat. They were very entertaining on their own, but the best part (or so I thought) was when this one middle-aged white guy decided to get up and sing and dance along with the choir. It was a pretty funny scene.
Anyway, before long, one of the choir members called out to see if anyone was celebrating a special day, like a birthday or an anniversary. Of course, my friends being the wonderful people they are pointed at me and screamed "Scott's having a birthday!" It felt not unlike the time I had to stand on the table at East Side Mario's...
... at which point they hauled me up, along with two other people, to the stage (such as it was) while they sang Happy Birthday to us. And, of course, when they asked me my name and age I had to say "21," because we were served champagne with brunch. I will say this - that archaic drinking age is the one thing I will not miss about Washington, but I digress.
The choir did (I think) four verses for us: a slow, gospel-y "Happy Birthday to you" verse, followed by an upbeat swinging "Happy Birthday to you" verse, then an upbeat "May God bless you" (to the same tune) verse, and closing with a spectacular (think Sister Act!) "Happy Birthday to you" verse that had us all swinging and clapping along.
It was awesome.
Apparently there are pictures, which I will have to try to track down.
That afternoon I had several birthday conversations with family members and friends. Beyond that, I can't recall what else happened - I think I spent most of the evening procrastinating, and then preparing (quite unnecessarily, as it would turn out) for my exam on Monday.
posted by Scoops at 8:08 p.m.
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