Friday, March 13, 2009

Parties and Clubs in DC

I had a six page post all written up and ready to go then it occurred to me it would not be incredibly entertaining for you to read. I have decided to recap the events that are more interesting and not make you muddle through the boring stuff.


I just spent a weekend in DC and I really needed to talk about it. It was a totally awesome trip. This excursion was very different than most of my trips out there. The main purpose of this trip was for me to take a legal certification written test to allow me to work in the courtrooms as a legal interpreter. No, I did not pass the test but that is secondary to my experiences out there. While I was there I stayed with a good friend of mine.


When there is stuff to be done and fun to be had I am all in until everything stops or I fall over from exhaustion. On this trip exhaustion hit me first. Funny, my friend said she would not have believed how little sleep I get and how little I eat without seeing it herself over a 72 hour period. I must admit I did sleep and eat less than I normally do but I do not think she reads this blog so it will just have to be our secret. Shhhh don’t tell. I think I did this in part just because I was having so much fun and in part for the shock factor. It is fun to watch people stare in disbelief as I keep my energy levels at full steam without the advent of sleep or sustenance.


It is an important part of the story here to note my friendship with Michelle. I met her at an interpreter conference randomly and we happen to have many DC friends in common. We became fast friends but living across the country it was more of an email friendship. I travel to DC often and I would normally end up out at the same places she did due to mutual friends and the like. I had never before stayed at her house and I was a bit trepidations about the situation. Fortunately I know myself very well and I am comfortable, or at least appear so, in a myriad of situations. She did catch me off guard as we entered her house. Seems the back door where you park opens directly to her bedroom. As she opened the door and I saw all bed I had a thousand thoughts running through my head. Ok dirty people get your minds out of the gutter that is not what I was thinking. I was contemplating the most grace full way to get out of her room without hurting anyone’s feelings. I was also going through a list of people I can call to stay with at the last minute. Finally I was scanning her room for the door into the apartment . Since I could not readily locate the door I thought “Oh Snap! Is this a studio apartment?” I can’t imagine the look that must have been on my face but she totally played me. I think I made a comment bourn of desperate bravado about “so does this work on all the guys?” Turning around nonchalantly she fell to the bed saying “ready”. I was feeling very awkward at this point when she broke into a grin and said the door is in the corner and laughed at me. Arg!


The first night was some sort of fund raiser thing for dogs (you can tell I was really into it). Turns out, one of Michelle’s friends is a professional photographer and she is hobnobbing with some rich folks looking to increase her pocket book and portfolio simultaneously. I was so outclassed at this party. You know it is a high class party when you can actually hear the people talking and the girls all look like models while out numbering the guys 3 to 1. I ended up talking to this dude who is a previous employee of Merrill Lynch. I guess he had a good retirement plan as he flew to DC in his private Jet just for this event. He was fun to get riled up. At one point I got him going on a rant about all the people here for the poker fundraising event who were not actually going to play. I really got him worked up until he looked at me and asked why I was there. I told him I was one of the people here for the sole purpose of annoying him and I had no intention of playing poker. (pretty much a true statement). He seemed to not know what to do with this so he headed to the bar. I decided to push my luck. As he walked away leaving me and his young girlfriend I called out to him to bring me back some water. As soon as he was out of sight his female friend was all over me telling me how they were not together and she was just his friend.


Now the best part of the conversation. Dude comes back with is drink and mine. The lady looks at us and then glares at him. He totally forgot to get her a drink!! I love it. I left when he was headed back to the bar.


At work the next day a trend was begun. An interpreter walked out and introduced herself, I did the same. Then she replied “your THAT Dana??”


Me “um yes”


“OMG I have heard so much about you”


This was a trend that continued through the night at the party I went to. Now keep in mind folks I have not lived in DC for many years. I have no idea who was talking about me recently but wow what a great ego boost. The evening was like a homecoming party. Now this party was officially to say farewell to the hordes of people exiting the company, but when I replay it in my mind it is a party for me to get to see all my old friends. Thanks party planers Kevin and Michelle. Several times people came up and asked if Hillary was my wife. Not sure where that came from but the third person received my sarcasm full on. I responded “No, this is my mistress and that is my girlfriend, my wife is in California. They do not know about each other so Shhh.” This was also a repeat conversation.


After the party we watched “Princess Bride”. If you have never seen the movie “The Princess Bride” then skip this section because it will be meaningless. The next few hours were mingled with watching, and quoting the movie, word for word, and dozing off. Neither of us wanted to admit we were too tired to continue the movie. It is a great movie and worth a duel “to the pain” to watch. Still a good movie, If only we can listen with our perfect ears while ignoring the cries of babes at our horrible sight. If we had been able to remain awake it would have been a miracle. I know a guy, name of Max, his wife is most defiantly not a witch, but he is a miracle worker for sure. I did warn you not to read this if you do not know the movie.


The final night is worth mentioning. The club we ended up going to is called L2 it is some fancy club for rich people. Again thank you to Michelle’s friend for her contacts. I have been going to George Town for years to go clubbing. This particular club was one I had never even heard of. Guess I traveled in the wrong crowds. The guy who got us in is a member. It is several thousand dollars to procure a membership. Even with his invite I had to pay $30 to get in. It was worth it. I think the ratio here was 5 Women to 1 male. I felt like a minority here and it was a good feeling. I very much enjoy talking to and hanging out with women. Not only was I arriving with some very attractive women but there were multitudes more just standing around. At one point in the evening, and this is sort of a highlight for me, I was surrounded by 7 gorgeous ladies talking about something funny. Keep in mind I am not a member, I am just some punk who wandered into the club with long (well groomed) hair. As I glanced around the club I noticed a group of guys looking at the group I was in, 7 Women and one guy, with a look of WTF on their faces. It was a pretty cool experience for me.


There were several pictures taken in the car on the way to the friend’s house. As the driver this was interesting to say the least. We dropped them off and headed back. We arrived back at her place and I decided it was too late to sleep because I needed to get to the airport very early in the AM. Michelle and I stayed up and I bought tickets for my trip to Peru. Finally the time came and I was driven to the airport and left on my own.

Danger on the Airplane

I had not slept in over a day and I had been running hard for some time now. I was tired and I had a 6 hour flight ahead of me followed by 10 hours of work as soon as I got off the plane. This was my time to sleep. I put my bags above me, and made myself comfortable with my shades and a pillow. I was asleep within seconds.

I woke to a women poking my shoulder yelling in near hysterics “sir sir, is this your bag SIR!” It was and I told her so as I took my bag from her. Then I looked around and noticed the only people left in a 10 foot radius were my elf and the stewardess. After asking a few people I got the full story. My bag needed to be moved to under the seat instead of in the overhead compartment. When she took it out she asked if it belonged to anyone. When there was no response she began to become more insistent. As other passengers stated to notice her reaction hey all began to move away from the lady and the bag.

It was not until everyone had moved and people were climbing over seats that she noticed the one man sitting there quietly with his sunglasses on in the middle of the chaos. It occurred to her that I may be sleeping. Much to her relief I was sleeping and it was my bag.
She seemed very happy to not be holding a bomb in her hand. I really did not care. I just wanted to get back to sleep. I did stay awake long enough to get the story for all of you.

Don't Forget to Take Your Shoes Off Before You Come In

While I love traveling and sharing my experiences with you it is sometimes difficult to find the time and the internet to be able to post to my Blog. I do keep notes on my travels for topics that I want to write about. When I find the time (such as now for example) I type up stuff just for you.

I very much enjoy the city of Moscow and the people that I have the opportunity to meet there. Some things strike me as odd in the way they deal with dirt. It is almost an obsession that as you enter a building or home you should remove your shoes and put on your spare shoes (you know the second pair that we all carry with us right). Last year I was puzzled by this behavior but I followed suit because as they say, when in Rome… This year I was able to better understand a little more about this obsession.

It is difficult to describe the level and consistence of the black silt that is pervasive in the city. When you get a fresh snow as is often the case while we are there this silt is not as evident however, when the temperature rises, the snow melts and you can imagine the results. The origin of this is not clear to me but I do have some ideas. The city of Moscow has about 9 million permanent residents. On any given day the city is actually host to about 18 million people. This is because of a multitude of reasons. Moscow is the home of many national services that must be transacted in person and theses services are unique to the city of Moscow in all of Russia. Of course tourism makes up a great deal of this extra population, I am sorry to say I am a contributor to this number as well. That many people in one place can create a lot of refuse. I imagine that trying to keep up with such refuse production is a daunting task.
In addition to the population density there is also the problem of increased automobile use. A friend of mine let me know that the use of cars has increased substantially in just his life time. He had even noticed a dramatic increase in the last four years alone. All of these vehicles can create a lot of silt and dust to be left for the city to collect.

A final note is a personal experience I had at McDonald’s. We had just finished a snack and I was going to get a refill of my drink. I of course did not expect to get free refills and I had my money ready when I approached the counter. I removed the lid from my cup and explained in broken Russian that AI wanted to refill my drink. The man behind the counter, while friendly, was adamant that he would not reuse my cup. The exchange was very quick but the message was clear, if I wanted a refill it required a new cup. This may be health code of some other reason but the idea is exemplary in the refuse problem. Trash receptacles are few and far between so if you happen to have trash the easiest solution is to just drop it where you are standing. This seems to work out well because with 18 million people there, the trash is quickly trampled to a dust to be added to the rest of the silt.
This all leads us back to the shoes. When the snow melts and the silt mixes it creates a special black mud that sticks to and dies everything it touches. I have a pair of pants this trip that may never recover from the ordeal. With all of this extra information I now better understand the need to remove your shoes as you enter a building. I think next year when I return I will bring a second set of shoes to wear inside to help reduce spreading the dust and silt throughout the places I visit.