A Train Accident, Loads of food, and Mr. President

The Metro Train Wreck

As I’m sure most of you saw, two red metro trains collided Monday. Currently, there are reports of 76 people injured and 9 deaths; two riders are still in critical condition. The responses here are all the same—everyone was worried about people who commute to Maryland and felt overwhelming worry and compassion for those involved. TWC student interns were just getting out of programming when the trains collided; they are asking everyone to call/e-mail their RAs or Program advisors to make sure that everyone is ok and accounted for. The Washington Post has numerous articles, full of eye-witness reports of people (a pentagon civilian employee and a student intern at the American Sleep Apnea Association among them) on the trains; many who were uninjured spent their time trying to comfort and help those less fortunate.

I feel terribly grateful and lucky that I was not on the train, but somewhat disturbed by several of the reports coming in. The trains are supposed to be ‘impossible’ to crash, with computer systems that automatically enable the brakes if two trains are too close. There are also emergency breaks that the operator can hit, but people on the train say they neither heard nor felt any breaking. While my worry is not that this is likely to happen again, or to happen to me, I feel such sadness for those who were not helped despite supposed preventative measures. The train that ‘rear-ended’ the other was nearly 30 years old.

Going to class yesterday night was an aggravating process. The Brookland/CUA stop was closed, and the entire red train was backed up. It took well over an hour to get there, taking different metros, and then a shuttle to the final stop. There were people pushing and shoving… I felt like a sardine most of the trip.

Friday- Seeing the President x2

Friday, the President of the United States Barack Obama (yes, you read that right) came to my office building in Rosslyn. My office is on the 6^th floor, and he was visiting the 2^nd floor, so unfortunately I didn’t get to see or meet him, but I did get to observe all the preparations that went into planning his arrival. The week prior, we were sent an e-mail saying that the building had been randomly selected for a ‘government mandated drill’ in the parking garage… that they would be checking cars on Friday, and to allow extra time to get to work. As the day progressed, we realized this was not a random screening. There were secret service all over; my side of the building looked down to where the president would be arriving. My fellow intern, Danielle, was first in realizing that the President was coming to our building; she had to run outside for an errand and saw a tent being built and a sign on the 2^nd floor stating ‘Welcome Mr. President’. We watched a lot of the events unfold from the sixth floor, including the bomb sniffing dog smelling all the cubicles. We even saw the gentleman with the big guns (snipers) walk over, and then later saw them on our roof. As the time for President Obama’s arrival drew closer, Danielle and I went outside to try and stake a spot to watch from. We ended up having to move several times as they pushed everyone farther away from the street, but eventually Danielle was on the corner and I was standing on a bench behind a parking sign. The streets were blocked off, and we got to watch his whole motor brigade arrive; what a sight!

Later, that same night, two other interns and I were walking down the street near the White House when we came to a street with cops blocking the intersection. We couldn’t cross, but two minutes later, the whole motor brigade drives by. I guess the President’s car likes me. :0)

My office building

View from the 6th floor of police re-routing traffic

The Snipers arrive

The dog with the expensive nose--his handler was very nice

Danielle and I standing outside our office building before we got moved farther away

In front of the tent the President pulled into

The growing crowd

They said move behind the Parking sign, so I stood on the bench

Binoculars examining the crowd

The President's motorcycle brigade

He arrived

His limo

Seeing the President's Motorcade later that night

Weekend in Pennsylvania

Saturday morning, I traveled to Philadelphia by Amtrak. I rode the metro to Union Station (about a 45 minute ride) and my train left at 10:20. The two hour train ride went by very quickly; the seats are comfortable and the view was beautiful. I would highly recommend using the Amtrak to take a trip—it can be a tad expensive, but my Aunt and Uncle were very generous and bought my ticket for me. I got into Philly shortly after 12, and both John and Val (the aforementioned aunt and uncle) were there waiting for me. We went to Chinatown for Dim Sum and gorged ourselves; it was amazing. After Dim Sum we stopped at a Chinese Bakery and bought a coconut bubble tea to share, John got a custard bun (a bun with custard in it, lol) and some almond cookies for later. The drive back to their house took approximately an hour (they live just outside of Reading), but was filled with gorgeous buildings, green trees, lakes, and rolling hills—all picturesque views. It was an overcast day (which always makes me smile) and their two dogs Zoey (an 11 year old mutt) and Dempsi (twenty month old boxer) gave me a warm greeting. We started to take the dogs for a walk, but it started raining and we turned around. We went into the backyard, which has no fences but backs up to forest, and Dempsi and I played in the rain while John and Val sat under an awning. Dempsi and I played Frisbee and ran around the house in the pouring rain until every bit of me was soaked…at one point I even slipped in the wet grass and ended up flat on my back laughing.

After a warm shower and a change of clothes, the three of us went to dinner—we shared some cheese fries with old bay seasoning for an appetizer (which was really good) and then I ate an order of ribs, mmmm. We rented Slumdog Millionaire on the way home, but both John and I fell asleep. I felt as old as them (that’s a joke, if they’re reading this; they are very young and not obese at all).

Sunday morning Dempsi has so much energy, he had to run on the treadmill to “take the edge off”!!!! While Val and I watched Dempsi, John cooked us all breakfast…we had scrambled eggs with cheese, sausage and salsa as well as hash browns and yummy mimosas. We then all took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood, ran a few errands in town, and then sat outside to enjoy the day. That afternoon my cousin Peter (my dad’s sister’s son), came over; unfortunately his wife is having morning sickness and couldn’t join us. We had a clam bake: lots of clams, lobster, sweet potatoes, broccoli salad and bread. My aunt and uncle have great taste in food… I think I’m in love with old bay now. It seems to go on everything! We even ate the almond cookies for dessert.

All too soon, it was time to drive back to Philadelphia to catch my train back to D.C. I asked my uncle where I could get some authentic Philly Cheese Steaks to take back with me, and we stopped by a restaurant near University of Pennsylvania that was his favorite place in College. I bought 2 Philly Cheese Steaks with provolone cheese and carried them in by backpack home.

All in all it was a fabulous weekend—full of fun and food, my favorite combination. The Cheese Steaks even reheated quite well in the oven. Who could ask for more?

Video of Dempsi on the treadmill

Uncle John cooking breakfast in the kitchen Sunday Morning

Cooking Seafood

I found a seafood marina in Downtown D.C. online and walked there after work. It was about a half mile there... but I accidentally took a long walk back. IT WAS STILL WAY WORTH THE WALK!!!

I bought 12 Maryland Blue Medium Crabs for $12, and they threw in 2 extra crabs as well as a bag full of old bay seasoning. I also bought 3 mallets for $2, and 4lbs of Mussels for $7.50. YUM.

The cooking and cleaning of the crabs turned out to be quite an adventure. I'd never cooked fresh crab before, and several of the crabs did not want to go into my VERY SMALL pot. I dropped two in the process of avoiding getting pinched, but they got rinsed and thrown in anyways. I had to cook the crabs in intervals since my pot wouldn't hold more than 3 or 4 crabs at a time.

Here are some of the live crabs

The bag full of seasoning

The only time I felt guilty steaming them was when they would claw at the lid

I cooked the mussels similar to how Uncle John cooked the clams this weekend--olive oil, garlic, bacon, cilantro, onion powder and white wine... with bread to dip in the sauce. MMMM

Thanks for Reading!!!!