Nothing says Easter than watching girls beat each other and riding the metro to go pick up keys from a stripper......

Oh boy.....I can't remember what I have been doing these past couple of weeks so bare with me on this. Time seems to be going in both a blur and in slow motion, and it doesn't help to have a memory like mine.  And to make matters worse, my phone, even though it says to keep my appointments forever, every so often will delete my past calendar entries.... All I can say is this:  I have not done as much touristy stuff as I should/want to be, and that will not be changing in the near future as I am getting down to the grindstone for school which means I am going to turn into a stressful recluse.  However, we warned as this is fairly long posting as even though I haven't done any touristy things lately, the past week and Easter have been eventful. 

So, Riya being a sports lover like me, albeit soccer, she wonderfully told me that the LA Kings and LA Galaxy were making their appearance at the White House, so the the plan was set in motion - we would camp out at the front lawn a couple of hours before the whole shindig started to get a glimpse of them entering the White House.  However, there are two lawns - the North and South Lawn so we had a 50-50 chance of being at the right law.  Sadly, I think we picked the wrong lawn to wait at as eventually we had to double time it to the South lawn (the White House is pretty big so to get to the South lawn was about 4 - 5 blocks away hahaha).   We were able to get up to the gate though and get some pretty good pictures.  It was pretty funny though as every time we thought we saw a bus coming down the road, or heard a siren/escort, Riya would start to get all excited, thus making my excitement level escalated.  I mean, I was going to see some Canadian hockey players.....I was going to hold myself back somehow if we were going to be in arm's distance from them hahaha.  It was a pretty fun morning/afternoon though camping out.  I did learn that if the guard in front of the West Wing has white gloves on, it means that either the President or Vice President is in there.  But then we got to thinking - this doesn't make sense for public knowledge as it increases the potential risk for an attempt on the President or Vice President......so maybe it is just a ploy for people to think.  I also think that my conspiracy mind has increased as they give us way too much knowledge about where the President is, etc etc. 

As a stress relief from school, we have decided to start heading to trivia nights on Tuesday night after class.  It is reminiscent of me playing Name that Tune, Kalyn playing trivia and Stephanie having her book club - basically something that we can do weekly to get us out of school mode and have fun one night.  We have gone two times now (the start of something wonderful) and the nights were total opposites hahaha.  The first night, we learnt that we should not go when it is Easter as we know nothing about Easter (sadly I have repressed everything I learnt in elementary classes for religion), do not go when it is March Madness as none of us are basketball fans and that The Canadian (ie Me) is needed for the odd Canadian question.  The Canadian question you ask - what is the official sport of Canada.  Most everyone said hockey - silly Americans.....hahaha.  The second night we go, we learnt that we need to brush up on popular culture as one theme was Game of Thrones, which we don't watch, and of course, The Final Four for March Madness.  And a potential Canadian question did not bode well for me as I could not remember (and I apologize to Madame Fraser and Madame Venance) for not remembering what the accent is called to soften the 'c'.  We epically failed the second night we went, but it was still fun. 

Easter just passed and us people who didn't have a home to go to decided to head over to Meg's for supper as she offered to cook us some dinner.  First, before Meg's, Kalyn and I decided to go check out some Rollerderby, cause nothing says Easter than girls beating the crap outta each other......It was pretty fun and exciting once we were able to see the scoreboard and actually watch the game (the people in front of us were enthusiastic fans).  We have decided that we want to try out next year, so first off we will need to find some roller skates as I have only ever rollerbladed.  Secondly, we need to find people who are willing to dress up like the Marshmallow Man who will try to stop us from passing them.  Thirdly, we will then skate around the Tidal Basin, trying to dodge the random passerbyers and not fall in......sounds infallible our plans.  Oh, finally, and in the process of all of this, we need to pick out epic names.  My role model's name is Stabigail Adams....how awesome is that!!!!  And then there is Vicious Von Doom, Ivana Tripabitch, the names are awesome.  We are definitely going back to watch more games. 

 

So now enter Easter Sunday.  Firstly, I decided to head to Sunday Mass as I figured I should keep up my tradition of Christmas and Easter mass and holy crow, it was an amazing experience.  Mass was at noon and I figured I would get there around 11:15 to get a good pew and whatnot, but sadly, there was a mass at 10:30 so I didn't get in right away.  It was like the running of the bulls when Mass was let out - people trying to get into the Basilica, people trying to get out, people taking pictures - mayhem at its finest.  Thankfully I was able to sneak in and find a good spot for the event; people were standing basically everywhere and packed in there.  The choir was amazing to listen to as they were singing in Latin (I thought I was in something like the Angels & Demons/DaVinci Code score as it was just awe inspiring to listen to) and the music was so powerful with the organs and french horns, trumpets, the whole works.  The Cardinal/Archbishop of Washington was there as well to give the homily.  I wonder what Christmas would be like as this was crazy insane and very powerful.  Leaving the Basilica, they had the bells going and I just stood outside, listening to them, thankful that I had the opportunity to experience something like this.  My pictures are a little blurry/fuzzy as I took them with my phone as I didn't think it would be appropriate to take pictures while there for a Mass.....apparently I was a minority in this thinking as lots of people had their cameras and were taking pictures through Mass hahaha. 

So now enter Easter Sunday supper at Meg's.  This is how it went down - I left my house for the 50ish minute metro ride.  I get a stop or two away from her stop and I get a text from her, saying to not leave the platform as we (Meg, Colleen and I) will be heading back to downtown.  I ask why.  This was the text I got (never prepared myself for this):  Get Colleen's keys from the male stripper.  Now you know the rest of the evening is going to be fun....hahaha.  At this time, I am getting close to starving as well as a headache from the metro ride.  So we go downtown, Colleen gets the keys from the stripper, and we wait for the next metro to arrive (20 minutes).  Now I am starving, Colleen is starving and Meg is feeling like death.  As it is Easter Sunday, the food court is closed, MacDonald's is closed, everything is closed.  And we have another 45 minuteish metro ride back to Meg's place.  So we get there and Kalyn shows up.  The ham is done, so that is course 1.  The herby buns are done, so that is course 2.  The brownies are done next, that is course 3.  Then the brussel sprouts shortly follow, that is course 4.  Then we have about an hour and 20 minutes wait for the potatoes to be done so we use that time to decorate the eggs....time well used.  We got to see Dewey (Colleen's dog) and Lars (Meg's hedgehog) meet each other.  It was a wonderfully, eventful Easter Sunday. 

So with the end of school arriving, means the panic of the teachers getting everything in and done.  On top of all of that, we have the practicum stress.  I am waiting to hear back on three places that I had an interview at (one of them I don't think will be good as the public transportation to get out to the site is the same bus that the inmates take.....sounds fun and not sketchy......right....) And at the other interview, that I am pretty sure I bombed, one of the round of questions was about scenario type of questions, which I hate, but one of them was:  if a client started masturbating in front of you, what would you do? Seriously.....what kind of question is that.  I would hope that with experience and training I would be able to answer that question but not when I have never been in contact with people in a psychological setting.  It feels like we are set up to fail right from the get go.  I dislike it all.  As it stands - I am interviewless, waiting to hear back from 3, and not having a positive, bright future with it all.  Things are looking swell hahaha.  But I keep thinking positive and wishing/hoping/knowing that I will be getting an offer from a placement before the next semester.  So lets hope that will be the case. 

 

Oh, one last thing - I started a grass league for volleyball this past Wednesday and I have learnt a couple of things: 1) don't try to put contacts in when it is windy; 2) don't dive on a grassy, hilly, rocky ground and 3) be prepared to get weird looks when I am the only person in a tank top when everybody else is in hoodies and jackets. It will be a fun league though so that will be good to curb the stressfulness of school. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter with family and friends!!!  Regardless of the school piled up and stress mounting, I hope to get some touristy things in.  This weekend is the Cherry Blossom Festival so that should be fun and exciting.  I miss and love you all!!!!!