Happy 5th of July

Ohh how I love three day weekends. There is something so scrumptious about looking out into your horizon and knowing you have three days off. Three days that are open and just waiting to be filled with whatever - exploration, napping, cooking. You name it! We have filled out weekend with a little bit of everything. Saturday found us up bright and early and on the metro into downtown DC. There we walked through the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival and feasted on some great food and drink. I especially loved this lime juice from Mexico - super tart and sweet all at the same time. Makes me want to google lime juice recipes and see whats out there. We also took in the National Aquarium (which is actually rather pathetic), the Washington Monument and the White House. It felt like a successful touristy day. I was telling my friend Kate that we hadn't done anything touristy since arriving in DC so Saturday made up for it.
Saturday night we were invited to a party hosted by one of my new co-workers. A woman that has been in the Foreign Service since the 70's. All the mental energy that went into attending the party was overwhelming but with the tall one by my side (and O at home in bed with Oma babysitting) I actually had a nice time. It was great to meet so many folks with such amazing tales to tell and all so supportive of the FS lifestyle.

For the 4th we stayed in Falls Church and hung out with our local crew on a pedestrian bridge down the street from the fireworks display. It was the perfect place. I was amazed at how long the fireworks went on for - at least 20 minutes and maybe even longer. They were fantastic and O loved them. He kept saying "wow" and "boom" and making friends with the other kids who were out way past their bedtimes.

This next week is a big one. I have Flag Day on Tuesday where if all goes as expected, the flag of Rwanda will be handed to me. This is a big ceremony where friends and family get to come to the Foreign Service Institute and watch as all the FS Specialists in my class are given the flag of their first posting. It is really exciting for some of the Specialists Tracks where they had 90-100 countries to bid on. Then on Friday - I have my official swearing in as a FSS. This ceremony is held at the main Department of State building in downtown DC.