December 2004
To Texas
Submitted by Guus on Thu, 12/30/2004 - 2:59pm
I am leaving work early today; I’ll be going in about 10 minutes. We’re going to Texas!Suitcase is packed. We’ll take the metro to Union Station, and from there a Marc train to BWI airport. Our flight is at 18:10 o’clock, to Dallas, Texas, where we’ll take another flight so we’ll arrive in San Antonio around 23:00 o’clock. I’m looking forward to the traveling; it’s fun and we’ll be traveling together.
The Alamo
Submitted by Guus on Thu, 12/30/2004 - 2:33pm
In preparation of the trip we will be making this weekend we saw the movie “Alamo” yesterday.This was the first rented DVD we have been watching here and we were watching it on our PC. It worked well, but I’d like to connect to PC to our TV as that screen is bigger and has more contrast.
The movie describes the war between the United States and Mexico about the area that is now the state of Texas. A central building in the movie is The Alamo, a fort in San Antonio, Texas, and that is exactly were we will be flying to this afternoon. We’re going to celebrate New Year there. After two very busy weeks I’m really looking forward to spend a long weekend together there, down South.
Bagel
Submitted by Guus on Tue, 12/28/2004 - 12:18am
We didn’t buy breakfast this weeked, and somehow there were no donuts with the coffee downstairs today. So I bought breakfast on the way to work. I went to “Brooklyn Bagels”. The smell and atmosphere there reminded me of our first summer in the U.S., in the resort in Tannersville, NY.A bagel is a typical American thing; it’s a circle shaped bread bun, thick, and more chewey than regular (European) bread. You can eat them as-is, but they are often toasted. There’s a huge variety of flavours: this morning I had a regular bagel, but there are also bagels with cinnamon, poppy seed, onion or salt, or for people who can’t choose: “everything”.I had egg salad on my bagel — not a very smart choice when it comes to eating decently in the office.
American Christmas
Submitted by Guus on Sun, 12/26/2004 - 1:09pm
Yesterday we celebrated Christmas. It was a really nice experience to have a Christmas with a five year old child that wakes up in the knowledge that Santa Claus brought the presents that are under the tree. We put cookies for Santa Claus, and some food for the reindeers, and indeed, in the morning the food and cookies were gone!
After breakfast we gave each other presents under the Christmas tree. This was my first American-style Christmas. It was a lot of fun to give and receive the presents. The rest of the day we took it easy and we cooked a huge meal: turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, salads. For desert we baked a chocolate cake.
This morning we had fresh bagels for breakfast. It is snowing outside; little snowflakes are whirling down. We’re going out now, to downtown New York.
Merry Christmas!
Submitted by Guus on Sat, 12/25/2004 - 1:14pm
Merry Christmas everybody!Yesterday I arrived in New York City at 18:00 o’clock, the bus trip took only 4 hours. Pretty quick, compared with the 6 hours Sasha’s bus had to spend in traffic yesterday. The bus arrived right in the center of the city; the first stop was near Times Square and the second one, where I got off, near Madison Square. It was crowded on the street, and the street was so bright from the commercials.Jonathan picked me up from the station in Secaucus. It was good to see everybody again and the budni vecher dinner was almost ready when I came. It’s been almost a year since I was in Secaucus last time.We had budni vecher, with home made bread and various traditional Bulgarian dishes (Ilana was the lucky one!). Afterwards we went to Elsa and Alberto, who live nearby. There we had a wonderful evening. We had a Spanish dinner; paella with a lot of different seafood in it (I liked it a lot!) and great deserts. We stayed till very late.
Day before Christmas
Submitted by Guus on Fri, 12/24/2004 - 9:35am
Tomorrow it’s Christmas! Today is officially a day off, but our project is quite busy so I’m in the office this morning to research some things, talk with people and write a couple of e-mails. Today we have free Starbucks coffee and muffins in the office.At 1:00 o’clock I’ll be leaving, to take a bus from Washington to New York at 2:00 o’clock. Sasha’s work ended yesterday afternoon, and she is already in New Jersey where we’ll spend Christmas with Irena, Jonathan and Ilana. I am really looking forward to it. The traveling, Christmas, friends: it’s going to be a nice weekend!
Busy days
Submitted by Guus on Wed, 12/22/2004 - 10:35pm
Things are getting up to speed at my job. I am working now on a major project we are doing, I started helping out on that project Monday. It’s really nice to be part of a project: feeling the rush, getting things done and working under some pressure makes working fun.I am making long days, much longer than at my previous job. I knew this in advance when I decided to go the US, and actually it much less tiring than I thought it would be. I guess it makes a big difference that the work I’m doing is so much fun. Also I’m glad that we live so close to my work so I don’t have to commute a long distance to and from the office. Tomorrow a lot of colleagues will have a day off, as Christmas is coming and many people are traveling tomorrow.
Cold
Submitted by Guus on Mon, 12/20/2004 - 11:32pm
Today it was a very cold day. The Sunday paper mentioned that it might snow today, and when we woke up I was a bit disappointed that the world wasn’t covered in a nice white layer. I like to walk to my work, which takes between 20 and 30 minutes, and is usually nicely refreshing. I was looking forward to the walk, but the moment I stepped outside our apartment I changed my mind. It was extremely cold! The temperature was somewhere around -12 degrees Celcius, but most of all there was a very strong, icecold wind. Even the short walk from the metro station to Starbucks, and then to my work, made me very cold. Tomorrow I’ll bring my gloves and a hat.
City at night
Submitted by Guus on Sun, 12/19/2004 - 1:28pm
In the last weeks I took a few pictures of Washington and Rosslyn at night.
I’m still learning what the best camera-settings are for night shots. The small picture of the Capitol that you can see here looks okay, but the quality of the picture is not good enough for a large picture.
Christmas party
Submitted by Guus on Sat, 12/18/2004 - 10:58pm
Yesterday we had the Christmas party of my work.
The party was held in the Mariott hotel in Rosslyn, Virginia and we were on the top floor of the hotel. There we had a great view over the Potomac river and the city.
It was a fun evening and it was very nice to talk with colleagues in a non-work atmosphere and meet their partners. After the official party we went to a bar at Court House, near where we live. Steve, a colleague, gave us a ride (thanks!) so we had time to quickly go home before going to the bar. We had a great evening and talked with many people.
Today we had an easy day. In the late afternoon I made a short visit to the Museum of American History.
