Guus Bosman

Yesterday I went to get a Virginia photo ID. A photo ID is a state-issued pass, the size of a credit card, that contains your picture and personal data.

Even though it's not mandatory to carry an ID, unlike in Holland, it is still very useful to have a form of ID with you.
There are quite some times that you have to show your ID, such as when buying alcohol. Until now I was always carrying my passport, because that's the only official type of identification I have. But carrying a passport is a bit scary -- if I'd loose it, there would be a lot of paperwork to replace the passport and my US visa.

Most Americans use their driving license for identification in daily life. Since I don't drive a car, I got this "Photo ID". Just like a driving license, it's issued by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, or DMV, that deals with driving and car registrations.

Sunday a week ago we spent the afternoon in Georgetown. On the way to there we took a bus, but in the evening we decided to walk home. Georgetown is the first neighbourhood of DC across the river from Virginia. It was fun to walk over the Key Bridge. While walking we were at the phone with Irena about something.

Below are two pictures of the Key Bridge at night.

Thursday President Bush will be inaugurated for his second term in office. This Inauguration Day will be a large event, with a parade and a huge amount of visitors, and the preparations started long ago.

Yesterday I went for a walk on the Mall, the strip between the Capitol and the Washington monument, where all the museums are. Many tents and barriers for the festivities were already in place, and they were installing a stage in front of the Capitol with thousands of chairs.

Security will be extremely tight this year and many streets and office buildings downtown will be closed from Wednesday morning on.

A few pictures.

Yesterday Sasha and I went to the New Year celebration organized by the Washington D.C. Dutch Society. The party started at 16:00 o'clock in the Dutch embassy. I was curious to see the embassy, and it was interesting to see it, but it was not a very Dutch building, except for a picture of Queen Beatrix and a large photograph of Dutch tulip fields.

The Dutch society had decorated the embassy with Dutch and orange flags. There was life classical music, and a bar with drinks including Grolsch and Heineken beer.

We didn't know anybody when we arrived at the party, which was a bit scary, but we talked with quite a few people and we had a really nice afternoon. Some people have been living in the U.S. for many years and they were more comfortable speaking English than Dutch, others were just temporary in the States. It was nice meeting other Dutch people and I signed up to become member of this Dutch club.

The Washington D.C. reporter for the Dutch NOS news agency was also at the party. Of course there were Dutch snacks: young cheese with mustard, and freshly baked oliebollen. Those are a traditional Dutch New Year snack, usually around this time of the year everybody eats a lot of them. For us these were the first and only oliebollen this year, and they were very good.

After the party we went for dinner in Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe. Food in D.C. is generally speaking better than what we ate in San Antonios, if you ask me. To stay in style I had apple pie for desert (a Dutch favorite). Because the New Year party ended early, we were done with dinner early and were home around 21:30 o'clock.

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.

Sunday afternoon we went to a museum, the National Gallery of Art. Most of the large musea in Washington DC are located close to each other, near the Capitol and the White House. It's a beautiful place, and the weather Sunday was very nice.

We visited an exhibition on Gerard ter Borch. Rosa told us about this temporary exhibition about the Dutch painter. Ter Borch made quite some famous paintings, such as Signing of the Peace of Munster, and he inspired many other great names, such as Vermeer.

Saturday we went to a shopping mall near the Pentagon, "Pentagon City". These malls are a real American phenomenon: a mall is a very large shopping center with many shops in one big building. Most of them are outside the city, and reachable only by car. We have been to this one here a few times to get our new things for the house, because it's well reachable by metro. The "Arena Boulevard" in Amsterdam is perhaps comparable to this type of malls.

In the mall we saw Santa Claus. He is there all day for children to have their picture taken with him.

I've prepared this story and pictures at home; I didn't have time to go downstairs and upload them yesterday. We didn't order internet yet. Not that that's so terribly complicated but we want to have the best deal possible, and a combination package with cable-TV seems now the best way to go.

Every morning when I walk to work I pass by a firebrigade building.

This morning the firebrigade crew was preparing their trucks for Christmas with decorations. They were very friendly, and they allowed me to take some pictures.

I woke up at 2:45 o'clock this morning. This is 8:45 Dutch time, a good time to get up, but I was rather happy that my body decided to return to sleep immediately. The second time I woke up it was 9:00: much better. I slept very well; I really needed some rest.

This weekend I stayed in Middenmeer with my parents and Ettie and Gerben. Sunday evening we went out to a pizzaria in Hoorn. I said goodbye to Gerben in evenning. The rest of us had a short night in Middenmeer: we woke up at 5:00 o'clock, and we left to Schiphol just after 6:00 in the morning. There was quite some traffic on the road already, but Ettie brought us safe and well to the airport. We arrived at the departure hall at 7:30 o'clock. I went to the check-in desk with Mieke, so I wouldn't have to walk around with my huge suitcase and bag. There was only a short line (no wonder, so many hours before departure time). Just when I was checking in Jaap and Ettie came back from the car parking, and they brought Steven with them. I was happy to see him because due to the traffic we were later at the airport than expected, and was afraid we would miss each other.

Around 8:00 o'clock we went to a restaurant where we had coffee and breakfast and many friends came to say goodbye. Daniel, Marjolein and Jerry gave me a very welcome present: a large apple pie with the suggestion that I could either bring it in my carry-on luggage or share it immediately with everybody who was there. Ankie, Jean-Paul, Jennie, Jelly, Joost and Richard were there, as well as Tibor and Janneke with their little daughter Fiona. Saying goodbye was sad of course, but seeing all these friends and family members was great.

This is a good time to say thank you: everybody who was there yesterday, and everybody who over the last weeks has sent me e-mails, supported me, came to visit, left comments on the website, gave me presents, helped me moving, called me, and wished me well: it means a lot to me, and I really feel stronger with your support!

I've arrived in Washington, and it's great to be here. Exciting, new, and wonderful to be together.

It was a super morning; everybody who was there: thank you so much! Tomorrow more.

It's 21:45 o'clock here, but it feels much later for me so I'm going to bed.