I have the coolest job ever. Well, if you'd asked me 5 hours ago, I would have told you about IT frustrations, but since then, I was honored to attend the Belgian National Day celebration at the Ambassador's residence. It was a-mazing! Okay, I'd better back up a bit. Most of the past month has been spent in training, but as of last week, I moved to a temporary position covering the Benelux desk. "What's Benelux?" you ask. Well, that is BElgium, the NEtherlands and LUXembourg. Until the beginning of September when I start language training, I will be coordinating our contact with the embassies here and our posts in those countries. Wish me luck (and them, too, because this is usually handled by two people with much more experience than me!).
(It's now two days later... but let's pretend that it's still Thursday night) Back to the festivities: One of the big events that each embassy has overseas is a celebration on their Independence Day (or the equivalent, i.e. the Qween's birthday for Britain). That's the day to invite citizens of your country that live near the embassy, as well as fellow diplomats and contacts in the State Department. So, I got to meet most of our Belgian contacts at that embassy, and also drink a variety of Belgian beers, and eat frites, Belgian waffles, and chocolate! The only downside was the heat, and that I didn't get to bring J with me to try the beers... ;) There will be plenty such opportunities when we get to Lithuania.
Today we decided to beat the heat (over 100 degrees again today) and head over to the Newseum. This has been on our to-do list for a while, but we just haven't taken the time to go. It's basically a six story tribute to news and the history of news in the US and around the world. It's really well put together, with a number of exhibits on how major events were reported, such as Katrina or September 11th. They also have some nice touches, like the front page of paper from every state displayed outside, which is updated every day. Some of my favorite exhibits were the Pulitzer Prize photography and the memorial for reporters who have been killed around the world. They also have a couple of studios, one of which houses the Sunday morning talk show, ABC This Week with Cristiane Amanpour. I also liked the exhibit on White House photographers. (I like photography, I guess you could say.) Evidently they change the exhibits pretty frequently, so I think we will be back to visit sometime. Sidenote: There are some cool exhibits for kids, like the 10 "studios" where you can stand up and give your own reporting in front of a green screen. I'm assuming that you then get to take that video home with you. Pretty neat!
Now that I'm back in my suits, work seems to be going well. I'm a little overwhelmed by the sheer volume of paper that gets sent around the Department, and mostly afraid that I will not send all the things I'm supposed to pass on to the right people. It's a good learning experience, though, and I look forward to making the most of it!
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