Days 6-7 5/30-5/31

Day 6/7 (5/30-5/31): I didn’t do much this weekend. I hung around the house for most of the day. On Saturday, I helped my friend’s dad install some rain barrels. That night, we decided to take in an Orioles game. I love baseball so it was fun to be at a major league game, even though the Orioles lost to the Tigers (which stunk for me as a Twins fan). Other than that, not much to tell about my weekend.

Since I have so little in the way of events to impart to you, I will devote the remainder of this entry to my world-renowned “Cultural Observations”. Obviously the idea is to look at the many similarities and differences between life in the Midwest and life in the Beltway. One of the first things that I noticed that was different was the attitude toward mass transit. In the Midwest, where everyone has a two or three stall garage, it is assumed that you drive yourself everywhere and mass transit like buses and the Metro are quietly looked down upon. Not by everyone mind you, but a lot of Midwesterners will look at someone standing at a bus stop and wonder why they can’t afford a car. However, here on the east coast, everyone takes public transportation. Businessmen and women, college students, bag ladies. You name it, you can find it on the Metro.

Another thing I’ve noticed is the greater breadth of cultural foods in the DC/Baltimore metro area compared to the Sioux Falls/Omaha metroplex. On one of the main drags through Baltimore, one will encounter restaurants serving Indian, Thai, Mexican, Italian, Diner, Ethiopian, even Caribbean and Afghani food. It’s not that the Midwest is lacking in such diverse cuisine, it’s more that when an Ethiopian café opens in Sioux Falls, it’s a novelty whereas out here it’s the norm. (But on the same note, I know that nowhere in Washington could I find a place that serves good chislic).

I have encountered some very interesting protestors in my short time here as well. On my walk to Capitol Hill from Union Station every morning, I walk past a very well dressed man wearing a blazer and a boater hat and holding a sign. The message on the sign rotates. My first week it declared “CIA stealing middle class wealth” and yesterday it warned “CIA is the Taliban”. I’m not sure where he gets his information, but he simply stands at the crosswalk that crosses the roundabout in front of the station holding his sign hoping for our sakes to be heeded. I also recently had to make a delivery to a Senator’s office across the hill. Sitting on a corner on my route was a protestor dressed as Santa Claus. Now, I don’t know if you have been to DC in the summer, but it is ungodly humid most days, so he must have been very dedicated to his cause to be standing out there in a whole body furry polyester Santa suit with hat and beard. However, it was rather difficult to discern protest because all his sign said was “They’re all opposed to Jolly Old Herb.” I assume he was Herb, but other than that it was, unfortunately for him, very vague. It’s apparent that there are very clear unwritten rules about being a one-person protest here in Washington. I can only assume that there is some sort of law on the books that makes these two gentlemen’s actions illegal, but as long as you obey the unwritten rules by not being too forward or threatening, then the DCPD will probably decide that they have bigger fish to fry than you.

Well, that’s it for this round of Cultural Observations. Is there anything that any readers want me to find out about, look into, or share my thoughts on.