Ode to Dominica

One year ago today I left Dominica. Living there for sixteen months taught me a lot. I met great people and explored awesome places. Looking back it was so wonderful in so many ways. I miss it more than I thought I would.

In other news, I turned 25 on Friday. Justin and I made strawberry cake and check out the beautiful island flowers Christina sent me!

charmed

On Sunday Justin went to a conference to present his poster and I took Sara and Chris on a walking tour of Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

There were cute green bikes all along the path around the water.

We walked to Fort McHenry where we had a great view of the city.

Taking a break from the walking at a patio bar.

Camden Yards- one day before the Orioles season opener.
We took the scenic route on the way home so we could cross over the bridge and get a nice view of Charm City from the Chesapeake.

Trying to leave the tourist trap that was the Cherry Blossom Festival was a super experience I was glad I got to show Sara and Chris.

The subways were so overloaded, security gaurds blocked the escalators and only let down a certain number of people at a time. This sort of ruined our timing to meet up with Peter and Kit at a bar near U Street. But we made it and really enjoyed seeing them.




Then we went to dinner with Sara's college friends at this great place called 1905. The food was fantastic. Afterwards we went to a nearby bar that had a great beer menu.

windblown

Saturday morning we had the great idea of taking in the sights and sounds of DC's Cherry Blossom Festival. So did about ten thousand other people.

We took the metro in from outside DC to the tidal basin where there are hundreds of cherry trees lining the water.

The weather cleared up from the cloudy/rainy mix on Friday and was sunny but WINDY. The cherry blossoms were in peak bloom though, so we really couldn't complain.

We walked down to the Lincoln Memorial where there were persian and indian dancers celebrating the cherry blossoms on a stage with a great view of the blossoms and washington monument behind it.

Then we walked through the Japanese street fair and through the mall to the air and space museum where we found refuge from the wind.

(Street fair drum dancing)

There is so much to do in DC. Sara and Chris only got a small taste before it was time to meet up with friends for dinner and drinks.

Let the fun begin!

Beer and ribs at Aunt Suzie's was the perfect counter to a stressful lockdown. Uncle Randy grilled ribs and shrimp and Aunt Suzie made a perfect layer dip (I didn't have to pick through it to avoid olives!). We enjoyed our night with them even though it was so windy and cloudy we couldn't enjoy the patio or the sunset.

Duncan ladies at their finest :)

Thanks Aunt Suzie and Uncle Randy!

The Fredericks visit Baltimore

and force us to get out and explore the Baltimore-Washington sights.

Stay tuned for more!

Lockdown

Yesterday was our last day of school before Spring Break and was supposed to be a half day, releasing the hooligans at 11:45. One of my classes was finishing up taking a test and I had given them permission to bring chips and salsa to share afterwards (even though their class was from 9:15-9:45 on our early release schedule). So at 9:30, one of my student's mom came in to bring the chips and salsa. I was in the middle of thanking her when the principal came on over the PA system and announced a "code red" lockdown. The first words she said was "you've got to freaking be kidding me" (which was what i was thinking, but of course didn't voice in front of my students). I really didn't want her locked in my classroom so I told her thanks again and pushed her out the door and locked it. While we were waiting for the lock down to be lifted in "semi-silence" with the doors locked, lights off, windows closed, and blinds down (did I mention my school isn't air-conditioned?) it occurred to us that maybe the parent was the reason for the lockdown. (all the doors to the school are locked, so you have to be buzzed in and go to the office to sign in, and if you don't...) Then we get a call from the office asking if the mom left her keys in the classroom because she can't find them (she didn't). When the code red hadn't been lifted after another 10 minutes, we realized that it wasn't mom that set off the alarm. In fact it wasn't for over 30 minutes that we finally heard that there was a '"situation" in the community and that the police felt it was best to secure the school.' A lovely lovely three hours later I'm freaking out because I was planning on leaving at noon to hang out with Sara and Chris (who had arrived last night for a spring break visit) and it didn't look like we were going anywhere. And my reaction was nothing compared to the students locked in my room who felt like we were doing this to personally torture them on their last day before vacation. Seriously belligerent student had to be escorted out of my room by the Special Resource Officer (read: cop) because he refused to sit in his seat, be quiet, and threw an i'm-going-to act-like-a-two-year-old-because-this-is-stupid-and-i-want-to-leave-and-you-can't-keep-me-here-so-f-u type of fit. belligerent.

Lunch time rolls around and I escort everyone down to the cafeteria for the quickest ten minute silent lunch ever and we return to the room with a sense of dread (at least I did). Who knew how long we'd have to be locked back in that room?

the answer: 30 minutes.

The hostage situation in the community was resolved and the police let the lockdown be lifted so everyone could go home! hooray!

Just another day in the life of a middle school teacher, right?