11 Jul Organizing for Scavangers

Hi all! I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July. I’m surprised at how fast it came. Sadly my first Independence Day in DC was dreary with rain. I was still determined to go see fireworks so I went to the park area (the name of which I forgot) near the Netherlands Carrillon 2 hours early and sat down facing the Lincoln Memorial.

It started raining and so I covered myself the best I could, but let’s just say I was still very damp. As the time came for the fireworks display the sound of patriotic music came from the speakers owned by the couple sitting next to me. It really did help set the tone.       When the fireworks went up, everyone cheered… until they noticed that the large ones that go up pretty high were being masked by the clouds. It was more amusing than anything to me. Of course that would happen. But still, people did seem to enjoy the show, with some people singing along or clapping to the music being played.

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  For the past two weeks my focus has been on working on my Latino Conservation Week event, which received approval from superintendent Alex and deputy superintendent Blanca. They’re even considering keeping the event going after Latino Conservation Week, which is really exciting to me. My event is a scavenger hunt designed to teach kids about the house and about Carlos Alvarez de la Mesa, a Spanish American who was one of the first people buried in Mrs. Lee’s Flower Garden. I found the tombstone just walking around the site and I’m glad I did to.

  The past Friday, 7/8, I met with Alex, Maite, Rodrigo, and Kim to talk about Latino Outreach and the ideas being developed are very exciting. I hope some of them come to fruition. I was also able to help give them a tour of the Arlington House, which was fun for me because I love sharing knowledge. I was honestly surprised at how excited I was to share the things I’ve been taught so far. I talked so much my voice hurt by the end of it. I also received my ID finally and got it working on that Friday. I already had 60-something emails. Amazing.   This coming week will be focused on getting everything done! I hope it works out. Good luck to everyone else with their events. I hope they are successful!