In the air again (Saturday the 21st)

With our last morning we woke up yet again early. We did our usual routines for getting up and ate breakfast. We made sure we had all of our stuff packed up and headed out the hotel doors, and onto the metro for the last time. We all got through security easily and boarded the plane. Again we were served delicious cookies and beveridges for the flight. As the plane descended our ears popped for the last time.... maybe. Everyone got into separate cars that would take us to each of our homes. I dont know about the other cars but everyone in mine was sleeping most of the time.

The last day

Well, our day started out with deciding where we wanted to start. Some of us went to the Holocaust Museum and others started at the Lincoln memorial, it was awsome!!! Afterwards, our group went to the Museum of Natural History and then the Holocaust Museum. The other groups went to the Air & Space Museum, the Museum of the American Indian, the Smithsonian Castle and some art galleries. Then my group went back to the hotel for a little resting and then went to dinner at Subway. The other groups also had dinner out then returned to the hotel. And then the men...except for Craig, walked over to the movie theatre and saw the new Hulk movie. After the amazing show we went up on the roof and looked at the beautiful city. Now Im typing this and am really tired and going to get some sleep. We leave the hotel tomorrow at 7:30 a.m.

Garrett

Got Washington?

The Enormous Elephant at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

The Hope Diamond at the Museum of Natural History (it's HUUUUGE!)

The EPA Building Here in Washington D.C.

Nancy Pelosi's (Speaker of the House) Office

Me and Barack Obama (acutally it's a cut-out, but sssshhhhhhh........)

The Sculpture in the Hart Senate Office Building

Senator McCaskill's (D) Office Sign

The Senate Library

The Ceiling inside the Dome of the Capitol

The Statue of the Maddest Politician to Walk the Streets of D.C. Whose Name I do not Know

You think you're laughing now, he's much funnier in person. So, we all got up at our regular time, and met downstairs at 7:50. We got to Senator McCaskill's office and one of her staffers came in and quizzed us on Missouri history for a couple of minutes until one of her other staffers came in and talked to us for about thirty seconds. Then the door opens right on top of him, he looks around and says, "Oh, hi Claire!" So Senator McCaskill walks in and talks about some of her basic policy for ten minutes and then asks for questions. Some of the other people asked questions about her opinions on certain issues with a beer company (Anheuser Busch), and then her appearance in some recent newspaper articles. Then she took pictures with everyone and shook hands, and all that lovely stuff. The Senator is actually really nice, and reportedly takes her shoes off in the office from time-to-time. And, to make things better, it was the weekly searsucker day at the office, so her staffers looked pretty awesome. I'm sorry to report, we failed to get pictures. I can see the smile slowly fading off your face. There was food on the table, I'm happy to report.

We got a tour of the Capitol building from two of Senator McCaskill's staffers named Rick and Reston (I think that's how you spell it), who were totally amazing, and should totally talk louder 'cause some of the tourists here have very loud voices. We toured several rooms, including the former Supreme Court (where all the Justices had customized chairs so their hinies could be comfy). We came back, and then realized that Barack Obama's office is two doors down from Senator McCaskill's, so we made a little detour there. His office is, um, different, but in a good way 'cause he had jelly beans.

We all ended up having lunch at Union Station and then we took a tour on a double-decker bus. Fourteen feet up in the air, and you meet a lot of tree branches. Especially in Georgetown. This double-decker bus took us around to all of the major monuments, and even took us through the surrounding Georgetown area. All in all, it was pretty cool.

And, just to wrap up this incredibly long blog, I went to this Italian restaurant and got the coolest bag ever (it's plastic with a smiley face on it, soo awesome!). And I got to speak to McCaskill's staffer about the budget, which was pretty fun. Emily and Ariel also talked, and I think we impressed them, between our eloquent Missourian talk and dress. Aaaaah, yes, I looove long blogs. This is Audrey, signing off. Finally.

P.S. I think Craig has some pictures from Senator McCaskill's office. If so, we'll put them on tomorrow.

Advocacy, Understanding & Preparation

Savannah

Audrey

Some of us with John and Susan and some of us with Bread for the World Advocate, Sarah

D.C. License Plates

Susye & Mitzi

So studious! Garrett, Riker, Raymond & Maggie

Our Seminar Designer, Susan Burton

John Hill, United Methodist Environmental and Economic Justice Director

Hey this is Savannah and Audrey, and we represent the high school girls room. Today we are going to talk about Advocacy and bread for the world. The lady that came to talk to us, her name was Sarah Bareis. One of the exercises that we did was to connect a web that intertwined the different kinds of advocacy. Like Racial, Fair Trade, Hunger, HIV/Aids and others. But that was after lunch. Before lunch, we met John Hill, who is the United Methodist Environmental and Economic Justice Director (as you probably know from the picture). He was pretty cool, we talked about alternatives to fuel and how the environment relates to poverty. A self-proclaimed nerd, he prepared us for our Congressional visit with Senator Claire McCaskill (D) tomorrow by suggesting questions we might ask her about the environment and the stability of our economy. Oh, forgot to tell you, we're meeting with Senator McCaskill tomorrow. We prepared for the visit for, like, two whole hours! That's the last thing we did before saying good-bye to Jamie and Susan, our incredible seminar staff. Also, as a little surprise, Carol Kreamer stopped by to visit and say "hi" this morning. She encouraged us in our poverty work, and told us about the "offering of letters" that our conference presented to Congress about the Global Poverty Act.

One of the highlights of our day, was when we came back to the hotel for chicken putanesca and potato wedges, with a side of the most delicious green beans this side of the Mississippi. Then, to top things off, my mom (Amy, Audrey's mom) was surfing through the channels on the TV and we happened to come across Mr. and Mrs. Smith. We watched it all through dinner, and then came to our room and watched it as well. It's a pretty good movie, especially 'cause it's edited on TV. It's been a pretty good day, and we finally ended it with Starbucks and Barnes and Noble. Lovely, eh?

Breaking Down Walls..... Or in Some Cases, Doors!!

Riker: "Look! This leaf looks like lips."

Playing Ms. Mumbles

Notice our work on the Federal Budget!

Uses of Refrigerators with nothing to eat!

The Famous Ben's Chili Bowl

In front of the African American Civil War Statue

This morning we got to sleep in about half an hour later. We went to the New Community Church in a downtown part of D.C. The pastor of the church had us do an exercise prayer with each stretch or position having to do something with Jesus. Then we read Ephesians 2:14-18 and discussed breaking down the walls of hostility and peace. After the lesson he took us around the downtown parts of D.C. to show us that not everything the media magnifies, which would be mainly the bad things, is true, and that the neighborhood is actually safe and normal.

Then we went to Ben's chili bowl for lunch. Very many actors would eat there, mainly Bill Cosby.
After we got back from our morning adventure, me and garrett had the joy of finding out that our card would not open the door to the room. After Ray and Mason had gotten tired of trying to open it we decided to go complain at the front desk. That is when we got to meet the super cool maintenance guy, Calvin. First he tried to use his master key which didn't work so he showed us his secret passages through the hotel. After a long walk through the maintenance paths he got his "Door Cracker", which he used to reach under the door and open it from the inside, only to find that the door was also latched somehow. This made him mad. After a few minutes of trying to get it unlatched he got some plyers and diligently bent the latch so we got into our room.

Riker

Monday 16th Pictures

New Friends from the Coalition on Homelessness

Bag Lunches in the yard at the United Methodist Building

Joining in Silent Prayer for unborn children facing the Supreme Court

Hearing stories of poverty and hope

Students joining in prayer for unborn children

Lunch Time

Facing the Supreme Court

These are some pictures from magg's blog yesterday, make sure to scroll down and check the rest of the blogs

Back to School

Today, we woke up at around 5:30 because we met in the hallway at 7:15. In that time being we got ready and went and had breakfast at the hotel. It was very yummy!! I had froot loops. Their breakfast's are very gourmet here too. Then after we had breakfast and met up we headed to the metro. After we got off of the metro we walked over to the United Methodist building where they had a seminar set up for just our group. On our way over to the United Methodist Building we past the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. When we got to the church it was alot bigger than the one's we are used to. While we were there our two Seminar designers were named Jamie and Susan. The seminar today that they had set up was over mercy and justice. We came up with words that went with each. We were there for about two hours of seminar. Then we went and had our sack lunches we had made the day before out on the side of the Church. There was a peace pole and a tree of peace. It was very pretty and the weather was amazing. After that we walked over to the Supreme Court that wasn't that much farther away. We got up on the huge stairs and took a picture that was hard to smile for with the sun in our faces. While we were at the Supreme Court there were three teenagers one girl and two guys with red tape on their mouths saying LIFE, while they were standing right in front of the Supreme Court. They had the tape on their mouth's to symbolize the silent voice of the unborn. Mr. Barr then went over and asked them if he could stand with them. Then we saw him and all joined him besides a few. We stood there for about twenty minutes until we had to go. When we took off the tape we then put it on a wad of other tape that all the others that had stood by them doing the silent prayer. When we left we went back to the seminar and they had many guests come and talk to us about poverty and empowering men to stop rape, which then was transitioned into the main topic POVERTY. We had a group of people that had been or were in poverty and homeless. They each told us their story about being in poverty. The first one was named Jessy. He was very talkative and was really funny. The second one who talked was Francine. She was a bigger woman who had just had knee surgery and was in recovery. She was very kind and had a good personality. Her story was very sad but she knew how to make it entertaining. The third to talk was named Micheal. He was younger and was still in poverty and was going to go back up to Indiana where he was raised. His story was very sad and it was sad that he was still in poverty. The main guy that had brought them here was Mr. Oneill. He was younger and was very kind. After those speakers we then had a man named James come in. He was very funny as well. His seminar was mainly with activities. That kept me entertained till the end. He talked about empowering men to stop rape and tied it into being in poverty. After the seminar we walked over to the Library of Congress. It was BEAUTIFUL. The ceilings were all mainly painting with murals. We had a tour guide name Frank. He was older but very nice and knew everything about the building. After the library we went back to the hotel and had dinner there. We had subs and chips. It was good. We then went back to the rooms and did devotions and had ice cream and oreo's. Now we are just hanging out and having fun. Well thats our day. It was pretty exciting.


-Maggs & Mr. Barr