update from DC
well, i'm at dulles airport in washington, DC at the northwest business class lounge. i think business class lounges are one of the biggest perks of international jobs with this company. i'm flying lufthansa but they share the NWA lounge. free wi-fi, beverages, and string cheese, OH MY!
the trip here was pretty much useless. i met the other mechanical guy i'll be working with at the airport as our flights landed 3 minutes apart. he was home for R&R and decided to try to get his TheGeneral training certificate certified as well (he's RETIRED navy, which in his case means loads of experience but no college degree). we went out that night and had a good time. i think even if the job sucks, i'll have a good time hanging out with my colleagues at the very least. we were out pretty late, how late, neither of us knows, but i woke around 10:00AM (an hour later than i meant to BE at the embassy), called TheMech, and we were at the embassy by 10:30, it's right up the street. i had to take my college diploma and transcript (now THAT'S an ugly thing) to the education division of the egyptian embassy. we met a lovely young lady by the name of eman who was recently engaged. she reminded me of my friend EJ, except that she as egyptian and wore a hijab. TheMech has picked up quite a bit of arabic in his 2-months in egypt and he was trying it out on her. there were many compliments to the point of her nearly blushing, and even an offer to accompany him back to egypt. he's a card! she stamped a notarized copy of my diploma and my transcript, then sent it upstairs to the head honcho to sign. they couldn't do anything for TheMech, sadly, so he had a wasted trip to DC. soon enough, we were on our way back to the hotel.
TheMech needed to get a haircut, so we asked around and the nearest barber was in the infamous watergate hotel which our hotel actually stood in it's shadow. i accompanied him for lack of anything better to do and we were going to get lunch afterward. it's amazing how long a barber can make a haircut last for only cutting like 1/2" of hair. googly. the one cool thing about it was while i was reading, waiting for his haircut to be finished, a man walked in who's voice i recognized... it was ben stein. dressed in his suit and tie, and goofy Van tennis shoes, it was ferris bueller's teacher, right there in the flesh. apparently, he only gets his hair cut at the watergate barbershop. the watergate wasn't able to accommodate him this day, as he had plans from noon on, but he scheduled an appointment for today. it was neat. i'm really goofy around celebrities, all like 2 that i've run into. it's neat to see them, and i'd like to ask for a picture or an autograph, but i can empathize with how tedious and boring that must be day after day, and i don't want to bother them with that. so, i took away a brief story that i was able to add to a simple blog post.
in 2 hours, i'll be on my flight from DC to frankfurt where i connect on to cairo. from the country of the pharaohs when i arrive.
the trip here was pretty much useless. i met the other mechanical guy i'll be working with at the airport as our flights landed 3 minutes apart. he was home for R&R and decided to try to get his TheGeneral training certificate certified as well (he's RETIRED navy, which in his case means loads of experience but no college degree). we went out that night and had a good time. i think even if the job sucks, i'll have a good time hanging out with my colleagues at the very least. we were out pretty late, how late, neither of us knows, but i woke around 10:00AM (an hour later than i meant to BE at the embassy), called TheMech, and we were at the embassy by 10:30, it's right up the street. i had to take my college diploma and transcript (now THAT'S an ugly thing) to the education division of the egyptian embassy. we met a lovely young lady by the name of eman who was recently engaged. she reminded me of my friend EJ, except that she as egyptian and wore a hijab. TheMech has picked up quite a bit of arabic in his 2-months in egypt and he was trying it out on her. there were many compliments to the point of her nearly blushing, and even an offer to accompany him back to egypt. he's a card! she stamped a notarized copy of my diploma and my transcript, then sent it upstairs to the head honcho to sign. they couldn't do anything for TheMech, sadly, so he had a wasted trip to DC. soon enough, we were on our way back to the hotel.
TheMech needed to get a haircut, so we asked around and the nearest barber was in the infamous watergate hotel which our hotel actually stood in it's shadow. i accompanied him for lack of anything better to do and we were going to get lunch afterward. it's amazing how long a barber can make a haircut last for only cutting like 1/2" of hair. googly. the one cool thing about it was while i was reading, waiting for his haircut to be finished, a man walked in who's voice i recognized... it was ben stein. dressed in his suit and tie, and goofy Van tennis shoes, it was ferris bueller's teacher, right there in the flesh. apparently, he only gets his hair cut at the watergate barbershop. the watergate wasn't able to accommodate him this day, as he had plans from noon on, but he scheduled an appointment for today. it was neat. i'm really goofy around celebrities, all like 2 that i've run into. it's neat to see them, and i'd like to ask for a picture or an autograph, but i can empathize with how tedious and boring that must be day after day, and i don't want to bother them with that. so, i took away a brief story that i was able to add to a simple blog post.
in 2 hours, i'll be on my flight from DC to frankfurt where i connect on to cairo. from the country of the pharaohs when i arrive.
posted by slyght at 1/10/2008 03:37:00 PM
4 Comments:
Ben Stein...cool. "Anybody????Anybody???"
Fly safe and let me know when you get there!
XXXOOO
WOW! Whoda thunk Ben Stein, former Nixon speech writer, would only get his haircut at Watergate? This world is a strange place. Can't believe you couldn't have snapped a picture w/ your phone or something.
Wait. Did you say "googly?"
Ahoy cap'n
did jules saying she is going to quit GE and get a real life, will you have enough money to buy a house and both quit travelling, hope everything works out just as you want and life being normal is what you both can deal with after all these years being totally abnormal, Egypt should be a blast for you both, enjoy and keep blogging
later dude
swedeyboy
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