The Rental Car

It went like this...

Jessie decided she wanted to rent a car because she was going to drive all over the place to all sorts of festivals this weekend. United sent her an email with a Hertz discount code that would also give her frequent flyer miles. Score! She rented a Corolla, and opted for the "Never Lost GPS". This is Jessie we're talking about after all, and she needs the GPS!

Fast forward to Saturday morning where she and Ester go to the airport to pick up the car.

20 minutes of boring waiting in the line.

Yay, rental contract received. Time to head to the garage to pick up the (red) Corolla.

E: Why is the hood of the car up?
J: Maybe we're supposed to inspect it before we drive off.
Mechanic: Um, I have to jump this car. They weren't supposed to rent it out.
Us: Um.
Mech: Just go to that booth down there and ask them for another car.

We go to the booth, hoping we get another car and we get to head off to the festival soon.

Customer: Blah blah blah I'm complaining rarg (I am paraphrasing here)
Customer Service Rep: Well, the only thing comparable is the Yukon, which doesn't get as good of mileage.
Customer: Grumble grumble I'll keep the one I have bleh bye.
Us: Um... hi.... I just got assigned a car upstairs but the mechanic says he's not renting it out. (I hand her the contract)
Service Rep: Yea... I just told them not to rent that. (She is of course suffering from Saturday morning working on a holiday weekend annoyance because customers are annoying like that).
Me: I guess they're not reading the memos up stairs. (Did you get that memo?)
Ester: Well, since we can't have the Corolla... can we get something bigger? Like a Camry?
Service rep: Well, we have a Sienna minivan.
Us: Ew.
Rep: You don't need the room?
Us: Um, no, we definitely don't need the room :)
Rep: Let's see.... do you want something fun?
Us: Sure. Whatever you have.
Rep: Well... it doesn't have the GPS....
Us: Well, how fun are we talking?
Rep: Brand new Camaro.
Us: We don't need the GPS.

This meant we got the new (8k miles) cherry red Camaro for the price of the Corolla, minus the $40 the GPS would have cost. Ca-ching.

After that, we were rollin' in style to the Scottish Festival, B-More and the Ren Fest. W00t!

Lesson to all: When things unexpectedly happen, be nice to the customer service people. They may just bend/break the rules for you and you get to vroom around in a brand new car of awesomeness for the weekend just because you were flexible.

Aside from the fact that mine had a sunroof, the car looked like this:

Pictures!

This is a quick, non-post to say that I have been busy uploading photos to Picasa to be viewable on the web. I've only been including a couple photos on my blog, so if you want more, read the rest of this post to get the links to my online photo albums!

More Touristy Stuff in DC!

So, I have had a few friends visit me in the last couple weeks, so I have been able to do even more  touristy type things! It´s quite funny how things work out some times...

My friend Mollie, who I´ve known since we were locker partners freshman year of High School, is studying in Baltimor and spent the day with me. We went to the National Zoo, then toured around the National Portrait Gallery, Woodley Park and Chinatown.

Here is an adorable little (ok, not so little) panda having his breakfast at the zoo. We saw lots of animals, including some lions that acted just like large house cats taking naps! I was super glad it was slightly overcast that day, which made walking around a little more bearable. At the Portrait Gallery, there was a temporary exhibit made entirely of Norman Rockwell pieces. It was really interesting to see prints that had appeared in the newspaper contrasted with later paintings of the same scene. We should have spent less time viewing some guy´s aluminum foil 14 year in his basement masterpiece, because we didn´t get to see all of the Rockwell exhibit before the gallery closed for the evening. Still, it was all quite interesting.

This past weekend, Katiuska and Noel came to visit me, which was a surprise and a real treat! Because of all the goings on in DC  this past weekend, they were unable to get a hotel for Friday through Sunday nights. Luckily, I have been ordering all sorts of sheets, pillows, towels and the like, so I had plenty of things to furnish them with when they stayed in my apartment instead!

They visited most things downtown while I was in Spanish class, but we were also able to go drive by the monuments at night for a change of view. On the weekend, we walked all around Georgetown and Old Alexandria. The boat tour from Alexandria to Georgetown was very refreshing because the breeze provided us with some lovely relief and rest while we floated by DC landmarks.

Since I will be leaving the beginning of October, I'm glad I have been taking advantage of staying here in DC longer. The only Smithsonian I have yet to go to is the Air and Space Museum. I might just go on a Wednesday afternoon in the next couple weeks in an attempt to avoid massive amounts of people. We shall see....

Until next time, I will continue to study away. I even created a blog so that I can keep up with my daily Spanish writing: Jessie's Daily Spanish Musings . Take a look if you have time, and want to read some Spanish!

In D.C. for a little longer...

Hello all! So, my departure date has been pushed back to October 6. In the meantime, I will be taking Spanish language classes in Virginia. Classes are going well so far, and I can really see the progress when I am in classes every day.

To pass the time, I am going to more D.C. landmarks. Today, I walked down to Ray's Hell Burgers, right down Wilson Boulevard from where I live. It's an awesome place (even President Obama eats there), and I can totally see why! I went pretty much as soon as it opened so I didn't have to stand in line. They've got a map with pins showing the different places customers have been from. The burgers were *awesome* as well. I got the "soul" burger with sauteed onions and mushrooms, bacon, swiss cheese, and it was probably the best burger I've ever eaten. Also, if anyone wants to go there, it's cash only, totally worth the wait if you have to, and be sure to go on a pretty empty stomach because the burgers are huge.

I brought along my camera and did the incredibly silly tourist thing of taking photos of the food. But, look at the picture. Was it worth it? Oh yea!

Despite the fame, the place hasn't suffered from the increase in customers and demand. The burger patties were freshly made and cooked to perfection (mine was a perfect medium). So, if anyone gets a chance to walk around in Arlington (it's right in the middle between Rosslyn and Courthouse metro stations), I highly recommend it. Yum!

Adventures in Cooking

I've spent the last month living by myself, but it's a pretty temporary situation and given my training schedule, I haven't been home much to cook anyways. However, since I will be moving over seas and totally responsible for all my own food (eek), I figured it was time to start practicing. Although I have had some cooking successes, I have also had a lot of failures (ie, burning things, leaving out half the ingredients, etc). Well, today was full of successes, and I even have photographic evidence!

Firstly, it's Saturday, and weekends basically call for brunches. Here is my gorgeous omelet (onions, pepper jack cheese, parsley, tabasco), cinnamon toast and fruit.











Next up, was me cooking something from a recipe. I have never had this dish before, but apparently, it is very popular in Peru, which is why I chose it. I am really excited to see what the dish tastes like when I get there, but I think my attempt went quite well. Here is a basic run down:

Lomo soltado is a common dish, and I took several recipes and adapted them based on what ingredients I had available. It's basically a mix of beef (I marinated it with vinegar, soy sauce and garlic beforehand), tomatoes, orange bell peppers, red jalapeno peppers, a little more soy sauce, and some cayenne pepper. There are freshly made french fries on the side (I seasoned  them with some salt and cayenne) and rice.

I used two sautee pans, one pot for the rice and four cutting boards, but this dish turned out really well. In fact, I invited some friends to try it, and they liked it. Yay! Cooking experiment number 1: Success.

Peruvian Independence Day

Happy 189th Independence Day Peru!

Today I had the unique opportunity to attend a reception in honor of this holiday, and it just got me more excited about my living in Lima starting this August! I of course had the chance to drink a pisco sour, which was a very welcome respite to this awful weather in D.C. I didn't make it to the food at the buffet table because I was too busy chatting, but it looked very yummy from afar! I am very much looking forward to sampling all the lovely food Peru has to offer.

There was also some live entertainment with a choir and dancers. Although I couldn't hear the singing very well over the noise of conversation, I did like the costumes. Maybe when I get there I will  track down some dance classes. :)

This reception also provided a nice break from training. Although I have been learning a lot of new things over the past few weeks, it is really nice to just get out and do something outside of the classroom. I got some hands on experience with chatting in Spanish and going through the receiving line, etc at parties, which is something I will definitely have to get used to once I'm abroad.

As far as training goes, my formal class ends this week, and after that I have some other courses (some in class, many online) to complete, and also more time for errands. Tomorrow we are giving presentations on our countries of assignment. Although I created a PowerPoint presentation to go along with mine, I will be very careful to stick within the 10 minute time limit, and for those of me who know my hate for all things powerpoint slide mental torture, be comforted by the fact that it's mostly just pictures. I have a very good presentation worked out completely independently of the slides. I am however, excited to use the Smart Board. :P

Well, until you hear from me again, I will continue buying things I will need over seas (like, an entire household minus the furniture) and finishing up my immunizations!