It's been awhile...day 1: east coast adventures

It's been a while. I remember being in college and being a regular blogger. Busyness got the best of me.

I promised my 5th and 6th students to post each day about my adventures this break so ill give the raw uncut version here and edit for them. And that what brings me back here.

Day 1: Heading 2000 miles east.

I'm a snapshot person. A person that throughout life understands through story. A piece of someone else's story becomes my story and the way I experience. My adventures will most likely come out through stories.

Organized chaos: For some reason, my favorite part of traveling is the airport. When you look around, it's chaos. People going 1000 different places, checking hundreds of pieces of luggage, securing that each person isn't dangerous, and somehow all these people end up at the right spots on time with their safe safely in store below them...most of the time. It's an organized chaotic system that works and flows and somehow my favorite part of traveling is going through it. I am in see over this system.

Junior high: I get on my flight and discover I forgot what spring break means. Junior highers flooding the areas that have founded our country, the infamous DC trip. I board and all around me are these students, and even some from my own school:). They are anxious, excited, and filled with that puppy like energy. Mumford and Sons here I come.

Sun doesn't mean heat: we land and the sun is shining. I checked the weather before and expected east coast winters. My San Diego girl thought, it's warm! Reality. Sunshine doesn't mean warmth in this neck of the woods.

Walking dead: Brooklyn is my first stop. I expect hustle and bustle, but as I adjust to being a tourist, I quickly learn to stop expecting. It's deserted. I felt as though every turn I crossed I would see walkers coming along and Rick would come out with his clan and I'd join. It was an apocalypse type scene. I strolled through antique row, jazz museums, old churches, and an old fine arts district. I saw a few people with dazed faces that seemed to be walking with no direction. Whats their story?
A quick google search taught me that since the Martin Luther King jr assassination, riots occurred causing $10 million in damage. Since then the town has remained deserted and a place that marks this time and reminds them of the changes that have come and the changes that still need to be made. It was as though this place was to this people like that song you can't listen to again when your heart is broken. The song is beautiful but too painful now as flashbacks and echoes of that time come flooding in anytime you hear it. This place was that to them and so far, I think it captured my heart the most. I get them. I sat in it and stared at the buildings. The music. They had a piece of me.

Irish roots: the night life was beautiful. Lit brick paved streets. And Irish roots were clearly here. A man named Calvert was the original colonizer of this town and he come from none other then Ireland. The pubs, the flags, and the sweet little old men musicians. I found a man on the street corner. He let me play music with him. We laughed and he spoke of nonsense, but life was whimsical for him. We even ended up in Murphy's pub. Enjoying Irish stew and other Irish brews. Adventure was beginning

The night ended with a bed overlooking the pentagon. The place where it all goes down. Can't wait to explore.

G. Bliss