Storming the embassy

While visiting my parents in DC this weekend, we ended up visiting several embassies. They were doing some kind of program where a bunch of the embassies opened their doors to the public. They had different levels of how much stuff was offered - some just had a few pictures, others had food and cultural presentations and a little marketplace and so on. It was a really nifty idea. The problem, though, was that unless you timed everything right, you missed a lot, and it was impossible to time everything right. So we went to Pakistan, which had a bazaar set up in their courtyard, food for sale, traditional furniture to sit on, and music on the loudspeakers. That was fairly awesome. Nigeria just had some pictures in their atrium, which was kind of whatever. Ghana, on the other hand, was clearly set up to do a drum presentation...but we couldn't figure out what time it was supposed to be. They also had food, which was rather overpriced. Bangladesh had free food - which they were putting away right as we arrived. They were also supposed to have some kind of cultural presentation. But after standing waiting though the ambassador and other foreign dignitaries' speaches for ten minutes, we left. Ethiopia had coffee, and some kind of culinary demonstration we missed, and a food table with a line around the building.

It was interesting and a fun free thing to do with the morning, but I feel like we managed to miss half of what there was to do.

So we went to the zoo and watched the otters. Otters are the best.