Our last days in Maryland

Our last days in Maryland are flying by. Recently we visited the most Southern point of Maryland called Point Lookout with Lynne, Daegen, Anaelle and me.

We are still eating and drinking a lot (we gained weight), like here in this Mexican Restaurant.

Lynne goes wild on creating cakes, cookies, pies, etc. With Daegen, this is one of the few things she still can easily do in her sparetime and which she loves to do to.

Once in a while Anaelle and I dive into the public library, since they have fast Internet.

And advised by a friend of Anaelle called Letitia, we went to the Arby's, a fast-food restaurant.

For now, we have planned to go today to Washington DC to visit some museums. After that we start preparing for our departure on Tuesday and saying goodbye to the Dixons.

Our next destination is Bogota, Colombia. Anaelle has found a couch to crash. Just in case of emergency, we post our planned destinations once in a while on our blog. It will follow in the next two days!

Bogota, here we aaaalmost come! :)

Warm beer - for everybody something

Feeling WARM...

For the second time this week, Arthur and I spent a full night in a Methodist church, from midnight till about 8' in the morning…

That’s the moment when I already laugh imagining the faces of the readers who know us enough to know that we easily spend a full night without sleeping… but not in a church! "Or was there an electro festival in this church??"

Nice try - try again!

With four other volunteers each night, we've insured that about 30 homeless people could sleep properly, safe and warm, in one of the rooms of the Methodist church. The WARM association, via David, his wife and his sister, 3 amazing people, arrange all of it.

The WARM project provides beds and food for one week in winter for homeless people in the area. Then the next church in the are provides a warm place for a week, and so on.

Every day during this week, there turn four teams: one for the evening dinner, two for the night, one for the breakfast.

The last morning, we also helped for the breakfast. And that was great, since we then had time to talk more with the guests and to share a cozy moment with them.

The best pain perdu I ever tasted - Benny you rock

OK-ok-ok, I have to write about this!

The last morning we spent with WARM, I enjoyed a more-than-perfect French “pain perdu” (!!!), cooked by Benny, one of the volunteers. In France, you prepare pain perdu in a pan – and that’s gooood! Benny cooked it in an oven and it was … gorgeous!!!

Benny, you've made my day!!

Well, anyway. Go back to subject............ (But it was sooooo goooood!!!!!!)

Above the beds and the food, the good thing about the warm is the attention provided to the guests and the positive energy between them and the volunteers. And David make it work since 4 years now, supported by many volunteers from the church - and now from abroad!

Ed, Arthur and Tom

So thanks David, and thanks the WARM!

If you feel like helping out on a W.A.R.M. project, there are many churches pais facebook page might give you a start: Facebook - Wrapping Arms 'Round Many or just drop us a note.

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For some beer, the process can last 6 months. Since we wanted to taste them, we chose beers that only need 4 weeks process.

And they are gooooood!!!!

And just before saying goodbye, here is the quizz of the day: guess what Arthur is doing in there!

Eeerrrr 'am a bit stuck though!

Be ready for the next post - the last one before our departure for Bogota...! You will then have the confirmation that Dunchies love travels to discover cultures and new environments. But who says 'culture' also says 'food'. You'll see soon how much we enjoyed it... Ooooops!!

Besos!!

A&A

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Hello Mr. President! How are you today?

Boy we’ve been busy!!

Diving in the American culture is a full time job: visiting around, preparing parties, eating (outch!!!!), running to lose the deer burgers we eat, eat again to regain what we've lost, gardening, shooting, creating beers, helping homeless people, singing in the church choirs, repairing electronics furniture (guess who does that J )… ow, and updating the blog!!

So here we go!

And let’s start this time with a touch of history.

The 18^th of February, American people celebrate Presidents’ Day: both Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were born in February. A good period for the Dunchies to say hi to Abraham and admire the monuments around the National Mall! So… guess were we went!

WAHINGTON D.C.!

Looking for Dave and the elephant

Out first mission: find Dave somewhere in Washington! Dave is an ex-colleague of Anaëlle, from International Baccalaureate. He was in Bethesda for his work, located 20 minutes from Washington D.C. A perfect reason for joining us and discovering the Capital of the U.S. together!

"If I get the metro to Washington Saturday morning, where shall we meet?" asks Dave. Easy: "Natural history museum (...) at the African elephant!" answers Anaëlle. Dave is a warrior. The mission doesn't scare him: "I like that, bit of a cool challenge to find a giant elephant!"

The enormous elephant dominates the National Museum of Natural History. We all found it – and had a hard time leaving this amazing museum.

So after a couple of Tyrannosaurus Rex, a few Triceratops and a toilet stop, we finally went out and started our tourist journey!

The Washington Mall

From the museum, we started our path of enlightenment... at the National Mall! First thing: when I heard we would walk on a mall, well, I thought I would walk in a mall, with dozens of shops, museums, Starbucks and fast food restaurants. Niet! This mall is a huge and large walk way outside, indeed surrounded with museums and historical monuments – but certainly not crowded with fast food restaurants!! Three hungry stomachs can attest…!

On the map below, you can happily follow us on the blue path - ow, exciting!

Ok, now a bit more details of what you see on this Mall and how fun it can be to be a tourist - and behave like one!!

Ooooops...

The wild part of gooses nature is always beautiful to see in the sky. Much less on the ground...!

Dave, Arthur and myself had to find our way through  gooses artistic creation - almost temples! Well, the National Mall is surrounded with memorials, why gooses wouldn't create their own??

This is it for now... next time, more on beer brewing, rifle shooting, church projects and everything else unexpected :)

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See you soon!

Love,

Anaelle and Arthur, alias A&A.