Washington, DC
Wednesday, July 11th

The morning went slowly for me. The topic de jour was Hurricane Katrina. The day follows the basic SPS curriculum. Introduce the students to the topic, give them a crash course in the basics, process it in class, and then let speak to experts. First they met with Bob Muse, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Minority General Counsel, who spoke with them about the Katrina investigation in the Senate. They then heard from Todd Miner, who was contracted to coordinate relief efforts fro displaced persons in Arkansas in the months that followed the Hurricane. Todd is the program manager for SPS and St. Albans faculty member. When Todd was hired to do relief work he had just returned from a stint with the Peace Corps in Mali and FEMA put an all call for recent Peace Corps alums because they felt they would be uniquely qualified for that work.

All dressed up.., with some place to go.

The lads chatting up the Ambassador of Guatemala

I helped the faculty and staff get ready for the Ambassador’s Dinner that SPS was hosting later that evening. The ambassadors from Tanzania, Moldova, Guatemala, and Malaysia were guests for the evening. We worked on preparing the students to give toasts and proper protocol for each individual Ambassador. I prepared a four page brief on each country and a bio of each guest. When the guests finally arrived the students did a wonderful job of making conversation and having talking points in conversations. The meal consisted of asparagus, a seafood risotto, Chicken topped with crab meat, and some great cheesecake for dessert. I sat with some students and the Ambassador to Malaysia, Her Excellency Dr. Rajmah Hussain. She is a career diplomat. She had a great sense of humor. She was an advocate for her country while politely answering each question the students posed, even the one about the use of capital punishment as a penalty for drug trafficking.

His ExcellencyJose Guillermo Castillo Villacorta of Guatemala

My table with the Malaysian Ambassador

After we put the kids the bed, I can not believe I can actually use that phrase, we hung out on a quasi secret patio of the school that has a great view of the city. We played Euchre till pretty late but we were the only two teaching faculty that were there were done teaching so who cares.