We’ve settled in nicely here in DC. In an attempt to be useful and more a part of the community, I had volunteered to teach English to immigrant adults at the Washington English Center. I got lucky because I was teaching intermediate English, so we could have real conversations. If you have time and especially if you have ever taught people who are not that interested in what you have to teach, this is a worthy endeavor.

Teaching people who are eager to learn is eye-opening and a lot of fun, plus the WEC does a great job of supporting its interns and building community. I wish I had had more time to participate in the out-of-school activities, but it just didn’t work out. My students were from all over the world and ranged in age from 18 to well older than I. Their stories were diverse and I learned a lot too.

The WEC also offers online classes and one-on-one tutoring, so you can volunteer from anywhere. If we were hanging around, which of course we’re not, I’d do it again. The summer session is all conversation and only six-weeks long and each class meets three times a week, but teachers only teach once a week and mostly with a partner. During the school year, the sessions are four days a week for 11 weeks and include grammar lessons as well.

A week ago, Steven and I went to see Ali Wong, with Sheng Wang opening. The two have very different styles. Wang is a stand up who mostly stands up, while Wong employs her whole body in her humor. Both were VERY funny. We got lucky because I was just perusing to see what was happening at the Kennedy Center and I saw her shows. I asked Steven if he wanted to go and as I was trying to create an account, tickets were disappearing. Finally, he was able to get an account (I feel like a very old woman these days because I seem to be having trouble will anything that requires account or password creation these days – and I feel like an old man, because I am old and everything hurts all the time) and buy tickets on what we thought was a balcony box, but turned out to be on the first level. I highly recommend these seats because you have an unobstructed view almost at stage level.

Wong spent a lot of time joking about post-divorce sex. At the end of the show, her preschool daughters ran out to give her a hug. I hope they were backstage watching cartoons with headphones on. Or not. Maybe I am just showing my age.

We are now hosting Steven’s mom, Esther, who is a total trooper when it comes to travel and the stairs in DC row houses.

What are our plans, you ask?

So, we’re still planning to head to Valencia, Spain, at the beginning of November, but with a stop in Copenhagen to visit our very talented artist niece Jillian and perhaps heading to Berlin for a week from there.

The big news is that we have signed up for, as Steven would say, more of our craziness (nope! This is well past craziness and into seriously foolish): A 10-day (100 MILE!!!!) walking safari in Tsavo National Park preceded by what I call the Disney safari in Masai Mara where you sit in the jeep and they drive you to the animals. I do want to see them up close (I suspect she wants to see what would happen if Steven accidentally fell out of the Jeep onto a lion)! The last couple of days, we go to Lamu Island off the coast of Kenya. It’s a UNESCO heritage site with beautiful, relaxing beaches. We will need it after all that.