Habla Español?

       Monday morning I woke up bright and early for a day of museum-visiting and sight-seeing. I was dead set on checking out the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian so I hopped on the metro to L'efant Plaza, which was the sketchiest metro station I've been to thus far. There were people just standing around, and I had trouble finding the station exit. The police officers in the station did make me feel safer, and they were also easy on the eyes.
       Google maps failed me so I had to find the museum the old-fashioned way-- by wandering around, using context clues, and reading signs. Once I found the museum, it was close to lunch time. I'd heard that the museum served authentic American Indian food, and I'm always down for eating crazy new foods. I'm not sure what I ate, but it was delicious-- DEFINITELY worth the $20 I paid for it.

       After learning everything I could about South, Central, and North American Indian history I continued my trek down Independence Avenue. I passed the reflection pool and strolled around the Capitol building, taking lots of pictures. I kept walking with the hope that I'd eventually run into the Supreme Court building, and I did! There is a Supreme Court oral argument happening in February, and I really need to find out how to attend one of those. 

       On my way back to the sketchy L'enfant Plaza metro station, I walked through the National Museum of African Art. I didn't get much out of my visit because I wanted to get back to Springfield before dark. At least I can say that I went there. 

       We did something that was really cool at the ABA today. My boss gathered a few women who work in different divisions of the ABA to share with us interns about what they do. Immigration, human rights, death row project-- these are a few of the many branches on the ABA tree. After each woman shared, I was ready to commit my law future to their causes. I can't wait to see what the Lord will have me do! 

     In the last 2 days I have answered 4 hotline calls where the first phrase I hear on the other end of the line was, "Habla español?" The idea of carrying out a call is Spanish is super exciting, but I can't do it. I barely know what's going on in English because all of this immigration terminology is new to me. There's a goal: by the end of the semester, I will be able to conduct a detainee hotline call in Spanish.