GRIFF DOES GUYANA: Things Got Better...

Hey everyone...

I left things on a bit of a sour note last time didnt I - sorry about that: I just wasn't feeling it at all!

Well, as the subject line says - things did get better. We FINALLY made it to Washington DC after a total of ten hours for a journey that should have taken three. It looks like disaster was following us as the next day, the skies were dark and there were huge lightening storms in the evening which resulted in the control tower at the airport being struck and massive delays for flights. At least we were not flying, eh.

Well, Washington - my favourite part so far is definitely... urm... okay well actually havent seen anything of Washington yet! I know! Lame! Three days in and we have been working so much we havent seen anything of import.

Okay, well, not ALL the time! This was at a cool German bar that we ended up going to with about 20 deaf people from all over Europe. Allow me to start at the beginning - Ill be brief Jo, dont worry ;)

Wednesday - arrived. Apartment is glorious - hilariously my client went into both bedrooms and declared the one with all the windows overlooking the city was his. What he didnt realise was that he chose the second bedroom and left me with the master: King bed, big bathroom and a tv! Early bird does not always catch that worm. Honestly, this place is a polar opposite of the last place. Have separate bathrooms, lovely building, good views... just awesome and what I needed to be honest.

Thursday - had a meeting with the National Deaf Association. Was a successful meeting and I managed to continue my ASL/BSL hat-wearing. Thankfully my client is learning a bit of ASL and the people we were meeting signed International Sign Language which my client also knows a bit. So, I was able to sit back and just be there to fix any misunderstandings or convey more complex items. Being here for work really spoils the vibe, as we had so much work to do when the meeting was over that we ended up in the apartment on our laptops for the rest of the day pretty much.

Friday - this was a monumental day for the both of us. We had a day scheduled at Gallaudet University. Now, for most of you, that is meaningless. But for those of us in the sign language world it is a mecca of sorts: the world's first and only deaf university. Everyone signs and most people are deaf. You learn in sign language, order coffee in sign language, the painters are deaf - its weird! We had a tour from a student around the campus and that was fascinating about the history of the place and dispelled many of the myths that we have been told around the world (wont bore you). We ended up meeting a whole bunch of people who invited us to a party the next night and to a bar that night. We spent the whole day hanging out with students and it was great for my client (who attended UCL) to imagine being a student at a place like that. I was horribly worn out by the time we headed home to change for the bar, as every person my client met required ASL/BSL interpreting. This was compounded by the fact that many of them were from the Middle East and mixed their signing with Arabic sign language. Fun. I was rewarded tho with a lovely beer (seen above) and sat back as my client decided to try and communicate alone - brilliant. The day was so interesting but raised a lot of questions for me about having a full-deaf environment. Again, I wont bore you with my musings.

Saturday - we planned Saturday to be a tourist day but Abdi got a text from a deaf man with whom he has been in contact through Facebook for the last 6 years or something. He lives in Virginia, about 20 mins away and is coming to get us. Great! :( ... I actually tried to go to an ASL meeting up the road but it seems that ASL and Russian were mixed up on the website and so that was dashed from the start. I ended up going to a big gathering of deaf muslims (!) all from different countries. It was lovely for my client to meet with loads of deaf people, many of whom were from Somalia like himself. They all thought I was deaf and were very complimentary about my ASL. In fact, one of them is a guy who is organising the deaf conference I am booked for in November in Qatar and was so impressed asked me to be part of the ASL team as well as the BSL! It was weird to be amongst so many Muslims at a gathering like that, but they were all lovely and it was so nice to see their community spirit and the way they welcomed Abdi as one of their own - like when we go to assemblies abroad.

Today - today is a slow day of 'paper-work' and catching up on accounting, booking travel and hotels and forming the final reports. I had to leave to go and get coffee as was getting cabin fever whilst my client went to the gym. Hoping to get some White House time in later...

Here are a couple of pics: