So last Friday there was a surprise brunch for one of the people here. Everyone snuck their goodies to the room- one person put all the plates in cups in one of the boxes and wheeled it around like it was full of archives and I avoided a run-in with my bowl of potato salad coming up the stairs. She was surprised which was exciting. And that evening, some us interns and other people from work were invited over to the birthday girl's house. We had a tour (which made me really want my own home to decorate and all that) and played apples to apples- very nice.
Saturday I spent running errands- looking at tires and the like. Can't say I found anything cheaper for the miles. And I stopped off at the capital grounds. Art booths were set up all around the mall with photography and all sorts of crafts. I stopped for some mini doughnuts (I am so sad that I will miss the Middleton Goodneighbor Fest- everyone back home will have to ride the Monkeys and the Eggroll for me and eat lots of mini doughnuts and cheese curds) and watched some kids do traditional polish dances all dressed up in their costumes. Heading back to my car, I found a cute little place that used all sorts of antique magazines and things so I bought a necklace- now of course though I will feel the need to start visiting antique stores on my own so I can make my own!
But Sunday was much more adventuresome. We drove up to the International Peace Garden, stopping in Rugby to take a picture at the moment proclaiming the spot the Geographic Center of America and in Dunseith to take a picture next to a giant turtle made out of wheels. We were heading up on the Turtle Mountains- which aren't really mountains, but the largest thing around. Some pioneers were getting a bit too hopeful when they saw them. When we entered the International Peace Garden we ate lunch next to a pond surrounded by birches before heading onto the formal gardens. Starting with the concrete peace towers, we headed down past floral displays of American and Canadian flags, a monument to 9/11, America's gift store which was in a pretty building, but really didn't have that much inside that pertained to peace- they even had the wooden pistol things! But it is in the process of being completed. We saw the floral clock and and the fountain and headed back along the Canadian side. The international border runs right through the grounds!
Afterwards we drove to Canada. The Canadian border guard was nice and in retrospect I should have asked him to stamp my passport! We stopped in a city called Boussevain to marvel at another giant turtle and browse a gift shop complete with a gate made out of deer antlers. I refilled my water bottle so I could drink Canadian water, which was very similar to American water and we drove parallel to the border, driving through some small towns and seeing many oil wells. When we hit the border, the American guards asked us a lot of questions and looked through the trunk. He asked about my internship and was like "What the heck do you do that for- fun?" Really now!
For dinner we stopped in Minot. We walked around the historic downtown hoping to find a local place, but everything was empty. Music still played though. We found a place, but still there are too many chains in ND! Minot was nice though- nestled in a river valley and with more taller buildings than Bismarck (although I do believe the capitol building is the tallest building in the state). We didn't get back too late and then it was back to work.
This week I've been finishing up my stories for my theme week. And I've been encountering some inconsistencies- you can't trust anyone! People forget, mis-record, make honest mistakes and all that, but I would much prefer it if they didn't. Oh well. Next week I start working in the reading room- I'll still write stories in any down time, but I have been training in for the job. As I was looking up gambling history for one of my stories there was a great line from the governor about allowing bingo so as to keep the grandma's off the street which I thought was funny.
And on Tuesday I went to the volunteer banquet (because interns ate free and other interns were going!). There was borsch and cheese buttons and kuchen and some other German from Russian food (there were lots of immigrants from Germany who went to Russia and then to ND) and raffle prizes. I got a mug with volunteer written in gold plating. So that was fun.
But yesterday wasn't so fun- I had to turn my computer in- I will be without it for 2-3 weeks. The problem seems to be with the motherboard which is covered under my warranty which will be up shortly. Please, keep my poor computer in your thoughts.
Today was more fun. At work for lunch we've been watching a silent film that we watched earlier, only now someone at work has added in music and they're still working on adding in the dialogue- it is all quite hilarious.
That's pretty much it.
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