Eastern Market Blue Bucks And How To Avoid Nuclear War

Have we been here for two weeks already?!
Everything still feels so new and I've barely even scratched the surface of the Smithsonian! And now this Tuesday we get our post assignment and depending on where it is and what the start date is, my comfy little "do anything I want" routine is about to change. You see, right now there is really nothing I can do to prepare or research where we'll be moving, I can't attend any workshops until we get our assignment, I can't start learning any languages or writting to people at post or looking for a job at post until we get that assignment. Which is a blessing right now because it leaves me free to be a professional tourist and social secretary for John!

Last weekend I drug a reluctant John over to DC to see the sights finally. He was so busy with class and homework last week he had no free time and barely enough time to even sleep.
So we went with a friend from his class and took the Metro over to Eastern Market for some farmers market fun and blueberry buckwheat pancakes (Blue Bucks) for breakfast. Those other goodies on my tray? Green chile cheese grits and fried green tomatoes. We ate our breakfast at a long communal table and discussed the amazing deliciousness of real maple syrup with our neighbors.

Most of the market was inside, which was good for the produce stands since outside temps were below freezing. There was a really good jazz band playing. We also perused the other vendor tables including a few flea market sellers, artisan crafts, soap, clothes, jewelry, paintings, photographs, handmade wooden toys and other cool stuff.

After breakfast our friend lugged 20 pounds of produce back to the Oakwood and John and I froze our butts off in line for the National Archives Cuban Missile Crisis exhibition. It was a super interesting collection of newly declassified recordings, video footage and documents from the 10 day period when Kennedy (who was looking to avoid war at all cost) and his team of advisers (who all wanted to bomb Cuba and piss off Russia) narrowly avoided a nuclear war. I had known a little bit about it before but learning about all the detailed letters and discussions going on behind closed doors showed that the stand off very easily could have turned into an all-out nuclear war with the communists.