"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty"

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is one of the many beautiful quotes that I read this week at the Library of Congress. That is a place that I would highly recommend to anyone to visit in their life at least once. Kiera, Michaelann, and I visited the Library on Friday for the first time. We were there at the end of the day, so there weren't many people there. It was so beautiful! It was overwhelming! There are quotes everywhere you look, on the ceilings and walls. There are murals everywhere and even the floors are pretty! It was very cool!
We spent most of the time just wandering trying to take it all in!
I also got to see where National Treasure was filmed! It is in a big "reading room" that you can't go into unless you have a card and something to research. But you can look into it, from a balcony. Next goal is to come up with something to research and go there.





Besides the Library of Congress we also went to the capitol this week. A friend in our ward gives tours so he was able to take us in. It is so incredible to be in a place that has influenced the lives of people all over the world! It was very cool to see where everything happens politically in our country. Every time I go to these new places I am reminded how blessed we are to have this country!








After the tour we went to a Nationals Baseball game! It was the perfect way to finish the day. It was a very warm night, but it didn't matter. We were almost at the top, but there was lots of room because it wasn't very full. They were playing the Mariners, which is funny because I have only been to one other pro baseball game and it was in Seattle. It was fun to cheer them on here though. I added another large free t-shirt to my collection there though! We went with a fun group of friends in our ward too. It was a good night.









The other fun thing we did this week is we went back to my favorite place- Alexandria! We went to the La Madeline, because Laurie told me it was to die for. It is. It is this cute french restaurant, not badly priced, and we ate outside and loved it! It is fun to live in a big city, but I'm starting to miss the smaller city feel. Alexandria is slower paced, and gives us a fresh breath of air, when we start to feel claustrophobic. My roommate Kiera said it perfectly, she wishes she could put it in a jar and open the jar whenever she is sad. Ha!
Other than these adventures, I worked, we finally made some chocolate chip cookies, went to institute and also found the airplane park. It is a park nearby that planes fly right over as they land or take off. Awesome.
Work was slightly better this week. I still have issues with the way the class is run. It is very authoritarian, and I have a hard time with that. I have however started to do things how I would when I can. I have made some progress with some kids, with earning some respect, but there is much to gain still. I also was able to talk to my teacher about speech therapy. I was able to tell her some observations on some kids that I had. She was impressed which gained some respect from her. That was really good. She is also very happy to help me get with the speech therapist, or let me work with individual kids. I was able to find out more about a few kids as well. One, for instance, that I have been worried about, has been suggested to have tests done, but the mother won't allow it. It made me realize that my teacher is aware of her struggles, and there is more to the stories than I see. I have also been observing a boy that doesn't seem to comprehend things very well, and I always had to repeat what I needed him to do multiple times. I found out that he is hard of hearing. Now that I know this I am able to use some of my sign language and speak slower and clearer to him. This has helped a ton! It is fun to use some of the skills that I have learned. I hope that I can talk to the speech therapist soon to get suggestions on how I can implement therapy in the classroom. I am excited to do this!