Learning About My New City and University

I'm in touch with some people via email and facebook to learn about Woosong University in Daejeon.  I realize now that I'm actually on top of my paperwork.  That's good to know.

Scott Scores Some Interviews

Scott has some phone interviews now lined up with schools in Daejeon.  Wish him luck during the upcoming week!

ID Photo Ordeal

We flew back to the Cities this morning.

There are so many little hurdles to overcome in visa paperwork.  Today was the ID photo runaround.  Along with my visa materials, I need to send twelve ID photos to my university in Korea.  Unfortunately, Korea requires differently sized photos for visas than the United States.  Poor Scott drove me around to different pharmacy photo shops and the post office, but we found nowhere in Minneapolis that could make the Korean-sized photos.  We wound up having to custom make the Korean photos using our printer and photo paper, slowing down my paperwork an extra day.

Smithsonian

Grant Memorial by the Captiol

Here are some highlights of what we saw today at the Smithsonian: the Hope Diamond, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright Flyer, and cosmonaut/astronaut gear.  It is awesome that there is so much of humanity's heritage on display to the public, and it's totally free!

We also saw a cool IMAX film on tornadoes.

the Watergate

Monumental Walk

We did it!  Scott and I planned a trip Saturday, took a plane Sunday, and survived the Office of Authentications waiting room all of Monday morning to finally get an apostilled criminal background check.  The waiting room was packed and hot, but we made it through the process and got what we needed.  Most of the rest of our stay here can be to relax and see the sights.

To get to and from the Office of Authentications, we walked by many of America's most notable monuments and buildings:  the Capitol, the Smithsonian, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and the infamous Watergate Hotel.  A noteworthy sight to many of my readers was the Saudi Embassy.  We got our fill of heat and are relaxing for a while before we head out again later today.

Lincoln Memorial

One of the beautiful panels on the WWII Memorial.  The WWII Memorial is a big circular fountain and kind of an eyesore but has some nice elements.

Our hotel is near the capitol building!