DC with Irene

I spent a couple days in DC going to museums with my little friend Irene who I tutor in English and with her mom and one year old sister. It was priceless. Little Lena (the 1 year old) is such a funny thing. She looks like she's too small to even stand on her own, but she's always running. It's a really funny sight. Their mom is a fun lady too. Her English is quite limited, but it doesn't keep us from having lots of conversations. Irene's English and accent are almost perfect. She's a smart cookie. I get a kick out of the some of the things she says to me. While we were flying her kite on the mall she stopped and looked at me and said, "Wait, is this Washington DC or is this America?"

We bought rubber bouncy balls at the Natural History museum and were having way too much fun bouncing them all over the place. But after hers bounced in the fountain, she would not stop saying to me, "Brae, my bouncy ball is cleaner than yours! Look at it! Look at it! Look at it!!" Everyone wants to be better than someone else in some way. I like how this desire comes out in such funny ways in kids.

cute family

Irene thought we should have a contest to see who could take the 'baddest' picture. Here's her attempt.




She says her favorite subjects are math and science. I tell her those were never my favorite subjects.

Little Lena.

Irene is always coming up with new games we can play. 'I Spy' is one of her favorites. She also likes writing stories a lot. I blogged one of her stories earlier. While we were sitting on a bench on the mall she said, "I want to write a story. I'll say it and you write it." I said, "Ok, cmon."

Below is her story.

The Girl Who Loved Sunglasses (don't think you've got this story figured out by that title)

Once there lived a girl named Brae. One day the girl decided that she should wear stinky clothes. She tried on a dress that was made of rocks. She tried on a skirt made out of trees. She tried on a hat made out of leaves. She tried on a tattoo made out of animals. Then she decided she should wear sneakers made out of teeth. When she was running the teeth cracked. Then she wore sunglasses made out of buildings. And then finally she was very stinky. She decided that she needed a stinky smell. The first stinky smell was in the bathroom. The second stinky smell was in the living room, and the third stinky smell was on the bus. She decided that she wanted the third stinky smell.