It's dreary outside and I've got a few alone hours this evening. So, I've decided to go through and organize photos. As usual, I find some that spark memories, even if the memories aren't too distant.I moved to the Washington, DC area in 1998 and started working for Ernst & Young LLP. However, I had two weeks before my job started and so I had plenty of time to earn a few extra bucks. I went through a temp agency and ended up as an assistant at the government headquarters of Daimler-Benz. It was quite the nice little office. I remember feeling so "professional" even though I'm not the best assistant material. Plus, I had to answer phone calls from Germany and I'm not so good with answering phone calls in English let alone a language with a lot of strange letter combinations.
It was during those two weeks at the end of April 1998 that the Ronald Reagan building was going to be dedicated. One of the executives at Daimler-Benz decided to donate a piece of the Berlin wall he had purchased a few years before and it was located in the basement of a home or business over in Germany. I remember the piece cost somewhere around $20,000-40,000, but I'll have to find that fact in one of my old journals.
Who cares? Well, this is where a lot of people come into the picture - including me! A couple of days before the event I had to coordinate with contacts of the German army and contacts on this end to ensure that it was delivered on time and at the right location. When you are doing the job, you are just doing what you have to do. However, a few years later I finally went down to the Reagan building and saw the piece of the wall (above) on display. It made me realize how important that was to that building and in history.
Lots of little people are often involved in making some of these special things happen. I happened to be one of the little people that got to take part in this event.
It is still interesting to me that some of my most diverse and amazing experiences happened in my first couple of years in DC when I had no money, worked a basic job and lived with LOTS of people in an apartment near the city. Now, I make more, have more responsibility and don't do any of these types of things. Of course, I don't have the desire to do that now, but I'm glad I had the chance.
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2 comments:
That is so cool, Rebecca! It would love to go back east to see that and a lot of other things!
I love this post. It's how I feel about Virginia. Loved the experience!
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