This afternoon I had the chance to sit in on the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with our Philly German dance group. This is what it was all about:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billinfo/billinfo.cfm?sind=0&syear=2009&body=H&type=R&bn=336
We got the call maybe 2 weeks ago to ask if it would be possible to pull a group together to do a performance at the capitol - I thought it sounded cool - what an opportunity to do something that not a lot of people get to do ! ...so thanks to Chris working from home in the morning and Nana and Poppop taking over for swim lessons and dealing with the boys for the afternoon I was able to go to Harrisburg.
I expected : go in ... wait in the wings for the blah blah to be done, dance a while, have lunch in a back room, go home... that didn't happen.
When we got there we were met and escorted in to the House chamber to "our seats" we were schmoozed by many passers by. What a room! What a mix of eras: the artwork in the room is beautiful as well as the fabulous mahogany desks and the stunning marble on the walls... then there are the laptops and TV cameras and the electronic voting tally boards and devises that I'm sure the architects never imagined would be in that space - with a big mural of William Penn and Ben Franklin and the influential people of the state in the front of the room. There's a "Night at the Museum" - type movie in there somewhere...
While we sat there we saw the remaining Tuskegee Airmen:
http://www.tuskegeeairmen.org/Tuskegee_Airmen_History.html
they got many standing ovations and it was great to see these real heroes ... unfortunately one of them just passed away on Sunday.
There was also a presentation lauding the dairy industry in Pennsylvania and I was ll over that - butter, butter, butter!!
Okay, so when it was our turn we were introduced and there was a list of contributions to the nation by German Americans. The contribution of wineries was lightly applauded - the breweries got a bigger round of applause... They actually managed to get our bill passed before their one hour break for lunch so we had our chance to dance during break. We were in a big atrium and people had been just walking through on the way to their lunches but once we got started some stopped and lined the area upstairs as well as down - it looked like some of the older people really appreciated us. We were treated to lunch in the cafeteria there - taco day! Posed for some photo ops on our way out - we had to go out the back of the building but the area has a really nice fountain with the dome behind us. Our escorts were great and if this opportunity comes up again it would be nice to take Josh ... if we can get him to be quiet while we're in watching the serious stuff.
This is one of those things that when we're there I can't believe we're doing it - rates right up there with dancing at the German Embassy and then on the steps of the National Capitol and the National Cathedral with the other dance group. At the embassy they were really great to us too - (more professional schmoozers) - they gave each of the girls little gift bags including key rings that I still use, and they let us into their little room downstairs that looked like a beer - drinkin' cellar in Germany. Totally, unbelievably, cool.
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