Today is Marthen Luther King day, a federal holiday in the United States. Many companies in the Rosslyn area work for or are related to the government, so most offices were closed and it was very quiet on my way to work.

In Puerto Rico it's a national holiday as well, so I had only a handful of e-mails today.

Today I noticed an ad of the American Civil Liberties Union in the Washington Post, relating Marten Luther King Day to the warrantless wiretapping by the federal government and the debate around it.

We had sirene po shopski for dinner, my favorite Bulgarian dish, and watched the Golden Globes Awards.

In the morning I went to the supermarket to get some fresh bread and Starbucks coffee, and I was struck by a sharp, cold wind. There was hardly anybody outside -- the wind made it feel really cold.

We had an easy day today, and in the afternoon we studied our languages. I revised the first chapters of my textbook, and did the excercises of chapter 3, the last chapter of the previous level of my course.

Today the Redskins lost the play-off game against the Seattle Seahawks with 10-20.

The game, played in a rainy Seattle, started with 3-0 score when the Redskins scored a field goal, but the Seahawks came back with a touch down before half time.

I learned a new English word, concussion, which means mild traumatic brain injury. One of the Seahawks players became injured in that manner, but his colleague Hasselbeck stepped in very effectively.

In the last quarter of the game there was a great opportunity for the Redskins to come back in the game but unfortunately it didn't work out. I watched the game in Ragtime, a bar where I went out with a few colleagues yesterday. I hadn't been there before, even though it is really near our house. This time there were no fans of the opposite team in the bar, so it was very quiet when the Seahawks where scoring their points.

I'm disappointed that the Redskins are no longer in the race for the Superbowl because I really enjoyed watching these last few weeks.

Unfortunately it will be quite a while before I can watch the Redskins again; the new season starts only in September, the weekend after Labor Day.

Tuesday evening I had my first Spanish lesson. I had to pick up the books before 5.30 pm, so I left work earlier and went to the office of Arlington Adult Education. I bought the books, a textbook and a workbook, and got a salad and bread from Wholefoods and had dinner at home.

I took the metro to Virginia Square, and from there I walked to the Washington Lee high school. It was a good 15 minute walk, longer than I expected but I made it on time for the class and sat down before the teacher came in.

The teacher, Ms. Morrocho, is originally from Peru and has a PhD in education, so she is well-qualified. It's really nice to be back in the school benches.

Since this is the first official course I take in Spanish, I wasn't sure if this would be the correct level for me (I started at level 2)but it turns out to be just right -- not to easy, not to hard. Today I am reading up the chapters for level 1, to make sure I have all the grammar and vocabulary ready.

When we were in the World Bank a while back we saw a painting by Piet Mondrian in a hallway.

The World Bank has a large collection of art in its building from both new, unknown artists and some well-known names.

If you look closely you can see me taking a picture.

Stitching together pictures is a great tool to use when you want to show views or items that are too wide for a regular camera shot.

I took my tripod and shoot the view from our balcony. The result: the view from our balcony (Quicktime, 3.9 MB).

Last week I created a 360 degree picture of our apartment. This time I held my camera on its side, to create a wider image.

Stare 15 seconds at this picture, and you'll see a familiar animal.

A nice optical illusion that I found on AllesAmerika.com.

I'll go to a Spanish language course tonight!

Sasha found an adult education program in Clarendon that offers a variety of courses, including foreign languages. She signed up to continue her French study, and I will start at "Beginners II" for Spanish.

I've been doing some self-study of the last six months, but my experiences with the German course that I followed in 2004 were really good -- I like to have some structure around my studying.

Sunday evening we went to see Munich, a new movie by Steven Spielberg.

The film is about the terrorist attacks on the Olympic Games of 1972 and of the aftermath of these attacks. It describes how Israeli agents hunt down the terrorist who were responsible for the brutalities in Munich.

The movie is long and tense, with a lot of violence, and the sad thing is that is based on the real tragedy of what happened.

On a lighter note: a small eposide is played in the Netherlands, on a houseboot (woonboot) near Hoorn, a Dutch city.

A nice sight -- Grolsch is on sale in Wholefoods.

I know I've posted quite some pictures of this beer before, but it's just nice to see it.