Condoleezza Rice Visits the US Embassy in Warsaw

So this week we received last minute notice that Secretary Rice would be dropping by after signing the US-Poland Missile Defense Shield Agreement with President Kaczynski.

Emails were sent, protocol put in place, children excused from afternoon classes. They asked us to arrive early around 1pm for the anticipated arrival of Madame Secretary at 2:45pm. They also suggested public transport.

I went back and forth on this one since Thing 1 was already in school and Thing 2 usually takes a nap in the afternoon. But, this was an important event where the US government is concerned so I felt that even if the kids had no clue who she was, the fact that she is on and will be on TV a lot in the coming months convinced me to bring them.

Thing 2 and I caught a taxi to and arrived around 12:45pm just in time to collect Thing 2 from his school bus. The kids played for a bit and then around 1pm they said we could go into the room where this meet and greet would be held. The only people to arrive at 1pm were those with children. Luckily, the room was pretty empty and afforded 6 and under crowd space to run around and be obnoxious for about an hour.

For some reason, they did not provide any seating - standing room only. I started out right in front of the podium, but since I had to manage the kids who kept escaping, I eventually ending up behind people.

Around 2pm, employees began to make their way into the room. At this point the novelty of getting out of school early and not having to nap had worn off. Thing 2 was getting hungry. Thing 1 was bored. I provided some snacks and drinks for them.

Secretary Rice finally arrived at 3pm and stayed for about 20 minutes. She provided some remarks about the US relationship with Poland and the importance of the Missile Shield agreement. She then proceeded to shake hands with the crowd, starting with mine. Thing 1, who was sitting on the floor next to me, refused to get up and shake hands. He then told me "well, she didn't try to shake my hand." As if he were that important. We had a talk about that later. I did get a snapshot of him being all shy next to Condi which I will likely use to blackmail him later in life.

My feet were aching from standing in heels for 2.5 hours, but I think it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.