 |
Weekly Bulletin |
| Office Phone: (202) 935-6060 | Office Hours: Monday-Friday 9am-3pm | Email: [email protected] |
|
Challenging Ourselves Biking along narrow dirt lanes between coconut groves and rice paddies, acutely conscious that this was once an area devastated by war, we knew we had left our comfort zone! After long careers, our children grown and gone, my husband and I felt it was the right time to do something bold - so we signed up for a bicycle trip starting in Saigon, meandering through the Mekong Delta in Southern Vietnam, and ending at the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. First stop, Saigon (also called Ho Chi Minh City), a large, bustling city with crazy traffic and an odd mix of cultures. The French colonial past can be seen in the architecture and food; the current Communist government makes itself felt through huge billboards featuring socialist slogans and pictures of Ho Chi Minh, Marx, and Lenin; and the high-end shops (Rolls-Royce next to Prada next to Cartier) make it clear that a market economy is flourishing. After a couple of days in town, a short van ride brings us, our bikes, and our Vietnamese guide to the outskirts of the city to start riding. Bicycling through the lush landscape of the Mekong Delta is a unique experience. Every day was a feast of smells, sights, and tastes! The biking itself was fairly easy, since the terrain is quite flat, except for the dozens of little, arched, one-lane bridges that cross over the web of streams originating from the Mekong River and forming the Delta. At the end of each day, hot and tired, we were glad to relax at quaint waterside lodges offering trays of fresh pineapple, mango, longans, and dragon fruit. We could hardly imagine this area as the terrifying war zone it was for many years. After three days we reached Chau Doc, and boarded a boat going upriver to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. There, we saw many beautiful temples and palaces, although virtually all of them were relatively new, rebuilt after decades of war. We ended the day at the Genocide Museum, a painful, sobering memorial to the immense destruction and suffering caused by the Khmer Rouge reign of terror in the late 1970s. Back on our bikes, with a new Cambodian guide, we spent three days riding through the countryside toward the UNESCO World Heritage site of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom! You have probably seen photos of these almost 1,000-year-old temple complexes - many overgrown with vines and banyan trees - but being there in person is truly breathtaking. Most surprising to us was finding out that, in its heyday, this was one of the largest cities in the world, with a population close to one million people! Due to drought and disease, it was abandoned and within a few hundred years, fell to ruins. One great advantage of biking around the site was our ability to get to lesser known temple sites with virtually no one else around! We will remember this trip forever and are already thinking about what our next challenge should be. Any suggestions? ----- This is the first in an occasional series of Weekly Update articles by NNV Board Members on topics of interest. Morgan Gopnik joined NNV as a volunteer in 2014 and has been helping members with a variety of tasks ever since. Click here to read more about Morgan and all of our other Board Members. |
 Daylight Savings Time Don't forget to spring forward at Want to get more involved? Visit our website to learn more: Do you enjoy our weekly email? Forward it to a friend! |
From Next Avenue - Do You Really Need 10,000 Steps A Day to Be Healthy?.
"Research finds adults 60 and older benefit with fewer steps, and the real goal is number of active minutes per week"
Let us know if you read something related to aging that you think we should share by emailing a link to [email protected].
Next week at NNV
|
Monday, |
Tuesday, |
Wednesday, |
Thursday, |
Friday, |
|
2 pm Yoga with Mayu (Zoom) |
2 pm B-I-N-G-O! (Zoom) |
1 pm Coping with Uncertainty (Zoom) |
|
10 am Neighborhood walk (meet at Albemarle and Connecticut) |
Coming Soon to NNV:
Thursday, March 20th
NNV’s next event in the Foods of the World series will be at Paragon Thai on Thursday, March 20, 2025, at 12:30 pm. Thai food is known for its unique interplay of spicy, sweet and umami flavor profiles. The chef at Thai Pad creates cuisine that does justice to these essential traditions while expressing their own personal "flavor" and providing the tastiest version of each dish. You can read more about Thai food and some of the best dishes at https://nomadparadise.com/thai-food/.
Paragon Thai restaurant opened in Cleveland Park’s historic Park & Shop in 2013. Learn more about the owners in this District Bridges article. Soups and Salads from $7.95, Entrees from $16.95. The restaurant is in the shopping area with Target, with paid or validated parking in front. The Cleveland Park Metro station is directly across the parking lot. The 12-member event will be hosted by Bobbie Messalle.
When: 12:30 pm
Where: Paragon Thai - 3507 Connecticut Ave., NW
Details and registration: https://nwnv.helpfulvillage.com/events/4620
Saturday, April 19th
Brunch and Conversation with journalist Ray Suarez, Jr. - Rescheduled!
Unfortunately, we had to postpone our original conversation with Ray Suarez due to the weather. We are now back on for Saturday, April 19th with only a few seats available.
So many of us have heard and seen Ray Suarez, on NPR, PBS, and elsewhere, we may feel like we know him. Now you can meet him in person and hear about his life and journalistic adventures while supporting the valuable work of Northwest Neighbors Village! You will join a small group in an NNV Board Member's home for good food and intimate discussion with this well-known journalist and author. Ray will discuss his most recent book and answer your questions about his career and perspectives on world politics. Proceeds from this event will help your older neighbors remain in the community, with support from our dedicated staff and volunteers.
Rafael ("Ray") Suarez, Jr. is a widely acclaimed American broadcast journalist and author. Suarez joined the PBS NewsHour in 1999 and was a senior correspondent for the PBS evening news program until 2013. Suarez has hosted numerous radio programs and podcasts including America Abroad from PRI, World Affairs for KQED-FM, Going for Broke for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, and The Things I Thought About When My Body Was Trying to Kill Me on cancer and recovery. Suarez is the author of four books: We Are Home: Becoming American in the 21st Century, An Oral History (2024), Latino Americans: The 500 Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation (2013), The Holy Vote: The Politics of Faith in America (2006), and The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration (1999).
When: 11 am
Where: Private home in Wakefield, DC (details provided to attendees)
Details and registration: https://nwnv.helpfulvillage.
Thursday, April 10th, 1 pm - Panel on LGBT+ Inclusion in Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities (Zoom-Free sign up required for the link)
Mondays, 10 am - DC Ctr for Aging LGBTQ+ Monday Coffee and Conversation (Zoom-Free sign up required for the link)
Mondays & Thursdays, 4-5 pm - Chair Yoga (Zoom - Click here to join the class)
Cleveland Woodley Park Village:
Tuesday, March 18th, 7 pm - Discussion with Wine, Women & Dementia film producer Kitty Norton (Zoom-Free sign up required for the link)
Mondays, 10-10:30 am - Gentle Yoga Stretch (Zoom - Click here to join the class)
Last Monday of each month, 11 am - Current Events Discussion Group (Cleveland Park Library)
Wednesdays, 10-10:30 am - Gentle Yoga Stretch (Zoom - Click here to join the class)
Fridays, 10-10:30 am - Gentle Yoga Stretch (Zoom - Click here to join the class)
Fridays, 1-2 pm - Line Dancing (Adas Israel Youth Lounge, 2850 Quebec St, NW)
Saturdays, 9:30-10:30 am - Village Walkers (Cathedral Commons)
Dupont Circle Village:
Mondays, 3:30 pm - Accessible Mat Yoga (Zoom-Free sign up required for the link)
Tuesdays, 10:30 am - Chair Yoga (Zoom-Free sign up required for the link)
Mondays and Thursdays, 9:00 am - Meditation with Patricia Ullman (Zoom-Free sign up required for the link)
Foggy Bottom West End Village:
Wednesdays, 10:45 am - Strength and Stability Yoga (free trial class, $10/class). St Paul's Church dining room, 2430 K St NW
Fridays, 11:45 am - Essentials of Tai Chi and Qigong ($70 for each six class session). St Paul's Church atrium, 2430 K St NW
Georgetown Village:
Wednesday, March 12, 5:30 pm - "The Power and the Money" with Tevi Troy (Zoom-Free sign up required for the link)
More local village events are listed on the DCVC (DC Villages Collective) calendar
and the WAVE (Washington Area Village Exchange) calendar.
More community events are listed on our events calendar.
Senior Cinema Thursday is a monthly event where the Avalon screens one of their current features at a special discounted price for seniors. This month the feature is I'm Still Here.
The Avalon Theatre is wheelchair accessible and provides assisted listening devices to guests with hearing and visual impairments. All films in this program will be shown with open captions.
Sponsored by Palisades Village.
Our closest location is the Chevy Chase Community Center at 5601 Connecticut Ave NW. Help is available by appointment only. Appointments are available Mondays and Wednesdays from 1-5 pm. Appointments may be made online by clicking here, in person, or by email to [email protected]. Be sure to pick up a Tax Preparation Packet from the front office at the community center. The forms in the packet must be completed before your tax return can be prepared.
For other locations, visit the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide Site Locator here.
The concert will feature works by Saint-Saens, Paganini, Mendelssohn, Schumann. The one-hour concerts continue every third Friday of the month through May. All six Metro lines have stations nearby (Metro Center & Gallery Place). Learn more here.
Any additions to the Weekly Update are required by 10 am Thursday.
Submissions will be included based on editor's discretion and available space.
NNV is a community based non-profit that gives residents the confidence and practical help to grow older at home while staying healthy, engaged, and connected to neighbors and friends.