Everybody Here Is Just So Outgoing!

Mark and Michelle Bekkering, 1346 Emerald St. NE, moved into our neighborhood in March. Marc Borbely asked Mark, 26, and Michelle, 27, if they might introduce themselves with an interview in the Corner Forum.

Where are you guys from?

Michelle: I am from Iowa. I grew up in Iowa and went to college there. And Mark is actually from Canada. He's from Alberta, Canada. He was going to college there also, and that's how we met. The college we went to is called Dordt College. It's a Christian liberal arts college — it's a four-year school — and they have a hockey team, and so because he grew up with hockey, that was one of the ultimate reasons why he wanted to go to that school. That's how he got to Iowa.

Mark: Not good enough to play hockey in Canada, so you gotta go to the States. [Laughs!]

You met in college. And then?

Mark: We got married. Michelle graduated from college in '98, and then we moved to Alberta, where I'm from. Lived there for three and a half years, on a farm out there — my family does farming. We figured we had no kids, and Michelle wanted to work for the government, so we thought, "No better place than Washington, D.C."

Michelle: We picked up and moved. Had no job. We moved a year ago. He finished immigration, and we moved to Alexandria. We lived in an apartment for a year. And then we moved here [to Emerald Street] in March, when our lease was up.

So now, are you working for the government?

Michelle: I am. I work for a Congressman from California — Rohrabacher.

I'm not up on my congressmen.

Michelle: That's okay! He's a Representative, and we have like 52 in California. He's from southern California, and I'm his scheduler. It's been a really fascinating job, and I've been with him just a little over a year. I started with that office, and I've been there ever since. It's been good. A lot of perks with it — I got to go to the State of the Union address this year, which was very exciting, because there's probably a thousand people total in that room.

And what do you do?

Mark: I do construction. I work for a company that does additions in Arlington, single stories to make it two stories — and additions off the back end. I'm a lead carpenter for them, so I run a crew of guys.

Hopefully, pretty quick, here, I'll start my own company — start doing my stuff on my own. Me and another guy are gonna go start our own company. Probably start fixing up some houses around here, stuff like that. Some speculative buying, and fixing them up, and stuff like that. I don't know if there's big money in it or not, but it's something to try.

What kind of farm do your parents have?

Mark: Cattle. Not ranching. We do feed lots — confined feed lots. We raise cattle, and we ship them off — I guess that's what it is.

And when you guys were both living out there, were you on your parents' farm?

Mark: Yeah, we were on one of the farms — we have a couple of farms. It was pretty cool.

Michelle: A little different! To move from having 5,000 cows in your backyard to no backyard at all!

And you grew up in a rural area too?

Michelle: I did! I grew up on a farm. My dad had a pig farm, and then also crops — corn and soybeans.

Mark: Iowa's staple. That's all they grow up there.

And are you both thinking that your future will be more urban, or more rural?

Michelle: [Laughs!] That's in our debate. [Points to herself] — completely urban. [Points to Mark] — hopes in five years to return rural.

Mark: [Laughs!]. We'll see. I love it here — it's lots of fun. People are so great on these streets. Our street's been lots of fun already.

What do you guys like to do for fun?

Michelle: I dunno. One thing we've really enjoyed in D.C. is just going out to all the little outdoor restaurants — that's what we do a lot of times on weekends, is get together with friends and go out to eat. We like to try new restaurants all the time. And we do everything — we enjoy going to plays, and theater. Mark is a real sports person, so Mark plays on — how many teams?

Mark: I play hockey in Mount Vernon, soccer in Springfield, indoor for the winter, probably keep playing for a little bit yet.

Michelle: We like to travel around — we've been doing a lot of sightseeing in the area.

Do you have any idea of the ideal neighborhood that you'd like to live in?

Michelle: We talked about it. We wanted to move into D.C., and one thing I wanted — I kind of wanted to be in this Capitol Hill area — close to where I work. And the other thing was we really wanted a nice, picturesque little street with all townhouses, and this street — we loved this street because it's not very long, and it's all just townhouses.

We really wanted to have a townhouse — not a condo. There's no stores or empty lots or anything. The other big thing, too, was that we wanted to live somewhere that was safe. We wanted to live somewhere that was a good neighborhood, and that we hoped would be friendly — because we're outgoing — but you never know that, when you move somewhere. But that was our idea.

Michelle: Our neighbors have been very friendly, which is just so nice for us. We've been almost surprised — because in a city, usually, people are really guarded, and we've met way more people here than we even did in Alexandria. People here just seem to be so outgoing!

Mark: In our apartment complex, we didn't know any of our neighbors. You'd say hi to them, and they'd look at you, put their head down and run away from you. But everyone on this street is really nice. I haven't met anybody on this street that's not nice — they come and say hi, introduce themselves. It's really fun.

Michelle: Yeah, we're having a great time. §