So much to do!

Time is whizzing past me. The past two weeks have flown by in what seems like two hours. Some quick highlights:

US Capitol Tour
In the LCWS program, we don't go to our internships on Wednesdays because they are reserved for field trips. Our first Wednesday trip was to the Capitol building. The words the tour guide said were hard to follow because they came out at a monotone 100 per minute. At one point in the tour, our guide explained to us that the painter of that black and white painting that goes all the way around the inside of the dome fell of his ladder and hung from the ceiling for 20 minutes before someone found him and proceeded to fire him. It was a crazy story and probably would have earned a good laugh if we had been able to decipher what she was saying.
My personal favorite part of the tour was the corn cob pillars in the receiving hall!

Atlas Corps
I started my internship! It's been busy since the moment I walked in, and I love it. Atlas is a really neat organization. I'm too tired to do it justice at the moment, so I think I'll give it its own post later.

Festivals!
There are so many going on, and I have a hard time letting any of them pass me by which has definitely contributed to my constant state of busy-ness. (I'm not really sure what the word is...I thought it was business, but that doesn't look right...)

The first of the string of festivals was DC VegFest last Saturday. It was awesome. There were a lot of people there who I really wish I could have met. The woman in front of me in the line to buy a coconut handed a flower to the coconut vendor. She said in the most floaty, dreamy voice I've ever heard "Here. Eat this. It's really good for the eyes. This flower has such good vibrations." My insides giggled a bit. Anyway, the highlight of VegFest for me was the yummy falafel sandwich I ate. Or maybe it was the awesome hair of the woman taking photos in this pic.

Festival number 2 was the Rosslyn Jazz Festival later on Saturday. We got there toward the end and only spent 20 minutes there, but I would have loved to have stayed for longer.

On Sunday, Jordyn, Lulit and I went to the Adams Morgan neighborhood to hit up the Adams Morgan Day Festival. Adams Morgan is known as one of the most diverse spots in DC, and the festival was a lot of fun: plenty of good music, dance and food.

This Saturday, I hit up festival number four. The H Street Festival is DC's largest street festival (I think). It was a lot like the Adams Morgan Day Festival. Good music, great food and plenty of dance. In fact, a jazz band that we saw performing at the Adams Morgan Festival was also performing at the H Street Festival (the same song too!). There were all sorts of crazy booths set up. Here's one a man set up to showcase his motorcycle. The festival was plenty of fun, but not quite as fun as the process of getting there which brings me to my favorite kind of story to tell: an Ayah-Gets-Lost story.

9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington
In laymen's terms: a tea party rally. One of the requirements of the LCWS program is that we attend a protest or a demonstration and write a paper about it; I went to last weekend's Tea Party rally. I had a harder time than I thought I would synthesizing my thoughts about the Tea Party into an opinions piece for The Concordian. If you want to see more pictures of signs I saw, click here.

Newseum
Our field trip this past Wednesday was to the Newseum, the coolest museum I have ever visited. It is entirely dedicated to the news. I spent around three hours there and definitely could have spent longer. My favorite exhibit was the sports photography one because every picture had a placard next to it with a paragraph by the photographer explaining how he captured the photo. Here's an interesting one.
The other exhibit that sticks out in my mind is the 9/11 exhibit. There is a 20-minute long bone-chilling video about news reporting on that day as well as the remains of the antenna that stood on top of one of the towers and a wall full of newspaper headlines from September 12, 2001. The Fargo Forum is in the 9th column from the left and the 2nd row from the top. Some other neat things at the Newseum were Elvis' boots and credit card (I didn't realize they had credit cards in Elvis' time), a piece of the Berlin wall and a map depicting how free the press in each of the countries of the world is (red is not free, yellow is somewhat free, and green is free)


Classes
Both of my classes - The Global Agenda and American Diversity - seem really great so far. They are both very discussion centered, and the professors for both are awesome.

Horton's Kids
I went to a volunteer orientation for Horton's Kids earlier this week. Horton's Kids is an awesome tutoring and mentoring program for the kids of one of DC's poorest neighborhoods. I have applied to volunteer with them this semester, and I am really, really excited for it! I'll be a group leader for Wednesday night tutoring sessions. Only older kids come on Wednesdays and they work, not necessarily on homework, but on skills and projects that will help them finish high school and go on to college. From what I understand it is a lot more relaxed and open than Monday and Tuesday night sessions which are more traditional tutoring. I will also hopefully be able to accompany the kids on a few Sunday field trips.

Tennis
I joined a league tennis team here, and last weekend I played my first match with them. We won - whoo! I also have found a few people to play with online, so it looks like I'll be able to play two to three times a week on a regular basis.

Talk of the Nation!
We got invited to attend the recording of Talk of the Nation's special report on the state of the Gulf of Mexico last Thursday. I was one of only a couple of people who decided to go. It was fun to see what parts are actually live, how they get questions to host Neil Conan, etc. It was also neat to put faces to the names Neil Conan (host of Talk of the Nation), Sue Goodwin (Executive Producer) and Richard Harris (NPR's science correspondent) that I've heard so often. You can see all three of them in this picture. Neil Conan is on the far left, Richard Harris is the lighter-colored-suit-wearing man at the center table, and Sue Goodwin is the only woman on the far right table.

Opinions
My first opinions column of the year was in yesterday's Concordian. It is a reaction to the all of the "Ground Zero Mosque" and Quran burning headlines that have been making news in the past couple of weeks. If you're interested, you can read it here. If you have some time, I'd encourage you to read other columns and articles too. I haven't read the whole paper yet, but I've liked everything I have read.

Tea Party Rally

Last Sunday (September 12) I went to the 2nd annual Tea Party rally at the Capitol. It was exactly what I would expect it to be in a lot of ways, but it surprised me in a lot of ways too. I wrote my opinions column for this week about it. I'll post a link when that gets published on Friday, but for now, I'll just post some pictures. I know there are a lot; I want to show a large variety of the signs I saw in the interest of not misrepresenting Tea Partiers or the rally.





This man talked to me for about ten minutes about how he couldn't afford high taxes. He was quite nice.

Elect Jesus Christ? Yes. Good luck.

I saw a total of around 20 people dressed in colonial clothing. Many of the speakers spoke about going back to the mindset of colonial times and the founding fathers.
This is the only confederate flag I saw that day. I really wanted to talk to the guy holding it, but when I asked he told me that he doesn't do interviews...

I stopped to talk to this couple when I noticed that the man's shirt said "Bemidji Tea Party" on it. They came all the way from Bemidji, MN just for the rally. Again, they were quite nice people. We just don't share the same views. At all.
This (and a slew of other signs that I haven't posted) is in reference to a remark Speaker Pelosi made about the healthcare bill being too long to read.
Dramatic.







I really can't even understand what point this woman is trying to make.

Lots of people...
This one conveniently sums up the central difference between me and a Tea Partier. Robin Hood and the equity he worked to promote are good things in my book.
I saw a lot of ridiculous signs, but this is the only one that I found truly personally offensive.
This one was popular among the crowd.
You can't see her, but there is a seven or eight year old girl holding the piggy bank sign.

Ayah Gets Lost Version 783.2

Today I went to the H Street Festival although a more accurate summary of what I did today would be to say that I looked for the H Street Festival. I spent over 2 hours getting there and around 45 minutes actually at the festival.

The ads for the H Street Festival said that free shuttle bus service would be available to the festival from the Eastern Market metro station, so I didn't bother looking up directions from the station to the festival. When I got to the Eastern Market station at around 3:15, I couldn't find any sort of sign that said anything about shuttles, so I decided to walk. I picked up a copy of a free newspaper, found an ad for H Street Festival and saw that the festival was taking place on H Street (logical, huh?) between 8th and 14th streets. I looked to the street sign; I was at 7th and D. This was easy to figure out. I started walking down 7th Street. It took me until I reached Independence Avenue to realize that I was walking down the alphabet, not up it, so I turned around and walked the other way on 7th Street. I walked and walked. As I passed G street, I began to wonder why I couldn't yet hear the festival; street festivals are supposed to be loud. I shrugged to myself and kept walking to the next Street: I street. I walked back a block again. G Street. Okay...no H Street.

I stopped and thought for a second before I realized that I was still on 7th street; the festival began at the intersection of 8th and H. Maybe H didn't extend to 7th street. I walked over to 8th street and looked around. I walked up until I saw I again. I walked down to G...still no sign of H Street. Starting to get very confused, I decided that maybe they had put H Street after I, so I walked all the way to K, crossing a highway in the process. Nope. The city planners weren't alphabetically challenged. I walked back to G Street, keeping my eyes peeled for the elusive H Street. Maybe the festival really only started at 10th or 11th street, I thought to myself. I walked down G Street until I reached 10th Street. I turned and walked toward where H should be. All of a sudden I heard the faint noise of music. I was getting close! I got to where H should be, but there was still no H to be found. I could hear the music now, though, so I followed the faint sounds down G Street, all the way to 12th. There at the corner, I found the source of the music: a car stereo.

By now, it was 4 o'clock. I had been looking for the H Street Festival for 45 minutes and couldn't care less about it anymore. I started my walk back to the metro station. I had thought many times over the past almost-hour of just asking someone where H Street was, but I hadn't done it for fear of looking silly. H Street is after G Street, duh. Finally, though, I decided that I'd rather look silly than leave the big H Street Festival mystery unsolved, so I asked a passing young man where I might find H Street. I expected him to laugh and tell me it didn't exist, to point over my shoulder at the general location around which I had just been searching, but he surprised me by pointing straight ahead in the direction I was already walking. "It's that way??" I asked him incredulously. He nodded in a I-can't-believe-tourists-are-so-dumb kind of way and kept walking. All of a sudden, something I had heard on several occasions came back to me; DC is on a quadrant system. I was looking for H Street NE in the SE quadrant. Happy to have solved the mystery I walked the 20-ish blocks to H Street NE in turbo speed. Here I could hear the music from at least five blocks away. The first thing I saw when I finally got to the festival was this sign. That's the same graphic that was on all of the ads. I guess the NE on there isn't for decorational purposes...

Oh well...as far as getting lost stories go, this one was relatively harmless. I turned the short 15-block walk from the metro into a nice 40-block walk, but that's it. I can handle that. Besides, I don't know how I can expect to go anywhere on my own without getting lost. Which reminds me! Last weekend, I did the navigating to the three festivals Lulit, Jordyn and I went to and not once did we get even a little bit lost. This all serves to substantiate my God-wants-me-to-be directionally challenged argument. He moves things around to confuse me when I'm on my own, but not when I'm with others. I get it.

DC Love

I arrived in DC on Saturday morning, and I am absolutely loving it! I'm so full of anticipation that I can't sleep right now. There are many great things that I can't wait to do this semester! As for what I did so far...

I woke up at 3:15 on Saturday morning (after a full 80 minutes of sleep...) to make it to the airport in time for my 5:15 flight. My plane arrived in DC shortly after 12:30, and I took a short cab ride to the apartment complex in Rosslyn, VA where I'll be living for the semester. I got my keys and hauled my 51.2 pound duffel bag to my top (10th) floor apartment which is absolutely gorgeous! It's a great apartment with nice furnishings, good amenities and a wonderful view. I haven't taken pictures of the building or the apartment yet, but I'll do that soon and get some pictures up here.

When I arrived, my roommate Jordyn was already here, so after some quick unpacking and organizing, she and her parents kindly allowed me to tag along for some exploring and grocery shopping. We walked around the Rosslyn area, stopping to eat at Ray's Hell Burger, apparently an Obama favorite. The place was absolutely packed, but still we managed to get a table after just a short wait.
I ordered something called "The Big Punisher," and try as I might to conceal the fact that my mouth and throat were on fire, you can see the pain in my eyes and the heat in my face in this second picture.

Jordyn's mom took us grocery shopping, so our kitchen is now well stocked. We spent the rest of Saturday night relaxing and getting settled. Jordyn's mom Gail was busy documenting our first day, which is how I have these first few pictures. I'm very grateful!

On Sunday morning, Jordyn and I found ourselves on our own without much to do, so we headed over to the Georgetown neighborhood. Georgetown is literally a 5 minute walk from our apartment. It's amazing! Georgetown is full of neat little shops and cafes and of course there are college students all around, so it's really a great atmosphere. We walked down that area until we hit George Washington. When we got back to our apartment, our third roommate Lulit was just arriving. I don't have any pictures with Lulit yet, but I'll get some up soon. Lulit unpacked, and then we all headed over to the Lutheran College Washington Semester (LCWS) office for the first leg of our orientation. It was pretty standard, things-you-need-to-know type stuff.

Today (Monday and Labor Day), Dr. Joyner, Alyssa and Doug (the full-time, permanent faculty and staff of LCWS) took us on a tour of the major monuments. We saw the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial in addition to the Washington, Lincoln and FDR Monuments and the Washington National Cathedral.

The National Cathedral has held state funerals for late presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford. President Woodrow Wilson is the only United States president buried in DC and he is buried at the National Cathedral along with Helen Keller and a number of other notable individuals.
The Cathedral is remarkable for its Gothic architecture and marvelous stained glass windows. Construction on the National Cathedral began when the first stone was laid in 1907 with then president Teddy Roosevelt looking on. Construction finished in 1990 with then president George H.W. Bush there to witness. All facts courtesy of our fab tour guide. :)

The World War II memorial has a stone monument for each state and territory in the Union to honor the lives of those lost.


It also offers great views of the Washington Monument.

Next we headed to the Korean War Memorial which has a very different feel. The Korean War Memorial depicts soldiers trudging through the snow in their heavy gear.

Our last war memorial was the Vietnam War Memorial. The Vietnam War Memorial was designed by a Yale student and contains the names of all 58,000 soldiers who lost their livee engraved in the black stone.

Presidential monuments were a bit more exciting to visit. Here's Abe.
The Lincoln Monument with its many steps provides another great view of the Washington Monument.

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Monument was one that I had never visited before, but it was by far my favorite. It has several chambers that you walk through to see various scenes from FDR's presidency depicted. Many of my favorite quotes were engraved on the walls. Here's one.
Another.
And one more. (Just a few of many). This one is bit hard to read, but I really like it. It says "Among American citizens there should be no forgotten men and no forgotten races." I would amend that to say "Among WORLD citizens there should be no forgotten PEOPLE and no forgotten races," but still I like it.
And here's Eleanor, a favorite of middle-school me. FDR's is the only presidential monument that has the first lady depicted.

We stopped somewhere in the middle for lunch at Union Station, and that pretty much covers our tour. We had a short break when we got back before a session on maintaining our sanity while here. :) I can see how easy it might be to try to do too much!

I had my first session of a course entitled "The Global Agenda" tonight. I got four books (paid for by LCWS...whoo!) that all look really interesting. The professor, Dr. Joyner, seems really great, and I am told by my favorite professor at Concordia that he is very well known and esteemed in the international law world. I am beyond excited for that class...wahoo! My other class, "American Diversity," meets tomorrow for the first time.

This is going to be my best semester yet.