"Silly is you in a natural state, and serious is something you have to do until you can get silly again!"
Random thoughts:
- It's a cool feeling to figure out the reason people seem to be staring and smiling at you more is because you forgot to take your badge off upon leaving the office.
- Life is not about economizing everything - while some things work better when you pursue efficiency, others are equally as valuable when you proceed with leisure or with morality.
- If you resort to violence to get things done, that is what children learn and they see violence as an acceptable means to your end goal.
- Good intentions do not necessarily translate to good policy.
Quote from my shape personality quiz obsessed office: "I don't think I've ever met a triangle before!" If you're interested in the quiz (is actually quite entertaining and pretty accurate), here's the link: http://www.psychometricshapes.co.uk/questionnaire.php
Upon hopping out of a couple taxis with Alyson and a few other Peace Corps interns volunteering to set up and clean up for the Peace Corps' Congressional intern event:
The Supreme Court.
The Capitol Visitors' Entrance.
My issue was that basically I stress out about going through security. I don't want to get yelled at, set off any detectors, have my bag searched etc. I know security is necessary, but I swear I'm not going to hurt anybody! Way back when, there was a stretch in my life where my bag got plucked from the xray belt for "random searches" at the airport six flights in a row! Not cool. Anyways, the invitation for the event said no food or drink, but nowhere did it say you couldn't even bring a water bottle... So I was instructed to walk outside to throw away my water bottle with a built-in filter that I was planning to bring to China. Meanwhile, everything else I had sent through the xray machine was being inspected, and when I returned, the security officer asked me what the huge black box I was in charge of contained. Already flustered, I learned apparently should have asked Alyson what that piece of luggage was... My best guess was a projector screen, which actually was not far off - the officer asked me to open the case, which I did after fumbling around for a few minutes, and we discovered that it was a bunch of poster screens. Ok cool, can I go now? I caught up with the rest of my group, water-bottle-less and wheeling the silly black case behind me.
Tunneling under the Capitol for visitors' events.
So in and outside the South Congressional Meeting Room, I got to unleash some of my creative as well as slightly OCD tendencies. My fellow interns and I set up tables outside the room to greet the interns with Peace Corps info, recruiting materials, and awesome posters.
Inside the room itself, we strategically placed posters, set up the table and podium behind which the Director and members of Congress would speak, and put a stack of free recruiting materials as well as a cute little flag from one of the Peace Corps' host countries on each chair for the interns. We also got to make the little gift bags for each speaker! Small delights of being behind the scenes.
A few pics of pre-event nerdiness:
And then the Director of Peace Corps came and posed with the board we set up! Not for me, but I took a creeper photo...
The excitement began as the interns milled about looking at our displays and then were ushered into the room for an incredible video about Peace Corps experiences. With the seats completely filled and listeners also four rows deep in the back of the room, the Director as well as four out of the six members of Congress who are Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) spoke to all of us. In case you're wondering who, Driehaus, Garamendi, Honda, and Petri all told a couple tales of their experiences and wisdom. My favorite was Congressman Honda - he's adorable! Now I've been lucky to hear tons of RPCV stories, but it was truly incredible to hear how these people's worldviews were developed through Peace Corps and how that outlook helps them serve people.
Some main points I took away:
- Congress recently approved all of the funding Peace Corps asked for - "Peace Corps as foreign policy has the best return on your investment."
- A profound attitude shift in the government's foreign policy: Peace Corps is the best tool of soft foreign policy.
- Empowerment.
- When you spend a significant time abroad, you have to remember that the US and its people haven't changed their perspective even though you have. (This will be good for me to remember upon my return from China in the winter!)
Some photos from the speeches:
As the event came to a close, the interns once again bustled about, ignored our grumbling stomachs, and put back the room how we found it. And perhaps some recruiting materials made it into our own personal belongings as well... Perks! And as we were just about to head back to HQ, Alyson asked if we'd mind waiting with all the equipment for a few while she gave the new Peace Corps recruiters a quick tour of the Capitol. We all said that was fine, and as they were taking off, we all looked at each other and wondered who had been on a Capitol tour before. Discovering that only one of us had, we made please and thanks and left the one with the equipment while we dashed after Alyson and the recruiters to see if we could tag along. Thankfully that was ok!
I did not even expect to have enough time in my DC schedule to do a capitol tour, but now I was lucky enough to jump in with this group, bypass all the lines with Alyson's Capitol staff badge, and wander throughout this beautiful building, stopping in my tracks in picture-taking awe and surely getting in everybody else's way. Maybe I got caught up in the details of each room, but the dome itself really snuck up on me! It seems as though as you just go from incredible room to incredible room and then all of a sudden you walk through another archway, looking straight ahead as normal, but when you look up it stretches for ages! Layers upon layers of intricate designs of each story up to the painting inside the dome itself. All I could do was stare. Just like the Boy Scout group that was roaming the capitol at a similar pace funny enough. Photos to follow.
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