Working on the checklist

Unhappily arising this Saturday morning at the same I have to for work on weekdays, nevertheless once I convinced my heavy eyelids to stay open for longer than a couple seconds I was quite excited. After walking the twenty minutes across the Key Bridge, enjoying the breeze from both the zipping highway traffic and the serene Potomac, and getting off the metro what I now know was a stop too early, I rounded the block (aka huge complex on which the White House sits), speedwalking to find the Southeast Gate and the tour group from TFAS. Unfortunately all we could bring to our White House tour was a wallet and phone, so alas the only pictures I was able to take were outside the White House and still in my phone with a bleak chance of making it out... So after waiting in line with our group for a good 20 minutes, we went through all the security procedures and were finally liberated to take the tour at our own pace. It was really cool to walk through the hallways lined with photos of presidents with their families and pets as well as other famous people. The tour unfortunately only takes you through a few rooms, but a few of us had a couple great conversations with the security guards who are trained in an incredible amount of White House and presidential factoids that entertained us as we watched employees converting the press room into a stage for another event. My favorite part was walking through the Green Room and then the Red Room and peering out of the window to what basically was the White House porch. It was a straight shot through the huge bay windows onto the Lawn, the fountain, and then the Jefferson Memorial off into the distance.

Following the tour I went with a couple of new friends from my program with whom I basically did the whole tour, one from Vietnam and the other from China (who coincidentally is studying at the University of Minnesota of all places for their journalism program!), to the most touristy place I've been in DC - the White House Gift Shop down the street, where we had our pictures taken in front of an Oval Office replica desk with cardboard Barack and Michelle Obama. On our way to the metro, we heard drumming in the distance, and curious people, we wanted to check it out. It came from a park a couple blocks away, where we discovered a percussion group called Batala: an all-female group created to empower women through drumming! These women were super into it, and what a sweet concept! I love all the random but cool things you find and hear about living in a city like this.

A walk home from the Rosslyn metro brought me back to Georgetown in time to be picked up by a couple of Carleton friends: Will, here working at the Natural History Museum this summer, and his girlfriend Nina who lives in Maryland. They drove all the way up to have lunch with me - so sweet! It was great to see some familiar faces and to explore a little bit more of Georgetown as well. Though admittedly I had no clue how to get places in a car, we ended up parking and indecisively wandering until we found a cute little Italian place. Upon entering I was skeptical as the restaurant was completely empty at lunchtime on a Saturday... but it was small and had reasonable prices, which were made even more reasonable by the fact that my meatball calzone became lunch and dinner! Thank you to the societal acceptableness of doggy bags.

A third, but not last trip out of Georgetown University this day led Tschuna and I on my second walk to Rosslyn Station: this time to meet our co-intern Brittney at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. This was my second time to the museum, but this time we planned ahead and booked tickets to the main exhibit. Directional confusion got us starting our tour time a little bit late, and we had to canvass the museum in the hour and a half (they say it normally takes two hours) before the museum closed. This was another extremely well done museum. I believe people could spend an entire day there, just reading everything. What initially weirded me out was that we started the tour at basically the same pace as a family with three children under the age of seven. I kept thinking they are way too young for all of this. But listening to their questions and their mother's sensible and reasoned answers, coupled with the museum's evidence that Hitler focused so heavily on indoctrinating the young of the German population, led me to shift my thinking that in order to prevent this history from repeating itself we need to start young as well. Our job should be to teach children about love and awareness.

A few things I found especially intriguing:
- Propaganda: "Buy only at German shops." The Jews were Germans too. Until laws passed at Nuremburg declared they weren't.
- Public humiliation was used as a tool against "racial degradation."
- Forced sterilization is not something you hear about in history class.
- Jehovah's Witnesses were sent to concentration camps as well on religious grounds. But because they were apparently not the scourge of humanity, they were given the opportunity to be freed if they recanted their beliefs. Not a single one did.

It was incredibly powerful, and the main thing Tschuna and I talked about afterwards is the horror and cynicism that arose because of the context of today's world. We keep saying "Never again." And yet genocide has happened and has been allowed to happen by people and politicians who feel powerless, or think it's not their problem, or simply don't want to get involved because it's too messy.

On our way home our relief from the heat was twofold as we paused to savor the breeze from escalators and trains and ending up on an uncrowded metro, even got to put our feet up for a few stops! Yet Tschuna and I pretty much turned right around after returning to our apartments and set out on another walk, this time to the grocery store, and at last our final expedition for the night. We found some yummy food, put it away in our respective fridges, and then chilled out with Under the Tuscan Sun (which I had never seen and only served to fan the flame of my desire to travel the world!). A ton of walking yesterday, but thankfully my feet don't hurt, my legs don't hurt - I was not tired, just sleepy.


Being perpetually tired was just kind of a fact for this weekend, as it seemed most reasonable to get up at a decent hour and get a move on the day. For Sunday food exploration, Tschuna's and my place of choice was Johnny Rockets: America's Original Hamburger. As we decided to go for kind of a late breakfast, and in light of the fact that Tschuna is a vegetarian, neither of us opted to sample this origial burger (though I did end up with the "Patty and Eggs," a yummy breakfast combo). Each table had a cute little jukebox, although we could not get ours to work unfortunately... Quintessential posters were a must as well. Then we set about on M Street errands and shopping: Tschuna procured postcards, and then we headed to the Shops at Georgetown Park at 11:55 in perfect timing as we discovered shops did not open until noon. We checked out a few sales, quickly headed back to Georgetown as I found myself in a pickle with dead-asleep roommates and keys mistakenly let on my desk. Thankfully my roommate Rezina later told me she could let me in when I got back. The familiar walk to Rosslyn was next on the agenda, as the metro would take us to the American Indian museum for my second time: this adventure to experience the week-long exhibit on Peruvian culture. I was surprised at the crowd size! It was really amazing to see that many people turn up. This event was truly awesome. A band playing traditional music. People in traditional dress selling their incredible wares from blankets to fuzzy stuffed animals, from hand-woven hats of the finest texture that take a month each to make to jewelry and knit ornaments. What beautiful people with rich cultural history! I just loved the vibrant colors, the spontaneous dancing, and the smiling faces!

More pictures in my Picasa album, but here are a few of my favorites:















Last on the list before heading home was a trip through the Botanical Garden quite close to the American Indian Museum to take more flower pics for my momma! Again, more on Picasa!







The last adventure for the weekend was a World Team Tennis match, for which I was quite excited! In an intimate setting of a stadium in the middle of downtown, the Washington Kastles were to take on the Boston Lobsters. I had found tickets over half off through Groupon, unfortunately neither of the Williams sisters ended up playing like I had advertised to entice my roommate Rezina to join me, but we still had fun! The scoring was a little crazy, and the main gist of Rezina's thoughts were "Wow, tennis is complicated." It was definitely fun to hear a complete outsider's view of the sport I have been immersed in since I was young, and even funnier to hear her comments about the spaziness of players that don't exactly have the concept of mental toughness down pat. It was really cool to be out in the fresh air watching some really cool pro tennis players in the middle of downtown DC, dance in our seats to the awesome music, and to get free tshirts! Aka pjs because they're size large. Definitely worth it.

Following the trend, here are a few fave photos with more on Picasa!







Another crazy-busy weekend completed, one last weekend in DC to go. Thanks again for sticking it out with me, and I hope you are having fun as well wherever you are!

Love,
Kathryn