Out & About

What’s up world! Hope all is well with you and that wherever you are, you’re staying nice and warm. And for those living in Southern California, Arizona, or Hawaii right now, I envy you.

Finally, after 5 feet of snow that caused DC to shut down for several days, life has moved on! The snowstorms are finally over, I went back to work for the first time in 11 days on Tuesday, and most importantly, I got to leave my apartment! So naturally this past week was a lot more interesting than the previous. I had quite a busy Friday night last week. I first met up with other members of the International Affairs Program in The Washington Center and watched an Israeli documentary called “Promises”, a movie about seven Israeli and Palestinian children that manage to form a friendship against all odds. This movie puts the grotesque politics of both parties aside and focuses the entire movie on the thought process of the kids, what initially runs through their minds when they find out that they’re meeting, how they interact with each other when they meet, and how they feel after forming that relationship. It was a really touching story. Here's the trailer of the documentary for anyone interested in seeing it; I highly recommend it.



Immediately afterwards, I walked to my cousin’s apartment where I picked him up and then met up with some of my friends at a lounge/bookstore called “Busboys and Poets” where they were hosting a poetry slam, a place for poets to showcase their poems so that they can compete for a spot on the local poetry slam team. Now this was the second poetry slam that I had ever attended, with the first one being in San Diego, and quite frankly, I was less than pleased. There were some good poets, but for the most part, the poets that I heard in San Diego were much better, which surprised me because I thought this would be better than anything on the West Coast. At any rate, it was still a very fun and eventful night regardless.

Here I am anxiously waiting to buy my ticket for the poetry slam!

Yes, you are seeing this correctly. I am sitting on the stage of the poetry slam. They leave seats up on stage for the people that show up late and can’t find a seat in the seating area.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to help give some of the military officials from the South Asian region at our most recent seminar at NESA a tour of Washington DC. We visited some of the main sites around the city, like the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the White House. Unfortunately I cannot show you the pictures of me with some of the officials that I toured, but at the very least I can at least show you the pictures of where I visited. It had been a very long time since I had visited (I think I was 5 or so). The Lincoln Memorial was absolutely beautiful. Not only was the architecture of the building and the quite a sight to see, the view overlooking the entire capital from the memorial was also wonderful. Had we not needed to leave so soon, I probably would have sat on the footsteps of that memorial for a while. I’ll also be going back in the springtime to take more pictures.

In front of the White House

Standing right in the middle of Lafayette Square

In front of the Washington Monument

In front of the World War II Memorial

Inside the Lincoln Memorial

Outside the Lincoln Memorial

Well it’s been quite an eventful week. Next week, I’m going to visit Norfolk and Suffolk, VA and get a chance to see an F-22 Raptor fighter jet in person! Until then, take care, and hope you enjoy the rest of your week. Peace!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

What up world!  For those of you reading, hopefully you’re reading this post in a place with better weather than where I’ve been for the past week.  Although considering how many feet of snow DC has gotten in the last 6 days, that probably would not be saying much.   
  
If you remember last week, I talked about a “huge snowstorm” that came through DC.  That storm had accumulated about six inches of snow that took the entire Saturday, January 30, for it to fall.  Last Friday, DC got hit with 6 inches of snow in just two hours, and since then we were hit with another two and a half feet of snow last weekend and another foot and a half on Tuesday and Wednesday.   This is one of the worst storms Washington has had in about 90 years or so, and this whole week I’ve been thinking to myself, “why couldn’t I have brought the beautiful San Diego weather with me?!” Seven days have now passed since the last time the federal government has been open, and I’m really starting to get cabin fever over here!  However, with the sun being out as I’m typing this and no more snow expected until a light snowfall on Monday, I’m pretty confident that the federal government will finally open up for the first time in a week tomorrow.  I’m definitely keeping my fingers crossed for that one. 

Here's a picture of me walking through the worst of the snowstorm on Friday night.  It was actually quite a fun experience to walk through the snowstorm!    

Despite all of this, I did have somewhat of an eventful weekend.  On Friday, I trekked through what I thought would be a brief snowstorm to my cousin’s apartment in the heart of DC by foot and Metro, and little did I know I would be stuck there for a while due to this “snowpocalypse”.  The next day, my cousin and I participated in the biggest snowball fight I have ever seen in Dupont Circle. It was reported that at least 1,000 people participated in this epic battle.  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, so I can’t provide you any footage of my own.  But in my defense, I didn’t know that we were going to this snowball fight until after we started walking for about a mile or so!  At any rate, I’m really sorry that I can’t provide some personal footage of this fight, but from this point on, I’m definitely carrying my camera with me everywhere I go!  At any rate, here is a video that someone else got from this fight.  I tried looking for a video with me in it, but was sadly unsuccessful.    

On Sunday, my cousin and I watched the Super Bowl with some of his friends and had the fortune of watching the Saints win.  I’m really happy for the city of New Orleans that they got that championship, especially since the city had gone through so much in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Since the Super Bowl, the last few days have been somewhat dull since I have been stuck in the confines of my apartment since I took that taxi back from my cousin’s apartment. 

A beautiful picture of the night sky immediately before kickoff of the Super Bowl  

Sorry for the brevity of this post, it’s just that not much has happened since it has snowed the past week!  By next week, I won’t be restricted to talking about snow and not working for several paragraphs, and I’ll have a lot more interesting events to talk about.  Until then, take care, and I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week.  Peace! 

Week 2 - Always Learning Something New Every Day

What’s up, world! Hope everyone is doing well and has had a nice week thus far. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote, and at this point the exciting, up-tempo pace of my life in Washington D.C. will not be slowing down any time soon. So with that said, here goes!

When I last wrote, I promised I’d mention to you a little bit about what the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, or NESA Center does. The NESA Center is a government-run strategic institute under the Department of Defense that was made for the purpose of facilitating dialogue with countries within the NESA region, which spans from as far west as Morocco to as far east as Bangladesh. This mission is ultimately achieved through a seminar that consists of a series of lectures put on by hired scholars and retired lieutenant colonels, with roundtable discussions following them. The geography of this region also suggests that the NESA Center helps build relationships with officials of states that have had very tense relations for decades, such as Arab states such as Syria and Lebanon with Israel, and India with Pakistan. On TV, it’s very easy to witness how difficult relations are between two countries from all of the painful war images and emotional rhetoric expressed by politicians and advocacy journalists alike. However, what does not get noticed is the willingness of officials from these countries, regardless of their rank, to establish closer relationships with others despite the political status quo, and this is what makes NESA Center more relevant in international politics than ever.

My internship at NESA does not just involve performing the typical administrative tasks of preparing folders, making coffee, and cleaning out some of the lecture rooms at the end of the day, but it’s also it’s also quite an academic experience because we get to sit in on most of the seminars that take place. For political science nerds like me, sitting in on these seminars are quite fascinating because they focus many different relevant topics, such as how the Department of Defense conducts strategy and the role of soft power and diplomacy in satisfying U.S. national interests. Of course, there are always those few seminars that require me to have an extra cup of coffee or four before entering the room, but by and large the lectures are very interesting. I also get a chance to interact with a lot of these officials that come in between seminars.

During these seminars, the NESA Center takes the participants from the NESA region to different sites around Washington D.C. and an out-of-state trip. For example, last week I had the opportunity to spend the day on Capitol Hill and walk into the same room that President Obama had given his State of the Union address the night before. It’s quite a fascinating experience to walk into the very same building that the President gave such a traditionally important speech the night before, regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the President’s policies. However, as interesting as it was to learn about all of the symbolism from all of the artwork in the room, I was disappointed to see that the room was much smaller than it appears on TV! I guess the camera adds ten thousand square feet to rooms like the way it adds ten pounds to a person.

Well maybe the room where the President gave his speech was smaller than I thought, but the size of the rotunda is definitely as large as advertised!

On Saturday, there was a huge snowstorm in and around the DC area. For someone like me who is from the west coast, the idea of snow and wearing boots, gloves and an overcoat is a pretty foreign concept for me. It was the first time I had seen snow in five years, and because of that, it was just fun to watch the snow fall. It was also a great excuse to stay indoors and just relax all day!

I wish I could take credit for taking this great picture, but this was actually done by my roommate and friend Tim Wyatt.

The next day, I visited the Washington National Cathedral and had the opportunity to attend the Holy Eucharist in the morning. Now, I do not consider myself a very religious person by any stretch of the imagination, but I do consider myself to be very spiritual and have a very complex belief system, and I can say with some certainty that the service that I attended definitely contributed to my spiritual growth. The service proved to be more of a message of loving God and one another rather than a stereotypical message of condemnation. There is so much insight that many different religions and philosophies can provide, but unfortunately, the fanatics and their beliefs are so sensationalized that many of the positive messages get overlooked. It was a wonderful sight to see religion being applied in such a positive light.

This is probably one of the most beautiful cathedrals I’ve ever seen. It especially looked nice with all the snow on the rooftop!

I’m really looking forward to watching the Super Bowl this Sunday. Unfortunately, since my Oakland Raiders are not in it, it really doesn’t matter to me who wins. I’ll be happy just to see a competitive game. I’d obviously rather have my Raiders in the Super Bowl, but at this point, hell has a better chance of freezing over than the Raiders have a chance to win a Super Bowl anytime soon.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to comment on this page and I’ll do my best to address it next week. Until then, take care and hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the week. Peace!