A week of adventures

My fellow bloggers, here I am after my first week in DC and I will start off by stating the obvious: I love it. After living in Puerto Rico for 18 years and being in a city for that amount of time, having everything no more than a half-hour away and then living in the farmland of Iowa, being in DC is a refreshing experience. I love going into the city, seeing the amazing architecture and design exemplified by its buildings and the urban planning that shaped the city. It is simply amazing and a sight to behold. Plus, for a political and history junkie like myself, being immmersed in the city where it all originates from is a cool experience.

I think I left off the last blog with all the stories up to last Friday and there's been plenty that has gone on since then. On the Sabbath I was picked up by Mrs. Clore and Brittney bright and early at 9:15am so there was no sleeping in for me :( I have to say that the Clores are an amazing family, full of life, joy, and great stories :) Mr. Clore was going to be arriving with his son Ray because they wanted to hang out and spend some time together so Mrs. Clore proceeded to introduce me to just about everyone. I have to say she's a pretty big deal, always smiling and optimistic...amazing qualities. The entire family is a blast and have so many amazing stories and interesting insights on so many issues. I enjoy the talks on the way to and from Church. I've learned a lot and it's only been 2 Sabbaths :)

Last Sunday, after working out and running in the morning, Andrew (the Canadian), Bobby (the Oklahoma guy), and I went to the Federal Mall to do some sightseeing. It was pretty packed on the way there because it was Memorial Day weekend and the entire town was full of people from all over the place. We went to the Air and Space Museum, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial (incredibly touching), and the White House. Andrew took plenty of pictures on his digital camera, I took a bunch with my disposable one (still waiting for my digital one to come in the mail) and my cell phone and we walked a couple of miles throughout. It was really hot and humid, no wind whatsoever...a bit of a problem but it's ok.

After the adventureous day on Sunday we came back and basically did nothing the rest of the day. Of course after all the walking I didn't feel like doing anything. I came up with the idea of making dinner on Monday and invite people over for some socializing. We needed to do some massive grocery shopping so we went and got all the things that we needed and got back with plenty of time to be able to cook some spaghetti. I bought some sauce but I added all the good, yummy ingredients to make it taste really, really good. I made enough food for 7-8 people but there were only 5 of us so there was plenty of food leftover for the rest of the week. Yay for me! :)

Tuesday came and I anxiously awaited for the phone call from NHCSL that would let me know whether I would receive the job I had interviewed for. I had an interview set up for Wednesday with SER National Program and I was going to honor it regardless of whether I had received an offer or not but as the afternoon hours kept passing by I became very nervous. I started thinking, "Well, it seems like I'm going to have to blow them away on Wednesday since it seems like I'm getting nowhere." Thankfully I got a call from the Executive Director from NHCSL and she told me they decided to go with me for the internship and of course I was ecstatic to receive such news and it also included a cool surprise. My boss told me that they would also extend a stipend at the end of the summer to help fray for the costs of the traveling and such. It's not a lot but at least it's enough to help pay for some things. That's God for you, working in so many ways that you can't see at the moment. I don't deserve any of this but it still works out in some way. Simply amazing. That's all I've got to say.

I went to my interview on Wednesday and I felt pretty comfortable but I was already leaning towards NHCSL because I could start working, making myself feel productive, and finally get out of the apartment. I started my job on Thursday and as I was taking my lunch break I ran into Vice President Dick Cheney's motorcade. The SUV's were barely a couple of feet away from me and I looked as to see who was inside of the car and much to my surprise I see Dick Cheney and his wife!!! It was pretty cool sight to see, all on my first day on the job. I love it already :)

I was taking this crazy Foreign Policy class in which two other people from my building were attending as well but they went AWOL for the second session. I was left without my two friends and after I got back from class I decided to drop it and switch to something easier. Something about receiving 200+ pages of readings after every class made it very unattractive and I have plenty of work with my internship and the TWC stuff. I switched it to Homeland Security which will apparently lead to some better opportunities and a "lighter" courseload. I have a friend in that class so it's all good there too :)

Oh I met a cool girl named Christina Barton. Think "The O.C.'s" Mischa Barton but only cuter :) She's awesome AND politically conservative. A rare thing to find nowadays in DC. She's originally from Annapolis, MD but has been living in Cedar Rapids, IA the past 9-10 years. I asked her which school she went to and she said "Central College" and I was like..."oh, Pella, Iowa. I had 3 friends graduate from there the past couple of years. Why would you move from Maryland to Iowa?" It was due to her dad's job, which would be the only acceptable excuse. She was surprised that someone would know where Pella was and that I knew it was basically a little Dutch colony in the middle of Iowa. She vaguely remembers Cathy, since they went to school together and all. I don't think she knew Ann (I had to ask if she knew the notorious Rankin girls :)). To my astoundment there are a bunch of people from Iowa with TWC this summer. I think I've run into at least 15 or so of them. And I thought I had left Iowa in the midwest this summer.

On Friday I went into work at 9 and proceeded to make some phone calls for information our organization needed for a conference in South Carolina in the month of June. I took initiative during the day and decided to translate the biography of one of the senators attending such conference. She's a state senator from Puerto Rico and her bio was only available in Spanish so I decided to take it upon myself to do the work. My supervisor said I didn't have to do that but I wanted to start contributing right away. Plus, it makes me feel like I am actually doing for the organization. Here's the link to the organization: http://www.nhcsl.org/about.html

That just about sums up the week in DC. Sabbath and Pentecost services were wonderful, inspiring messages all around. This should be my first full week of my job so this one should dictate how the rest of the summer goes. Not a whole lot going on other than work, class, roommate adventures (a long story by itself). Oh, I almost forgot to mention something the Kerrman would definitely appreciate. Of course it revolves around food. Some of the girls we know from the 8th floor came over Saturday night and brought us brownies. Oh so yummy. Now we have good stuff to eat for a couple of nights :)

Ya'll have a good week and stay out of trouble...I'll try my best to stay out of it :)