Day 1 of D.C

Wow. 2 weeks just flew by and I'm at my table in disbelief that summer is about to end. And that I must share  up to 13 days of experience on the East Coast to you. Yes you who are reading this I must write for your convince. No I'm kidding. Guessing the adventure starts...........................................................now.

So it was july 3rd we came in. The searing  heat was annoying. My hair was a fumbling mess. Let alone my clothes from the storm. But now it was July 4th and I really wanted to see what D.C was about. So after marching on the metro (which compared to bart is heaven on wheels hovering over hell ) towards the national.  My city girl instincts quickly rushed in after pushing past probably a good 400 people to where we could see the parade on the side walk. Looking around my eyes drifting to the thousands of people on the streets just to see what I had come to see. A fricking parade. I sat in the back with my sister looking at peoples shoes because in the Bay Area, I never saw people wear that many running shoes. In awe we saw more feet than parade for the 3 hour period.

After the stand in the crowd my family and I by mid after noon headed towards the National Monument. The obelisk was breathe taking. So many people standing to get one good picture. Freaking out when someone walked in the view finder. Humans. I asked my dad if we could go to the folklife festival. I had heard about it, but knew it was the size of alameda on the National Mall. Hurrying over to see that this was not just a festival. It was a gathering of people from every ethnic group to pass on their heritage. The Africans, the Asians, Middle Easterner's, Islanders, the Americans, the Latinos. Not to stray but Africans have very similar food to Tibetans and I recommend you try Bassap Juice which is hibiscus flower. Amazing. Believe me. We passed on to the peace corp section where people from all over the world had wrote what year they served and a note. I wrote my dad's name for Nepal and Honduras. My mother for Nepal. Strange enough they found their old friends and their contact numbers, like a high school reunion for travelers.

Around the time of 8:30 we headed to the National Mall again, but this time facing the Lincoln memorial. Because we got front row seats to the fireworks everyone in America wants to see. If you don't believe me, we were so close to the fireworks the sound could be felt in your body for more than a minute. We were so close the pieces of the rockets fell all over us. I even caught one in my hair about the size of a baseball.

I had never seen colors rush in the air so fast that the night sky had guzzled it up like a meal. Never did I hear sounds of boom that made me want to run closer. If you've never been to D.C. in your life, stop time and go there. You'll never want to return where you came from.

Photos:

Day 1!

Day 1                                                                                                                                        July 3, 2011

So journal writing for the summer. Thank god. Helps my gears turn even when I’m on vacation. 

Anyways to start this off, my father told me it would be hot out here (meaning in D.C.). I laughed and shrugged him off. In the event I said that as we landed, I could see the sweat beads on the palms of my hand. Being a person who hardly ever sweats even during the heat in p.e covered in a black jacket. Now in skinnies and a bleach white shirt, wrapped in the sultry nature of the Baltimore area. The sun was shinning through the heavens, no clouds. Not even one as I look through the clear window of the airport. People stare. Everyone is in shorts revealing legs or a bare back. I quickly walk out the edgy sitch in the airport, to the grueling wait for our 4 bags weighing in around 30 pounds each for a 2 week stay come in. Lugging my huge pack as I look at my mothers small valise, I regret bringing so much. 

Suddenly the automatic doors open to the large pick up/ drop off area and a wall of heat hits so fast I couldn’t breathe right for the next 4 minutes. We walk towards the bus. I was wondering why the heck we couldn’t take a car. But that will prove itself during the stay. After the long ride from Baltimore  to the metro rail near the University Of Maryland (which is my dream school) we head to metropolitan D.C. As we step out side waiting for a taxi, it immediately began to rain so hard that the streets signs blew backwards and the wind could push my dad back. I never had so much fun standing in a storm in the middle of a city.

We arrive late around 8 p.m. because we are 3 hours ahead of California. How I missed the West Coast. I lay in bed home sick, I loved our new town house, but not like home.

Somehow I had the ability to eat sluggishly and doze off to bed. That is until the neighbors began to show off their speakers.

Life In D.C

So sadly today is my last day in D.C. I was thinking about writing something along the lines of a journal of my days but then I didn't have enough time. So I'm hoping that I have some memory and that my brain isn't on snooze mode so I can write my experiences.

Just a quicky, if anyone's been to florida, you haven't seen anything. D.C is almost 100 degrees everyday and it's humid. May sound just like Florida. No. Your dreaming. Washington's heat is killer. Thankfully I'm used to wearing a jacket in the heat so it wasn't so horrible. Compared to Chicago mother nature was neutral.

Getting to the point of security out here. No matter where you go nor what your looking at, you are bound to run into an officer. I cannot tell you how many times we (me and the tourists) had to be searched in order to get anywhere. Even a bottle of melon lotion would be thrown out, no matter how ashy you were.
Thankfully, that didn't happen, at least to me.

Yet something amazing happened in these 2 weeks. Not only did I get to see His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, but met Ghandi's grandson and Martin Luther's Son. You do not know how much I wanted to run out of my seat and down to talk to Mr. Ghani's grandson. Rembering the movies I've seen of him and reading his biographies, seeing his relative was just so inspirational. I feel so lucky to know that my culture out of many, have so many followers and guiders.

Okay so there's the 411 on what happened in two weeks in extremely short detail. Keep in touch because more is coming!
Adios!