Pelosi, Clinton and Kerry (oh my?)!

So lots has been going on! I apologize for not posting for a while. I just can't seem to sit down and do it. This could end up something of a lengthy post since I've been so absent. So take a seat.

Firstly, let me just rant for a minute. I'm at my favorite coffee house right now, bumming off their internet because Comcast is run by a bunch of freaking idiots. Basically, I haven't had cable or internet for over a week and Comcast is taking their sweet time trying to fix it. I know, I know. I'm a diva. I realize this. But give me a second to defend myself. How frustrating is it trying to hack into your neighbors unsecured internet connection for 10 minutes, moving your computer 3 cm to the left, right trying to get that ONE precious bar of glorious internet. And when you do, any sudden movement, if you swat a fly and accidently tap the keyboard- it's gone. Gone I tell you. Then there's the cable. I've missed about a week and a half of Conan, several reruns of Seinfeld, not to mention the countless showings of crappy movies such as The Mummy and The Wedding Crashers, things I rely on everyday to get me through. Anyway. This is frustrating, but I'm trying to channel my inner Buddha to get me through.

Let's see, most recently I suppose would be my birthday, 21! My good friend Marie came to town and we, along with Daniel of course, went out to celebrate. We hit up a happy hour at a delicious Mexican restaurant, and when I ordered my first legal alcoholic beverage they of course did not even ID me. Perfect. Anyway, we hit up a few more bars downtown and called it an evening to go home, enjoy my wonderful Argentinian wine and eat eat eat birthday cake! Most enjoyable.

While Marie was here, we did a few awesome things, including touring the Capital where we saw Nancy Pelosi!!!! Whhaaattttt. Okay, so there we were in the Statuary Hall, chillin, while all of a sudden Pelosi and her gang of stiletto/blackberry-ing followers trotted past. So cool. The capital was pretty too.

On that topic, Daniel and I went to a forum today at the Senate offices on the ICC (International Criminal Court) put on by Christopher Dodd. After the forum, we wandered around the Senate offices and bumped into Mel Martinez, John Kerry, and Jeff Sessions to name a few. Okay, their offices! But still, we saw their receptionists. Every office was like a scene from The Devil Wears Prada. Snazzy carpet, wooded furniture and two receptionists on either side of the Senator's office on hands free phones. "I'm sorry, Senator ---- is busy right now, he's constructing a bill on ----, can I take a message?".

Washington DC has made me a nerd.

The 4th of July was awesome. Our good friends Eric and Crystal were in town so we met up with them at the national mall, which was pretty decked out with different festivals. It was the annual Smithsonian Folklife festival and this years theme was different American roots, so they had regions from around the world in sections with their food, dance etc.. After eating in South America and drinking at a pub in Wales, we decided to stake out our spot for the fireworks, where we saw this:

The next day Daniel and I went to the national cathedral to pay tribute to our nation's cathedral- but more importantly to that West Wing episode... It was beautiful. We sat through a choir session, saw the tomb of good ol' Woodrow Wilson, and sat in the garden and read for bit. I tried to channel my inner sophomore year art history, and attempted to explain the arches, the stained glass window stories, and exterior architecture to Daniel but I'm pretty sure he didn't buy anything. Why does my memory have to suck so much?

Last month I went to a meeting with Hil-dawg (AKA Hilary Clinton). I was like 6 people from her! She was introducing a new phamplet on international human trafficking statistics. It was like a rock concert with nerdy human rights activists. Loved it.

What else? We've had a few more visitors... Julie, Amy and Marrissa from the Ecuador trip came over for the IC convention a few weeks ago. We grabbed some sushi. Love those girls. Dre and Heather (Daniel's brother and brother's girlfriend) from NYC came for the weekend. We went to the National Archives and saw the Dec. of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and a lot of other crazy things.

This Sunday we are going to Baltimore for an Art Festival called Artscape. Should be fun.
The weekend after, we'll be hitting up NYC for our part of the bargin with Dre and Heather.
After that we'll be having a few more visitors including Mom and Emily!, another friend from school, and after that we start wrapping up to leave :(

Weirdddddd.

Love to all-

As promised....

A LOT OF PICTURES! :)

okay, so. excuse the messy apartment but I JUST took them because I didn't want to do another picture post in a while. All these pictures are taken from Daniel's iPhone.

bedroom/dresser

Daniel watching the food network. I think he was picking his nose prior to the photograph, hence the guilty face.

living room

messy desk! you get the point.

messy kitchen :( i promise it's usually clean.

outside hallway

Washington Monument at night. They're all better at night.

white hizzzzle.

Lincoln on a normal touristy day. If you look closely on the right, a woman is getting married!

ok so this was our neighborhood's Memorial Day Parade. Best. Parade. Ever.

DC Metro station.

Arlington. Kennedy's Grave.

Yeah we saw the bell in Philly.

Eating Philly Cheesesteaks in Philly. Delicious. thanks to Alex for the recommendation!

Streets of Philly. Lovely.

Amphitheater on the river.

We went to the National Zoo and saw the Pandas!!!

Me and a monkey butt.

The end :)

I'm having a lot of trouble thinking of blog titles.

Hellooo! I haven't forgotten about my faithful blog readers (all 2 of you!) Things have been busybusybusy, which is always both good and bad. As some of you may know, my MiMaw passed away last Thursday (the 4th), so I've been in Louisiana from then until mid-this week. Now I'm back and trying to get back on schedule with things. I took off from my internship this week, but I'm so ready to get back! I want to get out and do things! It's weird because I feel like I haven't really started yet, Tiffany's been on vacation, then I left for a bit, so it's been difficult getting a regular schedule going. Hopefully that will change soon.
I started my coffee shop work, which has been great! I think I'm really going to like it. I worked two days this week, but mostly just helped the assistant manager, Gretchen, close up the shop. I think I'm going to enjoy mostly working with the people. I feel like I'm lacking some solid friends here :( I didn't realize how hard it is, but without classes and roomates, it's difficult! Hopefully through my jobs i'll meet more people.
Daniel got a job too! Very exciting. Except now, we barely see each other. Haha. He's working at a very upscale resturant in Chinatown called Indebleu serving and busing. I'm happy for him!
Tomorrow we both have a day off (rare) so maybe we'll go somewhere or do something. The only thing DC lacks is a decent body of water. The Potomac is lovely, really, but I need some sand and a few ripples of water to make me happy.
Well, this post was mostly just to let people know that I'm still alive and well, which I am, so I'll write more later.
Oh and those darn photos, I'll get those up soon too.
love to all :)

Weekend update!

Where to begin?
Let me just start by saying I am typing this using five beautiful bars of internet. I don't think I fully explained before, but there had been a little internet... delay? Summed up, Comcast is a company run by a bunch of idiots. Well, okay, maybe I should give them the intellectual benefit of a doubt. They just don't give a flying hoot about they're customers. Basically, for 2 months Yola + Daniel have been calling them countless of times trying to get internet installed. Once we got here and we still didn't have internet, It became a daily routine. "Hey did you call Comcast today?" "Yeah I really gave it to them." "That's my boy!" The meaner Daniel was on the phone, the happier I became, I was beginning to turn into someone I wasn't familiar with, but I liked it. FINALLY, Friday between 5-8, low and behold our homie from Comcast shows up (In the rain!!) to install our beautiful cable and internet. Wow, just. Wow.
Next agenda item: I GOT A JOB! :) :) :)
It is at an adorable little coffee shop in Georgetown called Saxby's. It's a really residential area full of young couples and students. The best part is, she hired me knowing I was only here for the summer- I didn't even have to lie! How wonderful. Anyway, I start Friday!
Work is going really well. I only went in on Tuesday and Wednesday because Monday was a holiday. What I'm working on now is (I don't think I explained this before? Well here is is again!) an annual conference called The Freedom Network. Basically, the FN consists of workshops and panel discussions by social workers, legal aids, activists, government officials, etc. that all promote awareness and aim to end human trafficking. It's really cool and Qimmah wants to make it happen in DC next year! Sooo I'm kind of helping her out looking for venues, & researching ballpark prices. It's all in the beginning stages and we're not even sure it will able to happen financially, but it would be cool if it did.
So I guess here would be appropriate to talk about yesterday. Okay well, as most of you know, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is really rather close to DC. Well, after everyone raved about the super cheap bus line that takes you from the heart of DC to the heart of Philly and New York, we decided to take a day off and go. Everything went really well in the morning, I slept on the bus, we got to see the bell and Independence Hall where the constitution and Declaration of Independence were drafted, and the first Senate and court houses and such, very neat stuff. Then, guided by our lovely friend from school Alex Ariff (thank you thank you alex.) who suggested a bunch of really neat stuff (South Street, Philly cheesesteaks, Penn's Landing..), we wandered the city by foot, met some awesome people and overall had a good time. I have to say, going into the trip, I was hesitant. Philadelphia-ehh. But by the time it was to leave, I had found a special appreciation for the city of brotherly love.
That was until- we got to Chinatown to catch our bus home. It was run by a "company" in Chinatown that pretty much takes you from Chinatowns to Chinatowns all up and down the coast (NY, DC, they stop in Baltimore, Jersey, ect.). So our bus is supposed to leave at 6:30, and Daniel and I get there at 6/6:15, only to find out that our bus is stuck in traffic in DC and wont be there for another 2 hours. Okay, so we're exhausted. What the heck do we do now? We sit around, people are angry and getting refunds all over the place, but we don't really have to be home by any certain time so we (after checking the prices and times for the greyhound across the street) decide the best thing to do is just wait. So we talk to the guy and we ask him if it would be okay to leave our number with him and just wander the city for an hour or so and if the bus came sooner, then to call. "sure! no problem." You guys know where this story is going.. So Daniel walk a few blocks downtown and wander around. I eventually get into a fight with some street organizers who call me the devil because my skin is white. After about 20 minutes of Daniel reasoning with some crazy follower on the street and me quoting Gandhi and referencing MLK, we left and continued our journey. The full story can not be justified on this blog. So we walked around and eventually decided it time to head back to Chinatown and just wait for the bus there. We get to the place around 8, walk into the "office" and discovered absolutely no one there. Freaking out after about 5 minutes of calling for anyone in the office, we walk outside and recognize someone from the company coming home with groceries. So we run up and ask about the bus, and he was like "Oh DC bus leave 30 minutes ago." I was like, "You said 2 hours!!!!" and Daniel's like "We left our number with you to call us if it came earlier!!!!" and he's pretty much like "Oh. Sorry." So we go into the "office" and try and reason with him telling him the company needs to pay for our greyhound back and he claims he doesn't have the authority to do that we have to call the main office in NY, blah blah blah so we're like, give us our damn refund. And we left.
So we get to the greyhound station and the bus to DC leaves at 10. Needless to say, we didn't get home until 1:30 last night.
Philadelphia, I really tried to like you. You had the whole bell thing going on, even though I thought it was kind of cheesy, I appreciated you. I gave you a chance. Then, you give me black supremacists, a faulty bus system (twice), and did I mention we couldn't find an ice cream shop for like 30 minutes? Maybe someday, you and I will meet again, but for now I think the best thing we can do is just have some time apart to breathe.
Other than that. Steph and Kirsten came to visit on Sunday and we had fun. I was so nice seeing Steph again before she left for eternity summer camp.
Plans today include CHILLIN, enjoying the beautiful DC day. Weather has been amazing lately. Very, very rainy but it's nice sometimes.
Anyway, can't think of anything else and this post is crazy long so I'll end it. Maybe I'll update some pictures tonight. I'm well over due.
Love to everyone.

Week 1: down.

Okay, so first I'd like to thank everyone who is reading! I had no idea this would be such a hit! What an awesome audience, you guys are the best.
Currently, I am sitting in Ebenezer's Coffeehouse next to Union Station behind Capitol Hill where I just applied for a job! *crosses fingers* I also have an interview with Saxby's Coffee in Georgetown or Wednesday. We'll see! That's Daniel @ Ebenezer's. He says "hi".
Tomorrow we will have been in DC a week. It has been such an awesome time already. I am excited because tomorrow Vaasha (Hi Vaash!) is moving to DC for the summer. Vaasha (for those of you who are new to my life) was my beloved freshman roommate whom I haven't seen since because she is gross and moved to California. Then! Sunday Stephanie comes to visit (briefly.) along her journey across the East Coast. I'm excited.
Work is going really well. I'm finally getting into the groove of things. Tuesday I just did a few favors for Tiffany while she was in between meetings and such. I had the opportunity to meet a few of her clients, one of whom was just granted asylum which is huge. I feel like I'm learning more and more everyday. I'm currently reading "The Slave Next Door" by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter. It's so incredibly interesting. I feel like all of a sudden I'm being engrossed in this subject and I am really so incredibly into it . I was talking to Daniel the other day about it and before this I always said I wanted to go abroad first thing and help people in other regions that really needed it. Now I realize that there this is this HUGE, I mean HUGE issue in America that barely anyone knows about. I'm talking, there are currently OVER 50,000 trafficked individuals that are living in unimaginable conditions all over the states. It's estimated every year over 15,000 more individuals are trafficked into the states. They work in domestic environments, as construction workers, in agricultural fields, ect. A large majority of these victims are women and children, some are subject to sexual abuse in an everyday setting. It's really unimaginable that this isn't a bigger deal.
On Thursday, (since Tiffany is currently hiking the Grand Canyon, yeah no big deal) I met with Qimmah, who also works with BTCC and we went to a meeting at the State Department to discuss a phamplet that will be distributed to other countries discussing documented and undocumented worker's rights while in the US. It will hopefully serve it's purpose of informing workers prior to arriving in the states, defining what is considered abuse from their employer and where to seek help if they are found themselves in that situation. Honestly, it was just really cool being in the State Department. Haha.
Wednesday I had the day off so I decided to explore DC solo-style. Really all I ended up doing though was apply for a job at Saxby's and then I walked down to the Washington Memorial and read my book on the lawn. The weather has been beautiful. It was cooold earlier this week, but now it is hot hot hot. The summer's are apparently brutal. We'll see.
Anyway, it's Friday and I'm already ready for bed.
Last night Daniel and I watched Match Point. Eh. I thought Jude Law was in it! Disappointing.
We also officially finished season 1 of The West Wing. Omgomgomgomgomgomg. So good.
Tomorrow I think Daniel and I are going to go to the Smithsonian. Cool!
I can't think of anything else to say. I think my life is getting boring already.
Will write again soon!

First Day of Work!

So, quick wrap up:
Daniel and I, along with just a few pieces of luggage (haha, right.) arrived in DC around noon on Saturday. We cabbed it over to the apartment where we met Yola, the lady we are subleasing from this summer, and she gave us keys, and the quick run-down of the apartment. It's perfect! It's small and adorable and oh so cozy. She left all her furniture plus more, we are eternally grateful to Yola. Maybe I'll post some pictures soon...
So after unpacking, I couldn't take it anymore- I needed to run around town and see things. We walked to the capital building, which btw, is mind-blowingly gorgeous. It's so unreal. We started to walk further into the mall, but it started raining and we became miserable very quickly, so we caught a cab back to the apartment called it an evening.
The next day (Sunday) we explored DC by foot. Um, I would say we probably walked more than 5 miles that day. We covered the mall (all the monuments minus Jefferson... sorry Jefferson...), I love Lincoln. He's awesome. That was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
We left the mall prematurely because we had found a freeeee 26" TV on Craigslist in Georgetown (graduating student wanted it gone!), so we walked to Georgetown, about 2 miles from the National Mall. Why we did this, I can't remember, but it happened. So an hour later, we grabbed the TV and got a cab, in which I mistakenly tipped the cab driver $10, the math of this mistake is still unclear to me. Oh well. He was a nice guy anyway and I made his day, enough said. So mission apartment cozy is underway, the TV helped. Last night, Daniel and I watched Mighty Aprodite, in which Woody Allen plays himself, again.
This post is much longer than expected, but it's the first one so I have to set the stage for everything...
Okay, so today was my first day on the job! My supervisor, Tiffany, is great. This morning we met over at the Georgetown Law campus for an incredible panel discussion on Forced Labor and statistics by a variety of goverment officials and NGOs. Amazin' stuff. I mean, so many high officials were there. The director of Human Trafficking from the Department of Justice, the new Obama appoited Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking from the Department of State- Ambassador Lou de Baca, Director of the Office of Internation Labor Affairs, a Georgetown Law Proffesor, an American University Law Proffesor, and so many more... It was so informative and well done, and got me excited to start working!
After the panel discussion, Tiffany took me to a wonderful Indian Buffet off 17th St, and we hit up the IPS office to introduce me to everyone. Everyone seems wonderful, so grateful to have me and just incredibly welcoming. Side note: people are so wonderful in DC. Everyone is so welcoming and helpful. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I got lost today on the streets, and people were always willing to offer directions with a smile. Also, the public transportation is so easy here. I walked to Georgetown Law this morning, took me 15 minutes. Then, Tiffany and I took the Metro to the office, took us maybe 15 minutes. After work, I took the Circulator, which is a special express bus route which takes you mostly where Metros don't, which is more places than I thought. I spent about a dollor fifty on the Metro, and a dollar on the bus today. $2.50, round trip. You can't get that anywhere.
Tiffany sent me home with some reading material, and the advice to "come prepared to work tomorrow"! I will wear better shoes tomorrow.
Daniel just got home and I think he just fell asleep on the bed. Sigh. It will be a long summer.
Sarah




This is the view of the White House from my internship. Pretty sweet.