I keep on forgetting to bring my camera to places and take pictures like a tourist. Should start doing that. Anyhow, just realized that after this week, I'll already be in DC for a month. Time passes and soon my internship will be ending. Which is sorta sad because after the end of this internship I'm not sure where I'll end up, def not in school this fall but I could be anywhere; i.e. on the streets of New York, DC, SF, or even LA. Hehe...notice how I said streets. With my luck I'll probably be on the streets asking for passerbyers for some spare change. :) I really do hope this is just a joke.
On another note, I'm thrilled about DC. (or most of it at least!) Trying to minimize the drama! Trying to make the most of it and trying to push myself.
So this pass weekend I went Kayaking!! I will steal pictures (from awesome ppl that took pictures in the water) and post them up soon! Then I went to the National Zoo and saw Taishan (or in my native Cantonese Toishan :) ) the four year old Panda that recently spent its birthday with a four layer bday cake!!! It was made out of bamboo and other Panda goodies! Ended the night with the Lincoln memorial once again and played the "I have a Dream" speech on the location that the speech was originally given. It was an awe-filled moment.
The next day I went to the Portrait Gallery Musesum on China-block. Awesome-OOOOo! :)
Starting to love the city. Metro is too expensive tho and there's not enough asians/ asian markets/food places/ stores for asian goods but I guess its a learning experience. Extremely humbling to say the least. I now value my Asian American Studies Major more than ever. Realizing how lucky I was to have such community and easy access to Chinese culture and goods compared to the rest of Asian America makes me feel soo guilty for taking it for granted most of the time.
Working on Capitol Hill has also enlighten me to think more about the politic process and API issues. After doing a literature drop for OCA (Organization for Chinese Americans, pan-Asian advocacy group for the promotion of cultural, political, and social empowerment of Asian Americans), on the Portrait of Chinese Americans, and realizing that most of the offices that I went to thought I was trying to advocate for a "foreign policy" issue further frustrated me. I think it was the "xiexie" that I got from one Florida office that really ticked me off. These people, the ones at power are the ones that are the advocates for their districts, if these people aren't aware of API issues, how likely are these issues going to be written into a bill and written on? Diversity needs to happen on the hill, although there are asians (very few), not many are higher ups. This needs to change. Surprisingly, in the military Asian represent 5% which is reflective of the nation, we need the same ratio for capitol hill. More about this later. I'm sorta peeved. God I miss California and all my bffs!!
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