Chili 'Cause It's Chilly and a Cold in the Cold

Hello all!

Since I've posted, I have visited a couple of key places. I got into the White House! Tours are back on and were announced sometime mid-October and my intern coordinator requested for me to get approved to visit the House. He put down all the days that I have left here in DC as the office was willing to let me go during work hours. I got a spot on the first day, this past Tuesday, and the wait out in the cold may have been long, but it was worth it. Visitors are only allowed in the East Wing and though the First Family was home (save for the President who was in Bethesda, MD at the time), I did not glimpse any of them. The Red Room was my favorite by far. It was so warm and bright.

On Wednesday, I visited the Supreme Court and saw the latter half of an oral argument. By far the coolest thing I have seen here in DC. It was a case about class action lawsuits. Just seeing all the justices on the high bench gave me chills. Some seemed to be just lounging, which was funny, but some were pretty attentive to the attorney on the podium. There were a couple of jokes here and there too which was unexpected but appreciated.

Tours were hectic in the office because of the number of people who flew up for the football game. On Saturday, we got up early--like 5:30am early--so that we could get on the metro to Branch Ave in Maryland where we were getting picked up by UH Alum so we could drive to the stadium. The tailgate hosted by the UHAA wasn't like your typical tailgate--catered food, green-and-white-tablecoth covered round tables underneath a huge white tent, live entertainment, and of course alcohol. We helped out with registration and check-in and also got to have some free BBQ-style food. We watched the Naval Academy march into the stadium from our seats then went over to the Navy side where the Midship Men stood. 

We lost the game, which was sad because so many people flew all the way up here, but oh well. I spent the entire day out in the cold and despite my thick jacket with the fluffy fur-lined hood, I still felt the aftereffects of doing so yesterday. I didn't get up until 4pm, having slept all day due to a slight cold. But I am all better now, luckily! It is getting colder and colder and the forecast actually predicts a 40 percent chance of snow flurries in the morning tomorrow! I am keeping my gloved fingers crossed and am wearing my white coat in celebration!

I am excited for the snow but am hoping that the leaves will stick around for a while longer. It seems that fall is more short-lived here in DC compared to other places, mostly because we are in the mid-Atlantic and closer to the south.

I am keeping busy in the office, of course, and am enjoying every bit of it--even the irate phone calls all of the Congressional offices are getting these days. Yikes, yes, but still makes up an awesome experience.

Number of times I've been hit on: 8
Okay, so #7 happened on my way to the grocery store when a construction worker came up to me and said, "Hi can I buy you lunch?" I politely declined and went on my way. #8 happened on the same day on my way back from the grocery store where a man who was walking towards me stopped in front of me to stay, "Wow...you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen..." to which I responded, "I doubt it...but thanks, I guess" and kept on walking. 

People here in DC have mistaken me for the following ethnicities: 
Vietnamese (by a Vietnamese lady who owned a food truck)
Korean (the owner of the dry cleaning place I go to for my blazers, by a random guy on the metro, and the lady at the grocery store)
Chinese and Japanese (by the 10 Chinese journalists I took on a Capitol tour) 
Earlier today, the cashier at the grocery store mistook me for a Korean. She asked if I was gonna carry all of my grocery bags all by myself, I said yes, and she was all, "Aww you Korean girls. You may be tiny, but you sure are strong. You don't mess with Korean girls!" I was too flattered to correct her...

This is Happening

Things have finally settled down, in the most (and best) "unsettled down" way possible.

The first ten weeks or so here in DC have been rough and settling in got to be a challenge at times. There was the whole "Moving In and Buying Everything at Target" part, and the "Learning the Ropes and Getting Used to the Office" portion, then the "I Am Terribly Homesick" phase, and the whole "Bed Bug Fiasco" kind of put a stop and damper on things. And after that the "I Broke My Galaxy S3 Because I Dropped It" was saddening, leading to the "I Have to Buy a Not-So-Good Smartphone" event. And then the government shut down and then the shutdown ended and the office had to do a little bit of catch-up work, and now I think I can finally say, "Ok, I think I am good...! Whew!"

Last-last week was my ninth week in the office and I have experienced both of the drastically different "out-of-session" and "in-session" atmospheres of the workplace. I have settled into a sort of groove into the office workflow and pace, gotten used to the characteristics of staff members and the dynamics between everyone in the office, and am continuing to get to know everyone around me better. But there is still so much to learn!

I have been irresponsible in updating this blog--which is a shame because there have been so many things going on every single day that I want to remember, but at the same time, because there are so many things going on every single day, I couldn't keep up. But here I am trying to make amends and trying to be better (yeah, like, halfway into the semester...). 

Let me start by trying to paint a picture of what my life has been like for the past several weeks. 

I get up early in the morning--as early as 6:30 if I was not responsible the night before and have yet to prepare my bag, choose and/or iron my outfit for the day, and/or make breakfast and/or lunch, but as late as 7:10 when I go to sleep the night before with everything prepared! The mornings are now the coldest times--right now, the mornings are usually in the low 40s, sometimes high 30s. And it is bound to get at the very least 15 degrees colder while I am here, according to my coworkers!

I take the 8am shuttle (it runs every 20 minutes) from school to the nearest metro station (about a 20 minute walk away), and then get on the (usually) 8:10ish train towards Downtown DC area. I live on the northeast side of DC. Before the past couple of weeks, I was able to walk outside with just my work blazer and a scarf, even a skirt or dress without any leggings or tights on. But now, I have to wear leggings underneath my skirts and dresses and have a coat to keep warm during the walk, in addition to my scarf. And boots when it is raining! The leaves have not fully changed yet, but they are getting there! There were still tons of green this past week, but there are definitely more trees here and there that have completely turned to a golden orange. I can't wait for it to be completely like this--all the reds and oranges and golds and yellows!

My commute involves me transferring trains once and the whole trip takes about 35-45 minutes. I always get to work really early so that, in case there are delays on the metro, I am never late to the office. I start work at 9am and work until 5pm when Congress is not in session and untill 6pm when it is. Basically, most of my intern duties are in the morning--make coffee and prepare the coffee things on the table, make sure printers are all set with paper, check the messages on the phone voicemail, make sure our staff gets the daily newspapers (there are about four daily publications on the Capitol) on their desks. I have my own desk and computer and comfy chair and phone right by the door. I am literally the first thing that people see when they come in the office--well, when I am sitting on my desk, that is. 

During the day, I answer the phone. We have calls from other offices around the Hill, from different organizations, and from constituents. Hawaii callers don't start phoning us until after noon because of the time difference. I handle basic questions on the phone from who on our staff is in charge of a specific issue area to various constituent services like logging down people's opinions and making sure the Congresswoman and staff get these messages from people back home. 

I also open, sort, and log mail that comes in the office. Some are mail from constituents, some are publications, some are mail for our legislative staff. We also do a lot of constituent mail--the Congresswoman replies to every piece of mail that we get from constituents whether she agrees with the writer's opinion or not. So, naturally, I do a lot of formatting letters on Word, printing, folding, envelope-stuffing, and sending of mail.

I also do Capitol tours. When visitors from Hawaii come to DC, Capitol tours are available through the Congressional offices. They come in the office and we show them around, depending on whether there are meetings going on in our rooms or not. Then I take the group (I've taken 10 at the most and as little as just one person) and show them the rotunda in our building. Then we go to the basement and go through the tunnel system (the office buildings, the Capitol, and the Library of Congress are all connected through tunnels so I never really go outside when I am running around the entire Hill) and I take them to the Capitol Visitor Center where King Kamehameha has a statue. Then we head to the Capitol and I show them several key rooms and statues and paintings and we also make sure to take our visitors to Hawaii-specific things like the Father Damien statue, two Hawaii paintings in one of the Capitol hallways, the Senate Appropriations committee room where Senator Inouye used to be, etc. Tours last a little less than two hours and we get them in waves. Sometimes I will have a week packed with tours (like, next week will be packed because people who are coming up for the UH game are all here!), but sometimes we will have no tours in a week, so it varies. 

Those are all my regular intern duties. In addition to that, I am really thankful that our office staff has decided to trust me with bigger assignments early on in my internship. I attend staff briefings on behalf of our legislative staff and then write memos for them later on, summarizing what was discussed and/or presented in the briefing. I also attend hearings different presentations. Recently, my biggest assignment so far has been to research a specific bill that was brought to our attention because a lot of people back home wrote letters in support of it. So one of the legislative assistants told me to research the bill, its implications, analyze the details of it, and then to write him a memo as a way of reporting back to him. The idea was to make a recommendation at the end of my research and memo as to whether the Congresswoman should co-sponsor the bill or not. He said that if it was good enough, I could be the one to actually present the bill to the Congresswoman and pitch my recommendation to her. And sure enough, I got to do it! I was really nervous, which was weird because the Congresswoman is really nice and she is so warm and friendly. I knew that she was not going to give me a hard time, but still. I was nervous. At the end, she decided to go ahead with my recommendation and I was then given the task of contacting the committee in charge of the bill so that I can arrange for the Congresswoman to be placed as a co-sponsor. I was also then in charge of drafting a letter that will go out as a response to the constituents who wrote to us about the bill to let them know the good news that that Congresswoman will support it! It was a long process, but it was also strangely rewarding and very education. I basically did what a member of the legislative staff does regularly: research a bill, make a recommendation for the Congresswoman. It was pretty cool.

After I finish work, I head to the metro and go back to school. Sometimes, there will be places that I have to go after, but usually, because I finish late and it takes about an hour to get back home, all I wanna do is go back to the dorms. Sometimes I go to the gym, sometimes I go and buy a quick dinner and take it home. 

On the weekends, I try to do things and see the city. Almost everything is free in the city so I have only been doing those things. 

Such has been my life! I am trying to post photos on Facebook soon, but it won't be complete because one of my high school friends who goes to Georgetown here and is also doing an internship on the Hill has tons of pictures of our outings on hisnice camera and he is terrible at posting photos. He will post them though...one day!

As a way of making amends, starting with this post, I will now be blogging weekly for the rest of my time here. I promise you that, so check back on Mondays!

Cups of coffee/tea: I am going to stop counting this because really, I have about 2-3 cups a day in the office from our coffee machine. THIS IS BAD.
Number of times I've been hit on: 6
People here in DC have mistaken me for the following ethnicities: Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese (so far, no one has correctly guessed I am Filipino...)

Getting Used to Being Away

I am full. My tummy is full of pho and happiness but mostly pho. 

We just came back from dinner. We went to a Vietnamese restuarant out in Columbia Heights called Pho 14 and they supposedly have been voted "Best Pho in DC" so we went in with pretty high expectations. And they were met! The broth was good. It was good.

I have been getting better gradually over the past week or so in terms of homesickness. Work is still pretty slow but it has gotten lighter; I am not so nervous anymore. I know I will be later on as I continue to meet new people in the staff and once Congress gets back in session again. But that's ok. I am not heartbreakingly homesick anymore. I am still homesick, but nto as bad. Yesterday was actually the first day I didn't tear up even once at all ha! 

Work has generally been really mundane office work--answering phone calls from constituents, sorting and logging in mail, etc. I was so excited to be sent to buy cardstock at the Office Supply Store the other day, only to find out that I didn't need to anymore because we had some cardstock in the office so I ended up not going. This coming week, I want to make sure to go exploring the tunnel systems of the Capitol grounds. I mean, technically, there is nothing wrong with looking at maps as I go along on errands and stuff, but I wanna be comfortable with this place and really know it. 

As the homesickness subsides, my excitement is still here, if not increasing. Tomorrow, we're gonna go to the Museum of Natiral History and then eat at a Korean place at Chinatown during Happy Hour or something. I am excited--been craving kimchee! 

Huh. Food would be the thing that makes me feel better about being away from home...

Cups of coffee/tea: 3 (I have green tea bags here in my room, plus I finally went into the Union Station Starbucks...BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE PEACH GREEN TEA! Sadness!)
Number of times a creepy guy has said hi to me: 3

Day One Done!

Done with the first day! Whoo! It hit me today that this is now school and the real world at the same time. Summer is OVER. I need to get crackin'.

The first day was pretty slow because Congress is still in August recess which means they are not in session. I got to leave early which I will be doing this first week so that I can go around and explore the Capitol grounds and the rest of DC for a little bit before the big jobs flow in. I didn't get to do that today because I had to do a Target run, but I will definitely make sure to bring either a change of clothes or a pair of comfortable shoes tomorrow so that I can go and visit the botanical gardens or something. That'd be neat.

I guess one thing that's been on my mind lately is home. I can't help but compare what I'm seeing here to what I've been used to seeing at home so of course I am homesick. I have never been this far away from home for this long amount of time before and when my dad texts me or I hear my mom's voice on the phone, I still tear up. 

But I know it will get better. The tricky thing is you THINK that thoughts of home will comfort you when you're homesick, but they don't. They make me more emotional. What works is when I'm listening to stories. Duk does that really well, so when I get to talk to him, he makes sure he goes on and on about his day so I don't have to think about mine too much and how far ahead and far away it is from home.

Okay, off to read! This semester is gonna be a lot of reading...

Cups of coffee/tea: 0
Number of times a creepy guy has said hi to me: 3 (REALLY NOW!)

This is it!

Well. Here I am. I just finished unpacking completley and setting aside the things I bought earlier today at Target. I am sitting at my desk in my dorm room in Washington, D.C. My internship starts tomorrow. 

Am I excited? Yes.

Am I nervous? DEFINITELY. More so than excited. 

I am terrified and doubtful and just scared in general because this is a new city and I am far away from home (4,953 miles to be exact, and yes, I looked it up). I am starting a new and very different semester which is not at all like school, it is more like a new job. This feels like the most real thing I have ever been thrown at in my scant nineteen years of living, so of course it terrifies me.

But this is another risk that I don't really get to choose to take, I know I have to take it. Because this will make me into the person I want to be: the world-changer I've always dreamed of being.

I am trying to psych myself out now so that I won't be so nervous tomorrow, but I can't. No matter what, I'll be scared and nervous the entire time on the inside, but I know I can't really show it. I just have to make sure I breathe, observe, and listen. And smile and remember how incredibly lucky I am to be where I am.

Cups of coffee: 0
Number of times a creepy guy has said hi to me: 2