11/13/08, Wk 5: Nation's Capitol & a French Girl

My time in DC this weekend was a personal pilgrimage, reflective and somber, as I toured alone through the Holocaust Museum, the WWII Memorial, and the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial. By the end of the second day of walking and standing and WALKING some more, I was mentally and physically exhausted and extremely HUNGRY, having forgotten to eat lunch that day. For some reason I had my mind set on West African food for dinner, which meant I had to walk another mile or so to the subway, catch a train north to U Street and then walk another mile to 18th St, where the restaurant was somewhere located. By the time I was halfway down U Street, passing all sorts of enticing Ethiopian, Greek and Sushi restaurants, I knew that I was totally NOT in the mood for West African food, but for some reason I wasn't stopping at any of the restaurants I was passing. I thought, "What is wrong with me?" I figured there had better be a damn good reason that my feet kept moving.

Sure enough, right as I came upon 18th Street, I saw my salvation – a Salvadorean restaurant (my ALL TIME FAVORITE food of Central America!!!!!) with a HUGE sign hung out front JUST FOR ME that read:

"HAVING A HELL OF A DAY?"

TRY A SHOT.

I was TOTALLY having a hell of a day. While I didn't try a shot, I did indulge in my absolute favorite Salvadorean food: pupusas, sweet fried plantains, orchata, and maybe a shot of margarita! Oh WOW, it hit the spot. My waiter, Erick, was from El Salvador, so we spoke in Spanish and reminisced on his beautiful country. While backpacking through Central America in 2006, I fell in love with El Salvador. Two years later, I leap at any opportunity to bring me back to that experience!

Back to DC: There are no words to fully describe the emotions I experienced while touring through the Holocaust Museum. Anguish. Disgust. Outrage. My heart cried out to the millions that cried out but no one heard them. Waves of innocence walked to their death through a valley of tears, of torment, of utter hell on earth; a hell inflicted by their human brothers and sisters. WHY? For WHAT?! We humans create this world we live in, we create a world for ourselves and for each other. So why do we make it so terrible for one another? And to know that Genocide continues TODAY in Darfur… how is this happening again? The situation in Darfur is the first time our government has acknowledged Genocide WHILE it's still happening. It's STILL happening.

I chose to view the war memorials because my Grandpa fought in WWII with the US Navy, and my dad fought in the Vietnam War with the US Army. I'm grateful to them for serving our country. But once again while touring the memorials and witnessing the violence and significant death toll of each war, the questions "WHY?" And "For WHAT?" came to mind. I acknowledge that conflict is inevitable, among nations as well as siblings. But why VIOLENT conflict? A career in conflict resolution is of interest to me...

The Vietnam Veteran's memorial was my last stop for the evening. It was already dark as I began to follow the wall, inscribed with name after name after name…there were so many names of men and women who died in battle! I was surprised that initially, I was not affected emotionally, I was merely an observer. It wasn't until later on the long walk to dinner that the enormity of the memorial hit me…

-There were SO MANY people who died in that war.

-And my dad LIVED.

-I am SO THANKFUL for my DAD!!!

_____________

I'm also thankful for Juliana Bateman, SU Alum, who let me crash with her in DC! And for Sarah McHugh, Idahomie now living in DC, who met up with me one day and we learned all about whales at the National Geographic Society museum! Great to see you both!

I returned to NYC just in time to "pay it forward" with hospitality. A friend of a friend needed a place to crash for a few nights.

Meet Elodie- she is French, living in Dublin, Ireland, and we communicated in Spanish! Go figure. To say the least, Elodie and I totally hit it off! She treated me to a Knicks game and they actually WON! It was a great game, lots of action and cheering on our part. We happened upon the Empire State Building and decided to get a night view of the city from the top of it. In the elevator ride up I heard people by me speaking FINNISH!! I was dying to say something to them in Finnish, but for some reason I was shy. Two Ethiopian girls asked me to take their picture up at the top. Turns out they're from Addis Ababa, where I spent last winter, so they were shocked when I spoke to them in Amharic! We also ran into a guy from Ireland, north of where Elodie lives. His name is Rhunin. Great accent. I caught my first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty! She was a spot on the far horizon, but exciting nonetheless.

Feeling energetic, Elodie and I made our way down to the south end of Manhattan to catch a closer glimpse of the Statue of Liberty at night. We wandered a bit through the financial district, Greenwich village, and ended up in China town, wandering the streets until we found a place that was open for a midnight session of Chinese food. Yesterday we had drinks with a couple of NYC's finest eligible bachelors who work in stock exchange, and today we paid homage to Ground Zero and hopped a ferry to Staton Island, passing RIGHT BY the statue of liberty! Got a few photos, some sushi and then I took Elodie to the airport. It was a whirlwind of a few days, but I have a new friend to go visit in Dublin! Very tempting!

I'm pretty much exhausted now. But last night two more guests arrived, Jill and her mom. Both from CDA. They are a blast! So the excitement continues...

Hope all is well with everyone!

Happy (belated) Veteran's Day!

Hana T.