Half-Way Home!

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and the cherry trees will soon be in bloom! The causation/correlation effect between the weather and my mood is more apparent than ever at this time of year. The spring sun brings a smile to my face and the fresh air fills my lungs as I walk, walk, walk everywhere. From The Washington Center to Dupont Circle to Adam's Morgan to Farragut Square to Lafayette Square to Chinatown…. this past week I had D.C. covered on foot! It's the best way to feel the vibe of a city, to get oriented, get some exercise, and escape the metro. Try it folks!

This week also marks our entry into the second half of the D.C. semester. While Easter weekend is poor compensation for Spring Break, I'm taking the time to head back to New York and stock up on bagels and Bollywood (family and friends too :))! I enjoy my periodic Hindi film and the easiest place to catch them is in Manhattan. Also, Bubble Tea. Tried some in Georgetown but they flat out refused to serve it up hot (everyone always refuses at first, but my New York spot always agrees to do it hot on my insistence that the tapioca globules DO NOT melt in hot tea).

NY "everything" Bagel + Wasabi cream cheese + Lox = Breakfast Bliss

Hot Bubble Tea

Bolly "Masala" wood

Oh, and by the way, I decided to abandon Part 3 of the brunch series since the weather is now nice enough for you guys to do some exploring and get back to me on what you think is the best D.C. brunch. Enough about edibles.

The week has been productive and fun at the same time. I have continued my patronage of the Alliance Française by renting French films, books, and magazines as regularly as possible. I am also deeply engrossed in what I am compelled to call one of the finest books written in my lifetime, Gregory David Roberts' "Shantaram". And please don't ask me what it's about because one, I cannot put it in a nutshell and two, I insist you delve into this one and discover the "magic" for yourself!

Book of the Year

Yesterday, I had an excellent interview/chat with the Advocacy coordinator at the U.S. Campaign for Burma. I had originally sought a 15 minute appointment with her to get some expert opinion for my foreign policy recommendations paper on the unfolding political and human rights crisis in Burma, but our conversation went well over an hour and she gave me information and insights I could not have obtained from reading reports and articles. I also spent about 5 hours at Tryst in Adam's Morgan on Monday afternoon, reading vociferously for the quiz we had in class last evening, and discovering that I could indeed read, sip tea, and listen to music all at the same time. Way to multi-task!

Our Chief of Staff just decided to close down the office on Friday, which makes me happy but also throws off my plans since I set up an informational interview at 4 p.m. If I had known we were going to be off, I would've scheduled it for next week and left for NYC on the morning bus. Actually, I'm going to try and re-schedule NOW!

Oh and I have 45 minutes to get to the D.C. Cares Orientation - time to turn on multi-task mode once again (been doing that a lot lately)!

Bon week-end!