Anyone who knows me is likely aware of my tendency to push myself and test my limits, both physically, emotionally, and mentally. I also have a tendency to do things and get into interests/pursuits in extremes, both positively and detrimentally. When I am traveling (and in my normal day to day life) it seems I am always trying to cram 25+ hours of living into each 24 hour day. While this approach provides excitement and interesting experiences, it also begins to have its toll on a person and needs to eventually be balanced with periods of rest and recuperation. This last part is the part I have trouble with and continue to learn the hard way: getting sick from going too hard and not sleeping enough. Recently, as in the start of this trip, I again learned this lesson and ended up with a cold/sore throat and an overall less than one hundred percent constitution for a few days.
It is always important to take care of oneself and ensure one is getting adequate rest to allow one’s body to recharge and repair from the pace of life. I am beginning to see that it can be especially important to do this when traveling because of the constant changing conditions one is faced with at each destination and in between: different water, strange mealtimes, erratic sleeping patterns, new potential allergens, and unfamiliar weather. All of these things are potential stressors for our bodies to confront and can easily lead to sickness without adequate rest and care. Unfortunately this is exactly what happened to me in the first part of my current trip. Fortunately, this experience helped me learn a couple valuable lessons: (1) it is okay to sit around and do nothing while traveling at times and (2) accept that you can not do/see everything and be content with what you are able to do/see. Now that I have been able to reflect upon my first couple weeks of travel and see more clearly how I allowed myself to become so run down, exhausted, and eventually a bit sick, I realize how easily it could have been avoided if I had taken more time to give my body adequate rest and time to adjust to my changing surroundings.
My own experience is analogous to that of an athlete running a race or playing in a game/match. It is rarely a good idea to start a competition at a dead sprint as it will surely lead to fatigue and may end up hurting one’s overall performance or even costing the ‘race.’ Unfortunately this is exactly what I did on this trip. I was so excited when I started that I took off from the starting blocks going a hundred miles an hour and for the first two weeks ignored most of my body’s cues/calls to slow down and take it easier. I was so caught up in all the new experiences, milieus, people, and the familiar freedom associated with travel that I forgot to take care of some of my more basic needs. Looking back, I do not regret the way life transpired or wish I had done things differently; I do my best to live with this attitude at all times and remain free from personal contrition. From the time I was in Minneapolis/St. Paul to New Jersey/New York to D.C. to N. Carolina/Virginia, I lived hard and fast and ended up feeling burned out, tired, and in need of some serious R & R. In other words, I kicked ass during the first few laps/first quarter and then started to feel fatigued and eventually ended up puking on the sidelines (though it probably wasn’t that bad).
As I wrote previously, I do not regret the actions that led to my exhaustion and eventual (but temporary) sickness, but instead choose to learn from them and move on with my life. Since this period of reduced vitality I have made efforts to take better care of myself to improve my quality of life and overall sense of well-being. Although I still have the tendency to push myself too much, I have done much better and as a result have felt much better. As of now, then, I am just keeping one end of the candle lit and can see just fine with that. I hope this will help others relax and make sure their needs are being met. Namaste.
18 July 2010
14 July 2010
The People I Meet
Disclaimer: This was written on 3 July 2010. References about it being ‘last night’ should be thought of in that manner. Enjoy!
Quite possibly my favorite part of travel, and one of my favorite life activities in general, is meeting new people. Last night I felt the itch to get out and meet people in the Washington, D.C. area (technically Silver Spring, MD) where I am currently located in my travels. I had already enjoyed a full and busy day with my cousin Dave in D.C., but had a yearning that could be satisfied only through spontaneous mingling with fellow global citizens. In my experience with this activity, I generally have great luck meeting interesting, open-minded people who make for great conversation. Silver Spring was no exception to this and ended up providing me with a very fun and enjoyable night on the town. Here is a brief recap of my night and the characters I met along the way.
Prior to leaving Dave’s condo, I googled downtown Silver Spring and found an Irish Pub Dave and I had walked by the previous night. I decided it was as good as any place and began walking towards downtown. Google maps estimated it would take between twenty five and thirty minutes to walk the roughly 1.4 miles to the pub. I can not remember exactly how long it took me, I think it was close to their estimated range. The walk gave me a better feel for Silver Spring and let me enjoy a beautiful evening too. In no time I had found my way and was already meeting people.
When I initially sat down and until the end of the night, I was flanked by Georgia and Richard. Georgia is a local, born and raised Silver Springs native while Richard was born and raised in Trinidad. He is now a US Citizen and he has been serving with the US Armed Forces (Navy) for nearly fifteen years! Richard was a very kind and open-minded individual. It was fascinating to hear his life story: growing up in Trinidad, moving to the United States in early adulthood, applying for US citizenship and all its hassles, and his current/recent military life. He said he still has not found his passion in life and described the military as “a very broad and safe career.” Richard also told me how old he was, and when he said he was thirty eight I could hardly believe him. I honestly thought he was in his mid to late twenties or early thirties at the most, but not that old. Richard not only looked young and fit, but had youthful energy and still seemed excited about life and what he plans to do with it. I very much enjoyed this about him, and am thankful I had the opportunity to meet him.
Sitting alongside Georgia was Charmaine, who grew up in Bangor, Maine and Boston Massachusetts. Georgia is full blooded Greek, but has always lived in the United States and Charmaine is African-American (and beautiful as well). After talking with Charmaine for awhile she told me about her job as a Special Education Counselor/Coach at an agency that works with troubled and at-risk youth who also have developmental disabilities. This commonality between Charmaine and I allowed us to talk easily and share stories from ‘the trenches’ of teaching troubled and disadvantaged youth. She liked my desire/plan to move overseas and teach, and I enjoyed hearing about the work she does in Silver Spring. As was the case with Richard above, I was surprised when Charmaine said she was thirty seven years old. Similarly to Richard, Charmaine had a youthful spirit and a lot of energy. It was certainly a pleasure meeting both she and Georgia.
After I had been sitting and visiting with the people described above, three African American guys walked near the area I was sitting. I immediately recognized one of them from the night before, when Dave and I saw him playing chess outside in the plaza of downtown Silver Spring. I was curious about the game’s conclusion and decided to strike up a conversation with him. I immediately found out his name was David, that he had won the game the night before and was 3-2 against that particular opponent, and he was from Uganda. This last piece of information surprised me somewhat, as I had thought he was from India or perhaps Bangladesh or Pakistan. I think he was just as surprised when I told him where I thought he was from. David and I easily began to strike up a conversation and soon I was learning more about Idi Amin and the history of Uganda than I had ever thought I would know. It was fascinating to listen to David talk about modern African politics and other associated things and even more interesting when his two friends, ChaCha and Von (?), joined in the conversation. Both of these men were from Kenya and had been living/working in the D.C. area for several years, as had David. Von did not do much talking, but as soon as ChaCha started visiting with us he really lit up and the conversation flowed beautifully. For the next twenty or thirty minutes the three of us discussed modern African conflicts and problems, difficulties with becoming a naturalized US Citizen, and differences between various parts of the world. All three of these men, especially David and ChaCha, were well educated, intelligent men who are aware of the world around them. It was refreshing to visit with them about their area of the world and learn things I may have never learned otherwise. During our conversation I explained my plans to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in December. My new friends were happy to hear about this, especially ChaCha, as his native Kenya, more specifically his hometown of Mombassa, is directly north of Tanzania (where Kili is). ChaCha suggested flying into Mombassa and said the drive from there to where Kilimanjaro is is well worth seeing. I will definitely keep his advice in mind and appreciated him offering it to me. In general I enjoyed my time with these men and learned much from our brief meeting.
As the night wound down, I began to part ways with my new friends and shared in a mutual farewell as we all wished one another well in our various life pursuits. Even though I will likely never see any of these people again, I will forever have the memory of the evening and time we shared together. After leaving I walked the 1.4 miles back to Dave’s condo and turned in for the evening having satisfied my ‘itch’ for the time.
Quite possibly my favorite part of travel, and one of my favorite life activities in general, is meeting new people. Last night I felt the itch to get out and meet people in the Washington, D.C. area (technically Silver Spring, MD) where I am currently located in my travels. I had already enjoyed a full and busy day with my cousin Dave in D.C., but had a yearning that could be satisfied only through spontaneous mingling with fellow global citizens. In my experience with this activity, I generally have great luck meeting interesting, open-minded people who make for great conversation. Silver Spring was no exception to this and ended up providing me with a very fun and enjoyable night on the town. Here is a brief recap of my night and the characters I met along the way.
Prior to leaving Dave’s condo, I googled downtown Silver Spring and found an Irish Pub Dave and I had walked by the previous night. I decided it was as good as any place and began walking towards downtown. Google maps estimated it would take between twenty five and thirty minutes to walk the roughly 1.4 miles to the pub. I can not remember exactly how long it took me, I think it was close to their estimated range. The walk gave me a better feel for Silver Spring and let me enjoy a beautiful evening too. In no time I had found my way and was already meeting people.
When I initially sat down and until the end of the night, I was flanked by Georgia and Richard. Georgia is a local, born and raised Silver Springs native while Richard was born and raised in Trinidad. He is now a US Citizen and he has been serving with the US Armed Forces (Navy) for nearly fifteen years! Richard was a very kind and open-minded individual. It was fascinating to hear his life story: growing up in Trinidad, moving to the United States in early adulthood, applying for US citizenship and all its hassles, and his current/recent military life. He said he still has not found his passion in life and described the military as “a very broad and safe career.” Richard also told me how old he was, and when he said he was thirty eight I could hardly believe him. I honestly thought he was in his mid to late twenties or early thirties at the most, but not that old. Richard not only looked young and fit, but had youthful energy and still seemed excited about life and what he plans to do with it. I very much enjoyed this about him, and am thankful I had the opportunity to meet him.
Sitting alongside Georgia was Charmaine, who grew up in Bangor, Maine and Boston Massachusetts. Georgia is full blooded Greek, but has always lived in the United States and Charmaine is African-American (and beautiful as well). After talking with Charmaine for awhile she told me about her job as a Special Education Counselor/Coach at an agency that works with troubled and at-risk youth who also have developmental disabilities. This commonality between Charmaine and I allowed us to talk easily and share stories from ‘the trenches’ of teaching troubled and disadvantaged youth. She liked my desire/plan to move overseas and teach, and I enjoyed hearing about the work she does in Silver Spring. As was the case with Richard above, I was surprised when Charmaine said she was thirty seven years old. Similarly to Richard, Charmaine had a youthful spirit and a lot of energy. It was certainly a pleasure meeting both she and Georgia.
After I had been sitting and visiting with the people described above, three African American guys walked near the area I was sitting. I immediately recognized one of them from the night before, when Dave and I saw him playing chess outside in the plaza of downtown Silver Spring. I was curious about the game’s conclusion and decided to strike up a conversation with him. I immediately found out his name was David, that he had won the game the night before and was 3-2 against that particular opponent, and he was from Uganda. This last piece of information surprised me somewhat, as I had thought he was from India or perhaps Bangladesh or Pakistan. I think he was just as surprised when I told him where I thought he was from. David and I easily began to strike up a conversation and soon I was learning more about Idi Amin and the history of Uganda than I had ever thought I would know. It was fascinating to listen to David talk about modern African politics and other associated things and even more interesting when his two friends, ChaCha and Von (?), joined in the conversation. Both of these men were from Kenya and had been living/working in the D.C. area for several years, as had David. Von did not do much talking, but as soon as ChaCha started visiting with us he really lit up and the conversation flowed beautifully. For the next twenty or thirty minutes the three of us discussed modern African conflicts and problems, difficulties with becoming a naturalized US Citizen, and differences between various parts of the world. All three of these men, especially David and ChaCha, were well educated, intelligent men who are aware of the world around them. It was refreshing to visit with them about their area of the world and learn things I may have never learned otherwise. During our conversation I explained my plans to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in December. My new friends were happy to hear about this, especially ChaCha, as his native Kenya, more specifically his hometown of Mombassa, is directly north of Tanzania (where Kili is). ChaCha suggested flying into Mombassa and said the drive from there to where Kilimanjaro is is well worth seeing. I will definitely keep his advice in mind and appreciated him offering it to me. In general I enjoyed my time with these men and learned much from our brief meeting.
As the night wound down, I began to part ways with my new friends and shared in a mutual farewell as we all wished one another well in our various life pursuits. Even though I will likely never see any of these people again, I will forever have the memory of the evening and time we shared together. After leaving I walked the 1.4 miles back to Dave’s condo and turned in for the evening having satisfied my ‘itch’ for the time.
07 July 2010
An Interesting First Day in D.C.
Most first-time visitors to Washington, D.C. spend their first day walking around The National Mall, visiting monuments, perusing the exhibits of the Smithsonian Museums, getting pictures taken at any number of historic sites, or taking a bus tour of our nation’s capital. My first day in D.C., however, involved absolutely none of the aforementioned activities and was quite unlike any other experience I have ever had. Overall it ended up being a great first day, albeit some minor frustrations due mostly to the confusing layout of the city. Here is a recap of my adventures.
I started the day in New Jersey getting dropped off at the MetroPark AmTrak Station by friend Joe’s parents, Howie and Sue. They are great people and by giving me a ride saved me from having to get up an hour earlier. I enjoyed a quick and peaceful three hour train ride that passed through the cities of Trenton, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, and Baltimore, MD before arriving in Washington, D.C. This short leg also included scenic vistas of Chesapeake Bay and helped me better understand the term megalopolis, as it passed through an almost continuous stretch of urban development, punctuated only by short breaks of trees and large expanses of water.
Upon arriving in Washington I had three main objectives to be accomplished for the day: locate a business to get passport style photos taken, find Farragut Medical Center for a short doctor’s visit, and go to the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen to obtain my Visa. The reason I needed to visit a doctor was to procure a letter/note stating that I am free of communicable diseases and fit for travel/living overseas. All three of these tasks were for the same purpose: obtaining a Visa for my upcoming move to Yemen. I could have mailed all of these things to the Embassy and received my Visa that way, but I thought I would take advantage of being in D.C. and take care of it in person (and avoid losing my passport in the mail!).
While still in Union Station, which, by the way, is an impressive and majestic building, I asked the first of many people for directions. This would continue to be a trend for me throughout the course of the day and allowed me to meet some interesting, friendly, and nice people of Washington, D.C. Nearly everyone I met tried to point me in the direction I needed to go and were pleasant in their responses. I have found this a great way to get a feel for a city and was pleased to have such a warm and welcome reception upon arriving in D.C.
I next headed outside in search of Farragut Medical Center and somewhere to get my passport photos taken. It was about noon when I walked outside and already the temperature was in the nineties. I had a general idea about which direction I needed to head and started walking West along Massachusetts Avenue. Nearly everywhere I went there were people around, many tourists like myself, but also many international businessmen/women and federal employees as well as some of D.C.’s approximately 5,320 homeless residents (I got this figure from the National Alliance to End Homelessness on www.endhomelessness.org). After walking for awhile, now on Pennsylvania Avenue, I started approaching a building surrounded by a seven or eight foot fence. As I continued to walk towards this building I realized it was The White House and found it almost comical that I had ‘stumbled’ upon one of the US’s most notable landmarks. This is one of D.C.’s interesting and unique features: everywhere you go or turn around there is a historic landmark associated with our nation’s history. Across from the White House I saw several protestors, one woman was protesting atomic weapons and another man had a sign outlining all the ‘evils’ he believed President Obama is responsible for, including the Rwandan genocide (a bit of a stretch I think).
Around the time I passed the White House I found a CVS pharmacy that offered ‘Passport Style Photos in Minutes.’ They certainly lived up to their claim and a few minutes later I walked out with my photos and one of my three objectives accomplished. The next item on my agenda was finding Farragut Medical Center (FMC). This proved to be a much more difficult and cumbersome affair, caused largely by the somewhat complicated street system of D.C. Rather than being a neat and orderly grid system, D.C.‘s streets resemble more of a spider web shape with avenues and streets going in all directions and meeting at intersections that look more like stars than they do crosses. In the time between leaving CVS and finding FMC I asked at least three people for directions (including a street vendor selling African dashikis, something I was looking for online just prior to the start of my trip; I bought one for $15) and walked past the clinic twice before finally finding it. By the time I got to the clinic I had been walking for a couple hours and was really hungry, which had made me quite frustrated and irritable. I should note that I was carrying all of my things with me this whole time, which consisted my backpacking bag and my day pack bag. I would guess this added forty or fifty pounds and definitely contributed to me being so hungry. As soon as I got in the clinic I ate my lunch: hummus and veggies. I probably raised some eyebrows when I whipped out my bag of lettuce and carrots and began dipping them in my hummus right in the waiting room, but I didn’t really care at that point. The doctor’s visit ended up being rather quick and I walked out of FMC with the letter I needed and my second of three objectives completed. One interesting thing worth noting is that the doctor who saw me is a North Dakota native who attended medical school at UND in Grand Forks. We discussed our own North Dakota experiences and she wished me well in Yemen.
At this point I had all the materials I needed to get my Visa, so I headed in the direction of the Yemen Embassy. Again, this was not an entirely straightforward venture and I had to ask for directions several times, which allowed me to meet a really cool guy named Cesar. Cesar was standing on the street doing some outreach for the organization he works for, which aims to provide education and other services to disadvantaged children. After asking him for directions we struck up a conversation and I explained to him why I was trying to find the Yemen Embassy. Cesar then told me that he recently got back from living and teaching overseas for two years in SE Asia. Prior to this he had worked with the Department of Defense in the D.C. area for seven years, but did not find the work he was doing to be fulfilling enough. He and I had a lot in common including a desire to travel and see other parts of the world, an indifference towards religion, and a passion for doing good and leaving a positive mark on the world. Cesar was really interested in my employer, Quality Schools International, and asked a lot of questions about the work they do. I was happy to talk about this and upon parting ways gave him my business card in the hopes that he will email me. This chance meeting was a wonderful surprise and provided a nice break from walking and hauling my bags.
Once I left Cesar I continued to head north on Connecticut Avenue in search of Wyoming Avenue, on which the Yemen Embassy is located. I knew I was heading in the right direction when I saw a sign that said Embassy Row, named so due to the large number of foreign embassies located there. Not long after this I made it to Wyoming Avenue and began to see various embassies representing nations from all over the world. To best describe Embassy Row is to compare it to the streets of University towns where fraternity and sorority houses are located except that the houses are more stately and the greek letters are replaced by signs denoting the nations represented. As I walked down Embassy Row, scanning the different buildings in search of a sign for Yemen, I found it fascinating to see so many different nations represented: Algeria, The Republic of Macedonia, Sri Lanka, Syria, and many others.
One might assume I had no more problems with my Visa experience, but the fun was not over yet. Since I could not remember the embassy’s building number off the top of my head and did not feel like digging in my bags to find it, I asked a couple walking down the street if they could point me in the right direction. They were very nice people and offered to look it up on one of their Blackberries as we talked. The husband asked me what was taking me to the Yemen Embassy, so I explained that I would be moving there in August to teach for a time. I then asked them where they were headed and was excited to hear that they are moving to Algiers, Algeria to work for the US State Department and were presently going to the Algerian Embassy to take care of business prior to their move. We visited for a few more minutes about this commonality before wishing one another well in our respective destinations. Now that I knew the building number and had viewed a map of the area, I thought I was home free. But the confusing twists and turns of D.C.’s streets got me again. I made the mistake of taking a left when I should have taken a right and started walking down Tracy Plaza. As I continued to walk down this street I saw a building with numbered 2419, the same number of the Yemen Embassy. There happened to be two Mexican men doing yard/landscaping work out front so I asked one of them to take my picture in front of the building, doing so because I was so excited at having found the ‘right building.’
I then knocked on the front door and began to suspect I was wrong when no one answered. I continued to knock and wait for a couple minutes, before calling the Embassy to further investigate. When my call was answered I explained that “I am standing out in front of the building, but the door is locked and no one is answering.” The woman at the embassy was nice enough to walk outside the building to look for me and was probably just as confused as I was when there was no one standing there. In a last ditch effort I walked around to the back of the house through an open wooden gate and asked the yard workers, now working in the back, how to get into the Embassy. The men, looking surprised, then informed me this was not the Yemen Embassy but was in fact someone’s home. At this point I was feeling somewhat frustrated and wondering if I would ever find this damned embassy. I was also getting tired of lugging around all my bags and I found it harder to trick myself into thinking it was preparation for climbing Kilimanjaro in a few months.
Nevertheless, I walked back the way I came and again called the embassy. I explained to them that I had taken a wrong turn and described the location I was calling from. They were then able to steer me in the ‘real’ right direction and soon I was back on Embassy Row and standing in front of the correct 2419 address. I then walked into the Embassy and was greeted by Ali Mohammed AlSalahi, whom I had spoken on the phone with earlier and who was staying late just to help me. I began to explain to him why I was applying for a Yemeni Visa and presented all of my application materials to him including my recently procured passport style photos and doctor’s note. He then asked me to provide the $91.00 fee to cover the Visa expenses. Since I had run out of cash earlier in the day, I asked if he accepted check cards. He told me they did not and that only cash was used. Having no other options, I asked where the nearest ATM was located and explained that I would have to walk to one since I did not have a vehicle. He told me the nearest one was back at the bottom of the hill I had just walked up on Connecticut Avenue, about half a mile away. Feeling much lighter now without two bags attached to me, I walked/ran back down the hill to the Rite Aid Pharmacy, grabbed the cash I needed, and walked/ran back up the hill to the embassy. In the time I was gone Mr. AlSalahi had finished my paperwork and he and I exchanged the goods we each desired: for me, my passport with the newly attached Yemeni Visa and for Mr. AlSalahi the cash for the Visa application fee. I thanked Mr. AlSalahi for staying late for me and he wished me well in Yemen. He also gave me his business card and told me I could contact him if I had any further questions.
I then walked out of the Embassy and after nearly five hours of walking/wandering around D.C. I had finally accomplished all of my objectives. As might be expected, I was pretty wore out so I contacted my cousin Julie to let her know I would be heading to their place (she and my cousin Dave were hosting me in Silver Spring, MD). On my way back to the Metro station I passed a small art gallery and stopped for twenty minutes to take in some of the art on display/exhibit there. I then rode the Metro to Silver Spring and was ripe with excitement to finally see my cousins and relax. The rest of the evening proved to be wonderful: the three of us enjoyed a delicious supper made by Julie and finished the evening by enjoying some great wine, including some Mead (a honey based drink made similarly to beer, but much better) that was made by a friend of them. As I went to bed that night, I reflected upon the events of my day and finally had a chance to realize what a ride it had been.
I started the day in New Jersey getting dropped off at the MetroPark AmTrak Station by friend Joe’s parents, Howie and Sue. They are great people and by giving me a ride saved me from having to get up an hour earlier. I enjoyed a quick and peaceful three hour train ride that passed through the cities of Trenton, NJ, Philadelphia, PA, and Baltimore, MD before arriving in Washington, D.C. This short leg also included scenic vistas of Chesapeake Bay and helped me better understand the term megalopolis, as it passed through an almost continuous stretch of urban development, punctuated only by short breaks of trees and large expanses of water.
Upon arriving in Washington I had three main objectives to be accomplished for the day: locate a business to get passport style photos taken, find Farragut Medical Center for a short doctor’s visit, and go to the Embassy of the Republic of Yemen to obtain my Visa. The reason I needed to visit a doctor was to procure a letter/note stating that I am free of communicable diseases and fit for travel/living overseas. All three of these tasks were for the same purpose: obtaining a Visa for my upcoming move to Yemen. I could have mailed all of these things to the Embassy and received my Visa that way, but I thought I would take advantage of being in D.C. and take care of it in person (and avoid losing my passport in the mail!).
While still in Union Station, which, by the way, is an impressive and majestic building, I asked the first of many people for directions. This would continue to be a trend for me throughout the course of the day and allowed me to meet some interesting, friendly, and nice people of Washington, D.C. Nearly everyone I met tried to point me in the direction I needed to go and were pleasant in their responses. I have found this a great way to get a feel for a city and was pleased to have such a warm and welcome reception upon arriving in D.C.
I next headed outside in search of Farragut Medical Center and somewhere to get my passport photos taken. It was about noon when I walked outside and already the temperature was in the nineties. I had a general idea about which direction I needed to head and started walking West along Massachusetts Avenue. Nearly everywhere I went there were people around, many tourists like myself, but also many international businessmen/women and federal employees as well as some of D.C.’s approximately 5,320 homeless residents (I got this figure from the National Alliance to End Homelessness on www.endhomelessness.org). After walking for awhile, now on Pennsylvania Avenue, I started approaching a building surrounded by a seven or eight foot fence. As I continued to walk towards this building I realized it was The White House and found it almost comical that I had ‘stumbled’ upon one of the US’s most notable landmarks. This is one of D.C.’s interesting and unique features: everywhere you go or turn around there is a historic landmark associated with our nation’s history. Across from the White House I saw several protestors, one woman was protesting atomic weapons and another man had a sign outlining all the ‘evils’ he believed President Obama is responsible for, including the Rwandan genocide (a bit of a stretch I think).
Around the time I passed the White House I found a CVS pharmacy that offered ‘Passport Style Photos in Minutes.’ They certainly lived up to their claim and a few minutes later I walked out with my photos and one of my three objectives accomplished. The next item on my agenda was finding Farragut Medical Center (FMC). This proved to be a much more difficult and cumbersome affair, caused largely by the somewhat complicated street system of D.C. Rather than being a neat and orderly grid system, D.C.‘s streets resemble more of a spider web shape with avenues and streets going in all directions and meeting at intersections that look more like stars than they do crosses. In the time between leaving CVS and finding FMC I asked at least three people for directions (including a street vendor selling African dashikis, something I was looking for online just prior to the start of my trip; I bought one for $15) and walked past the clinic twice before finally finding it. By the time I got to the clinic I had been walking for a couple hours and was really hungry, which had made me quite frustrated and irritable. I should note that I was carrying all of my things with me this whole time, which consisted my backpacking bag and my day pack bag. I would guess this added forty or fifty pounds and definitely contributed to me being so hungry. As soon as I got in the clinic I ate my lunch: hummus and veggies. I probably raised some eyebrows when I whipped out my bag of lettuce and carrots and began dipping them in my hummus right in the waiting room, but I didn’t really care at that point. The doctor’s visit ended up being rather quick and I walked out of FMC with the letter I needed and my second of three objectives completed. One interesting thing worth noting is that the doctor who saw me is a North Dakota native who attended medical school at UND in Grand Forks. We discussed our own North Dakota experiences and she wished me well in Yemen.
At this point I had all the materials I needed to get my Visa, so I headed in the direction of the Yemen Embassy. Again, this was not an entirely straightforward venture and I had to ask for directions several times, which allowed me to meet a really cool guy named Cesar. Cesar was standing on the street doing some outreach for the organization he works for, which aims to provide education and other services to disadvantaged children. After asking him for directions we struck up a conversation and I explained to him why I was trying to find the Yemen Embassy. Cesar then told me that he recently got back from living and teaching overseas for two years in SE Asia. Prior to this he had worked with the Department of Defense in the D.C. area for seven years, but did not find the work he was doing to be fulfilling enough. He and I had a lot in common including a desire to travel and see other parts of the world, an indifference towards religion, and a passion for doing good and leaving a positive mark on the world. Cesar was really interested in my employer, Quality Schools International, and asked a lot of questions about the work they do. I was happy to talk about this and upon parting ways gave him my business card in the hopes that he will email me. This chance meeting was a wonderful surprise and provided a nice break from walking and hauling my bags.
Once I left Cesar I continued to head north on Connecticut Avenue in search of Wyoming Avenue, on which the Yemen Embassy is located. I knew I was heading in the right direction when I saw a sign that said Embassy Row, named so due to the large number of foreign embassies located there. Not long after this I made it to Wyoming Avenue and began to see various embassies representing nations from all over the world. To best describe Embassy Row is to compare it to the streets of University towns where fraternity and sorority houses are located except that the houses are more stately and the greek letters are replaced by signs denoting the nations represented. As I walked down Embassy Row, scanning the different buildings in search of a sign for Yemen, I found it fascinating to see so many different nations represented: Algeria, The Republic of Macedonia, Sri Lanka, Syria, and many others.
One might assume I had no more problems with my Visa experience, but the fun was not over yet. Since I could not remember the embassy’s building number off the top of my head and did not feel like digging in my bags to find it, I asked a couple walking down the street if they could point me in the right direction. They were very nice people and offered to look it up on one of their Blackberries as we talked. The husband asked me what was taking me to the Yemen Embassy, so I explained that I would be moving there in August to teach for a time. I then asked them where they were headed and was excited to hear that they are moving to Algiers, Algeria to work for the US State Department and were presently going to the Algerian Embassy to take care of business prior to their move. We visited for a few more minutes about this commonality before wishing one another well in our respective destinations. Now that I knew the building number and had viewed a map of the area, I thought I was home free. But the confusing twists and turns of D.C.’s streets got me again. I made the mistake of taking a left when I should have taken a right and started walking down Tracy Plaza. As I continued to walk down this street I saw a building with numbered 2419, the same number of the Yemen Embassy. There happened to be two Mexican men doing yard/landscaping work out front so I asked one of them to take my picture in front of the building, doing so because I was so excited at having found the ‘right building.’
I then knocked on the front door and began to suspect I was wrong when no one answered. I continued to knock and wait for a couple minutes, before calling the Embassy to further investigate. When my call was answered I explained that “I am standing out in front of the building, but the door is locked and no one is answering.” The woman at the embassy was nice enough to walk outside the building to look for me and was probably just as confused as I was when there was no one standing there. In a last ditch effort I walked around to the back of the house through an open wooden gate and asked the yard workers, now working in the back, how to get into the Embassy. The men, looking surprised, then informed me this was not the Yemen Embassy but was in fact someone’s home. At this point I was feeling somewhat frustrated and wondering if I would ever find this damned embassy. I was also getting tired of lugging around all my bags and I found it harder to trick myself into thinking it was preparation for climbing Kilimanjaro in a few months.
Nevertheless, I walked back the way I came and again called the embassy. I explained to them that I had taken a wrong turn and described the location I was calling from. They were then able to steer me in the ‘real’ right direction and soon I was back on Embassy Row and standing in front of the correct 2419 address. I then walked into the Embassy and was greeted by Ali Mohammed AlSalahi, whom I had spoken on the phone with earlier and who was staying late just to help me. I began to explain to him why I was applying for a Yemeni Visa and presented all of my application materials to him including my recently procured passport style photos and doctor’s note. He then asked me to provide the $91.00 fee to cover the Visa expenses. Since I had run out of cash earlier in the day, I asked if he accepted check cards. He told me they did not and that only cash was used. Having no other options, I asked where the nearest ATM was located and explained that I would have to walk to one since I did not have a vehicle. He told me the nearest one was back at the bottom of the hill I had just walked up on Connecticut Avenue, about half a mile away. Feeling much lighter now without two bags attached to me, I walked/ran back down the hill to the Rite Aid Pharmacy, grabbed the cash I needed, and walked/ran back up the hill to the embassy. In the time I was gone Mr. AlSalahi had finished my paperwork and he and I exchanged the goods we each desired: for me, my passport with the newly attached Yemeni Visa and for Mr. AlSalahi the cash for the Visa application fee. I thanked Mr. AlSalahi for staying late for me and he wished me well in Yemen. He also gave me his business card and told me I could contact him if I had any further questions.
I then walked out of the Embassy and after nearly five hours of walking/wandering around D.C. I had finally accomplished all of my objectives. As might be expected, I was pretty wore out so I contacted my cousin Julie to let her know I would be heading to their place (she and my cousin Dave were hosting me in Silver Spring, MD). On my way back to the Metro station I passed a small art gallery and stopped for twenty minutes to take in some of the art on display/exhibit there. I then rode the Metro to Silver Spring and was ripe with excitement to finally see my cousins and relax. The rest of the evening proved to be wonderful: the three of us enjoyed a delicious supper made by Julie and finished the evening by enjoying some great wine, including some Mead (a honey based drink made similarly to beer, but much better) that was made by a friend of them. As I went to bed that night, I reflected upon the events of my day and finally had a chance to realize what a ride it had been.
02 July 2010
New York: A Walking Tour
New York: A Walking Tour
As I sit now, back at my friend Joe’s in New Jersey, I feel I am finally able to reflect upon New York and my experience in that incredible city. In the two days I spent there, Joe and I traversed over 250 blocks and twelve miles of New York. We visited two museums: The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), which collectively allowed us to view some of life’s greatest wonders, both natural and man-made; walked the entire length of Central Park twice and enjoyed lunch on its grassy lawn; passed by countless historic landmarks (including The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Apollo Theater, Flatiron Building, Guggenheim Museum, NYU and Columbia University, Grand Central Station, Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, and many others); saw some of New York’s talented street performers; explored some of New York’s famed sections, such as Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, and Times Square; and spent the night hanging out in Harlem with a good friend of Joe’s (and now me too!).
After I write all of this, it is almost hard to believe we packed this much living into such a short amount of time. From the moment Joe and I stepped off our train in Penn Station to the time we then stepped back on the train to head to Woodbridge (NJ), we were seeing and doing as much as we possible could. Each minute was filled with awe and wonder as I attempted to soak in and absorb everything I could about New York. Each block we traversed was a study in itself: the passing faces and the lives behind them provide an apt cross-section of America unlike perhaps anywhere else in the United States. Billboards, advertisements, scrolling marquees, shops, clothing, and other examples of pop culture tell the story of modern America and allow one to learn a great deal about our society and culture, both positively and negatively. From all of these ‘artifacts’ one is able to glean much about the values system in the US and better understand the image that is projected to the rest of the world about this nation.
As I walked around I also tried to imagine New York as it would have looked during its early years of existence. I thought of the millions of immigrants who came to New York seeking a better life and attempted to conceptualize what it would be like to give up everything I have and know in search of greener grass. As I ponder this, now retrospectively, I realize that my own upcoming move to Yemen is quite similar, and would like to digress for a moment to examine this similarity. Yemen, specifically Sana’a, will be entirely different from everything I currently know life to be: different language, religion (though this will not be difficult for me), culture, diet (something I am looking forward to!), transportation system, and so on. Perhaps the greatest differences between my quest and that of America’s early immigrants are the circumstances leading to my move. I am not moving to Yemen for lack of opportunity or employment in the US, nor because I am terribly unhappy or oppressed. I am moving because of a deep sense of wanderlust and a strong desire/passion to expand my world perspective and challenge my perception of life. I feel privileged, and indeed am, to have the ability to move out of my own volition and to move freely about this great planet we call HOME.
Back to New York, though. An interesting and somewhat ironic observation, or understanding, I made was while visiting both the AMNH and the Met. As mentioned in the beginning of this post, these two museums feature some of this life’s greatest wonders. The AMNH offers some of life’s greatest natural wonders including the great diversity of flora and fauna of planet Earth, the great expanse of the cosmos, and the earliest history of mankind, while the Met offers some of life’s greatest man-made creations including Egyptian artifacts and art; Medieval armor, art, ironwork, and weaponry; European portraits and sculptures; and an entire wing dedicated to Modern Art. The irony was this: here I am, in one of the busiest and most developed centers of modern civilization, surrounded by towering examples of mankind’s creation, and I sit studying some of the earliest, most basic, and, sometimes, tiny representations of mankind’s quest for autonomy over its milieu. In addition to this irony was the great disparity in the overall mood and environment between the hectic flow of traffic, both people and vehicles, throughout the streets/area of New York compared to the relative quietude and calm of these two great museums. These two museums were not without their own hubbub and liveliness; certain sections were much busier and noisier than others, but on the whole there was a noticeable difference in the atmosphere between the museums and the streets of New York. Perhaps nowhere was this more apparent than in the Modern Art section of the Met, which happened to be one of my favorite sections. This also happened to be the last wing or exhibit I visited prior to making my exit back into the streets of New York. It was because of this, I believe, that I noticed such a difference in the mood of these two environments.
In sum, I had a wonderful time during my brief stay in New York. It is truly unlike anyplace else and is rich, saturated in fact, with culture, activity, diversity, and human development. My only complaint about New York is that I was not able to stay longer. The great part about travel, though, is that it can be repeated and favorite places can be revisited (especially when you know someone in the host city!). There is much more I would like to share, but this short discourse will have to do.
Namaste,
JOE
As I sit now, back at my friend Joe’s in New Jersey, I feel I am finally able to reflect upon New York and my experience in that incredible city. In the two days I spent there, Joe and I traversed over 250 blocks and twelve miles of New York. We visited two museums: The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), which collectively allowed us to view some of life’s greatest wonders, both natural and man-made; walked the entire length of Central Park twice and enjoyed lunch on its grassy lawn; passed by countless historic landmarks (including The Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Apollo Theater, Flatiron Building, Guggenheim Museum, NYU and Columbia University, Grand Central Station, Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, and many others); saw some of New York’s talented street performers; explored some of New York’s famed sections, such as Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, and Times Square; and spent the night hanging out in Harlem with a good friend of Joe’s (and now me too!).
After I write all of this, it is almost hard to believe we packed this much living into such a short amount of time. From the moment Joe and I stepped off our train in Penn Station to the time we then stepped back on the train to head to Woodbridge (NJ), we were seeing and doing as much as we possible could. Each minute was filled with awe and wonder as I attempted to soak in and absorb everything I could about New York. Each block we traversed was a study in itself: the passing faces and the lives behind them provide an apt cross-section of America unlike perhaps anywhere else in the United States. Billboards, advertisements, scrolling marquees, shops, clothing, and other examples of pop culture tell the story of modern America and allow one to learn a great deal about our society and culture, both positively and negatively. From all of these ‘artifacts’ one is able to glean much about the values system in the US and better understand the image that is projected to the rest of the world about this nation.
As I walked around I also tried to imagine New York as it would have looked during its early years of existence. I thought of the millions of immigrants who came to New York seeking a better life and attempted to conceptualize what it would be like to give up everything I have and know in search of greener grass. As I ponder this, now retrospectively, I realize that my own upcoming move to Yemen is quite similar, and would like to digress for a moment to examine this similarity. Yemen, specifically Sana’a, will be entirely different from everything I currently know life to be: different language, religion (though this will not be difficult for me), culture, diet (something I am looking forward to!), transportation system, and so on. Perhaps the greatest differences between my quest and that of America’s early immigrants are the circumstances leading to my move. I am not moving to Yemen for lack of opportunity or employment in the US, nor because I am terribly unhappy or oppressed. I am moving because of a deep sense of wanderlust and a strong desire/passion to expand my world perspective and challenge my perception of life. I feel privileged, and indeed am, to have the ability to move out of my own volition and to move freely about this great planet we call HOME.
Back to New York, though. An interesting and somewhat ironic observation, or understanding, I made was while visiting both the AMNH and the Met. As mentioned in the beginning of this post, these two museums feature some of this life’s greatest wonders. The AMNH offers some of life’s greatest natural wonders including the great diversity of flora and fauna of planet Earth, the great expanse of the cosmos, and the earliest history of mankind, while the Met offers some of life’s greatest man-made creations including Egyptian artifacts and art; Medieval armor, art, ironwork, and weaponry; European portraits and sculptures; and an entire wing dedicated to Modern Art. The irony was this: here I am, in one of the busiest and most developed centers of modern civilization, surrounded by towering examples of mankind’s creation, and I sit studying some of the earliest, most basic, and, sometimes, tiny representations of mankind’s quest for autonomy over its milieu. In addition to this irony was the great disparity in the overall mood and environment between the hectic flow of traffic, both people and vehicles, throughout the streets/area of New York compared to the relative quietude and calm of these two great museums. These two museums were not without their own hubbub and liveliness; certain sections were much busier and noisier than others, but on the whole there was a noticeable difference in the atmosphere between the museums and the streets of New York. Perhaps nowhere was this more apparent than in the Modern Art section of the Met, which happened to be one of my favorite sections. This also happened to be the last wing or exhibit I visited prior to making my exit back into the streets of New York. It was because of this, I believe, that I noticed such a difference in the mood of these two environments.
In sum, I had a wonderful time during my brief stay in New York. It is truly unlike anyplace else and is rich, saturated in fact, with culture, activity, diversity, and human development. My only complaint about New York is that I was not able to stay longer. The great part about travel, though, is that it can be repeated and favorite places can be revisited (especially when you know someone in the host city!). There is much more I would like to share, but this short discourse will have to do.
Namaste,
JOE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)