I'm in D.C.

Hello All, This past week has been quite eventful for me. I left all that I love behind to venture out in a search to answer the question that I've been asking myself for the last 4 years now..."What do I want to be when I grow up?" A week in DC and I still don't have an answer, but I have great stories that will amuse you all as I continue my search... I arrived into Washington Dulles airport Friday morning not having gotten much rest due to a mixture of airplane crampiness and excitement. With my sisters in tow (minus Thai, of course), I was ready to face DC. The next couple of days were shopping and sight-seeing and making myself familiar with my new neighborhood and city. The heat was intense...91 degrees with 65% humidity is something that I definitely have to get used to. Everyone keeps warning me that the heat is something that you can get used to, but the winters will be what I really want to complain about, especially coming from San Francisco where 56 degrees is freezing! I keep thinking, "Oh joy! I can't wait!" I am renting a house with two other women in the Shaw district of DC. Colleen and Jeunae. Colleen is 26 and Howard alum. She's was born in Wisconsin, but grew up in Arizona and has been in DC for the past three years. Jeunae is 24 and a Stanford alum. She was born and raised in New Jersey and then spent 4 years in California for school. The three of us are recent college graduates, so that gives us one thing in common. Our schedules are pretty different so we don't see too much of each other. Colleen is a homebody so I've seen more of her than Jeunae which I've seen only twice in the past week, both times were running into each other in the hallway. I live about three blocks from Howard University's main campus so my neighborhood is full of college students. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet, but so far I'm okay. My roommates keep talking about Howard Homecoming and how crazy things will get. I hope they mean what happens on campus and not in our house. I've met three of my neighbors. One, a married couple, Fleur and Dan. Dan works for the foreign service and was stationed in Germany until a few weeks ago. Fleur is happy that he's home. I'm not sure what Fleur does for a living, but she's always in the backyard looking at her flowers, glass on wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other. The next neighbor I met is a divorced police officer with a 12 year old son. He is about 40 years old and has a crush on Colleen. He makes dinner every night and then sends his son across the street with a plate for her. It felt like a scene from a movie. People really do that?!?! My other neighbor is a senior at Howard named Mike. He's 23 and likes to sit on his stoop. Oh and I almost forgot...I have a stoop too! I've always wanted a stoop to sit on since I saw Crooklyn...I try to sit out there as much as possible, but the mosquitoes are out and I don't like how they look at my legs. I got assigned to a temporary job in downtown DC at a place called The Greater Miami Conventions & Visitors Bureau as an administrative assistant to a very nice woman, Michelle Soto. When a company wants to hold a meeting or a convention in Miami, they would have to go through the GMCVB. We get all the meeting specifications from the client and book with a hotel in Miami. My job is answer the phones, type up sales leads, email meeting specifications to other reps that are involved with each client. The company is based in Miami, obviously, and Michelle does a lot of work remotely. It's just she and I right now and so I am very involved, more so than I thought I would be. On my first day, she gave me a crash course of the office and the business. With the seven years of administrative experience with N&F, I was confident I could take it on. After my second day, Michelle asked if I was interested in becoming her permanent assistant! I haven't made a decision yet, but it looks like I'll stay. Then there's KICKBALL. First I'd just like to say that I SUCK! I haven't played kickball since fifth grade so it was an experience. Our team's name is Bunting is the new Black...I know a lot to put on a shirt, but there it is. The World Adult Kickball Association (WAKA) is sponsored by a local bar called Nolan's which is conveniently located a block from Marie Reed Fields where we play. Adams Morgan is the area which reminiscent of The Haight in San Francisco. The teams meet at the bar before or after, sometimes both, the game to hang out and have beer drinking flip-cup challenges with the other teams. I played my first game of kickball and flip-up on Wednesday and I was successful in only one of the two...Of course I would be an expert at any game involving beer. I'm told I'm now an asset to the team. My team is co-ed and they are really great people to know. Garen, the team captain and the reason I joined the team was especially interested in introducing me to as many people as she could throughout the entire night. Good and bad. Pamela just moved here from Los Angeles, so we have the California bond going for us. Richard works at a consulting firm and tells me they are always ready to higher English majors for writing proposals...More on that when I get more from him. Kelsey is from Seattle, but has become very involved in the Bay Area's "hyphy movement". She wanted to tell her all about my growing up in Oakland. She even named her pet turtles...Mac Dre and Mac Mall...(Erin, I know you're laughing). And last of all there's Sean, who has an amazing voice. Did I mention that Wednesday nights at Nolan's is also Karaoke night? When he got on stage and sang Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel", I almost fell off the bar stool. These are only a few of my teammates. More on the rest as I get to know them myself. Oh! And we lost, but that didn't matter. We had a great time! Well, I guess this is all for now. I wanted to let you all know how things are going for me here. I will definitely keep all of you posted with every step I take in this awesome adventure. I miss you all so much already, but will press on. I'll talk to you all soon. MUAH!!!!!!