Life in Washington D.C.

(Note: I finished this on January 27th, 2009)

So I am at the beginning of my 4th week of being in Washington D.C. as an intern for the Smithsonian and one week after surviving the most historic day in United States, the inauguration of the first black president, Barack Obama. To celebrate this momentous occasion, I planned on staying out of Washington D.C. as much as possible. They were planning for 2 to 4 million people in all to attend the inauguration and below freezing temperatures.

Unfortunately, plans don't alway go according to plan. The night before Inauguration, one of my roommates and I were informed that extra tickets were available in the Silver Section. So we and another friend of ours got Silver Section tickets and agreed to wake up at 3:50am the next morning to make the 4:30am Metro into L'Enfant Plaza and walked a mile to the line for Silver Section. There we stood and froze with a couple from Southern California and a boy from UMBC, sharing stories and scones until 9am when the gates were finally opened and there was a mad rush of people inside to get spots (Silver was all standing). In the midst of it all, we lost track of the couple from Southern California and then reconnected with them on the other side of the gate. After that, they ended up becoming my group's 'parents' for the day, helping us through the crowds and sharing their snacks with us.

The Inauguration was interesting in and of itself. It was both awe inspiring, the music from the Marine Corps and from the choirs brought in was stunning, both John Williams and Yo-Yo Ma played, and it was terrifying in its sheer magnitude. 2.4 million people (equivalent to the population of Utah) squeeze into the Mall, all the way back to the Lincoln Memorial and beyond to the Potomac River. That number doubled what was the largest Inauguration crowd to date: 1.2 million people in 1965 to the Inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson. Thankfully the area where we were in was relatively uncrowded (mostly because our group was completely fine with not being as close as humanly possible to 'Brother Barack'). The other slightly disturbing thing was the ability for the government to shut off reception to everyone's cell phones, pagers, BlackBerries, etc. during the inauguration. While I understand that it was to keep thousands of cell phones from ringing during the ceremony, the fact that anyone is able to do that is somewhat unsettling.

While most of the Inauguration went off nicely, there were 3 things of note that happened I found mention worthy:
1. The booing and jeering of George W. Bush as he walked out of the Capitol.
Honestly people, there is a small thing called maturity. It would be lovely if you had some. I understand that many people didn't like Bush while he was in office, nor like him still, but during the last few minutes of his presidency, at least have the decency of not booing him or chanting, "Na na na na, hey, hey, GOOD-BYE!" If you hate his policies, if you think he destroyed America's reputation overseas, if you feel or felt that he is a war mongering imperialist, so be it! But have some decency and respect your President, whomever it may be! At the very least, you can be quiet. I disagree with a lot of Obama's political beliefs and policies, but I didn't boo him when he became President. I cheered, not because I supported him, but because he is my President now and I have enough respect to do that at the very least.

2. The trashing and destruction of the Mall.
As I and my friends trailed around D.C. trying to find a way home (we didn't even try to get on the Metro.), we ended up circling back onto the Mall on our way to the Arlington Memorial Bridge. As we walked in the cold afternoon, all three of us commented on how terrible to Mall looked. In all honestly it looked like a riot had happened, not a peaceful transfer of power. One friend mentioned that it reminded her of Kenya, while another said that it looked like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Trash laid strewn about, flying everywhere in the wind, broken and disregarded U.S. flags, tossed into garbages and left on the ground. C'mon people... Not 20 minutes before, Obama gave his Inaugural speech and spoke of being more environmentally aware and being united. Don't tell me you already forgot...

3. The state of the Metro on Inauguration Day
Don't get me wrong, I love the Metro, every day they get me to and from where I need to go almost efficiently. But while they were telling everyone about their new 8 passenger trains and their starting up at 4am in the morning... they forgot to figure out how to efficiently get people in and out of the Metro stations.

Now, I know that I sound like I am dissing on Inauguration Day. I'm not. I actually had fun that day. I got to get to know Washington D.C. on a very intimate level. I found out that I could keep a level head in a crisis situation and I found a new way to get home from D.C. I found out that the Inauguration brought out both the worst in people, (i.e. bum rushing gates and angry chants as people waited in line to get in) as well as the best (i.e. virtual strangers looking out for each other, *nod to Katherine and Jay*, politeness and helpfulness in the middle of a flood of people, tireless military folks helping people 'evacuate' Washington D.C., etc.)

Overall it was a good, but exhausting day that I will never forget and that in the end, I am actually glad I participated in.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I'll try to report more about D.C. in later days. Have an awesome week, everyone and Happy Chinese New Year!