Week 4

Well, I just got back from a class field trip to see Katie Couric at the National Press Club! Usually, it’s just a gathering of journalists who come to hear influential or controversial public figures, but my professor managed to hook our class up with some tickets for this evening.

I was studying journalism before I changed my major to social work, so there’s still a part of me that loves the excitement of a media frenzy. When I was choosing a class to take here at The Washington Center, I purposely picked a media-related class because I figured I’d be right in the middle of it. Needless to say, tonight was a great time!


The past week has been a little bit slower-paced. With no major protests to wander into this week, I’ve been trying to catch up on work for my other classes. Exciting, I know. ;-) On Friday night, I hung out with my coworkers in Arlington for happy hour and headed home to watch a movie with my roommates. It was then that made the tragic discovery that our TV has no jack for a DVD player, but we still survived the weekend! Between baseball season winding down and football season starting up, who really needs a DVD player anyway?

As for work, I think the craziness is thankfully dying down a little! I’m getting to meet some of the families face-to-face that we’ve been working hard to settle, which is really neat. Right now, I’m partnering up with a coworker to try to organize the pre-employment training materials a little better. We’re making new worksheets and cleaning up old ones so that we can actually have a workbook to hand to the clients when they come through the door.

And I’ll leave you with a word of advice, you guys- If you decide to go the route of the Smartrip card (a refillable and plastic fare pass for the Metro) REGISTER IT! I lost mine yesterday and they just transferred my balance to another card. So if you’re anything like me and you lose stuff easily, this can be a lifesaver!

On that note, I’m off to bed!

Week 3

It's so hard to believe that another week has gone by! I'm learning pretty quickly that there's never really a dull moment here in Washington. This past weekend was the first time I've really been able to get out and not worry about much homework. I'm taking two classes from Belmont on top of my TWC stuff, so it was a little hectic at first. On Saturday morning, though, I met a friend from work in Chinatown to do some shopping and hang out for the afternoon. We got some bubble tea and walked down towards the Capitol, where we'd heard about this huge anti-war demonstration happening. When else am I going to see 100,000 people march on the Capitol, right? If nothing else, we figured it was a great excuse for people-watching.

My friend and I managed to elbow our way into the middle of it and listen to people’s stories while snapping some decent photos. What an experience.

Things at work have been pretty crazy, too. Last week, many of my coworkers and clients celebrated both the beginning of Ramadan and the Ethiopian millennium. I’ve never seen so much food come through an office in one week! We’re also settling so many families right that we keep running out of supplies and furniture. It’s been really neat to see the entire office pull together and make do with what we have, though. It’s times like these where I really start to see that you sort of become a jack-of-all-trades when you work at a small non-profit. One minute, I’m designing a brochure. The next minute, I’m helping a client fill out a green card application. Today, I was digging around in a storage shed trying to find twin sheets to give to a family that’s flying in tonight from Iraq.

In between all of that craziness, TWC has kept me pretty busy. We got to go to the Department of the Interior this week to hear former Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta speak. This sounded like it would be really boring, to be honest, but what a neat guy! He was apparently one of the Japanese Americans held in an internment camp during World War II, and somehow went from that point to serving under two presidents.

That’s all for now! As many of our clients say, ma'assalama.

September 11th, 2007

Well, it was a weird day in Washington. Today marked six years since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and just about every high-rise I can see has a huge flag draped across at least one side of it. It was almost surreal to see them all displayed at once on my way to the Metro this morning.

On a much brighter note, though, my first full week of work did not disappoint. I’m getting to know my coworkers a little better and even got to go to a business seminar with them on Thursday and see General Colin Powell speak! Sugar Ray (the boxer, not the band) was there, too, and it was really neat to be able to hear him. Unfortunately, 15,000 people pouring out of the conference center downtown at rush hour doesn’t do much in the way of helping Metro traffic, but we all managed to get home in one piece!

Already, I’ve had some amazing experiences working with the refugees at my agency. And you’ll be happy to hear that I’ve gotten the commuting thing down ;-). It’s been a really eye-opening week for me, though. I mean, I’ve worked with refugees back home in Nashville, too, but something changes when you’re on the job almost full-time. You start learning about people’s stories, and your own perspective starts to change. For example, I spent a good part of 9/11 sitting in a room observing a coworker who was helping some refugees from Iraq. The world looks a little different from there.

Also, I haven’t talked much about my class and program events yet (yes, we do actually go to school here sometimes!) Every Monday afternoon, we have speakers or events to attend with other interns from our program. I’m in the program called Advocacy, Service, and the Arts, and yesterday we had the opportunity to see some returned Peace Corps volunteers talk about life in the Peace Corps. As far as class goes, I’m in one called “Press, Politics, and Power,” and tonight was our second meeting. Apparently, we’re going to go see a live interview of Katie Couric this month! Call me a nerd, but this is pretty exciting.

So basically, I’m meeting people from all over the world, getting to see people and do things that I never thought I’d get to experience in my lifetime, and having a whole lot of fun doing it. I should add that I’m pretty much exhausted, but I almost think I’d be missing out if I wasn’t!

Week One

Welcome, TWCers!

I hope everyone has had a great summer!

First, a little about me: I grew up in Yorktown, VA and I’m starting my senior year as a social work major at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. After months of planning, stressing, interviewing and Googling, I've started an internship with Arlington Refugee Services where I’m helping out with a program called Breaking the Barriers, which provides pre-employment training and other services to refugees trying to make it in northern Virginia. I couldn’t be more excited!

I can't believe it's already been a week since the big move! Last week was spent trying to get everything set up in my new apartment in Arlington, getting to know my three incredible roommates, and doing the tourist thing. A lot of information was thrown at us at the orientation, but it was a great way to meet people. Admittedly, though, I was pretty happy to see the weekend.

TWC Ice Cream Social

View from my apartment balcony

While I was eating breakfast on the balcony Saturday morning (the weather has been gorgeous), I noticed a Farmer's Market set up on the street below. After checking that out, my roommates and I headed to Chinatown to eat at a great hole-in-the-wall Chinese place and grab some bubble tea. Since Monday was a holiday, I spent the day trying to unravel the mystery of public transportation and finish up some reading assignments for my classes in Nashville.
Today was the first official day of work and class, and it's been a whirlwind. The folks at Arlington Refugee Services have let me get my hands dirty pretty quickly, though, and after a quick orientation I'm already helping process some new clients!

All in all, I won't lie- the transition hasn't been easy, but it's already been incredibly rewarding. For starters, I missed my bus today by only a few seconds and had to hail a cab for the first time in my life! As a side note, people move quickly here, and I've definitely been run over on the Metro escalators more times than I'd like to admit (these people are very serious about the "stand to the right, walk to the left" thing). My internet also isn't quite up and running in my room yet, and walking to the grocery store is going to take some getting used to. I've decided that this experience isn't for the faint of heart, but being in this city is absolutely incredible. I've even found a cozy coffeehouse where I can hide out if I start stressing.

Lost Roommates

Right now, I can hear a serviceman playing "Taps" in the Arlington Cemetery just a few blocks behind my building. This means that it's time to go inside, get some sleep, and get ready for another exciting day tomorrow. This time, I'll try not miss the bus!