thought i wouldn't be able to get in today cos we were stuck in a human jam for at least an hour and a half before ppl started moving forward. there were loads of ppl today.... quite revealing how many of the ppl who attended were whites? having been here for a week... i dun think the racial makeup here in dc is that homogeneously white....
i still haven't gotten over the snow! today on the way home my roommate and i passed by a little park covered with fresh snow... and she xin xue lai chao and made a tiny snowman... and so we tried to take pictures. but i was careless and so the head dropped off. and when i picked it up it had a distorted head and somehow i coudn't shape it back... but it was fun... i want to make more snowmen =P but dun hav appropriate gear for it... i dunno why i am so drawn to snow even though i have seen snow before like at Tahoe.. maybe in the middle of a city with all the buildings and other structures, the natural beauty of snow just stands out more? and i love how snow kinda 'records' traces of everything... like i saw squirrel footprints. human footprints... fresh snow is just so pristine and beautiful.... =)

on my way to my designated standing area for inauguration.... 

SNOW!
and so it snowed today... on my way to work, when i got out of the Metro Station i saw tiny flakes and when the wind blew the snow was just like white sand.. very fine and light. and then when i came down for lunch i was pleasantly surprised cos the whole ground was covered with snow. snow on the roof. on the statues... on the benches. on the top parts of branches.... it was so beautiful. so i couldn't resist it. had to take a picture though when i went out snow was blowing in my face... i guess cos it's my first time experiencing snow.. like real snow... that time in japan was like almost no snow kindof... but when it was time to go home, the snow had stopped and the roads were covered with gross sludgy snow on the streets... good thing i wore boots else i would have gotten gross dirty snow on my pants =P then on my way home i saw snow on the trees and it was just so pretty and i couldn't resist again and took more pictures. though i must have been laughed at by passers-by for being so suaku and mad taking pictures of random things in the cold.... but i just felt for a moment that washington dc was like a giant 3d coloring book and then snow just filled up all the gaps....tiny crevices in buildings... everywhere imaginable... =)

the pretty 'aftermath' of the snow...

had an eventful but extremely cold day today. lips are cracking, ears are freezing off and vain me didn't want to put on ear muffs... but guess i will try to get a pair or something soon. else i will definitely freeze on thursday cos might have to stand for hours at the inauguration ceremony... tmr roads are goign to start getting closed off in preparation for the inauguration. i feel a little uneasy that every single day i never fail to hear police sirens when walking on the street...
went to the Woodrow Wilson Center today and it seems like a nice place to work at. but i dun get a designated workplace.. so prob will camp at lib most of time... met my prof too and she seems pretty nice and i got a few books on NGOs in Chinese! feel excited to start on them, yet totally inadequate to absorb its contents i believe. but will start slow. also visited Brookings Institution for a talk today... and felt veyr thrilled to be amongst so many intellectuals and like just soaking in the intellectual atmosphere was kinda exciting for me.. haha. i hope i will get to attend more lectures in future, cos my schedule is pretty flexible i think, so i can alwyas take time off to listen to talks at my own place as well as other places like Brookings... =)
also went to Georgetown Uni area to look... and they have so much shopping!!! they have H&M, Zara, Banana Republic, A&F, GAP, blah blah... but of course didn't stay long lah cos have to work tmr... but yay. preview. next time can go Zara and H&M... =P
also getting to know my roommate a little better and i find it amusing she has familiar traits... i guess we all know who goes to talks for free food?? well she has that kinda mentality too haha.

i finally understand how it can be totally torturous to be cold!!! it was SO cold today i think my nose practically froze... scarves are totally necessary and now i am really thankful i brought like at least 3 of them. i bet the wind was like around 0C today and it is really horrible. horrible horrible. so when we were walking from the Metro to the Capitol Building this morning and the wind just kept blewing and i felt like my lips were going to crack.. .i'm so lousy. then got laughed at by ppl who are used to East Coast weather. i thought Berkeley was cold... now i know... attending my orientation at the Woodrow Wilson center tmr morning... hope i get some really interesting stuff to do. =)

i walked past the World Bank, The White House and the Ronald Reagan Building yesterday before getting a free ride to Chinatown for dinner... all alone yet felt somewhat carefree. maybe it's cos nothing has started and i have nothing really to worry about yet. I think i will be working at the Ronald Reagan building and though it was closed yesterday, it seems like a pretty cool place. high security though.. there are security checkpoints at like every entrance... i was thinking of walking to work, to save money since every trip costs $1.35 and it isn't exactly that far... maybe 2 miles or so from my center?? but judging from how cold it is (for me!) i think i will prob freeze if i attempt to walk to work every morning. but i'll see how.
went grocery shopping with my roommate this morning and i was somehow re-acquainted with frozen foods, pasta and stuff again... ended up not buying much groceries and can't figure if i am going to cook or eat out. cos i really dun want to eat frozen food everyday. but which means i have to go and find a rice cooker. and like sauces. and all the cooking stuff... dilemma.
sat in, with shu, some mini RI re-union this afternoon, again at Chinatown. i guess it's quite impossible to not meet any Singaporean here... even though i didn't even mean to. After everyone left i managed to find a chinese supermart! haha i was secretly amazed how relieved i was to find a chinese supermarket. but unfortunately its standards are far from Ranch... they have hardly any fresh vegs or poultry and seafood and stuff... but at least they have most of the other stuff. dry stuff or whatever u call it. and when walking out of the supermart this old man suddenly came to talk to me cos i asked about an ATM machine and it so happened that he was from Malaysia.. what a small world. but somewhat interesting to have strangers wishing you well... haven't really met anyone esle on the program except my suitemates, who are pretty fine... guess i will at my residential and academic orientation later...

am sitting in the 3rd flr comp lab of the UC Washington Center, really sleepy after only 1 hr of sleep on the plane and another hour on my new bed and waiting to go out to explore a bit and look for lunch. can't use my own laptop till maybe monday till i get some network key. have no idea where everything is but i'm just going to go walk around, but i hesitate to even step out of this building cos it's just so so cold outside. when attempting to unload my luggage from the super shuttle van just now this cold gust of wind just blew straight in my face and i was like half shivering when i walked in.... but all seems to be good thus far! my apartment is really nice and clean and the kitchen, though small, is nice. i also got this tiny cool grey gadget called a sonitrol or something that gives me access into the building and the ability to use the elevators.... i had better STOP leaving my wallet, phone and keys behind everywhere cos there wun be anyone to 'pick up' after me or look out for me anymore...
am very happy though that shu and guoming decided last min to suddenly come visit me today!!! so i'll have some company for a few days... after which i'll be all on my own. but everything seems pretty exciting so far and i hope i will grow to really enjoy my stay here. =)