nice reflections but not spectacular =P it's a little hard to imagine how the work that goes on inside this building impacts millions in the developing world huh....  

went out after class to explore my surroundings and discovered many sandwich places all around.. seems like washingtonians really like hanging out in these cool cafes.... unfortunately they aren't cheap though. also discovered the World Bank Infoshop yesterday online while at work... so i walked down to the store and it's amazing... the collection they hav there.. there are so many publications on development.... i was really excited looking at their selection, nerdy as it sounds. attempted to enter the world bank and IMF too but non-employees aren't allowed inside and security is really tight. so i'll hav to wait till april to do their monthly tour, to get a glimpse of what's inside....

i'm so schizo. today was much better than yesterday. or rather, i was just feeling more cheerful, so that's good. but it was an interesting day too. well had to ruch a response paper last night for my politics and ethics class yesterday night, which partially explains my bad mood i suppose. sat in a video screening "God Sleeps in Rwanda" during lunch hour and got to learn about the key roles women played in Rwanda in rebuilding a country ravaged by genocide. These women went through so much, but everyone's still emotionally strong and living with so much hope. puts me to shame really. i like how my center always has events, such as talks, book launches and stuff that i can go to. =) then i got to talk to my prof today and got to know a little more about her research.... i quite enjoy working for her and i hope i can really help her with her book. my translation thus far has been satisfactory and though i am not the fastest nor most accurate translator around, i guess i roughly fulfill her expectations, so that's good. and i am enjoying myself, learning about the ideas of this Chinese intellectual, Kang Xiaoguang. haha. that is quite random. and on the way back to my dorm room i met the black janitor who came to our room to clean up last week, whom my roommate very politely thanked. and so i said hi to him and to my surprise he was very pleased maybe and passed me this hiphop cd with 3 songs. haha. that was really random; i only regret how i dun really know how to appreciate hiphop...
and my roommate somehow pointed out that i was a little discriminatory, that i only liked to talk to my Singaporean frens online. hmm i was quite upset for a while, but i guess it was good that she was frank enough to tell me that... i guess i do things so subconsciously and i dun really know how ppl feel about me doing what i do, or what i don't do. but i'll try to talk more to her i guess and be more open and try to be more receptive towards new ppl i meet. in fact, it was actually a good reminder for me. why did i come here? did i come here to be sticky and AS just like i was in my own room or did i come here to accomplish something else and learn? i guess these are some things for me to think about. haha but i do miss my nice cosy full bed and comforter in my Albany room. and my nice toilet, and the good shower.

guess the initial excitement of being in a new place is wearing out and i'm beginning to think about what my next 15 or so weeks here will be like... nothing is bad at this moment but i'm just thinking i might get tired of having to read in the library everyday... or having to be around people you have to be cordial to consciously everytime.... i guess it will be kinda tiring. but oh well... i guess my worryey self has returned to haunt me today... and worried i will end up not writing a good research paper, that i will feel very lonely when everyone else is happening and i'm just hanging around at home... that i might get too clingey messaging ppl who come online to ask them how they are when they are going about their own lives... but i guess one good thing is that i have so much work that i cannot possibly spend a lot of time worrying. so that's good. if i can actually focus and concentrate on what i have to do that is....
well perhaps i can be consoled that i discovered two malaysian restaurants two blocks away from home on my way back from work today... i suppose i can treat myself to some yummy dishes when i'm feeling homesick =P

read about one chapter of my chinese book today in the Woodrow Wilson Library. bumped into my internship officer at the lunchroom and some other scholar from UK joined us and i was feeling all weird trying to fit into the conversation.... but it was fine i suppose. just a little intimidating how during lunch all the scholars working there go for lunch there and i'm like hmm... i'll just hide in one corner haha. but no lah didn't intentionally do that...set in a talk in the auditorium but got bored listening to them debating about republicans taking over congress... then went back to lib and finished up my chapter then went home. met two interns from Georgetown Uni in the intern room and they were pretty nice. hope i get to see them again =) and came home and did laundry.... and so ends my proper work day... lots of reading to do for my research seminar on friday... and the politics and ethics elective i chose to take... which is due on wed evening. but i havne't even collected the thick stack of notes yet. and hav to do a memo due on wed night... aargh. hope my eyesight doesnt worsen significantly by the end of the semester cos i foresee myself doing a lot of reading... in the library...
also tried to iron my shirts but i am quite bad at it. =( and bought starch to spray on the shirts, cos according to my roommate they make shirts 'crisper'... erm but they dun seem to work. and i feel grossed out how blotches of starch fall on my nice shirts and leave faint stains when i iron over them.... wun my shirts get starchier and starchier by the end of the semester?!

just came up after freezing for 10 min or so in pajamas under extreme cold after a false fire alarm... aaargh... after receiving news that it would snow today, my roommate and i went out so that we could experience the snow and take some nice pics. unfortunately the forgetful me forgot to charge my cam battery so didn't end up with many pics...
visited the D.C. Holocaust Memorial Museum this afternoon and it was a very educational but depressing experience. all the smithsonian museums in d.c. have free admission, so i might as well visit most of them during my stay here =) unfortunately the american art one will only be reopening in July 2006.
it is just so apalling how fellow members of the human race can be so cruel and cold-hearted. to use jews for medical expts... hitler carried out a clandestine operation to wipe out many disabled ppl, to 'purify' the Aryan race... it is so horrible to make ppl believe that they are going for a shower when in reality everyone is just going to be gassed. and it is chilling to imagine the extent of devastation and desperation the few ppl in power can create...
on the other hand, i'm heartened and thankful for those compassionate souls out there who went all out to help Jews escaping their fate. total strangers yet bound by a moral duty to rescue these innocent souls. i wonder, had i been faced with a similar situation, would i have had the courage to do such a thing?

a short excerpt from a postcard at the gift store, intended for a display showing a mountain of shoes left over by millions of Jews who perished during the Holocaust:

"We are the shoes, We are the last witnesses. We are shoes from grandchildren and grandfathers, from Prague, Paris and Amsterdam, And because we are only made of fabric and leather, And not of blood and flesh, Each one of us avoided the hellfire"
Moses Schulstein, Yiddish Poet

out in the snow in the vicinity of the National Mall...