Days in Washington DC

The Library Of Congress, photo taken by Zi Ying Li

Located on the Capitol Hill, the Library of Congress is right opposite to the U.S. capitol.  It’s one of the biggest libraries in the world. The blockbuster National Treasure 2 shoot some scenes in it.

The reading room of the Library of Congress, photo taken by Zi Ying Li

This is the most famous room. It’s the top one reading room around the world, not only its size, but also its decoration.  It’s STUNNING ! The vaulting of the reading room is as tall as 16-floor. Yes, the number is correct: 16-floor-high.

The Vault of the Library of Congress, pohto taken by Zi Ying Li

More details can be read on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Library_of_Congress

Chinese version: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BE%8E%E5%9B%BD%E5%9B%BD%E4%BC%9A%E5%9B%BE%E4%B9%A6%E9%A6%86

The first link contains more information.

Jojo and I were so happy to get a chance in the studio room for radio program Danger Zone’s recording.  The program is a short talk show about latest hottest political and economic issues. The CEO of Policy Impact Communication Bill introduced us to the previous CBS producer Jay and the program host Richard. Thank you very much for inviting us to the recording. Meanwhile, thanks for PIC gave us two hours to go generously!

Mar 10, 2010 in a studio where radio program Danger Zone is recorded .

Jojo was in the producer room while I was in the recording room. Two of us can experienced different part of the radio recording.  The day we went to they recorded four programs. The last issue was about the tension between China and the U.S.A. It’s good to hear what American think about China. To analyze those opinions in an objective way, I can understand why most of the American think China as a “threat”.

Mar 10, 2010 in a studio radio program where Danger Zone is recorded .

It’s really helpful for me to doing daily digest. As Peter Herford said, daily digest can help  understand more clearly not only the society I’m living in but also the industry I’m working in. Because of the expensive cable fees, Jojo and I are not able to install a cable TV in our apartment.Ways for us to know more about the society  are  listening to radio and reading newspaper. Try to think and analyze what we meet in a journalistic way is also a great help.  No wonder previous teacher Da Jiu Li who worked for New York Qiao Newpaper said the best way to know about your world is to be a journalist.

Mar 10, 2010 in a studio where radio program Danger Zone is recorded .

The White House,picture taken by Zi Ying Li

Do you want a trip in The White House?

I wish I knew how to do it before I came here. What a pity that I don’t have a chance to get in.

The House is open to tourists, except for special days. Time arrangement can be checked on the House’s webside.  As a foreigner, which means you are not the citizen of U.S.A, you need to call your own country’s embassy for arranging entrance appointment. Some people may be confused about whether they are having American citizenship or not. The most simple way to find out is to check your passport. If you are still holding passport of other countries, you are a foreigner, no matter how long you’ve lived in the U.S.

However, as a intern you don’t need to worry about this at all. Just need to know it. And the most important thing is: call the China embassy as soon as you arrived here. Because the process of applying for an entrance appointment will cost you  3 MONTHS !!! Because of our internship only last for 3 month, we should do it at the fist day we arrive. If you are lucky, you’ll get the chance to visit where the U.S. president live in Normally speeking, you can delay your departure day, for example, a week, if you are not hurried back to STU for graduation. So there are still time for you to get the permission to visit the House.

Interns from Utah University who has visited the House said visitors are allow to visit the famous Green, Blue and Red rooms. Moreover, you can play bowling inside! (Is that real? Hey, future interns! Remember to tell me if you get a chance to be in)

The Washington Monument,picture taken by Zi Ying Li.

Keep following my footprints on D.C. internship official blog here. RSS are welcome More pictures and articles are coming soon.

Without people, architecture is only architecture. When you tear the building apart, nothing is left.

I love you because I don’t know enough about you.

A dog park, where dogs socialize.

The flea market.

HUNG TAO CHOY MEI, the studio where we learned Tai Chi.

I met Amy Marash at the Thai Chi class. It’s the first time I saw her, though I’ve heard so much about her through David Marash, my professor, a  former correspondent and  a host for ABC’s Nightline . She came in the studio with a puppy, looking so lively. She had lots of cute facial expressions and gestures as she talked. She is so much..alive, I said to myself.

We headed to David and Amy’s apartment after Tai Chi, with another journalist Steve. David told me that Amy was diagnosed with cancer last year. But she holds such a positive attitude. He believes that if anyone can fight the cancer back, then Amy is one of them. “And She made it!” said David, delighted and relieved.

We went out for a walk. Amy said hi to every pet we met. She smiled to the babies, chatted with a man repairing his house, checked for Rock&Roll concert information for me. She is sharing her joy and happiness of being able to walk around in the sun.

David said to me, Shantou is one of the top 5 best experience. But marrying Amy is the best. I was stunned, by the beauty in life.

They gave me a ride. As I was about to get off their car, Amy said,” Oops, I forgot to take a picture for you and Dave!” David and I laughed. Guess we are both comfortable to hide behide the camera!

Life is so good to be surrounding by journalists!

Amy and the puppy,Lulu.

I borrowed the book from David. What does China think, by Mark leonard.

A gift from my "gun friends".

I met three people who do gun business by chance. We had a wonderful conversation over dinner. We talked for more than two hours, covering gun laws, freedom, politics and even China-US relationship. The next morning when I got to the office, I got a big package of books as gift from them.

Guns are big business in the U.S. The gun lobby influences legislation that makes it easy to buy guns. Frank Desomma, one of my three “gun friends”, said “Guns enable people the right to overthrow a dictatorship”.

“But the government has bigger weapons,” I disagreed.

Every state in the US has its own gun laws. Mostly, Anybody who is a citizen, or legal citizens of the United State with a green card, can demonstrate the place of residence without a criminal background or a mental health background, can get the license to buy guns.

Carrying guns has been controversial in the US for decades. Some people who are for the idea believe that guns are to protect the people when the government gets out of control. Bill Nixon, the president of Policy Impact Communications, said guns are for defense, not for killing. “If guns were forbidden by law, then only bad people could have guns,” said he.

Reported by CCTV, there are about 30,000 people died in the shooting insidents every year in the US.

I heard a wonderful saying as I researched on the US gun culture. “God, gun and gut make American.”

I said, language and food are key to understanding culture.

I complained when I first got here, how come this land only produces fattening food, but they all say FAT FREE in their packages. I walked around the whole super market but barely got anything. Junk food, I said.

As time went by, however, I found myself falling in love with American food, and yes, junk included. Catherine and I had our first feast at Frank Folwell’s house. Frank was a photo editor for USA Today and taught at STU for one semester. It was actually Italian-American food. Candle light, wine, salad, toasty bread and butter, chicken and potatoes. I was so happy with eating that I lost my words.

The more I hang out with friends at restaurants, the better I understand that American food is not just about sandwiches, chips and soda with tons of ice.(That’s mostly what I eat at office, though) I had Crab cakes, the fried trout with cheese, Bagels etc. When you bite the Bagels, listen to the sound, “kha, kha”. How could you resist such wonderful food! The most memorable experience is having a hot dog and a Lemonade during a live ice hockey game. Good food, good mood!

First dinner at Frank Folwell's house.

A dinner at David &Amy Marash's apartment.

Fat free sause.

Passion matters, especially for daily jobs.

It’s my luck to share an office with Ryan and Matt, who are passionate of their jobs.  It’s a “noisy” room, as they say. However, I find it fun and educational. Because their conversations will never be lack of fun. Most importantly, I can learn a new world when listening to what they discuss and what they cheer about. Organizing events, holding fundraising activities, and any other countless stuffs you can imagine . Endless phone calls come one after another. It’s amazing that they can keep smiling, talking and working on different issues at the same time, all day long. Everyday is a “long day” for them. But they still keep the passion.

“I love my job!” Ryan said with big smile.

“Action First” is the name of their team.  To me, it reflects the American business style and their job attitude. That’s what you can see and feel in the reality show: The Apprentice. As a fan of The Apprentice, doing challenging project is  what I’m longing for.  However, I understand that a person can’t handle a real big and challenging project until he or she has enough knowledge and experience. So, as an intern I know I need to start from the very begging.

Daily digest is my main job. It’s the same as previous interns’ of J-school. Google Alert will mail me numerous articles according to the client’s set key words everyday. What I need to do is to read them and select the most important ones into the newsletter. Using a specific system with html codes, I will help clients “digest” everyday information then sent them the most valuable one. It’s a job with a lot of reading and analyzing. Journalistic skills helps me a lot. Normally speaking,  Monday is the best day. Because the email box will be full of three days information. Then in the following days, it will become tough . How do you do a newsletter without news?!  However, Ryan and Matt’s enthusiasm encourage me at that point.

“Keep working, ladies.” Matt said. Their passion influence me and maximize my journalistic information searching ability. But you know what, I really against “no news is good news” now, according to my daily job.

Sometimes, little assignments will come and add color to my daily office life. I get one of them done yesterday afternoon.  It was: find out the cheapest and best quality magnetic whiteboard. It’s like a race. Racing with time and racing with your colleagues. Competition is invisible and existing everywhere in office.  As cheap as it is, as fast as I can are the requirements. I felt excited when I finally find one an hour later.  Helping the team save 50 dollars of the budget ! When I heard “good job”, I couldn’t help smiling. That’s a feeling of success.

I’ve been in D.C. for almost a month now. Working here requires thinking fast and acting first. Business focus on efficiency according to my observation these days. It reflects on staff meeting and also colleagues’ daily work. Hit the point, don’t waste time.  It’s challenging, stressful but encouraging. I love working here. Hope there will be more assignments for me. Moreover, I hope I can involve into some projects

U.S. Capitol. Picture was taken on afternoon February 20, 2010., by Zi Ying Li.

After CPAC 2010 on February 20,2010, I finally have a chance to walk around the city for several hours in the afternoon. This is the first time for me to look at D.C. “carefully”.  Though it’s still a “carefully” glimpse . I decided to visit the heart of the America: The Capitol Hill.

D.C. is not as big as my imagination. In fact, it’s kind of  “small” if you have been used to living in Guangzhou, which is my hometown,  or any other big cities in China. Feel relieved to take a deep breath here, the clean air smells sweet. Feel free to enjoy the gorgeous blue sky, you don’t have that chance in Guangzhou.  Getting rid of the crowded and heavily polluted city, I find myself love the peace here. However, colleagues and friends here still find D.C. crowded. Haha, when I heard about it, I’ll just tell them :” Go to China and experience what the real meaning of ‘crowded’.”  Googeling “Beijing Road” pictures and show to friends from Utah, I can tell all of you reasponsibly: they are really shocked.

Keeping reading online newspaper, I feel sad about the place I grow up in.  I hope the Guangzhou BRT won’t become a joke.  I hope the 2010 Asia game will be as good as the government said. I hope those tuns of dust Guangzhou citizens have been sucked are worthy to make the city better.  Every city has its own problems. Yesterday, there was a 7-Hour long health care summit held in Washington, which was lived on CNN, Fox and other media. I wish I can see government works like this during Guangzhou’s developing. More aggressive questions can be spoken out, and more transparent the government functions.

The U.S. Capitol. Picture was taken on afternoon February 20, 2010., by Zi Ying Li.

There is one other things I want to talk about. I really like the airport announcement. It is: ” Welcome home U.S. citizens.” Which I hope can be heard when I go back China. Of course some words need to be changed. And it can be: “Welcome home China citizens.”  But the most seen slogan is “Welcome foreign guests.”

The Library of Congress. Picture was taken on afternoon February 20, 2010., by Zi Ying Li.

Seems there are too much emotional expression above. Here is the other famous landmark on Capitol Hill. It’s the Library of Congress, which we’ve seen in the blockbuster called National Treasure. It’s kind of a pity that I don’t have enough time to go inside. Because public visiting time ends at 4:30p.m. Hope I can take more pictures and share with you next week.

The Library of Congress. Picture was taken on afternoon February 20, 2010., by Zi Ying Li.

Last but not least, Supreme Court is right next to the Library of Congress.

The Supreme Court. Picture was taken on afternoon February 20, 2010., by Zi Ying Li.

I went out to interview people. But I didn’t expect to be interviewed by others.

Two journalism students asked me one question and I kept talking for about ten minutes.

When I finally shut up, I thought of Peter Arnett. You can hardly get to your second question before you run out of time when interviewing him.

Anyway,  conducting interviews and being interviewed are both so much fun.