Washington DC - Day 12 (June 4, 2005)

Today Salman and I drove to Baltimore (or close to it). We were to meet with Salman's friend, Feysal and several of his friends, for lunch and stuff. The place where we all met up was Jillian's, at the Arundel Mills. Jillian is a combination of restaurant, bowling, billiards, bar, arcade, and some other stuff. It's very much like Dave & Buster, which Salman and I also visited the night before for a birthday invitation, but twice or thrice larger. So the familiarity with the scene was still lingering.

There were eventually six of us that afternoon, and after finished with the lunch we all headed to the pool room. The six of us split into two tables, playing a simple 3x3 (where you claim your number range, and try shooting the other 2 people's balls). The last time I played pool before was with Christa in late February, when I was visiting Bloomington. I didn't play pool often and I'm not good anyway, I'm just barely average. So yeah, I lost, comin in the 3rd and 2nd for the second table.

Then, we hang around Arundel Mills, a large complex of shopping center much like St. Louis Mills. You can only find structures like these in the States due to its vast amount of empty lands and extensive highway systems.

Later that night, Feysal invited us to have dinner at his place with his wife. After dinner, the four of us played Spades. This was my first time playing this game. It wasn't hard, but the rule was confusing at first. It involves bidding and coordination with your partner. There're multiple strategies you can use of course, but trying to get used to the game kinda slowed me down in that department. I lost again, for the second time that day. But it was fun, and the second time I played it again later that month, I won it!

Washington DC - Day 11 (June 3, 2005)

Fari and I planned to meet up again for Friday prayer at the Embassy. Unfortunately, both of us miscoordinated the plan so we got there late, but we arrived nonetheless. I had an appointment with Mas Irawan so we got to be there anyway. Mas Irawan was the person who interviewed me back in Fall 2003 on behalf of Voice of America. Indiana University held the 2003 conference for Association of Muslim Social Scientist and I happened to be one of the volunteers. So that's how Mas Irawan and I met.

Afterward, Fari and I had lunch at the Union Station food court. DC Union Station is just like an airport. It's huge for a train station, and there're plethora of shops and eateries as well. High-rise ceiling and European-style architecture made it an attractive tourist destination of its own, aside from being a transportation center. Unfortunately, the basement (where the food court is located) was still under renovation so it was a bit ugly when we were there.

Since Fari had another plan, we split up after lunch. I went to the National Geographic Museum. Initially, I just went to see what's inside and probably picked a job application as well. They didn't have big exhibition other than photography display of Darfur at the time. I roamed to a small room and found another display of children's paintings to promote peace. I read the tags and the children were students from George Washington School in Charleston, West Virginia, Salman's high school. Small world, eh?

Washington DC - Day 62 (July 24, 2005)

We went out for lunch today. The three of us (me, Salman, and Mariam who just came two days ago for a visit) picked an Ethiopian restaurant, Meskerem, for our afternoon consumption. Meskerem is located in the Adams Morgan area, which I think probably the most unique but undercovered DC neighborhood. It's so ethnic, cool, urban, and organic that I didn't feel like I'm in DC the whole time. Weird, huh? You just have to visit this area whenever you come to DC, it's not a hugely popular tourist destination so it'll be like the beaten path for your itinerary.

Meskerem is authentically Africa. Indoor settings (except for the basement) and furnitures were different from most ethnic restaurant I've been in. The table is the most striking. It's actually a basket, standing low at knee-level, where we eventually shared the food together. I ordered Yebeg Fitfit, a lamb-based dish, and Tej for beverage. While all of us ordered different things, we ended up sharing due to the large portions and serving style (remember the basket?) We ate with bare hands, scooping up the dish with our injera, a spongy pancake-like staple bread (similar to Indonesian kue apem but without the sweets). The food was so good that I even raided Salman and Mariam's injera after they were too full to continue ^.^

We were just enjoying ourselves that day, I think taking more than 2 hours in that restaurant alone. Good experience, I highly recommend Meskerem.

Washington DC - Day 4 (May 27, 2005)

I scheduled for an interview with Pat Taylor, a temp agency specializing in legal sector, this afternoon. I was referred to Pat Taylor by Salman, who had work for them since he came to DC in February. He got hired to a permanent position later in June by the client company.

The interview went well, and there was no test whatsoever unlike the other temp agencies. The interviewer seemed pleased, and she said she would try to find a suitable position for me. Eventually, I got no assignment from them. My guess is because I am a bit too "technical" for their openings, or because I didn't follow-through aggresively, or because they simply didn't have anything suitable for me. At least, I know from our correspondence that they tried, but for some reasons, it just didn't work out.

Later that afternoon though, I met up with Fari to pray together at the Indonesian Embassy (KBRI). I had forgotten how big the Embassy was. The Embassy building stands in stark contrast with the surrounding embassies. Not only it is large, but it has artistic Europen style, though the new extension is of modern design. The Minister of Forestry happened to be in DC, and he delivered the sermon that afternoon. I guess he was part of the President's entourage during the President's visit to the States that week.

Fari and I then had lunch in Malaysia Kopitiam, a Malaysian restaurant in downtown DC. Our server was in fact, an Indonesian, go figure. The food were delicious and filling, and it was a bargain given the price. I got myself Nasi Lemak, and if only they weren't out of Cendol, it would've been perfect.

We continued exploring DC and our destination was the National Air and Space Museum. I remembered visiting this place in '94 and I don't think it has changed a lot. Though, I have to admit that it seemed like an endless fun back then.

Washington DC - Day 35 (June 27, 2005)

Today was the moving day to the new apartment, for me. Salman would join me later on Thursday, the 30th. The reason I moved earlier than planned was because Salman cousin, Imran, came to DC this week. He would continue his internship from Pennsylvania for the remaining two weeks. It's quite a long story though, but he finally came so I had to move earlier to make room for him in Salman's old apartment.

The tenant from the new apartment was still living there until July 1st. He was Salman's high school buddy, Chris. I met Chris several times before my move-in day, but we didn't really know each other aside from knowing Salman at some point, so it was quite awkward. But we managed.

I didn't have a lot of stuff so it was pretty quick. I only need one trip. Let us review again: 2 luggages (big and heavy), 1 duffel bag, 1 folio bag, 1 messenger bag (yeah, an addition from the original trip), several loose items, pillow and blanket. I knew these would grow with the addition of Dita's stuff (another story for this), items I bought here or online (hey, you gotta read something?), and trinkets. I am not looking forward to my trip back to St. Louis carrying all these stuff, so I might send some of them earlier. We'll see.

Washington DC - Day 7 (May 30, 2005)

Today I bought a travel guide for myself. It's called Not For Tourists Guide - Washington DC edition (official website available here). Apparently they are also making other editions including Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Unlike mainstream guide, this one is created for newcomers to the city, those intending to live for extended period. Therefore not only you can find the usual recreational destinations such as the Smithsonian complexes, the Zoo, and historical sites in DC, but also the more mundane but essential spots for residents such as post offices, banks, pharmacies, and grocery stores.

The book's content is dedicated in the most part to providing readers with series of maps, 46 to be exact, and several sub-maps. So, instead of telling stories behind such-and-such place, the book will show you the map of the place so you can figure out yourself how to get there and what stuff is available in the surrounding neighborhood. The maps are very reader-friendly and interconnected with one another. So, instead of carrying a huge map everywhere (and being obviously tourist-acting), I just need to carry the book and stroll along.

In the following month during my stay, the book would provide tremendous help in getting me up to speed with DC's public transportation routes, key neighborhoods, street names, and essential venues (banks, post offices, etc). The book is still useful every now and then, even when I already familiarized yourself with key areas important to me.

I highly recommend this book for those of you who will move to DC or just recently moved here. I haven't read editions for the other cities, but assuming that they will all be similar, then you can get yourself a copy depending your destination cities.

Washington DC - Day 82

I was reunited with a very good friend from college, Melissa. She has planned to visit DC today from Charlottesville, Virginia. It had been almost a year since the last time I saw her, so we were excited to catch up with each other.

I wasn't sure earlier that the plan is still on. We relied too much on Friendster for communication, and true enough, it was down this morning! So, I crossed my finger and hopped the Orange Line to Vienna, hoping that somehow I could find Melissa there. She drove for about two hours and parked her car in Vienna station, at least that was the original plan. Lo and behold, the Orange Line was down as well! Vienna station was closed and people had to ride a shuttle to the next station. At about 11:30 AM, my train stopped at West Falls Church station. Passengers had to come down and transfer to Vienna via free shuttle. And just when I was about to exit, I saw a tall figure wearing hijab. Melissa!

Gosh, we arrived at the station at exactly the same time! We were cheering, laughing, and catching up with each other immediately and non-stop until we arrived at McPherson station for breakfast. We ate at Au Bon Pain and continued out conversation. Among other things, she told me that she has been engaged! I am so happy for her! And we kept chatting like teenage girls on a reunion. She told me that his name is Jahangir, and immediately I thought of the character from the Taqwacores, and she said there's a lot of similarities between the two.

After breakfast, we went window-shopping at the Fashion Center at Pentagon City. We didn't really shop (though she bought a couple items), we just a need an indoor place where we can talk and walk. At lunch time, we went to Old Town Alexandria and Salman joined us. We went back to the apartment afterward for pray and further discussion. We discussed a lot of things ranging from nostalgic moments in the MSU (the three of us served at the same year) to the philosophy of reincarnation. When we were in college, we had this type of discussion frequently, but it's more of a rarity nowadays. I'm gonna miss those moments...

Jahangir called and said that he could come by for dinner. He has been driving from Princeton, New Jersey to Virginia to visit Melissa. It turned out that he could come, and they would driving back tonight. We decided to pick him up from I-495 after we waited for three hours. There has been road constructions that just halt inbound traffic so we decided to "rescue" him from this traffic. Surprise, surprise, he actually had cooked Biryani rice so we all went back to the apartment to enjoy his cooking. It was delicious! Melissa has chose wisely indeed.

At about 10 PM, Melissa and Jahangir left to continue their journey. Thanks for visiting, guys! I hope I can see you again before I left, if not, well I'm just gonna wait for invitation in the mail. ^_^

Washington DC - Day 81

Today I met with Fari for lunch. Up until a month ago, this was almost like a scheduled appointment. We meet at the Indonesian Embassy, pray Jum'ah together, have lunch, and then explore DC. Before today, I tried setting up a similar meeting again in mid-July and it didn't work out very good. I ended up coming late for the prayer, scrambling for a fast-food lunch, and rushing to get back to work, all in the middle of an afternoon rain.

So, I tried something new today. I scheduled to meet up with Fari for lunch in Georgetown. He happened to plan on visiting Banana Republic. Since the store is just 2 blocks away from where I work, I can easily meet up for lunch. And instead of doing the prayer at the Indonesian Embassy, I did it at the basement of the Presbyterian Church near George Washington University (intersection 24th and G). Turns out that the MSA of GW has organized it regularly for the whole summer. I don't know if they always had it there or is it just for the summer. Regardless, I could come in just 30 minutes from my workplace, instead of almost an hour trying to get to the Embassy.

I found the khutba (sermon) here to be intellectually stimulating. The speakers talk about contemporary and philosophical issues instead of repetitive ideologies and dogmas. So, I found it very refreshing and engaging to listen to what the speakers had to say. It's been awhile since I listen to khutbas of this type. I am not sure if it's indicative of DC sermons in general, or if it's an isolated case. Consider this speech from last khutba, "...Islam has lost its heart, its conscience, its morality... why is it that when people face crises, they turn to the trivialities of religion such as hudud laws..." Hmmm...

Anyway, the lunch went through albeit a slight hitch (Fari took the wrong bus in the opposite direction, but he made it nonetheless).

Washington DC - Day 45 (July 7, 2005)

Today, I had the opportunity to tour the World Bank. The tour is organized once every month, the first Thursday of the month. My friend from St. Louis, Fari Nasution, and I met up at the IMF Center for the tour. Fari had also moved to DC from St. Louis, exactly one week earlier than I did. We regularly schedule to do Friday prayer together at the Indonesian Embassy [though it would prove to be difficult once I got a job in Georgetown since the Embassy was located in Dupont Circle and I was only allowed 1.5-hour lunch break].

The walking tour covers three organizations: the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the OAS (Organisation of American States), and the World Bank. The tour began at the IMF Center and would last for 4 hours (from 10am to 2pm). It was a very informative experience. Until then, I only learned about IMF and World Bank either from a factbook perspective, or from a leftist literature. So, this was the opportunity to listen from their point of view.

I thought the IMF part was the best since the speaker, though an economist, was able to explain the function of IMF in a very comprehensible way and that was a good thing since most of the tour participants were not economist themselves. In contrast, the World Bank speaker lost us through economic jargons and statistical mumbo-jumbo. It felt like a performance report rather than conversational lectures of the IMF and the OAS. Plus, the World Bank had this complicated security checkpoint compared to the other two organizations. OAS in the other hand, didn't fit in the whole scheme, in my opinion. It's more like a regional organization rather than economic ones, so when they claim to be a sister organization to World Bank and the IMF, I still don't see it. Truthfully, OAS is a more fitting sister to ASEAN, EU, or even Mercosur.

Oh, and the buildings where these institutions are housed were quite a spectacle in their own right. Though the IMF building doesn't stand out and probably looked the most normal (just like another office building), there is a Garuda statue in its lobby, a gift from the government of Indonesia. The OAS building is the oldest, and has a very ethnic architecture which strikes a huge contrast with the modern World Bank building predominated with glass and steel.

For more information of the tour, you can view them here.

Washington DC - Day 76

Yesterday was positively my weirdest night in DC yet. It all began with the plan to watch Star Wars movie with my roommate, Salman. At around 9pm, Salman called me to let me know that he was ready to pick me up from my work and watch Star Wars in a theater near Friendship Heights. Around 15 minutes later, I got another call from him letting me know that his car had got rear-ended near McDonalds in Alexandria. He was okay, but the police wouldn't arrive to the scene until an hour later, after I gave him a direct number to the Alexandria PD.

At about 10:30pm, he continued driving to Dupont Circle to pick me up. I received a call from him about 45 minutes later saying that his exhaust system had dangerously dragging from his car, so he was forced to stop his car in downtown DC (I think it was near intersection 14th and L Street). I came down via Metro and met him up to wait for the AAA tow truck. We got ourselves Blimpie's subs for dinner and beverages from a nearby CVS store. We saw several prostitutes walking by the area and a pimp (I don't know if it's a real pimp or just an act, but he certainly dressed the part!).

An hour passed, and no tow truck in sight. AAA gave us new ETA (estimated time of arrival) to be 2am! So Salman got fed up and tried to fix the car himself. It was driveable alright... for another 3 blocks. So we decided to wait for the truck after all and sit on the bench near a bus stop. Let me remind you that we were stuck in downtown DC, just the two of us, not knowing the area (even though it was relatively safe, but still), with limited access to phone (batteries were about to be out) and transportation (Metro stops operating at 2pm on weekend), and we would be waiting for more than 2 hours surrounded by homeless people sleeping or walking nearby.

It was 2am, and Salman kept calling AAA every 20 minutes since they kept delaying ETA up to 4am! For about an hour between 3:30am - 4:30am, we were walking around, trying to find a payphone since both our cellphones had died on us. We saw several more homeless people and several drunken passersby from closing bars. We were confused and undecided whether to wait for the truck or try to get help somehow. By this time, I started feeling delirious and the need to rest my eye (ie., sleeping?). At about 4:45am, it came down upon Salman to use his shoelaces to tie the exhaust system, at least preventing it from dragging on the road, making it possible to drive home safely, albeit slowly.

We arrived home about an hour later. Apparently, several calls had been waiting for Salman once he plugged his cellphone. And for me... well, I was too dazed to keep my eyes open for much longer and fell asleep on my bed for the next 10 hours or so.

Washington DC - Day 42 (July 4, 2005)

It was the Independence Day! (America's, for that matter). Though it was supposed to be a federal holiday, I got a phone call from Salman that morning (he was coming home that weekend to Charleston, West Virginia) telling me that the cable guy would be coming soon. I thought it was a bit odd for them to come during a holiday to install cable connection, but apparently July 4th doesn't bring the same "red-date" status as December 25th.

Whatever, I guessed we could use the cable for internet and TVs after being bored for... seven days? True enough, we got broadband internet and cable channels an hour later. Salman's cousin, Imran, who stayed with us for the moment, had left to downtown with his friends and I was still hooked to the computer. The DVR (digital video recorder for the cable) hadn't got into me just yet. I was still going through my addiction to Civilization 3, and in about two weeks it would change.

You'd think that DC would be the place to see some July 4th fireworks, right? Well, I got to the downtown too late and I missed them! Boo hoo hoo hoo... I got glued to Civilization 3 and didn't plan for enough time to get to downtown. Oh well, the more reason to come back here in the future...

Washington DC - Day 1 (May 24, 2005)

So, how did I end up here in Washington DC exactly? Well, to answer that question, let's travel back in time to Day 1 which is May 24, 2005.

The day had finally arrived. I woke up early morning and made final preparation for my departure to Washington DC later that afternoon. My roommate, Ading, would accompany me to Lambert Airport. It so happened (as I planned) that my flight would be scheduled at the same day as Ading's mother. She would fly back to Jakarta after spending about a month in St. Louis. I bought my ticket to coincide with her flight so Ading would be able to take time off from his job on that day only. I brought with me two big luggages, one duffel bag, and one folio bag. Ading's mother had boarded the plane two hours before I would board mine. I was anxious, I didn't know what to expect when I'd arrived to DC. My internship hadn't been confirmed yet, and I hadn't secure a place to stay on a more permanent basis. My stomach felt twenty pounds lighter everytime I thought about it.

The flight number was Northwest Airline (NWA) 1589 with a transfer in Memphis to NWA 0955. I boarded at half-hour to noon and arrived seven hours later at DC's Ronald Reagan Airport. Weather wasn't helping, it was drizzling and I wasn't familiar with the Airport's layout. My friend from college, Salman, had kindly enough offered his place for me to stay temporarily. But first, I had to find a way to the Metro (subway) station where he had waited for me. My bags weren't helping either.

It was probably because I was tired from hauling the bags from terminal B to terminal A, it didn't occur to me at that time to transport them via elevator from terminal A's 2nd floor to its 1st. Instead, I used the escalator, and one of them fell grinding through! I was flabbergasted and couldn't bring myself to yell a warning to the person down the escalator. Thank God he was alert and hurried down to avoid his impending doom. He stepped aside from the escalator and my luggage just slide through before it stopped seven feet away from him. Thanks to his quick reaction, a disaster had been avoided. I apologized to him, and shortly after, a police on a bicycle arrived. He understood the situation immediately after seeing me with three other bags coming down from the escalator. I took my bag and continued walking to the Metro station amid surprised looks from passersby and passengers eating at the restaurant opposite to the escalator. Man, I was so embarrased.

I finally met Salman and we rode the Metro to his place.

Washington DC - Day 70

Oookay, it's the 70th day of my summer stay in Washington DC. Where're the other 69? well, I just decided to actually write them today, so some (but not all) of them will be written soon, including future days. Anyway, I wrote this from my roommate's computer, so I still haven't got access to my own computer. I'm waiting for my wireless access point which was sent from St. Louis several days ago.

Alright, enough rambling. I admit that I haven't kept any of my blogs updated up to this point. So, this will be the first entry after roughly 2-3 months hiatus. I've been quite busy with my jobs for the past month. Yup, you heard it right, I am gainfully employed again. Details will follow.

My stay in Washington DC has been a blast. Well, technically I work in DC but I'm not actually staying there. I share a 1-bedroom apartment with my friend from college, Salman Malik, in Alexandria, Virginia. It's across the Potomac river, and about 10 miles away from downtown DC. Salman and I just moved to this apartment about a month ago, after sharing a studio in West Falls Church. We didn't initially got the idea, but since we got along pretty well, we decided to be roommates.

Hmm.. I guess that was enough writing for today. I will continue again tomorrow.