16th July 2012 to 17th July 2012
This is the longest flight in my entire freaking life. It took me 24 hours from Tokyo to Washington through JFK. The flight from Singapore to Tokyo was uneventful and I spent most of the 7 hours sleeping and woke up to eat some strange sweet tasting Japanese rice. Finally got to watch "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" on flight. Average story but helped by a stellar cast of British talents. The movie is pretty much done from a British perspective of India and was not particularly exciting. It looks like a movie I could play for the Mature Men Project.
The next leg between Tokyo and JFK was 12 hours and I slept most of it again. Managed to squeeze in a documentary named "Faces of America" produced by PBS. If it is available on Youtube, you should watch it. It talks about how earlier immigrants to America shaped and contributed to the country and how far ancestry of 20 today's prominent Americans goes back. One of them is Meryl Streep. The most memorable part of the documentary was about American Japaneses. They were first denied citizenship by US government and then during the WWII, they were considered enemy on American soils. During that period, the American Japaneses were forced to give up all they had and moved in resettlement zones. It is the only part of the American history which its own residents were treated that way.
17th July 2012
Eric, the coordinator based in Washington came to pick me up at the airport. The host who I was supposed to stay with had to work and Eric brought me to John and Louis's residence for a while. I was so tired that I napped for a long while after skypeing with Baby. Later, Eric sent me to Daniel's place which is this old house that is built in 1908. It is a smaller but very English town house which is located in Columbia Heights. The area was traditionally a Black area and had most parts of it burnt during the racial riots in the 1990s.
18th July 2012
Woke up at 7.30am and went shopping with Eric for office stationery and we got to Church of the Reformation before most people. I went off to see The Capitol on my way. The heat is unbearably hot and although it is supposed to be 34deg, it felt like 43. By 12pm, the delegates have arrived and it is confirmed that I am the only Chinese, only Asian, only Agnostic in the group of 26 people. We warmed up to each other very quick and I already got to know a Tunisian, Ugandan and Zambian pretty well.
The city tour turns out to be the most exhausting part in Washington so far. We went to the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Junior Memorial and part of White House.
We arrived at our domitory at 5pm and finally checked in my room (No. 459). It is a very bare room but comfortable. The shower closet is next to my room and there is a shared bathroom. Took us a while to connect to the Internet. The day ended with the welcome reception at the First Congregational Church. Met Farbrice from World Bank who was supposed to get World Bank to sponsor my trip. He is a really charming French man and had a good long conversation about Asian and Singaporean LGBT situation. We promised to talk more on Friday at the MSMGF/Spirit of 76 reception at the World Bank.
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