DC Living - one month in!

It has been exactly one month since I moved to DC, and in almost every aspect this city has completely exceeded my expectations.

I'll start with my job at World Faiths Development Dialogue. The WFDD office is in the heart of Georgetown, housed in Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. I have three coworkers in the office, all of whom go out of their way to aid my transition to the office and introduce me to the fields of development and faith. They also treat me as an equal and ask me about my weekend and ongoing apartment search. I am very lucky. I am surrounded by Princeton grads here and have had several conversations about eating clubs, grade deflation, Frist pizza, and all those quintessentially-Princeton peculiarities. My work as Program Assistant so far is mostly centered around communications - composing our 10th Anniversary newsletter, reaching out to WFDD's "Big Players" for commentary (including Bono), etc. I do a lot of reading and editing - for our interview series, research reports, grant proposals, among other WFDD publiations. I am in daily communication with Executive Director Katharine Marshall (another Princeton GS grad), who is travelling now, as well as our two Princeton-in-Asia fellows, who are doing on-the-ground research for us on the role of faith-inspired initiatives in indigenous rights and anti-trafficking efforts in Cambodia. Every day I learn more and more about how faith is and can be used for good in the world, as well as where common ground has yet to be established for future progress. It's exciting to see how our research has opened up dialogue among interfaith and secular groups, and has forged innovative partnerships on crucial development issues, ranging from agriculture, sanitation, and water to HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, and education. Most of all, I am very, very humbled to be surrounded by such intelligent, inspiring, and kind-hearted people all day.

I am learning a lot in the other aspects of my life in DC, too. Novelties like grocery shopping, cooking, and the bus and metro systems are keeping me on my toes. Plus, I've been really pleasantly surprised by all the amazing activities offered in the city, including jazz in the park, salsa dancing at a corner bar, drop-in drawing sessions (with a nude model), and an outdoor film series (the last one I went to was showing E.T. in Dupont Circle).

So far no celebrity sightings (although when the Dalai Lama was in town, and some incoming monks were staying in our Executive Director's home, I thought I was going to get my chance). Every now and then I trick myself into thinking I see President Obama or Joe Biden or some random politician in the tinted-window, black SUV motorcades that occasionally go by. I also once thought I saw Sting in Starbucks, but I think that was more wishful thinking on my part. I'll keep you all posted.