We are here in Washington DC for the next week while Marc works on a project at the World Bank. Keith & his roommates, Jillanne and Phil (together with their two kitties) were kind enough to have us stay at their place the first weekend. Marc and Keith went on a 75 min run around Glover Park and Rock Creek Park, Saturday morning before all three of us met up with Amy & her friends Malcolm and Steve for dim sum in Rosslyn at China Garden (2nd floor, ABC News building). Despite having lived there almost 1.5 years, Shuwen had never been to this restaurant and was surprised by its quality. Of course nothing beats dim sum in Asia, but this was pretty good. Folks were adventurous and a few people even tried some tripe!
After the huge meal, we met up with Lara and headed over to the US Botanical Gardens by the Mall. There we joined a guided tour by a volunteer who is usually an Air Force personnel. He was rather knowledgeable and walked us through nine of the themed rooms, which included plants of economic value; endangered plants; orchids; desert plains; the rainforest and a few others. Marc and Shuwen did not know that the carnivorous Venus flytrap were native to the Carolinas and are considered endangered. We also learned that some bamboos can grow up to an inch per hour!

It was a hot day, so we swung by the Eastern market neighborhood and got cold coffee drinks and iced water to refresh ourselves a bit before Lara dropped us off back around Tenleytown. We rested a little in the afternoon, then Keith joined us in meet up with Lara for dinner at an Ethiopian place around U Street. Instead of doing to the more well-marketed Duken restaurant, we ventured into a smaller place called Madjet (1102 U St NW) just 3 doors down from Dukem which was cosier, cheaper and quite good. We particularly liked the injera there which was light and fluffy.

Sunday morning, we walked down Wisconsin Ave to the National Cathedral where we checked out the crypt (not scary like most cathedrals’ crypts) and attended the 11am Holy Eucharist. The music was quite remarkable and service was very well organized and easy to follow. It must be strange to be a member of that congregation though, with so many tourists/visitors coming through every week, and having such a large pastoral staff. After exploring the Bishop garden, we enjoyed our 2-mile walk back to Keith’s and had lunch with him in Chevy Chase.

We checked into our hotel in Georgetown that afternoon and Marc went straight to work while Shuwen headed out to get groceries. Since our hotel room has a kitchenette we will be able to have a few meals in, which is something we both like. There is a Trader Joe’s about ½ a mile away and a Safeway another ½ miles from that, so Shuwen didn’t have to drive at all. In fact, she has been walking a ton since coming to DC.

Both of us went for runs early Monday morning before it got too painfully hot (It has been incredibly hot and humid here the last few days, with only a slight drizzle Sunday evening -- hopefully it has rained in NC as we are worried about our plants!) Shuwen met Marc for lunch at the WB cafeteria which was quite an experience. The WB is like a microcosm a town in a way – they have everything you need within the main building (it has more than 5 buildings in the vicinity), even DVD rentals and their own Credit Union. The cafeteria offered an impressive selection of international foods and was run very efficiently.

That evening we joined the crowd of folks picnicking and lounging around on the National Mall for the summer Screen on the Green film series and caught the original (1940s) production of “All the Kings Men”. It was rather apt to be watching a movie about political ambition, manipulation of the masses, and how power corrupts while in Washington DC. I wonder how the recent remake of it turned out.

Shuwen just sent out a draft of her new dissertation proposal to her advisors yesterday afternoon, so hopefully it will be well received!

~ Shuwen and Marc