Snow Angels, Civility and No Hot Water

I am currently sitting on my bed in a sweatshirt and scarf under my comforter without heat or full electricity. We'll be getting to the 24 hour mark soon. And here I am, in the capital of the nation that "does big things". Lots of students on our program from other countries have been joking about this idea. It also kind of felt like summer camp last night. All of us 20somethings were forced from our computers and TVs for a little while and out into our hallways where there was light from the generators and we actually got to talk to people! Sadly, we all stayed up way too late hanging out hoping for a snow day and woke up groggy to find out that we indeed had classes today.

I was just informed that my electricity won't be coming back on until about midnight tomorrow night! (I keep saying there's no power but I do have one outlet in my room that works, what I'm most concerned about is the lack of heat and hot water.)

Since my last post, I've had more amazing guest speakers, including a former US ambassador to the UN and the director of Nonviolence International. The director of Nonviolence International put into words something I've been thinking about quite a bit lately; about living peacefully, and not just in the sense of being nice to people, but also being nice to the planet and making sure that all of my actions don't have a negative effect on someone or something else. Mr. Beers, the director of Nonviolence Int'l spoke about his vegetarianism, his limited use of electricity, the fact that he rides his bike all of the time(even in the snow!) and his pledge to give as much of his income to charity as he can. One of my assignments due next week is 1 page about my definition of peace and I'm pretty much going to write about this same idea.  In class we had to come up with a short definition of peace and mine was 'respect'. Respect for others as human beings no matter who they are, respect for the planet we live on, respect for everything and everyone. We also have to write about how we actually live our definitions of peace and I've decided that my goal for this semester is to live as respectfully as possible. I'll update more about this as the semester goes on.

Tonight (if I can get a warm shower soon) I'm going to a birthday party for my friend Alyxie, who I've been lucky to know for many years. I also went out to dinner with her, our friend Julie, and Alyxie's friends from Georgetown. It was nice to get to see another part of the city and meet new people but, it being the night of the State of the Union, the group of Georgetowners made me a bit homesick for San Francisco. Don't get me wrong, they were all lovely, kind, fun people, I just really miss San Francisco. I'm pretty sure everyone here is sick of hearing about how amazing San Francisco is. Thankfully, as I've mentioned earlier, there are a few other Bay Area kids here who I can commiserate with.

I'll leave you with some pictures of me out in the snow with those who were way more excited about it than me. I do admit that it is beautiful out there. Just a bit cold.

By the way, these pictures are courtesy of Lopo De Castro Neto. 

Making my first snow angel in a long time

Marshmallow pants

My friend Kim and I

So pretty