Business Card Magic: Networking round 2

Tonight we had a round table discussion (with dinner provided!! :) ) with some of the alumni of our TFAS Program. We were able to ask questions and they were able to give advice. The man at our table was very informative, great guy. 

For dessert we were able to stand up and mingle with the other alumni and ask them questions. So I get in line to talk with this lady who'd worked on Capitol Hill and had talked about knowing quite a bit about foreign affairs/service. Lots of other people had the same idea. Had to wait a while but boy was it worth it!! :)

So let me preempt this by describing the TFAS student body: Geniuses. All of em. And then there's me.. I gotta average em out!! or something like that.. okay I snuck in.. :/

So she's getting asked all these wild and crazy questions about actual policies that are being implemented in certain parts of the world and their effects etc. and I'm just like okay these kids are overthinkin this just a bit.. I'm gonna ask her how to get a stinkin' job! 

So my turn FINALLY comes. I don't have much time so I gotta hit her with my info quick: "Hey! I'm Jeff Despain! (insert smolder here) I speak four languages. I'm thinking foreign service would be good no? Tell me more." Bam! So she talked about foreign service for a bit, how it works etc. 

Oh and another thing they teach you which I don't fully understand WHY yet but for whatever reason if you're gonna ask a question you gotta ask AT LEAST two, at the same time usually. Maybe it's supposed to show whoever you're asking that you've got a brain and can think of more than one question? But the person answering the question always has to ask what the questions were again or gets mixed up somehow so I really don't understand why, it just complicates things.

Anyways, so to be like all the other kids I ask her another question: what impact the foreign service has on raising a family. She asked if I was married and if I had kids yet. Hahaha I'm sorry but if you've seen me I look like I'm 17 still. But to be honest it was nice to hear from someone that I at least look like I could potentially already be married AND have offspring. With her personal question as to my marital status I looked around rather sheepishly and embarrassingly at the small crowd that had gathered.. and then noticed I was surrounded by a crowd a single girls. Hahaha and with the question I raised about raising a family (and remembering I'd just mentioned I speak 4 languages of course) I noticed all these girls' eyes were all starring at me and I swear they all blinked at me at the same time!! "Doink Doink" hahahaha. 

As if that wasn't good enough this lady then said that she has MANY single female foreign service/officer friends for whom she is on the lookout for suitable husbands. 

AND THEN SHE ASKED ME FOR MY BUSINESS CARD!!!!!!

Hahaha gosh it was soo great. I then got to talk about my internship and how I was changing the world by having helped introduce a resolution into the House just last week, of course talking it down as if it were nothing, which really it is haha. All the sudden all the girls started asking me questions like what internship was it and how many kids I wanted to have (haha just kiddin) and honestly looking back I was trying to get outta there as soon as I could hahaha. But what was funny was when I asked if I could have her business card she seemed taken a back like why would you want mine when you have yours?!?!

I thanked her for time, her advice, and her future contacts. ;)

As I turned to leave she gathered the rest of the girls in closer and said: "Girls! I've found a wonderful bachelor for any interested single young ladies" Their giggles echoed off the walls as I strode out of the hall.. with my head a few sizes larger than when I entered ;)

Maybe I'm not so bad at networking afterall..

Ze element of surprise

So the opportunity to make a weekend trip home presented itself this week. It worked out perfectly thanks to Steph. She had a friend who had a friend who's in DC and was going down to Raleigh/Durham on Friday to meet up with friends and head back to DC after church on Sunday. I met up with him Friday afternoon and we hit the road.

I walked into my house and peered around.. no one. I walked into the living room and there was dallin, playin his video-game. He looked over and saw me and I just said hey what's up and walked away, he totally did a double-take haha. I went upstairs where mom was trying to figure out when her court date was.. I know right? Leave for a few weeks and momma starts breaking the law, or at least starts getting caught i guess.. ;) okay so she got called into jury duty and was trying to find out if they needed her when I walk in her room and say 'hey i left somethin in my room I'm just gonna go get it real quick' and then walked out hahaha. Once again I got a dazed and confused look. 'What are you doing home?? Did you get kicked outta ur program??' I surprised Elena the next morning. She was watching a movie with Dallin when she heard me upstairs.. didn't know it was me.. Dallin played along haha. "Dallin, do you hear that? Someone's upstairs.. mom already left right?" 'oh yeah, mom's already gone..' "Then who's upstairs??" 'Ehh i dunno..' So she was excited to see that it was me when I came downstairs.

Anyways I was able to surprise my whole family and lots of my friends, one of which still has my ears ringing cuz she screamed soo loud when she saw me at her door.. Poor neighbors, undoubtedly they're thinking someone got stabbed or shot. Nope. It's just me.. It's okay.. I'm used to it. I made babies cry in Japan just by looking at them.

But it was a great weekend. Was able to take Dallin golfing for his birthday. Was able to see him give a talk in Church. Was able to surprise my dad after he got home from running the study abroad program in Costa Rica for the past 6 weeks. Able to give both of them presents for bday/father's day. Able to allow mom to cut my hair ;) Able to show up to a ward activity and help pull it off. Able to go to church and fulfill my responsibilities there (which was been super hard to from DC). Great to see friends again. So it was great all around. :)

Now back to the grind..

When I say Somalia, you say Pirates.

We talked about Somalia in our Econ class and only 2min of it was about pirates. It's a super interesting situation tho!!! It also happened to be the essay question on my mid-term.

So they were in a terrible condition back in the 80's, with the rural communities accounting for 2/3 of the GDP but only seeing 1/6 of that amount because of the corrupt leaders. Obviously lots of other bad conditions existed but to be brief the State collapsed in '91. Civil war erupted. Tribe fought against tribe. Each wanted to rise as the leader to benefit off the others but when the US and the UN withdrew their forces, no tribe was strong enough to clearly defeat and remain leader of the other tribes in the end. The fighting dissipated with this realization.

Somalia has since existed with a central government and even tho its conditions are still grim they've actually improved economically. Bigger corporations have found place there, as well as cell-phone companies who are unrestricted by government. Although the state collapsed their unit of currency did not fall with it. People still held a certain value to it and with that they were able to proceed. Counterfeiters of course arose and drove inflation through the roof till 1000 Somali Shilling is equal to like $.75.. about the cost required to produce that piece of currency! But they're still able to function with that value.

Plus, since there's no central government to impose taxes or tariffs there is perfectly free competition for basically all firms and organizations! It's been reported that Somalia has some of the clearest cell-phone service. Coca-cola and other large corporations are housed in Somalia as well.

But because there is no central government there is no enforcement of law right? But they do have law and order! It is carried out by their tribal leaders. There is a specific payment required of each crime. For inter-tribal crimes the tribal leaders meet and compromise on an appropriate payment. If they can't come to an agreement or want it checked they get a 3rd-party tribal leader to sort it out. Seems like it'd be pretty easy just to get outta of it tho right? Just don't show up or refuse to pay? Not if you want your family responsible for the payment. They sure don't! But because they are responsible if the offender doesn't pay usually the family 'strongly urges' them to pay. If something happens tho and they wont etc. you can vote them off the island essentially. They become an outcast of the tribe. And if they're killed? Well they weren't apart of the tribe so the tribal laws don't pertain to them! That's why the Somali Pirates aren't a problem to the people of Somalia. Within their own tribes they live within and respect the law.. but for the ships passing by?? Free game man!!

Obviously Somalia is still very poor but they are currently doing better economically without a central government than when they had one.. so like no government is better than a really corrupt one essentially.

"I don't like you anymore.."

I met with my mentor for lunch this afternoon. First time we've met. He's just there to help me if I have any questions while I'm here. A go to guy. He's a nice guy. Mid-30's, wife and two kids, worked in DC for 11 years and alumni of the program in which I currently participate. We talked about what he studied, how the program affected him, how he changed, and where he is today because of it. He gave me general feedback on life and work in DC. Then we talked about me: what I've done, what I'm doing now, and where I'm planning on going.

After me talking about me for about 2min he admitted he didn't like me anymore!! yikes!! geez!! what had I said?? All I'd said was I was an eagle scout, served a 2 year mission for my church, and when I was explaining how I'm not extremely proficient in Japanese he surprisingly asked what I'd been doing for the 2 years I was there?!?! Why hadn't I picked up Chinese or Korean while I was there?? Hadn't even been able to master Japanese?? So I of course had to tell him how I'd spent about half my time in Japan with Brazilians and as a result learned Portuguese. That's when he said I'd crossed the line and was now in his "i dont like you" group!!! Guess I learned my lesson huh? People don't like to hear you talk about yourself!!

haha okay okay so turns out he was kidding, but he has the driest sarcasm I've ever seen!! Absolutely no tonal difference or body language to suggest he did not actual mean what he was saying, while in fact believing just the opposite. Obviously I knew he was kidding.. or at least I really wanted him to be kidding.. cuz at the same time I was like "oh ouch, soft spot.. didn't even learn Japanese even tho I was there 2 years.. geez that's really harsh and we just barely met", but like I said! No clues otherwise.

So yah he opened up, wanted to hear more, and got all excited about all the possibilities that there are for me.. I'm glad he understands.. TOO many options. How in the world am I supposed to choose??

Turns out he says he knows someone who has connections with ALL the embassies. Turns out she's rather motherly and will take me under her wing, most likely place me directly in line to become the next Ambassador of the US to the World.. (practicing my dry sarcasm.. ), not to set the sights too high or anything. ;)

Anything is possible in DC

I will just add that we spoke alot about my mission and when the conversation turned to Salt Lake I was able to talk about Ainsley, who's currently serving in Temple Square. I then pull out my handy-dandy pass along card and let him know if he had any questions he could chat with my sister on mormon.org :) 

Careful with putting too good a word in for me sis.. he already doesn't like me ;)

Father's Day

I was able to visit the homestead of one of our great founding fathers today, George Washington's Mount Vernon. It was rather fitting that today was Father's Day as well!

George Washington was an altogether great and exemplary leader, about whom there is not much negative to say. When his country needed him he stepped up. When it was his time to step down he did so willingly. He did not seek for power or glory. He gave many great years of his life in service to his country.

My dad's not the President of our nation, or the General of our armies, but he is our family's father and a great leader. He works harder than anyone I know, except maybe his father but it'd be a close call :) He has never done anything of which I have been ashamed, embarrassed sometimes yes haha he's a goofy guy sometimes too. He provides for our family's financial, spiritual, and physical needs. He's a teacher and he teaches best by his unfailingly good example.

In short there's none greater.

Thanks Dad.

Be careful what you tell your children..

This morning we were able to go as a group and provide service to the Marvyn Gaye Park near DC. We split into two groups. One group cleared brush and trees and trash out of a major walkway area that the people use to get to the store.. which is mega far away. The other, our group, worked on building a fence around a community garden that they were making. Both groups got a lot done!

On our way back from providing service in the Marvyn Gaye Park near DC I heard one of the girls ask an advisor what the name of the lady that stands atop the capitol building is. It reminded me of a couple stories..

My parents always taught us that this lady's name is Frida, ya know like Frida Kalo the uni-brow spanish painter? I always thought it was sorta a strange name, but oh well! On a return trip they quizzed us again as to what her name was. Frida, we replied. And they busted up laughing? ?? Turns out her real name is freedom but on some tour they went on years ago the tour guide had such a strong accent it sounded like Frida..

Which reminds me of another time I took for granted what my parents taught me and later learned I was wrong. Anytime we'd have Chinese food and had soy sauce Dad always called it 'sudor de elefante' or elephant sweat. Weird right? Especially since there were all these ingredients that were made to make it and it never showed elephant sweat.. but oh well! Dad said it was elephant sweat. And so it was. Apparently that's what they called it in Ecuador when he was a missionary there.

So there I am. Spanish 2. Someone asks the teacher what soy sauce was in Spanish? The teacher opened it up to the class. Oh heck ya! Random Spanish word that I know and can show off in front of the class right? She calls on me.. 'sudor de elefante'. She gave me the most disgusted look I've ever gotten. No one else knew what it meant so she told everyone what it really meant and then I was getting that same look from everyone in the entire class.. I still haven't gotten over it.. No wonder I have such a hard time participating in class. Traumatic experience man..

"Dress standards" at the Hill

I’d forgotten about a pretty funny incidence that occurred before heading off to the hill on Wednesday.

Since I knew I was going to the Hill that day I figured I’d try and look my best to make a good impression, so the recently purchased sexy grey suit it was! And boy was I lookin’ good! Mmm mmm! Heads turnin’ all around me let me know that something was capturing the attention of everyone.. ohh yeah.. all eyes on me baby!

I walk in the door early as requested and as I wish my boss a good morning she said in a panic: “Oh not a grey suit! Ohh I didn’t tell you! Ugh! I should’ve told you you can’t wear a grey suit to the Hill! It just isn’t done! Well what’re we gonna do.. ugh! There just isn’t time. You’ll be fine. It’ll be fine. But you’ll see what I mean. Dark suits. That’s all they wear. Dark suits. No grey.”

Great. All my diligent preparations gone to absolute waste. Now I was DEF gonna stand out, but in the wrong way, it was gonna be painfully obvious I was an outsider..

The excitement of going to the Hill on official House Resolution business turned to anxiety.

So we get to the Hill and are walking the corridors of the office buildings of the congressmen and I’m trying to look for the ‘standard dress of the congressmen’. Maybe I’m just dumb but I couldn’t see it. If there were any consistent theme among the dress standards of those I saw in the corridors it was this: don’t match. Sheesh! The nastiest colored shirts matched with nastily designed ties. That’s what I saw. And I didn’t even notice a consistent theme with the suits either!

Hmm, now that I think about it the Republicans we met with all dressed very nicely.. the mis-matched guys in the halls musta been democrats.. ;)

The hill

I've been waiting for something funny to happen so I can write about.. okay okay, so I've been waiting for me to do something funny but I've just been really busy and haven't had time!!

But I did get to go to the Hill today :) That's pretty noteworthy I'd say. I went with my supervisor and we basically went to several different Congressman's offices to talk with their Chief of Staff or Legislative Assistants to let them know about our Resolution that is gonna get dropped in ONE WEEK!! We were asking them to be original co-sponsers, which is sorta a big deal. No one likes being the first one to sign.. it's much easier to sign something when you know all your buddies have and plus 100s of others. But we did really well! We seemed to have been able to convince most if not all the people we talked to! 

I did like how when we dropped by NC's 3rd District's Congressman's office I heard lots of 'y'alls'. :) Ahh.. home.

In the afternoon I went to a hearing on "China in 2020" but the speaker unfortunately had the thickest Chinese accent I've ever heard in my life. I'm honestly pretty sure that I could've understood him better had he just gone ahead and said it in Chinese. Plus he had this really annoying intermittent cough.. geez! Who does that?!?! 

(Okay, for those of you who don't know we call it a 'Japanese cough' and I had it for like 3 years and then it magically went away, so I'm being totally sarcastic towards this guy's 'japanese cough', can't blame him.. got so much goin on inside that noggin and it all just wants to come out and so I'm pretty sure that's what causes the intermittent coughing.. pure genius trying to escape, I seem to have been able to organize the genius-thinking well enough so its not all trying to jump out at once.. only logically explanation..)

Anyways don't ask me about China in 2020 cuz I have no idea.. wo bu shur dao! (means i dont know in chinese :)

"Be Prepared".. but not too prepared

I do believe there is such a thing as being over-prepared in certain situations. It's not an all together bad quality to possess.. I mean really it's awesome most of the time.. except for those times when it's not.. yah that's right, I've got another one of 'those' moments so yes prepare yourself to once again laugh out loud at my expense:

I maneuver the metro like a champ, getting off at all the right stops, making the line transfers look easy, and always finding the next metro already on the track, waiting for me. Clock work. 

I'd arrived at my destination, with plenty of time. I'm there to hear a professor from the University of Ottawa speak on Religion in China and how it will challenge the state. Should be pretty interesting. I walk up to the right entrance, a sneaky off to the left-not-the-main-entrance-entrance. I flash my ID at the guard standing at the entrance there and he waves me through. Clock work.

I got this DC thing down man..

I unload my pockets and chuck my bag into the scanner and walk through the security station. "Sir, you have a pocket knife in your bag". Clock work. This time for them.. not for me.

"Who me??" "I have a pocket knife in my bag?"

One of the guards radios for back-up. They already had 3 of em! Big guys too. Big black guys. How many more of em were they gonna need to take me down?! I could see em lookin me up and down and I could hear their thoughts: "We can take this guy.." I only hope they can't hear my thoughts: "they're seriously about to eat me.."

I go through my bag to find the pocket knife to hand it over to em and umm well.. it took me a couple minutes. I have a lot of stuff okay! I'm sure I have close to if not more than what is requisite to be considered a 72hr kit just in my back pack. I had granola bars. BARS. Plural. Lot's of em. I probably shoulda offered a couple of em to the guards.. ya know, ruin their appetites in a last minute effort to escape being eaten.. I got water, an apple, instant mac-and-cheese, highlighters, pens, pencils, sticky notes, deodorant, a tooth brush, tooth paste, hmm no hair gel.. should prob get some tho.. Ahh! Finally! The pocket knife! Relieved to have finally found it I remember it's bad and drop the smile..

I fork it over and the specialist takes a look at it.. 'dang!' He gives me a once-over.. again.. 'Is it longer than 2 1/2 inches?' Oh gosh! They're wondering if it's long enough to plunge into my heart to make it quick so they can hurry up and eat! They wanted to know where I was going etc.. And well in the end they let me go.. alive.. whole.. no pieces or chunks missing!!

The China talk was altogether uneventful.. especially in comparison to tryin to get in! The thing is, I don't even know where I got that knife! I'm thinkin someone planted it.. someone's on my tracks.. someone knew that I'm an Eagle Scout and am always prepared.. too prepared.

Evening meal

So I'm cookin up my evening meal right? Going all out.. frying up some chicken, fryin up an egg, toastin bread, making instant mac and cheese.. oh yeah.. living the high life baby! One of my roommates comes in and is hungry. Starts looking around for something to eat. Grabs a can of ravioli and the can opener. But this can opener is weird. Really weird.

As I eat he provides me with the entertainment for the night. After like 15min he still could not get it open! Kept tellin himself, oh come on! you've graduated from college! you should be able to open a can of ravioli! my favorite line however was: "oh well.. i guess ill just eat this brown sugar packet.." :)

Turns out the lid pops right off. Didn't even really need the can opener. :) So in the end he did get to enjoy his ravioli and I got to enjoy watching him succeed.

Dork dot

One can only handle being 'dork dot'-ed so many times in one week. It really takes a lot out of you! Pride mostly so maybe it's not such a terrible thing after all.. unless you have depressive or suicidal tendencies to begin with of course, if that's the case then forget it! Don't let anyone dork dot you!

For those of you unfamiliar with the term 'dork dot', it occurs the very first day a missionary enters the Missionary Training Center. They receive a bright orange dot that is placed on their name tag. EVERYONE in the world knows that you're a newb. Other places and organizations aren't as cruel but there's a good reason the MTC needs to use these colorful and degrading dots. Most places simply use name tags. At the MTC everyone already has a name tag so you've gotta make the newbs really stand out..

Anyways so it wasn't so bad the first day at Georgetown cuz I mean everyone was new, everyone had a name tag! Which really.. at the same time is like if everyone is already new why even have name tags? Everyone knows that everyone is new! Hmm.. But at church today I was new. I introduced myself.. along with the 30 other new people that day(no seriously, there was like 30 other new people!) and then attended an orientation meeting for the new kids. This is where we were photographed, documented, and 'dork dot'-ed. Yup. I got a name tag at church. I totally understand the concept tho, those who are new are clearly marked and everyone can easily see you're new and should talk to you and find out who you are, so I wasn't too against the idea.. until of course it got to the point that no one was trying to meet me anymore! What made it even worse is people started trying to ignore the fact I had the name tag! They'd see it and then try and pretend like they hadn't so they wouldn't have to talk to the new kid! I literally had one guy turn his back against me to block me out! not even kidding! haha geez!

Anyways so it was mildly rough. As if getting dork dot-ed is bad enough, to have the 'meet the new kid' process not work was even worse. But there's seriously like 200-250 people that attend and the ward has such incredible turn-over (people leaving and people coming) and TONS of interns (essentially our ward's 'bug boys', or salesmen) so I understand not wanting to even bother meeting the new kid that's gonna be here for just a few weeks.. I ended up talking a lot with one of the other new guys, Troy, who also served a mission to Japan. He served in Kobe. We actually met a Japanese missionary who is serving in one of the wards we were able to speak with him for a bit.. yikes! It has been sooo long!! I was soo rusty!!! :/

I'm not going to be able to do like any of the activities that they have goin on during the week because I have class so church is pretty much it. But I sang in the choir today and helped the bass section out. About all I can do to help in the ward but at least it's something.. 

After the obligatory 3hrs I promptly removed my dork dot. Gotta go find my pride now.. ttyl

Holocaust Museum thoughts

A group of us went through the Holocaust museum today following our tour of the White House. I'd previously been to the newest addition there about Propaganda and how the Nazi leaders were able to basically plant into the minds of the people these ideas that Jews (and other 'lesser' beings) were evil and should be swept away and nearly carried it out (Inception!!!). Super interesting and down right scary really.. how by degrees and by many small means they were able to be lead away until they were desensitized to the truth of the atrocities which were taking place, a part of which many of them took part in.

We were talking in our comparative economics course yesterday about the structure of the socialist economy, the struggles they had, and also some of the more political aspects of it all. Stalin killled millions more than Hitler. "Hitler was small cookies compared to Stalin", our teacher said. Why is that in our schools etc. Hitler and the Nazi regime are the more infamous and diabolical and Stalin is really barely even mentioned?

The topic of in-group vs out-group arose. Stalin killed his closest friends, as well as millions of others. His was different than Hitler's technique. Hitler was trying to create the perfect Germany. Stalin was simply striving to advance and maintain his own political regime and did so through instilling fear into the minds of the governed. While many of the Jews that were killed were German, they had a label: the out-group. 

The unknown. 

All of us have experienced fear. Many times this fear is a result of the thing being feared being unknown or unfamiliar. Bugs, snakes, other crawly things.. we know some of them can be poisonous and can cause harm but being unable to tell the difference tend to generalize and to fear them.. in American culture at least.. That's something I learned in one of my courses last semester at NCSU, 'Bugs and People'. Much of the fear concerning bugs is a learned or conditioned fear. Alot of times you'll find kids playing with bugs and having a good ole time until we teach them that they're dangerous or gross. We condition them to fear, to avoid, to hate. Anyways, we place labels on things all the time. As a result we have conflict. Segregation arises. Expelling residents who are not like us occurs. Rarely, although occasionally, this is brought to a large-scale massacre and sometimes evolves into World Wars. 

I think Hitler is more talked about and more infamous because he was able to abuse his power and influence in manipulating something that is rather normal in our human condition, separating between the known and the unknown, fear-mongering that unknown, spurning that mounting fear into action, until his means of erasing an ethnicity was nearly accomplished. 

He is more infamous and more remembered because it is not improbable that this could happen again if we do not learn from it, to learn what we are capable of as humans, that we have the ability to destroy ourselves.

Networking: you either got it or you ain't

I've quickly found there's several different kinds of networking. I've also found it comes really naturally for some people and it's a little more challenging for others..

I seriously don't know how but for whatever reason my roommate is the one talking to all the girls!! Like it just happens! He doesn't even have to do much and all of a sudden he's networking the TFAS female population! Oh and it's not like he's gorgeous or has a natural charisma or charm or anything like that.. nah, just a normal average Joe. He's just in the right place at the right time pretty much!

So how come he's got all this inherent networking magnet while I'm stuck with the natural charm of locking myself in a bus bathroom, going to the wrong class, and tripping all over myself on the streets in DC???

What's a hoya anyways??

According to wikipedia: The University admits that the precise origin of the term "Hoya" is unknown. At some point before 1893, students well-versed in classical languages combined the Greek hoia or hoya, meaning "what" or "such", and the Latin saxa to form Hoya Saxa!, or "What Rocks!" This cheer may either refer to the stalwart defense of the football team, or to the baseball team, which was nicknamed the "Stonewalls", or to the actual stone wall that surrounds the campus.

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_Hoyas#.22What_is_a_Hoya.3F.22}

Special event at Cato Institute

One of the awesome parts about my internship is I have the chance to attend many of the events for whose information I condense and make more readable for professional researchers, policy makers, executives etc! Gives me a real good excuse to escape the busy work we get bogged down with at the office :)

Today was our first one. At the Cato Institute! I had a name badge and everything! With MY name on it! Dr. John Mearsheimer, professor, author, and International Relations theorist, gave an introduction to his book entitled: "Why Leaders Lie", in the which he "weighs the reasons for and the effects of the lies that presidents and dictators tell their people and other nations"(Carlos Lozada, Washington Post).  He started by explaining that his was a utilitarian view as opposed to a moral one. He explained the difference between lies, categorized them and then provided examples. It was really interesting! And A LOT easier to follow than economics!! I'll provide an outline of the general discussion:

Deception vs. Truth-telling

Truth-telling: facts told best to one's ability

Deception

1. Lying
1. Untrue
2. False implication
2. Spinning- emphasizing the positive, de-emphasizing the negative
3. Concealment- hiding

Lying

1. Inter-state lying
1. Leader of one nation lies to foreign audience
2. Fear-mongering 
1. threat inflation
2. inner-state lying, within one's own country
3. Strategic cover-up
1. can't let foreign or own people know
4. Nationalist myth
1. State creates myth about themselves or the event in order to save face. "we" have to always consider ourselves the 'good guys'. 
5. Liberalize
1. Lie to make the event fit into norms

Anyways so it was pretty interesting. He provided lots of examples, both domestic and foreign and has come to the conclusion that in his research and study has not found as much international lying but there's plenty of lying that takes place within one own's country. Lying works best when there's trust.. not a whole lot of trust in other countries therefore not as much good opportunity to lie. Plus it's too risky most of the time and the cost outweighs the returns. He also talked about how there's more tendency to lie in a democracy than in a non-democratic state. In a non-democratic state the leader, or ruler/dictator, doesn't need to gain permission or support as do leaders in a democracy. In order to gain that support in many cases the leaders use fear-mongering to insight a fear which results in the need to take action. Overall he feels leaders in some instances should lie in order to save the state and in the best interest of the people.

Check out an article about the book at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/john-j-mearsheimers-why-leaders-lie/2011/03/09/AFqk88jD_story.html

And buy the book at: 

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Leaders-Lie-International-Politics/dp/0199758735

The low-down on my Internship: the fob

So I've been to my internship twice so far so I figured I should give a general run-down of what I'm up to.. but sorry I can't get too specific cuz ya know, if i told you I'd have to kill you type of a thing.

First off we start at 9:30 every morning! Isn't that great!! I have the entire apartment to myself for a whole hour in the morning!! While everyone else is scampering around trying to get ready and out the door in time I'm just chillin, eatin' my breakfast.. still in my pj's. :)

The other cool thing is it's not even that difficult to get to either! I take the Georgetown bus (GUTS Bus) to Dupont Circle and then have about an 8min walk from there. So I hop on the 9am GUTS and I'm at the office by 9:30. And yes, I get about an 8min "Cool guy in DC" walk before and after work :)

There's 3 other interns:

- A Japanese girl who has lived in Canada for 7 years. Speaks Japanese and English fluently.

- A middle-aged Vietnamese who's only been in the US for a year. Vietnamese, chinese, and some English

- A Taiwanese who's been in the US since he was little. Fluent in Chinese and English.

And then there's me. The white kid who pretends to know Japanese.

During introductions my boss asked me if I'd taken any Asian history courses. Sure haven't. "ohhh.. yikes. Hmm.. yikes.. well... hmm.. yikes." Great. Of course the others all are native. Speak fluently. And have not only taken history courses but their parents write the darn history books! (no but seriously, they do. the taiwanese kid's mom writes about asian history). And then there's me. 

BUT. I'm no dummy. I gots skills. Computer hacking skills.. you know the type.. the important stuff! No but she has taken a liking to having me round up the troops for meetings, me explaining things in English to the non-native speakers, me organizing and delegating assignments she's given us, me putting together google docs and spreadsheets, and at the end of the day.. she gave ME the only set of keys to the office. Good friends.. it's no ordinary key. It comes with a fob. Oh yes. A fob. A fob which opens up the main entrance gates to the whole building after hours! A fob which allows me to ride the elevator to the 4th floor after the elevator is turned off! It is no ordinary fob.

Keys = trust

Keys + fob = trust x 1000

So. I'd say that despite my lack of inherent (or even practiced for that matter) asian ability, I've made up for it in other ways. I mean, key + fob AND being asked to deposit a check for the mistress?? Yah. I'd say I'd done pretty well for Day 1.

I'm just hoping I can keep up the high performance level everyday for the next 8 weeks so I don't get yelled like the other wee-interns. :)

As far as what the heck I do.. I'm still tryin to find that out too. Every day has been something different so far. It all connects or will eventually I think. Pretty much we're working on a resolution for POW's that we're going to try and pass in the House this summer. Sick no?? We also take confusingly jumbled information on events and talks etc. and organize it into an easy-to-read newsletter for important people. We also get to attend some of those events.

The take home lesson from today is this: no matter what you look like or where you're from, if you work diligently, always have a smile on, are willing to do whatever the boss lady asks and do it above already high expectations.. AND are ridiculously good-looking.. you too can be a sacred bearer of the fob.

Cool guy..

The first time I went to check out my internship location before starting there I was wearing a suit because we'd just gotten outta our opening ceremonies. I've been in DC several times before and walked the streets and it's awesome right? There's nothing quite like walking the streets of DC with a suit on tho.. This is something of what it feels like:

"oh man! look at me! here I am walking down the streets of DC in a suit! oh hey there! who's that ridiculously good-looking guy in the suit in the reflection of that store window?? oh wait.. it's me!! oh hey there random guy on the street who's singing.. wait you're talking to me?? wait. you're singing about me?? and my gorgeous tie? oh heck yeah!!"

You pass other people on the street who look at you and you can hear em thinkin.. "wow"

Oh yeah. It's awesome.. it's beyond awesome.

And then as I'm lookin up at the huge buildings and thinking just how cool this all is.. how cool i am.. my foot catches a raised part of cement in the sidewalk and i stumble big time. BIG time. like i don't know how i didn't fall on my face.. probably woulda been less noticeable if i had honestly, my legs and arms flailing up in the air trying to regain balance as I land and resume my cool guy walk..  or try to at least..

I won't tell you what the people around me were thinkin now..

The heavy burdens we face..

Soo I was overhearing a conversation the other day.. I do that pretty often cuz no one talks to me.. but I think the ladies are just intimidated to speak with someone with such ridiculously good looks as I possess.. pour souls.. anyways, they were discussing the homework assignment we had been given. The one girl thought we had class that night and as a result would only have one day in which to complete all of the reading. The other girl corrected her, told her class was day after and that she had two days. She was soo happy! She had an extra day! I'd groaned earlier that same day about ONLY having two days in which to read all the material. Yup. Guess who felt like a whiner-baby? That's right, the ridiculously good-looking DC intern right here..

So life gets tough sometimes! Sometimes REALLY tough! How are we supposed to keep a smile on when life is throwing all these trials right in the da-gum face!? Elder D. Todd Christofferson's most recent General Conference address entitled: "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten" is an awesome talk. It's all about the importance of thought re-framing. Trials test and try us. They stretch us. They can make us better if we let them.  He also shares this super duper good story! It's a long one.. but awesome:

God uses another form of chastening or correction to guide us to a future we do not or cannot now envision but which He knows is the better way for us. President Hugh B. Brown, formerly a member of the Twelve and a counselor in the First Presidency, provided a personal experience. He told of purchasing a rundown farm in Canada many years ago. As he went about cleaning up and repairing his property, he came across a currant bush that had grown over six feet (1.8 m) high and was yielding no berries, so he pruned it back drastically, leaving only small stumps. Then he saw a drop like a tear on the top of each of these little stumps, as if the currant bush were crying, and thought he heard it say:

“How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. … And now you have cut me down. Every plant in the garden will look down on me. … How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardener here.”

President Brown replied, “Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

Years later, President Brown was a field officer in the Canadian Army serving in England. When a superior officer became a battle casualty, President Brown was in line to be promoted to general, and he was summoned to London. But even though he was fully qualified for the promotion, it was denied him because he was a Mormon. The commanding general said in essence, “You deserve the appointment, but I cannot give it to you.” What President Brown had spent 10 years hoping, praying, and preparing for slipped through his fingers in that moment because of blatant discrimination. Continuing his story, President Brown remembered:

“I got on the train and started back … with a broken heart, with bitterness in my soul. … When I got to my tent, … I threw my cap on the cot. I clenched my fists, and I shook them at heaven. I said, ‘How could you do this to me, God? I have done everything I could do to measure up. There is nothing that I could have done—that I should have done—that I haven’t done. How could you do this to me?’ I was as bitter as gall.

“And then I heard a voice, and I recognized the tone of this voice. It was my own voice, and the voice said, ‘I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.’ The bitterness went out of my soul, and I fell on my knees by the cot to ask forgiveness for my ungratefulness. …

“… And now, almost 50 years later, I look up to [God] and say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.’”

God knew what Hugh B. Brown was to become and what was needed for that to happen, and He redirected his course to prepare him for the holy apostleship."

It's vitally important that we allow the Lord to mold us into what He wants us to become, to be patient in our afflictions, realizing that we will simply draw closer to the Lord through them and become better as a result.

So now I gotta try and be happy about being able to do homework.. haha geez what a rough trial! Okay bad example but still, it's what sparked the thought..

It's interesting what listening and daily study of the Gospel can do..

http://lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/as-many-as-i-love-i-rebuke-and-chasten?lang=eng

Nerd Post #1: Econ

My first course at Georgetown this summer is Econ. Yikes. I had to do a pre-req at NCSU in order to take this course and pretty much we covered all that material in one class period at Georgetown. Flying man, we were flyin through the material!

Also, the professor is awesome! Not sure where he's from or where he teaches.. i may or may not have missed the first minute of class when that woulda been covered cuz i was late.. but he's awesome. He's a funny guy but a genius at the same time.. i wanna say that's pretty rare. I've really enjoyed the one class we've had with him so far. He opened my eyes wide and I realized that really you can apply economics to sooo many real-life situations. And he provided lots of them!

Most of them were related to political topics so it was super interesting to be jotting down a chart depicting possible outcomes when a Sophomore at Harvard, tried to enter the Sudanese human-slave trade market to purchase slaves to then set free. Interesting to see the effects, how one, following the original hope of making a good impact, and the other the polar opposite.. having even more people captured and forced into slavery.

Or mapping out a model of the war on drugs and showing that while having the police capturing and getting rid of some drug-lords may help reduce the availability of those drugs, this also drives the price of the drugs up for the consumers (we assume the graph is inelastic meaning there will be little change as far as how much is actually is consumed after rates increase, I mean the consumers are addicted! they're gonna pay whatever they have to to get it!) as a result making the remaining drug-lords even richer still. A lot goes into the decision making our leaders have to make! It's not nearly as simple as we think it is sometimes..

When you're able to apply something you're studying, like econ, to your life that otherwise would be mundane if you didn't, it really brings it to life and makes it worth studying. For example, I'm actually reading the textbook assignments! (I mean taking ample breaks of course, now for example ;) but still (had to get that wink in there cait :) ))

Here's another real-life econ example of my own: Looking at the trade-offs I face in sleeping in a little or waking up early to play basketball I've analyzed the opportunity costs associated to each. If i wake up early that will result in receiving less sleep, which will increase the drowsiness my already sleepy self has been experiencing because of the negative externality I face of having a roommate that snores when he sleeps. Needless to say my basketball skills haven't improved much since coming, but at least my understanding of econ has.. Now i just gotta balance the two out till we reach the point of equilibrium! :)

Where'd Gou go??

This morning we split up into our different Institute groups to go over specifics and details concerning just our program. So of course I go to the wrong one ;) haha luckily it took me just 30sec before I found out and got to the right place with plenty of time.. Just trying to make things interesting! Anyways so it was good to get the low-down on what we're gonna be up to and how to do it all and meet some of the other kids in the group.

So turns out I'm just one of like 40 International Studies students and I've discovered that basically everyone in the other ICPES (Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems) group is in Public Policy.. but wanted to be in the International Studies group! They're pretty passionate about it. So now I just tell people I'm in the ICPES and don't say a word about the International Studies part..

So one of the guys I met is named Gou. He's from China but has been studying in Minnesota for the past 2 years. He's got an accent that makes it difficult to understand him sometimes but it's fun. He tagged along with my roommates and I on our excursion to Target.. which was a bus ride and 2 line changes in the metro away. So after we finish up at Target, buying the cheapest microwave, iron, and toaster Target provides, and are ready to check-out we turn around and are like 'where'd gou go?' and we kinda chuckled a little.. just a little tho.. it was silly but we're trying hard to act like good DC interns. No but seriously Gou is a small little guy and would seriously disappear and reappear outta no where!

OH!! But by far the coolest thing of the day was the fact that the Target was 2 stories, complete with escalators not only for people.. BUT FOR THEIR CARTS TOO!!! It was incredible! I got a cart and stuck something in it and went up just so I could say I'd taken a cart up the escalators. :)

Even DC interns get stuck in the bus bathroom..

Megabus.com is awesome. Definitely look it up if you need to travel. But umm watch out for the tricky bathroom in the back of the bus.. it's evil. You walk in and it's lit, but when you lock the door behind you the light goes off? Hmm.. And then when I unlock it and try and get out i can't?! Okay so maybe i had it backwards, flip the lock, and its still stuck, still can't get out. The light goes on and off tho! So after flipping the light button and jiggling the switch and after being really dang close to calling out for help from inside the bathroom I was finally able to get out.. and had all the people around the bathroom looking at me all weird.. Yah that's right! I got stuck in the bathroom so what! I'm a DC intern! That shut them up pretty quick..

I was able to meet up with Sister Waldorf (for those of you who remember the recent RUW graduate Spencer Waldorf, it's his momma.. she's also the mother of Doug Waldorf (my teachers quorum adviser back in the day!!), who is married to Angie Gandolph, who's Meg's older sister.. but not oldest.. had to add that in there, sensitive topic..) at the bus station and she and her family were so nice to let me stay with em over night! It was awesome! I can't even tell you how nice it was to be treated to good ole southern hospitality in the north! It was really great to spend time with them. Like really great! :) They still have 2 kids at home, Jon and Elizabeth, and i realized that they're both the same ages as MY SIBLINGS!! (Except they act way way older.. sometimes ;) ).

But lemme tell you what it was tough as we got closer to Georgetown.. I started gettin nervous. Real nervous. But I've been to Japan before! That's clear across the world!! Different language! Different culture! Different everything! This can't be nearly as tough.. As we pulled up I called up my roommates cuz they'd offered to help me out with my stuff whenever i arrived and they all came down to help bring my luggage up! It was classic!!!!! I seriously wanted to laugh sooo hard!!! I'd joked with Steph about needing to bring glasses with me so I'd look more the part.. and yah all 3 of the guys who came down had glasses. :) It actually made me really happy hahaha. They really just look the part! I'm a tad jealous. I hope i fit in well enough..

tips anyone??

City of inspiration, birthplace of a dream..

Before I even set foot in D.C. I was already busting with ideas for how to spend my time here. Okay, I'll be honest. It sounds like it's gonna be really rough, I'm gonna have to work with people, which can always be difficult and tricky at times, dealing with people who don't like being worked with etc. I'll leave it at that. It's gonna be tough, real tough. And what's more.. the internship is UNPAID. So. With the help and encouragement of my good friend Steph, I decided to suck it up and make the most of it... and change the world while I'm at it pretty much..

The name of this blog should be familiar to all. No? Try hummin it. Newsies ring a bell? Bunch of newspaper boys singing and dancing around NYC, going on strike against 'the man'. This is no coincidence my friends, no. See the way I figure, I should be getting paid for the time and work I'm puttin in up here. Well never fear brooklyn is here.. I'm gonna be housed with nearly 1,000 other kids just like me.. forced to work, with no pay. It aint right I tell ya!

Anyways i'll skip all the drama and cut to the chase. I'm talking about visions of flash mobs on the mall, yes sir, singing and dancing like the good ole days, secret websites in 5 different languages being created while we're 'working on the internship website', news crews being tipped off by our own journalism interns, short stories and kid's books with notable characters and mascots being made and published by our writing and editing interns, basically another newsies except even more large scale.. and no, not jus D.C., we'e talkin' the whole woild!! The news media and youtube will depict our flash mob, which will promote our website, none other then and the world will know.com, which will inspire thousands of interns across the globe to stand up and fight for our rights!!

Figure if I don't end up gettin paid in the end I'll at least have a good shot at making the back of a Doritos bag..

Only the beginning..

After literally years of planning and preparing, months of waiting, weeks of stressing, days of nervous anticipation, a few hours of packing, and a 5hr bus ride aboard the mega-bus I am finally here:

Washington D.C.

I was accepted into The Fund for American Studies' (TFAS) Engalitcheff Institute on Comparative Political and Economic Systems (ICPES) earlier this year.

I will be taking 3 courses (9 credits) at Georgetown University. Yes. I am officially a Hoya, living in Hoya dorms, playing Hoya basketball in the Hoya gym, drinking Hoya water, whatever the heck a Hoya is..

The 3 courses I will be taking include:

Comparative Economic Systems

U.S. Foreign Policy

Public Policy Internship Seminar

But I will also be interning close to 30hrs/wk with the APP, the Asia Policy Point, (an independent, U.S. nonprofit research center that meets the practical needs of executives, scientists, engineers, educators, policymakers, and journalists. Professionals learn to integrate both Japanese information and U.S.-Japan technology and economic policies in their research and strategic planning.)

But pretty much I'll be working on updating their website, filing files into the filing cabinet, and oh ya know, helping out in getting some of their legislation passed on Capitol Hill.. no but seriously, I am. 

I will be touring the White House next Saturday.

I will be attending a Major League Baseball game, D.C.'s own Nationals team.

I will be scampering about all of D.C. seeing all there is to see during the duration of my stay here.

All of this and more, much much more, will be mine in the ensuing 8 weeks. Stay tuned.