It’s a bit hard for me to post to my blog, check my email, or do anything on the web right now, because my uncle’s computer is an old Pentium-90 with a 14.4 modem connected to AOL. I will return to my normal voluminous online self once I have acquired the income to purchase a laptop. Job and room first.

Yesterday I took my first real walk around Washington, DC. (Embarassing confession: I only found out this morning that it means “District of Columbia.” All this time I had thought the city was part of MD.) It was a joy to walk along real sidewalks, to cross at real intersections with real (working!) pedestrian lights, to see motorists actually obeying traffic rules and giving pedestrians right of way. How wonderful, to be able to breathe deeply even in the midst of an urban center, without choking on the fumes of smoke-belching buses and jeepneys! (Well, occasionally a noisy, beat-up, old pickup truck would drive by, and I would get a whiff of that ol’ Manila feeling, but not too often, thank goodness.)

The city is beautiful, and the sheer history of it permeates the air. Old buildings and colonial architecture abound, and I’ve seen several early structures and monuments along 16th Avenue, looking for all the world like miniature Parthenons or Notre Dames. (The local Masonic Lodge looks like it was imported from early Greece.)

Today, I’m checking out First Baptist. Anyone have feedback? Praise? Warnings? Church alternatives?

By the way, I’m living with my uncle and aunt right now, in a townhouse in the Addams Morgan area, and from my room, I have a great view of the Washington Monument and the Capitol Dome. We’re walking distance from the White House! Now how cool is that, eh?