Many of you may not know it, but Washington DC was my first "Home" in North America, I was a 19-year-old girl when I moved from Perú to USA and DC was my home for the first 3 years (now 15 and counting).
So I have a special attachment to DC, I don't have family there or friends anymore (modt of them moved too) but I feel like the streets know my name and recognize me when I am there. A piece of my heart is in DC for sure.
I remember clearly waking up very very early when it was still dark in the morning and taking going to the Metro station, taking the train to my job in Georgetown, listening to music from my cd player; I remember walking and walking the streets, taking the bus, looking at the fashion stores, buying lunch from a Food Truck, watching people jogging during the Summer, meeting friends at some restaurant's patio and going clubbing at Adam's Morgan at night, eating pizza for dinner on a napking while walking...
Well... that was the single life, I loved it and I keep those memories fresh in my mind and heart.
Now, every time I get the chance to come back I bring my girls and I love to show them the city, of course, we look for the Cherry Blossom Trees, (not so many this year), we walk close to the White House and the Washington Monument or "The Giant Pencil" as my girls call it, we eat some hot dogs and play at “Lafayette Square”.
DC represents for me my youth, my lack of information, my innocence and my attempts to learn about this culture... well, I guess I didn't just learned about the culture but I fell in love with it, I fell deeply in love with USA and the routine of going to work, sleeping in the bus, exchanging my shoes at the Train Station, having a Starbucks in the morning, eating something on the go, laughing with my friends, and sometimes feeling overwhelmed with the power that the Capitol and its buildings represented to me at that time.
I love to come back and remember “Who I was?” and “What I was looking for?”, especially I love to know that what I was looking for actually founded ME while I was living in Washington and even tho it moved me 40 minutes away to the North from “my home” I can always come back to say thank you and wonder the streets again, of course, now with some company.
Natalia.
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| "Lafayette Square" |
