Oh oh oh, woke up today with a headache! (from June 4)

So I'm back from the east coast, and I don't know where to begin to talk about it. I had such a fun time--withholding riding, seemingly, invisibly in the backseat whilst my parents bickered. We saw all kinds of monuments and parks and memorials and shows and stuff. I say "stuff" because there's was just too much to see and all became something of a blur after awhile.

We flew to DC last Monday and set out from our hotel to the Mall to take in the monuments at night. Saw the Washington obelisk, a new memorial to WWII, and the Lincoln memorial--all of which look really cool at night. (I'll post pics eventually, don't worry.)

The next day we took in the Holocaust Memorial during the early afternoon. WWII has always been a fascinating period in world history for me, and I'm especially drawn in to the Holocaust. It might be because our family has Jewish ties or at least because my mother emphasized the tragedy to my sister and me growing up. Maybe it's because I have an overly developed sense of justice and am very sensitive. Maybe it's just because I'm human. Whatever the reason, the Holocaust always affects and intrigues me.

Now, I've been to Dachau in Germany and seen firsthand the gas chambers and the cremation ovens. I've walked between where all the barracks were. I've heard the stories from concentration camps, and I've read about the Nazis' inhumane scientific experiments, tortures, and various cruelties. I was very impressed by the Holocaust Museum/Memorial's approach to the subject at hand and how it synthesized information from before Hitler took power to after the war was over, showing step by step how his regime affected the Jews, the Roma (gypsies), homosexuals, evangelicals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Russians, Poles, mentally and physically handicapped individuals, and so on.

What I did not like about the memorial was the school groups. Teenagers--particularly ones who are incapable and/or unwilling of grasping the concept of the Holocaust--should not be taken to this museum/memorial because they did not respect the memories of the dead or the experiences of the other museum goers who were--very often--personally affected in one way or another by what they saw. However, I can only hope that one day those teenagers will be able to get a clue.

Other sights seen in Washington, DC, include: the Capitol building, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Flight, and Arlington Cemetery. I had no idea how large Arlington was. Once you're standing in one of the lots, you look as far as you can in any direction and you see rows and rows of white headstones. We went to Arlington to pay respects to a young man who used to be in my parents' youth group before they were missionaries. He was killed in Afghanistan last year.



Ok, this is a long enough blog, and I have "stuff" that I need to get done today. I'll write about the rest of the trip later. Maybe I'll throw in a blog about India again--just to mess with you, gentle reader. ;)