the marvelous khaled.

So all of my roommates are in a serious relationship. Haha, this seems to happy to me often. Somehow I end up becoming friends with people who are always in a relationship. Why? I have no idea. Although this would bother most people, it does not bother me. Today my lovely apartment mate got flowers sent to her (with a vase!) from her boyfriend. Adorable? I think so! My other apartment mate’s boyfriend made her a scrap book of all the stories she wrote over the last year that he collected, so precious! And then my other roommate, who is actually married (her husband is in the navy), is so nice too. I am surrounded by girls who are in healthy good relationships, so I am happy about that.

I started my internship this week and it has been such a blessing. On Monday I arrived ten minutes early and was surprised how people came to work thirty minutes later than expected. I am finding out that the office is pretty laid back about a lot of things. I work with two other general interns, two are graduate students, and one if a congressional research intern. Although I absolutely love my internship, it is has been quite tiring, but completely rewarding. On day when I thought that all I would be doing is making copies. Little did I know that as the days progressed I would be able to go to a discussion with Khaled Hosseini. The discussion as sponsored by MPI (Migration Policy Institute). The people that filled the room of about sixty were people from other NGO’s, universities, and the government.

As I was sitting there I could not help but think back to all my international development notes. He spoke of the situation of the Afghan government, the political unrest, refugees, IDP’s, the infrastructure, etc. The list could go on forever. People were given the opportunity to ask questions at the end of his talk. People stood up, said their name, and where they worked. People from homeland security, professors at American University, people who worked at UNHCR, and many relief organizations asked questions. I was so encouraged. I want to be that person who has that job who is asking those tough questions. I want to be that person who is being challenged and trying to help the world one step at a time.

I took about six pages of notes as I frantically tried to write down important information to report back to the Afghanistan advocate at my internship. Even as I write this now, I have the chills. There is a beautiful thing when God brings together people who care about His people, whether you are a Christian or not. We all care about these people, that is why we are in these organizations.

When Khaled was done with his talk everyone clapped and then he said “and if anyone wants a book signed I would be happy to do so.” I jumped right on that! Ha, I was so stoked. I bought the book “A thousand splendid suns,” which is not going to be my metro book. We will see how long it takes me! Probably not long.

Needless to say, today was a good day and my blogs continue to be random…. As usual.