I was very lucky and happy to arrive at Washington D.C on Tuesday Oct 9 to take a rest and have a free Wednesday for city tour before jumping into official orientation days at ICMA. We stayed at Hyatt Place at 33 New York Ave and my roommate is an experienced and interesting fellow from Malaysia whose name is Huey (accidentally it’s pronounced as a city in Vietnam: Hue). There are so many destinations that I would love to spend an entire week to visit if possible, but with 1 day, we decided to visit the American history museum and African American museum. Needless to say: they are all fascinating. Lately Wednesday night the cohort had a very warm welcome dinner with people at ICMA: Tony, Kara and David – ICMA’s Director of Global Programs.
The cohort officially broke the ice at the first day of orientation and I was astonished by the diversity of their background and interesting personality. We received informative and detailed presentations about local government during the two days and until I arrived at my placement, I truly recognized how useful it is when I’m at the host community and being between the Midterm Election.
I spent very cozy weekend with the family of Mr. Adam Brown, the city manager of Ontario. I went to the church, played puzzle, picked tomatoes in the garden and saw how the family prepared meals here. Finishing resting up and be ready for the next four weeks.
