This event, as you may have guessed, had nothing to do with the EPA. My roommate is interning with the American Turkish Council (ATC), and every year they hold a four-day conference for American-Turkish relations—political, military, and economic. It is one of the largest, if not the largest, conference of its kind held in Washington every year, so I am told. Every year the conference calls for a number of volunteers to help out at the event. Volunteering involves fairly typical activities, including helping with set-up, check-in and getting attendees to where they are supposed to be. However, the rewards for volunteering are anything but typical compared to my other experiences.
This conference was no small potato (I have never used that saying before, but I think that’s how it goes) and was held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Entrance to the dinner events alone cost more than I have made in a week at some of my jobs. The organizers allowed (even encouraged) us to attend all the events, so I ate gourmet salads and well-prepared steak and drank Turkish wine. Surprisingly, even with my relatively inexperienced palate I enjoyed and devoured every last bit of food that they placed in front of me. Even better than the food were some of the keynote speakers at the events. One of my personal favorites was a National Geographic vice president and editor, who spoke at first evening gala dinner to celebrate 100 years of National Geographic in Turkey. We each received two free issues of the most recent publications of the magazine as well!
That night I was losing my voice and sounded like a cartoon mouse (Tom, Mighty, or Speedy Gonzalez, take your pick), but with a great deal of effort was able to get the attention of the vice president long enough to compliment his speech and take a picture with him. Sadly, I didn't have enough time to explain why it sounded like I was still going through puberty at 21, or to make a legitimate contact. I was thrilled nonetheless.
I got that issue-the China one-FREE!! (Photo Source: National Geographic)
THEN, for the lunch the following day (for which dessert was delicious...each of the three servings I ate as satisfying as its predecessor), the speaker was none other than Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice! As would be expected, Rice ran a little late coming straight from testifying on Capitol Hill. I think that these figures may make point to be late most of the time just to remind everyone that they are a lot more important than the rest of us...which I can respect…because, well, they are. I was helping the State Department officials with security (in this case that is a fancy title that really means I acted as a ticket taker for the duration of the lunch) so that I could have the opportunity to hear Rice speak. As predicted, she proved her vast intelligence and knowledge of Turkey and the region. However, what I did not expect was that Rice would actually be brave enough to take questions from the audience--full of prominent and opinionated citizens of America, Turkey, and other nations. Overall I was very impressed, and she definitely surpassed my expectations.
Condoleezza Rice looked pretty much the same in person, although she was smaller than I imagined. I think She even used that gesture! (Photo source: El Pais)
This week at work was also good, but let’s face it--this event was definitely the highlight, so I'll spare you the internship details for now.
Until next week…
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