A Visit to the UN

This trip home has felt a little less relaxing and more about running errands and helping around the house with whatever needs to be done. It's crazy how quickly the time goes.  I wake up and every afternoon marvel at where the time has gone.  For my first few days back, I got the nickname the "sweeper" because it turns out I am amazingly good at throwing things away (Michael would probably say too good).  

I helped my parents clean out the attic, which had trophies and certificates from grade school, books and textbooks from middle school through college, and relics from years past.  I found all of my college applications, every single report card and standardized test report, as well as boxes and boxes of now-useless lecture and class notes.  In a fit of craziness, I also attacked the bookshelves in my bedroom, which had over the years become a repository of random books and papers.  I found my BarBri prep notes and promptly dumped all of it.  Throwing things away feels so cathartic.  20+ bags of garbage and donations later, I feel physically lighter.  During the course of all of that clearing and sorting, I found this.   A flip nokia phone!

It's amazing how far technology has come.

For Christmas this year, my sister's boyfriend and his dad and sister came to visit us.  As part of their trip, we took them to the UN and did some sightseeing around the city.  I was only able to participate in the UN portion before I had to scurry off to meet with a colleague and also do some last minute shopping, but it was an informative tour and I'm glad I got to accompany them.  It was a beautiful day.

 This is inside the UN Plaza.

 The entrance to the UN.

 There is a lot of artwork, both commissioned and donated.
 
The coolest part was that, because you were in international territory, you can get a special stamp in your passport.  Unfortunately I didn't bring mine.

 Posing with the sister in front of the 30 basic human rights.  Reading some of the basic rights, it was a good and timely reminder of how much we have to be grateful for, and how important it is to safeguard our liberties.

 This was a staggering statistic that I couldn't fully comprehend.  The daily military expenditure worldwide is over a billion US dollars per day, leading to 1,747 billion US dollars per year.  In contrast, a paltry fraction of that is spent toward development and education. 

 The UN is situated on a beautiful part of eastern Manhattan and the hour long tour is worth a gander if you're in town and looking for something informative to do!