Day 20: A Tragicomic Adventure

Tonight was, by far, one of the more ridiculous grocery trips of my life. It all began when I got home from work and ran for the second time since I’ve been here and for the first time outside. It was really quite enjoyable even though an older gentleman in a tuxedo told me that it was cold to be running. Formerly, I had been deterred from running outside by fear of the cold and the creepers. However, I was running too hard to be cold, and I was in a lighted area wisely jogging with mace in my hand (courtesy of Eric). I will no longer fear this (for you Steph K).

Anyways, when I got home I didn’t really drink much water, but headed back the same direction of my run to the grocery store with my roommates (including our honorary roommate). An icy blast had been added to the wind as we commenced our long trek to the grocery store.

We seem to all have this thing against taking the bus to the store. You can call it pride or you can call it exercise, but I call it adventure. There is something about a group of women determinately walking to the grocery store a mile away in the freezing cold that excites my spirit-in a weekly errand kind of way.

The only thing worth mentioning about the actual time at the grocery store is that they played “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias.

Anyhow, it seems that every time we go to the grocery store we get a little more ambitious about the weight that we are capable of lugging back to the apartment. It was absolutely ridiculous this time.

Our eco-friendly (and more durable) bags were at maximum capacity as we trudged along in the fierce wind. Our spirits were low as the cold encompassed our appendages, which for some were uncovered, and slashed at our faces. My body was slow with the extra weight digging into my limbs that were filling with the lactic acid produced by my earlier run. Yet a deep spirit of determination that I believe is built into every woman for grocery shopping perseverance ran thick in our blood. Seriously, I was getting light headed from having run without eating or really drinking enough water, and I did imagine myself on an arctic journey about to die as I intermittently laughed at the preventable absurdity of our situation.

As we were arriving at our apartment one of the bars nearby was playing music, and the song was reaching its pinnacle with a rising scale in crescendo. This only made the moment all the more dramatic and me-all the more annoyed. When we finally arrived at our apartment, I put my groceries on the floor and was then advised by my dear roommate that I needed to drink water and eat protein and carbs. Unfortunately, the kitchen was overwhelmed with a plethora of groceries and hands stocking them. So I concluded the trip by pathetically placing myself on the floor of our entryway with my precious groceries sustaining me as I reached into the bags and gorged on my breakfast bars and trail mix.

Day 12: Work you will

Funny thing happened at work today. No big deal, but I accidently scheduled a lunch meeting at an office in another country...

Today was my second day of real work. I absolutely love being busy with meaningful tasks that have practical deadlines. The weird part is feeling like I am supposed to take everything home and finish it at some late and stressful hour of the evening. HOWEVER, work is DONE at 5:30, and I can go home and leave my unfinished projects 'to the morrow' (did I make that phrase up?).

Also, one of the interns at work is from the UK, and we asked him today what his favorite drink was...His answer: something I don't remember "with Bailey's". This was delightful to me in light of a freshmen year of too many Ole Greg quotes.

I like to receive mail.

Day 10: Lady Fail

This is probably the first time since college that I have been so continually surrounded by lots of girls with no boys present. I am often with 4 to 6 girls at a time, and the experience is maximized by the fact that we are not each in our own spaces. We are usually all in one room or all together on a walk talking and chattering in typical female fashion. It's refreshing and exhausting all at once....sooo good for me.

Anyways, last night was the usual female fiesta in our apartment, and one of our roommates had been baking all day for her boyfriend serving in Afghanistan. However, she considerately reserved some chocolate chip (Texas-shaped) cookies for us. And when she finished using the chocolate dipping sauce for the truffles (I would say graham cracker balls but she would be highly offended..she explained that they must be called TRUFFLES... :)...)...she provided us with the bowl of chocolate. Well...girls and chocolate are kind of like missing socks and black holes....they gravitate to them..very..quickly...so seven of us flocked to the chocolate and began to fervently dip cookies and graham crackers into this liquid delight....And apparently I somehow dipped my face. I mean really...it was an accident. This was quite hilarious to my counterparts as we were just discussing my adventures in "lady lessons". First Fail.

Second Fail. As the evening proceeded, one of the girls described my style as androgynous.."in a good way"...I mean it's really not a bad thing...but it was funny in light of the early discussion and situation.

I believe all of this is what led me today to consider buying a purple cardigan covered in roses with sparkly buttons. I did not make the purchase...but it's on my mental "wish list".

Now besides the lady nonsense, I forgot to mention that our apartment provides a complimentary coffee machine that I believe would make my friend Jonathan cry.....in agony. However, I do make use of it. Lesson learned: lattes created from a white and brown stream pouring out of a machine=disappointing.

I should also add that today I rode the third longest continuous escalator in the world (according to wikipedia) at the Rosslyn metro stop. My friend and I timed the ride at a little above 2 minutes but more accurately, wikipedia records the ride at 159 seconds.I forced myself to simply ride it the whole way up which was completely contrary to my typical relationship with escalators. Neat.

I miss Dr. Pepper.

Day 9: "Roll Change Roll" -Steph King

So it's Day 9, and I feel myself settling into the city and the rhythm of life here. I look ahead, and I see in this experience an incredible capacity for beautiful change. I can see hardship ahead. I can see little victories. I can see funny moments. I can see embarrassing situations. And I can see change through it all. Partly because all of these things have already occurred in one week.

I look forward to coming home different, and sometimes it makes me want to fast forward...especially as I talk to my "dear ones" from home. However, WHAT AM I THINKING? I'm here. I need to be "all here" (Windlyrics blog). And I will be. It takes practice though. Every day is full of the most beautiful opportunities.

For one, I am learning to be a lady. Some of you, who really know me, are probably laughing at this. Two of my roommates and one in particular are very feminine and ladylike. I love it! It is a blast watching them and being around them. One of my favorite moments so far was walking by my roommates room only to see her ironing as she was watching "I Love Lucy".

One of the first signs of their influence is that I painted my fingernails! Ha, I never do this, but three of them had and were talking about it. So I gave it a whirl. My nails are now a beautiful shade of Plum Seduction (that's for you Steph K).

I went to church again this morning. No contact with the Secret Service, but it was a wonderful message on loving God with all your mind.

Last night some girls and I went to the Lincoln Memorial and The WWII Memorial. It was kind of surreal with the night sky above us, the memorials so close to us, and the city lights in the background. One of my favorite parts about the monuments was reading the inscriptions of famous quotes in our country's history. The highlight of the night probably was Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. I had read it before for one of my classes, but it was refreshing to read again. I would recommend it.
http://www.nationalcenter.org/LincolnSecondInaugural.html

P.S. I tried to be a cowboys fan/care about football in general with one of my roommmates. FAIL.

Day 5&6: Opening

Last night I went out with some other interns to a fun beat poet/bookstore/bar/restaurant/too cool little hub. I ordered some delicious bruschetta. There was no live poetry going on, but it was just a nice time to relax and get to know each other more.

Blisters are forming on my feet.

I have met a handful of people from abroad. However, it is really the people I have met of the states that have cracked open my view of the world.

I had an interesting time this morning as I walked to work looking people in their eyes and smiling.

There are some delightful accents to listen to here.

We are supposed to have a snow storm soon. Looks like I might be pulling out Patsy's snow boots.

Day 3&4: The city resurrected

On Monday the city roars to life in what some would call "Type A" fashion. I actually live in Crystal City which is a little bit outside of D.C. and technically in Arlington. Now the interesting thing about Crystal City is that you can get to most places through these inside street/walkways. Everyone kind of refers to them as tunnels, but from what I can tell-they are above ground. So the people of crystal city are kind of like high school kids/moles. For the mole part, it is possible to walk to work without seeing the light of day. For the high school part, crystal city is like this massive high school where the work places are classrooms all connected by extremely long tunnels filled with people you see on a regular basis. I actually can walk the entire way to my office through these "tunnels". However, there is some great photography lining the walls to entertain me including photos from some photo contest during the election. This translates into a billion pictures of Obama and Obama constituents.

Today was actually the first day of the rest of the semester that I dressed business professional. In typical Renee style, I did not allot enough time to iron my blouse correctly and was in a bit of frenzy to get to work, but I made it. However at work, I was very conscious of my less than perfect ironing job. Needless to say, I have the outfit planned and ready to go for tomorrow. ;)

One of the greatest parts of my day actually occurred this evening on my way tunnelling home. As I mentioned earlier, it's like high school so I was just walking along when I saw a familiar face after only living here for 3 days. My brain began to try and register who it was, and I myself was shocked when the answer came. It was the Ralph Lauren Druggie from Day 1, except this time he did not appear to be a druggie. Just a casual guy probably walking home from work. I definitely did a triple take. I honestly wanted to follow him home.

Back at the apartment, one of my wonderful roommates made the most surprisingly delicious pizza. I was fascinated by the fact that I enjoyed it. It was simply a crust covered with pesto, mozzarella, spinach, APPLES, and feta. Apples were the topping that threw me off, but I just loved it. I even bought all the ingredients when we went to the grocery store which was an adventure in itself.

From what we can tell, the best and cheapest grocery store is a little over a mile walk above ground from our apartment. I had actually planned on figuring this out myself this evening, but thank goodness for my roommates who came along. We made our trek to the store in about 23 degree weather where I bought a ton of groceries that I never could have carried all by myself... as was my original plan. We then had to carry them all back. This is going to be a big change versus driving the like 1 minute trip to HEB. Forgetting things is going to be a much bigger deal, and of course, I forgot many things.

I've realized upon moving here that I require a lot to live, especially as I am having to acquire the things that we take for granted that are already in our houses at home. It made me think of Elisabeth Eliot's book "The Savage My Kinsman" which I just recently read. She talks about packing for her jungle trek that she was going to take to live with a remote tribe of Indians. She knew she could carry really no more than 15 pounds of stuff, and her list was minimal to say the least. I probably transported more than 100 lbs of stuff just to live here for 4 months. buh.

Maybe the long walks to the grocery store in the cold will make up for my excessiveness.

I doubt this.

But something will change in me.

Day 2: Churchin'

So this morning my Dad and I headed out to church by way of the metro. We stopped in Union Station and I had a wonderful asiago cheese bagel for breakfast, a dear love of mine. We attended National Community Church, which is one church in 5 locations all over the D.C. area. We went to one of their location which is at a coffee house they bought called Ebenezer's right near the hill. We walked in and were a little confused because it was just a regular coffee shop, and there was obviously no service taking place in the quiet humdrum of the shop. Eventually we discovered that the actual service was held in the basement of the building.

In the meantime, a man struck up a conversation with us. He was very friendly and eventually we asked him what he did in D.C. He answered..I'm in the secret service...Ha, it seemed taboo to ask him any more questions about his work..but it was almost unbelievable. I wanted to laugh. He certainly looked like he could be in the secret service though. Anyways, people started pouring in and we eventually all headed down to the basement where people spilled over onto the floors. It was packed. The congregation was very young, 20s and 30s, and my dad felt super old. We watched the pastor speak on a screen. Apparently he rotates between locations and the rest just watch him on screen. I really enjoyed it.

Next we met with a lobbyist of an agricultural organization my dad is involved with. He was very friendly, and I received my first CARD in D.C. I felt legit except for I forgot to bring my card to exchange with him. Next time. Next time.

In the evening, I attended the welcome celebration for the agency I am working with. It was a lot of fun and exciting to see and meet the people I will be working alongside.

This is going to be a great experience.

Also, my hotel has sleep number beds. AWESOME.

Day 1: First Glance

So today was the first day of my semester interning in D.C. I actually have not started work yet nor have I moved into my apartment. Therefore, I am typing this in the comfort of a warm hotel-important, considering it is 30 degrees outside. So far my impressions are random and amount to little, but there were a couple of noteworthy parts of my day.

1. There is snow on the streets.
2. Crystal City is a ghost town on weekends, including week nights. It is creepy.
3. My metro ride consisted of two interesting displays.
a. One was of a guy who was extremely high. He was dressed very nicely in a
Ralph Lauren pullover..probably in his upper 20s..and with a friend who
was far more conscious than he was. His mouth was open, his eyes were
rolling, and he kept trying to stand up but could not quite reach the
overhead bar. It was probably 5:00 p.m.
b. The other was of a disgruntled man cussing on his cell phone about how
he needed a couple thousand dollars so he could get out of this (insert
explicit word'n)place so he could get to the west coast. I couldn't help
but wonder if he would be just as dissatisfied over there.
4. Actually the metro ride had another interesting display but it was quite separate from the other two...the ride over the Potomac River...movie-like....I liked.
5. People visiting from Asia take a lot of pictures..pictures in strange places.. Including one in front of the gift shop in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum...I couldn't tell if the gift shop was the piece of interest or the Nazi blimp hanging above.

I think I am going to like it here.