Saying Good-Bye to Sweet Virginia

Leaving Virginia proved to be a contradictory experience- as the time to move drew increasingly closer, I began to have feelings of joy and excitement, sadness and longing, sometimes at the same time. I was happy to be closer to friends and family back in New England, to put an end to the grueling 2 hour/each way commute that had me away from home for at least 12 hours a day, and to be able to spend more time with Scott and Studley. The possibilities of finding work and housing back in New England were also exciting after our experience in DC. However, it was really hard leaving the friends and lifestyle that I'd made for myself over the past few years. It was also a little daunting having to remind myself that while I was going back to Portland, things would inevitably be different from when I lived there last.

In between trying to find housing, employment, taking advantage of having health insurance while I still had it, and saying good-bye to people in DC, I decided to not further stress myself out by trying to finish my DC Bucket List. I decided that I would rather spend my time and finances doing things with friends that I would not see for a while, or perhaps ever again. However, I am hoping to come back to DC for a visit some time next year, and hope to work on the items that I didn't check off on my Bucket List.

The days, as they are want to do, flew by, and before we knew it, it was almost time to leave. The week before we left, we heard news reports of a "Frankenstorm" that was due to hit the East Coast when we were supposed to move. The weekend was spent packing and saying good-bye to people. My last day of work at American University was due to be October 29th, but as luck would have it, the storm, Sandy, hit the DC area Sunday night and AU was closed on the 29th and the day after. It would have been nice to have the closure of saying good-bye to one of the few constants in my life over the past 3 years, but perhaps it was better to avoid the tearful good-byes. It also gave us more time to pack as my parents, who had generously agreed to help us move, could not get down to us. Fortunately, we did not lose power, and were able to stay in the apartment until the 1st.

Without going into details, the move was arduous to say the least. Like many things in life, it was more financially- and time-consuming than we had originally anticipated. The roads were ok, but there were lodging and gas shortages throughout the storm-affected areas in New York and New Jersey. Somehow, everyone made it back alive. Barely. Sleep deprived and emotionally drained, we arrived in Maine on November 2nd/3rd. It is great being back in vacationland, but a part of me will always miss the hustle and bustle of the Capitol. Stay classy, DC!

Getting in Touch with Nature in 4 Hours or Less

DC Bucket List:

6. Visit Bridget at Twin Oaks

Since before I moved to DC for graduate school, my good friend Bridget has lived at Twin Oaks intentional community near Charlottesville, VA. While we never actually went to school together, I met Bridget freshman year of high school through a close mutual friend of ours. We have been in touch off and on since then, usually making time for a sushi date in Rutland when we were both in VT. Pretty much since I moved to the DC area, possibly a little before then, we had talked about meeting up in the area, with the most likely scenario being me visiting her at Twin Oaks. It is about a 2 hour drive away, so between both of our busy lives, it just didn't happen. Then, Scott and I made the decision to move back to New England, so I knew that our opportunity to meet up was slipping away. So, about 2 weeks before we moved, we went to visit Bridget at Twin Oaks.

It was great not only to see her (and for her and Scott to meet), but also to see what life was like at an intentional community like Twin Oaks. I have to admit, it is a pretty tempting lifestyle. Everyone was so nice and friendly, the surrounding area was so peaceful, and I loved that they grow and/or make almost all of their own food. Twin Oaks primarily produces tofu (and hammocks) for income, and we were lucky enough to receive some tofu samples. Scott is really a meat-and-potatoes guy, so I was really surprised by how much he enjoyed the chorizo tofu that we prepared at home. It was so good!!! It was nice to spend the whole day at Twin Oaks outside walking around the grounds with Studley. We even got to go to the playground for adults, which featured a huge web of several hammocks tied together and a triple tire swing. We will definitely be back to visit sometime in the future, quite possibly to purchase one of the awesome hammocks that Twin Oaks makes.

If I Can Make it There...

Author's note: I have tried to write this post on two previous occasions but to no avail- it was accidentally deleted both times. (No, really.) Let's see if the third time is the charm...

DC Bucket List:

5. Go to NYC

Why would a trip to New York City be on a "Bucket List" about DC? Well, one great thing about living in a major city on the East Coast is that all of the other major cities on the East Coast are easy and cheap to get to. A few years ago, a friend and I took a bus up to NYC from DC on a whim for a short trip to see a friend of mine from Germany who was visiting the US. We had a great time, and ever since then, I've wanted to take a trip back to NYC. Unfortunately, my friend couldn't join me this time, so I went solo to see some friends that I hadn't seen in a very long time. Here is a synopsis of my trip in three parts:

The Good:
1. On Friday night, I met up with my good friend Danielle and her girlfriend Kate. Before I went to NYC, it had occurred to me that Danielle and I had been friends for about 10 years now, which is impressive considering that we met in the brief time that I attended Simmons College in Boston, and my trip up there confirmed why- she has a great sense of humor and is a good friend. I mean 'good friend' in that there are people that are good at being friends- people that, even if you don't see or speak to them for a while, you can connect with despite not being in contact for some time; you can pick up where you left off. Danielle and Kate graciously hosted me in their apartment in Staten Island for a night. I would probably never had gone to Staten Island, but it's actually a pretty cool place with a distinct character. I would probably live there if I ever moved to NYC- it's further from the city and has more of a suburban feel. Also, being on Staten Island makes one realize and appreciate that NYC is, in fact, on the water. They showed me around Staten and some of the hipster-laden parts of Brooklyn, which was pretty cool. I love visiting people and getting to see things "off the beaten path."

2. On Saturday evening, I left Danielle and Kate and met up with my friends Daphne and Mat, whom I met when I was studying abroad in Nagasaki. Daphne always seems to know about the cool Asian places to go, so we met up for kaitenzushi (commonly known in the US as conveyor-belt sushi), where they surprised me by paying for dinner. If I haven't mentioned it before, I have some pretty awesome friends. After dinner, we walked around a bit and caught up over bubble tea (yum!). Then, we headed back to the karaoke bar above the kaitenzushi restaurant. Originally, we were going to go to Koreatown for karaoke (or norebang in Korean), but as I lost my wallet and ID (more on that below), I couldn't get in as they card at the door. Daphne graciously called around to see which karaoke places did not ID at the door, and made a reservation for karaoke at Japas 27 (did I mention how awesome my friends are?). So, we ended up meeting up with Danielle and Kate and singing karaoke for 3 hours- it was so much fun! The next day, Daphne and Mat took me to a bagel place in Astoria for breakfast. That onion bagel with homemade jalapeno-asiago cream cheese was probably the best bagel I'd ever had. New York bagels are no joke! Then I said goodbye to them and headed to my bus to return to DC.

The Bad:
After leaving my wallet at home and having to trek home from work to retrieve it earlier in the day, one of the first things I did when I arrived in NYC Friday night was to leave my wallet in the back seat of a cab. Luckily, I hadn't had time to get cash and had taken my debit card out to pay for the cab, so all of the money I had was on my person. I had a credit card in the wallet, but I cancelled it before any fraudulent charges were made. The biggest inconvenience was, as I mentioned, that I didn't have my ID and thus couldn't prove I was over 21. However, it did make my trip to NYC much less expensive than it could have been. I came to work on Monday prepared to start contacting various businesses to get new cards, but, as luck would have it, I got an e-mail over the weekend from the cab driver's son saying that a customer had found my wallet and turned it in to the cab driver and that he had it. What a relief! I finally got the wallet back yesterday and I was so grateful. I would have liked to have gotten it back sooner, but I did not want to harass a perfect stranger who was kind enough to contact me about my wallet AND send it to me in VA.

The Ugly:
I will never take Mega Bus again! It was a total zoo in Union Station (very disorganized) and to top it off, we were delayed by an hour and a half, which I found out by word of mouth! We were delayed leaving NYC two days later! Never again... next time I will shell out the extra $10 to take Bolt Bus!

New York City- never a dull moment!

Me Talk Pretty One Day?

DC, like many big cities, is a land of opportunities. DC is unique, though, in the sense that there are many different cultures in one area. The result is that one can find cuisine from virtually any area (as my former supervisor used to say, you don't pick where you want to eat, you pick a country). As I have mentioned previously, another manifestation is that one can find a place to learn practically any language. Not only are there various cultural societies and associations that offer language classes (I myself took a Japanese class at the Japan-America Society of Washington DC), but, naturally, there are all of the embassies, many of which offer language classes.

In addition to learning Japanese, I have always wanted to learn Korean. I like it aesthetically and I like the way it sounds. Korean has become increasingly relevant to my life as I discovered a passion  for Korean affairs as a graduate student and an appreciation for Korean culture. I feel that many Americans do not know a lot about Korea which is a shame, as Korea has a lot to offer. I could go on and on about this topic.

I decided to enroll in Korean language classes through the Korean Embassy's Korean Cultural Center after I graduated last year. Let me tell you, there is nothing more humbling than learning a foreign language as an adult. I have studied various foreign languages throughout my life, and it seems more difficult now than it ever was. Given, Korean seems more difficult to pick up for a native English speaker than the Romance languages of my youth, but I have less time to devote to learning Korean as an adult with a full-time job and I do not consider Korean to be an easy language.

That said, I love it! It's been great dealing with the Embassy, as the language classes become increasingly popular and the Embassy does more cultural outreach. My language teacher (선생님 or seon-saeng-neem in Korean) is a wonderful Korean lady whose enthusiasm for teaching us about Korean language and culture and bottomless well of patience is inspiring and encouraging. I have also met some interesting people in class doing various interesting things. My Korean isn't great yet (I would really like to study in Korea), but I love it anyway. There is nothing more satisfying when learning a foreign language than those "ah-ha" moments when you realize you could actually read a full sentence without using a dictionary. Given, for me, the sentence is usually something at a kindergarten reading-level like "my stomach hurts.", but it is still exhilarating nonetheless. It's that moment that you realize that you ARE learning this.

Besides learning Korean, taking the language classes has taught me a few things. One, sometimes you just have to throw yourself into something and do your best, even if you think you might fail. As my high school Latin teacher used to say, the worst you can be is wrong. This has been a hard lesson for me to learn, as I am a competitive person, so I prefer to be the best or to just not. But it has paid off as, predictably, Korean has gotten easier with time and I've had a lot of fun doing it. It has also inspired me to care less about what other people think and to focus more about what I think. Who cares if I don't know the answer to a question in class? It has also enabled me to be more open about trying new things, things that I would previously have shied away from for fear that I would fail. What is failure, anyway? Secondly, one is never too old to learn. Ever. Conversely, learning never gets old. It is still fun and rewarding to learn new things. You never know which doors will open up for you.

1pm at the Waffle House

DC Bucket List:

4. Go to a Waffle House

I have wanted to go to a Waffle House ever since I saw the symbol for one on a 'food' sign off of I-95 in Maryland the first time we drove to DC. I remember that my ex-boyfriend's friend from college was from South Carolina and kept a Waffle House menu to remind her of home. I persuaded Scott to go with me with the promise of free lunch. It was definitely an experience... the food was pretty good- of course, I had to have a waffle and hashbrowns with sausage gravy. I definitely understand now why people end up here at all hours of the night. Now I can say I've been there and have satiated my curiosity.

"Let Your Purity Shine," or Why I Love Hot Yoga

Despite my complaints about living in Virginia, there are, in fact, many cool things about living in a large metro area like DC. Probably the coolest thing is the opportunities available in the city that I could not find in Vermont or Maine. Since I've been down here, I have been to so many interesting talks and conferences with notable scholars, tried all sorts of different ethnic cuisines previously unavailable to me (where I discovered my undying love for Korean food!), had the opportunity to study foreign language at the local embassies and cultural institutes (I started taking Korean at the Korean cultural center last summer and have taken class at the Japan-America Society of Washington, DC), and been able to generally try new things that I have never done before (one of my co-workers and I even joined a Bocce league this Spring!). Being in an area as big as DC is great especially in the age of social coupons like LivingSocial and Groupon because there are always so many deals available for so many different things. For example, last Fall, I bought a coupon for two for Maryland Small Arms Range, where Scott showed me how to shoot a gun for the first time (I was really nervous but it was actually pretty fun!).
The deal that I have gotten the most out of has been a deal for 10 classes at Hot Yoga USA in Tenleytown (near American University). I have always loved yoga since taking a class about 5 years ago. Nothing can rival the physical, mental, and emotional release, healing, and well-being of yoga in my experience. I don't know why I wanted to try hot yoga (which is not the same as Bikram, FYI), but I wanted to challenge myself and see what it was like, and a coupon with a small number of classes seemed like a good opportunity. I started using the coupon in March with very low expectations of myself as I had not formally taken yoga for some time, which was a good thing as it was brutal! I did not realize how much I could sweat! It's proven to be a good thing in this hot weather, as I'm thinking, 'I'm sweating, but this is nothing!' I'm about to take my last hot yoga class this coming week. I have come really far in terms of the poses that I am able to do, the amount of time I can hold them, and the longer that I can bear the heat without resting.
Lately, more than any physical benefit, my hot yoga classes have come on days when I am feeling very mentally and emotionally drained. Most of my stress these days, as for most people, comes from my job. The current job market is awful, especially for those of us with advanced degrees in the humanities that have incurred large amounts of student debt. Jobs in the field of international affairs are especially competitive, and pretty much everyone I know who has the same degree as myself is struggling to find something in our field (which is both comforting and depressing). So, I find myself in the position of taking a job that is not remotely in my field for the sake of getting a paycheck. My paycheck is not a lot, but it is something. For this reason, and for other reasons that will be discussed at a later date, my job is extremely draining on almost all aspects of my life. It has been great to go from work into hot yoga class, where I am able to physically push myself and work out my stress. All of the instructors that I have had there have been great, but Gopi's classes have been particularly great for me in a more spiritual sense. In the few classes I have had with her, she has said to the class things that have particularly resonated with me, things that I needed to hear. Something that she said in her last class was particularly poignant, and is something that I am trying to hold close to as I struggle with my job and my career path: "One time, someone gave me a box. It was filled with darkness. In time, I realized that even the darkness is a gift."

VA is For Lovers

DC Bucket List:

2. Buy a "Virginia is for Lovers" item.

I have lived in the DC Metro area for three years and have opted to live in Northern VA the whole time. I'm not sure what about VA is so appealing for us, more than DC or Maryland. While I don't agree with VA politics, I do like living in what I call the "North-South." There is definitely a Southern feel to Virginia, but it is different from other places in the South that I have been. Rural VA is beautiful as Scott and I discovered last year when we went camping near the Shenandoah Mountains. The "Virginia is for Lovers" slogan is VA's attempt to appeal to tourists. Truly, Virginia HAS been for lovers, as we have lived in VA for most of the time that we have been together. We also adopted our "baby" Studley, our boxer-bulldog mix, from a rescue, Friends of Homeless Animals, down here. As much as I miss New England and want to return, VA will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Beginning of the End?

My boyfriend Scott and I are seriously considering leaving the DC area in the near future for many reasons. We've been here for almost three years and we've accomplished our primary objective for living in DC- me completing my Master's. Since completing my MA last May, both of us find ourselves in jobs that are less than desirable, jobs that we feel we could find back home. I miss New England more than I ever thought I would, though that's not to say that I am homesick. Rather, I am coming to appreciate the virtues of what New England has to offer. That said, we will likely be leaving DC in the not-so-distant future, which could mean when our lease expires in September or renewing our lease for another year and moving next Fall.

The prospect of leaving DC has had me thinking of all of the things that I have wanted to do in this area but haven't gotten around to doing yet. I've created my own DC "Bucket List" (I don't particularly care for that term since such lists existed before that movie came out but now I can't even think of another name for them!). Since its creation, the list seems to be getting longer rather than shorter, but I have been crossing some items off the list and have decided to post them here as I complete them. Without further adieu, item #1:

1. Buy food from a food truck in DC.

Like many big cities in the US, DC has a fleet of food trucks offering various cuisines. Obviously, food trucks are not something that I have ever seen in Northern New England. These food trucks are typically located in the middle of the city, however, I lucked out last week as the DC Bocce League arranged for different food trucks to come as part of Bocce week to the different divisions/locations/nights. Ironically enough the truck that came to our night, Dupont Division, was the Red Hook Lobster Pound. Not only did they carry both Maine-style (with mayo) and CT-style (with butter) lobster rolls, but they also had Cape Cod Potato Chips (<3), whoopie pies (a New England dessert staple), and a soda fountain with all Maine Root sodas (I love the root beer and blueberry!). I was not disappointed! I would definitely recommend seeking out the Red Hook food truck for those seeking a good lobster roll in DC. Admittedly though, that made me a little homesick.

Big City Living?

As a child growing up in rural Vermont, I always loved going to the big city and dreamed of a fabulous, impressive big city life. Trips to Boston were always a big deal, as were vacations to NYC, DC, Montreal, and others. I could not wait to leave Vermont and left at the first chance I got, in the form of going to college in Boston. Various different circumstances led me to transfer the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine, which I loved- it was a perfect mix of urban and rural Northern New England. When I finally went to grad school, I made a decision that surprised even me: I decided to go to American University in Washington, DC. While the call of the big city was enticing, there has always been something about DC that I found unappealing- something that I can't really describe. Perhaps it is that, as someone that studies international relations, I knew that it was a place that I would HAVE to go to, eventually.
In truth, DC has grown on me in ways that I didn't think it would (which is good considering I decided to go to AU before I had ever been to visit the school!). People in DC DO have souls, as it turns out! I love being immersed in the diversity and variety of this city. The opportunities offered by this city are innumerable. I love seeing the military personnel in their uniforms go off to their jobs in the Pentagon or the young professionals rush to their jobs in the middle of DC with their expensive suits. I love having public transportation readily available.
However, there is a time when these aspects of city life lose their luster, and the hour-and-a-half long metro commute to work gets old, and I long for a place where people don't live so close together and people actually care about making conversation with people, both people that they are familiar with and random strangers, and people aren't so in a hurry to get anywhere and everywhere. A place where people enjoy life and have time to balance work and friends and family and fun. Could I have been seeking Vermont all along?

Oh, to be a DC Sports Fan!

It's interesting living in DC as someone who has lived most of their life somewhere else for many different reasons, the number one reason surfacing recently has been sports. The sports mentality in DC is very different from where I come from, New England, for many different reasons I think, but mostly because Washington has had an unfortunate streak of sub-par sports teams, the hockey team (the Capitals) being the one exception. I think that die-hard Washington sports fans (i.e. Redskins fans) have come to terms with defeat more easily than sports fans in other places. For example, a friend of mine, a big Patriots fan like myself, was talking to her boss about the upcoming Patriots-Ravens AFC Championship game, with her boss trying to persuade her that it would be ok if the Patriots lost because it would still be exciting for her since a local team would be in the Superbowl. Of course, this did not placate my friend and the Patriots won anyway. A win here is a big deal no matter how big the game. In New England, we have very high expectations as our teams have been successful in the past decade or so, which has been the point in my life when I have really been paying attention to them. Making the playoffs in any sport in Washington is a big deal; making the playoffs in any sport in New England is a minimum expectation. How I wish I could be satisfied with the Patriots even being in the Superbowl, the way that Washingtonians would be with their hometeam!

Adventures with WMATA #1

Moving to the metropolis known as the District has been instructional in several different realms of my life, particularly about the infamous "rat race" in DC. It is difficult to fully comprehend the terrible drivers, the nightmarish commutes, the corporate competitiveness, and the humorless masses of the rat race unless one has experienced it for themselves. DC is, in fact, infamous for its rat race due to the ridiculously long commutes for employees in the area (it takes me 2 hrs to go 20 miles to get to work) and the cold demeanor of many of its residents and 9-5ers.

Lost in the rivers of the red and gold lights of the morning and evening traffic and its reputation as an unfriendly city are the random acts of kindness (believe it or not, it does happen). Yesterday one of those acts happened to me. I was driving out of the Metro parking lot thinking about all of the things I wanted to do when I got home when I went to swipe my SmartCard (the Metro's card that commuters can put money on) and it would not work. Of course, I panicked and re-swiped the card at least a dozen more times (as if that would solve the problem), while thinking that the card had had significantly more than enough money to pay for parking when I had swiped it leaving the Metro system only a few minutes earlier and that it should not have a negative balance as the card reader had told me. I put the car in reverse to go to another exit where I could use my credit card but, of course, there was a line of cars behind me so I couldn't do that and I put my hazard lights and debated on whether or not to get out of the car to talk to the attendant at another exit and tried my card for the 13th time to see if maybe, just maybe, this time it would work and ... and ... and ... Needless to say I was stressed and on the verge of losing it after commuting from work for the past one and a half hours. When I finally decided to get out of my car to do something effective instead of swiping my card for the 14th time, a stranger from one of the cars behind me came up to the card reader and swiped his card to open the gate to the exit. What surprised me most about this was not just the fact that someone had willingly spent their money to help out me, a stranger, but that while I was apologizing profusely and sputtering out that I thought I had enough money on my card and I didn't know why it wasn't working, this guy, one of those 9-5ers living out DC's rat race everyday, was nice about it. He said don't worry about it, it's ok, and most importantly he did not curse at me or tell me how stupid I was for holding everyone up. Perhaps these are low standards to have, but in a city like DC that meant a lot.

In the end, of course, the card was actually fine and the money I had on my card could only be applied to using the bus or the train, not parking (thanks for the commuter "benefits" AU!). But, it is times like these that remind me that DC is an ok place to be most of the time and I become the young country girl enamored with the magic of the big city all over again.