I parked in the financial district near the bar where I was going to meet up with friends later that evening, then walked up to DuPont Circle. I remember it being just packed full of fun little stores and shops, but I had a really hard time finding the part that I was picturing, even with the help of my "only as smart as the person inputting search terms" phone. I did rather enjoy seeing the many embassies as I walked around, but they tend to get a little touchy of someone walking around taking photos of the facades. I spent a good bit of time in a really cool secondhand book store, and bought some lavender Earl Gray in a tea shop - overall, it was a fun way to spend a few hours walking. I found my way to the subway and met Katie for lunch at her office at the Marymount University Ballston campus. It had been a while since I'd done so much walking so I took advantage of the wifi and spent a few hours blogging and resting my sore feet!
After she was done for the day, we got all packed up and walked to the metro to go back to Farragut West to meet up with some of my Peace Corps friends! I later learned that there are many many more people than I realized who live in the DC area (I'm sorry that I missed so many of you) but it was a treat to get to hang out with Cindy, Puja, Anne, and Lindsy. The four of us all entered together in the same training group - Lindsy and I were roommates nearly every time there was any kind of training event that involved having a roommate. It was a little crazy to see all of us in America - clean and even wearing makeup, working towards professional and personal goals that go beyond the daily survival tasks (food, water, laundry, strengthening social connections) that take up so much of your time as a volunteer.
Cindy very kindly arranged our little get together - she's working for the government doing rotations through various departments, currently in one that handles procurements for other departments. Lindsy, Puja, and Anne are all working for various health nonprofits and seem to be enjoying being on the other side of the international-work equation, although Lindsy did mention that she was looking forward to potential opportunities to travel for work to various parts of Africa and possibly the Middle East. It was a pleasure to get to see them and to introduce them to Toph and Katie - I love bringing friends together, especially when they get along so well.
I did have a funny moment when I mentioned that, out of all the cities I'd visited thus far, DC seemed to have the friendliest people. Amid looks and snorts of shock, I recounted my morning of walking around the area and up towards DuPont - I tend to smile and nod at people when I pass, which in other places sometimes results in the odd nod or smile back, sometimes even a "hello". But today as I'd walked I'd had at least a dozen people say hello, or ask how my day was going, distinctly giving off a very friendly impression. It started a bit of a debate as to how my sampling had come up with such an unexpectedly biased result - we finally concluded that I had been in the financial district that thus gets a lot of attention from street cleaners and service workers (the majority of the people, upon reflection, who had been so friendly), plus I'd been walking around in the middle of the day, when all the stressed people on their way to work had safely ensconced themselves in their offices. The take away message? "When you're on the metro, stand on the right, walk on the left, (don't try to put the plastic card into the paper ticket acceptor) and you at least won't actively annoy all the super stressed, high strung people on their way too or from work, which is almost the same as them being friendly".
DuPont Circle (I think I saw a cake show where they recreated this statue for someone's wedding cake - it was quite impressive)
Puja, Cindy, Anne, me, and Lindsy!
With Katie :)
The Washington Monument in its post-earthquake protective inflated cast (locally referred to as "the condom")
Loki would reeeeally like to be petted right now
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