September finds me much more at home in my new apartment,
city, and job. I have all of my furniture finally, and it feels good connect
some of my old things with this new place. Here’s the virtual tour:
 |
| My bedroom |
 |
| The delightfully spacious kitchen! |
 |
| The living room, refulgent with afternoon sunlight. The window/doors in the back are my favorite place to sit and read, journal, eat breakfast, and check email (I’m actually looking out as I type right now.) |
 |
| The dining room (our table barely fill the space!) |
In addition to nesting within my apartment, I continue to
explore in wider circles around my area. SarahLiz and her college roommate
Emily visited over Labor Day weekend and helped me venture into DC. (The
picture below shows .) We watched to U of M vs.
WMU football game* among tons of maize-and-blue clad wolverine fans at a
Michigan bar in the city (it felt almost as good as walking down State street
to the stadium…). On Sunday we
tasted samples of peaches, tomatoes, hummus and salsa at Eastern Market (a year
round indoor and outdoor farmer’s and flea market in DC). With our produce purchases, we ended up
cooking a delicious peach-tomato-goat-cheese pizza!
 |
| Emily and Sarah at my nearest metro stop—Braddock Station |
 |
| SarahLiz adding goat cheese |
 |
| The perfect little housewife...haha |
My DC explorations continued last weekend with a visit from
my high school (KAMSC) friend, Bri.
Bri just started her PhD studies in Chemistry at the University of
Virginia this year, so she is only about a two-hour drive away from DC! During
our afternoon in the city, Bri and I ate empanadas, explored
the Museum of Unnatural History, experienced a brilliant restaurant called Founding Farmers, and
saw the President! OK, so we didn’t actually see Barack, but we saw his car and convoy driving
out of the white house and had to take a walking detour because all of the
roads and sidewalks near the white house were blocked off for about 30 minutes
after he departed. (For security reasons, it surprised Bri and I that Obama was
actually in the city that day because it was September 11th.)
 |
| Julia's Empanadas - yum! |
 |
| Explorers of the Museum and Unnatural History |
 |
| Bri and I at Baracky's house! |
Work is going really well so far. The first two weeks were
slow (I spent my hours doing online Excel trainings, toxicology tutorials, and
watching “webinars” about software that calculates “Benchmark Dose Levels” for
toxic chemicals). This past week, however, I actually got some projects to work
on: I kept busy looking up coordinates of ethanol refineries on GoogleEarth,
compiling references about potential consequences of occupational exposures to
nanoparticles, and summarizing articles about effects of naturally occurring
asbestos exposure…it’s an eclectic mix, but I’m already learning new details
about each topic. It feels great to have more purpose in my workday.
The best part about the office is definitely the
people. Last Wednesday Amy (my
roommate) and I organized a dinner party and invited all of the other research
assistants from work. I thought
that maybe 5 or 6 of them would actually attend, but we
ended up having 19 people come! Can you believe it? I have friends! We made several varieties of pot
stickers (which is a type of Chinese dumpling) including mushroom-cabbage,
tofu, spinach-feta, pork, butternut squash-beet, and even nutella-strawberry!
Everyone contributed a different filling and then we assembled and cooked
together. I had some great conversations: Justin and I reminisced about Ghana because he was also there over this past summer; Paula told me fun about coffee shops and music venues to explore in DC; and Alison and I really open up talking about our families and our experiences moving away from home. Overall, the dinner party was quite a hit—I hope we started a trend.
I am really glad that Amy and I were brave enough to host our coworkers (planning a party can be stressful). I feel so lucky that I am finding so many wonderful people to connect with. The more leaps I take to get together with and talk to new people, the more I begin to feel at home here. I've been resonating on this connection: Courage = Trust = Openness. In a way, each requires the other and they are all the same. I am trying to embrace all three.
Good food, good people,
a good place to be.
Everyday has certainly not felt as bright as
these highlights (there have been some lonely, homesick lows too), but in
general, I’m feeling very happy here.
I hope that you are living healthfully and joyfully. I love you all!
C#
*No, I didn’t watch the U of M vs. Notre Dame game—Gahhh, I
can’t believe I missed it! I decided to be social and go out with some friends
from work instead. However I have heard and read ample highlights: what an
amazing game! Go Blue!
