Life sans car involves a lot of walking. While I was living with my friends, I walked to and from the gym, grocery store, mall, wherever - all my errands were easily accessible. I always wore a backpack so I could have an umbrella on hand (very necessary) and acquire things along the way. I'm also one of those environmental types who feels a lot better about themselves by not using disposable grocery bags. Every time I was at the grocery store and stuffing all my things into my backpack, the self-checkout would beep at me and someone would have to come over and verify that I wasn't stealing. It was always the same man, and I was always semi-embarrassed that I had the same problem every day and couldn't be organized enough to stop the machine from beeping. Me and Mr. Safeway had yet to have a real conversation, but we were definitely on familiar terms.

I haven't been back to that grocery store in awhile because I moved, but I was there today picking up aluminum foil for this dia del accion de gracias - I like the Spanish version, it sounds more active than the English word - and Mr. Safeway was there as well. He was standing very near to me, most likely anticipating some kind of issue, when I heard him say "Ma salaama, habibi," to another man, and then he replied with "inshallah." I got so excited I forgot to think after that. This is the first time I have heard and understood Arabic in a completely natural setting. And in my local grocery store?! How unexpected! What he said wasn't terribly complicated, in fact most people who have traveled to a Middle Eastern country would be able to understand, but it was still incredibly rewarding to be there, to understand, to get feedback on months of studying the language.

The literal translation of what Mr. Safeway said is "Peace be with you, my dear," and "God-willing." These are very common terms of endearment, similar to "Have a good day," and "I hope that what you said actually happens." After I heard him speak, I asked him where he was from (Egypt) and told him I was taking Arabic classes. He pounced on that one! Offered to help me, give me dictionaries, it was . . . amazing. Moments like this - when you find someone who is different than you, been through different things, lived in different places, sees your world with different eyes, and you find a way to connect anyway - are what define "humanity" for me.

There is a certain organization with whom I would really like a job, and although I am fairly certain they do not want to give me one, I don't let minor details like that deter me from going for it. This organization hosts events on a regular basis, but the majority of them are on the evenings I have language classes, so I have not been able to attend them recently. Finally one opened up on an evening I was free, so god almighty, I was going. I got off work later than intended, and then needed to catch a bus from Fremont to Queen Anne. There is no convenient way to do this, and it was my first time making that journey. I had tried to be careful with the planning, but I missed the bus written on my route. I sort of knew where I was going... and my personality on adrenaline has waning amounts of patience. I hopped on the next bus bound for downtown, chatted up the bus driver, and made a Plan B. I easily found the stop with the buses headed for Queen Anne, but I knew one was going to be better than the other. A bus pulled up, I asked the bus driver if he could take me where I wanted to go, and his only reply was that there were two buses going up Queen Anne, and I missed the first, so I better get on this one. That was good enough for me, vamanos!

I pulled out my iPhone and GPS'ed while I was on the bus - it kind of felt like gambling, in the sense that maybe I would get lucky enough to get dropped off in front of my destination, but also maybe not. A few unexpected turns on the map kept the excitement of that going, until I realized I was on the not-as-convenient-route, and I had also ridden past the best point to get off. Luckily it was not raining that night, but it was still very dark, very wet, and very full of leaves. My little ballet flats were no match for the treacherous sidewalks of Queen Anne.

I continued to GPS as I was walking, and the next street to cross over to Queen Anne Ave was not so close. However, I did see some stairs. These stairs, I recognized. Over the summer some friends I decided to do an "urban hike" we read about in a magazine. One of the ones featured was a "workout" hike including as many sets of stairs in Queen Anne as possible. These stairs were EXACTLY the ones in the photo. I decided a little sweat never hurt anyone, so I went for it. I was slightly scared because it was pretty dark, but I figured Queen Anne is a nice neighborhood, and if I kept moving really quickly I would probably be okay. I made it to the top a little sweaty and out of breath, but satisfied. I was now very close to the wine and chocolate tasting, although a little late. I was still moving quickly, GPS in hand, when I finally got my comeuppance for enough rash decisions. I tripped at high speed, iPhone flying into the dark (my greatest of all fears being realized), backpack full of Spanish and Arabic textbooks jostling over my head, and landed on my hands and one knee. I had ripped my leggings, skinned my knee, and both my palms were oozing fat droplets of dark red blood. Oh my, was I embarrassed. I was also 1.5 blocks from the chocolate shop - could I really give up now? My iPhone still functioned. So did I.

I rolled my legwarmers - I will be the first person in 20 years to say thank goodness for legwarmers - over the leggings to at least cover the tatteredness, and went semi-full-speed ahead. I walked in late, frazzled, bleeding, and in hopes of a job. Good plan. The man who worked there was so polished and polite, my embarrassment escalated. He was very friendly though, and got me a first aid kit, and after I was done disinfecting he caught me up with the chocolate discussion and tastings. When it came time to mingle, I was still so frazzled I couldn't really approach anyone, and as a result only creepy older men talked to me, so the job networking was not so much happening.

In the end, I did manage to talk to enough people, including the couple who owned the shop, to still be the last one to leave. The owner asked me to take all the rest of the samples, so I headed out with a bag full of artisan chocolate. My next bus driver had to wait for me to run and catch the bus, and I ended up giving him half my bag of chocolate - mostly because I didn't want to take that much chocolate home anyway, but also to be a friend.

My satisfaction from this experience comes not from the fact that I ended up with a new job, or because I made a lot of valuable connections (neither of these happened), or because I ended up with a ridiculous amount of expensive chocolate. It is because I never gave up. It would have been so easy to go straight home after work, especially since I didn't know the bus route, and the majority of the time I take a new route, I end up in some state of disarray, be it rain, ending up at the terminal, or a skinned knee. It would have been so easy to turn around at any point in my trip - getting on the wrong bus, falling over, while creepy man was giving me his business card. But I was still the last one there.

Ok, time to write again. I was inspired by precisely four things, and since I attended a blogging networking event last week, I am more or less obligated to continue writing. The strongest inspiration is that somehow, (and completely ironically, given that English was by far my worst subject during my years of formal education), I have gotten other writing opportunities because of this blog. The second is that recently I met two lovely ladies who appear to have a genuine zest for life, and spectacular blogs. I'm following both of them, so check our their blogs if you have some extra time. The third reason is that I suppose you could define my current method of income as "sales," and I don't like it. I'm much better at it than I expected, but I don't enjoy it. I don't want to convince anyone to buy anything - I much prefer the idea of living with fewer things. From my personal experience, level of income and number of material possessions are not even remotely correlated with personal happiness. So to help persuade someone that life will be better with said object or experience, is a lie. Time to get back to things I genuinely like doing. And finally, there was a woman on the bus this morning carrying her frozen turkey. I know the big feastival is three days away, but carrying that thing on the bus shows true dedication. How could I not share with everyone this woman's commitment to the cause? I stared at that turkey the whole ride from downtown to Fremont. Riding the bus continues to entertain me - it is being part of a community, and being anonymous at the same time. Alright, I meant to write more, but was distracted by Gchat...what else is new!

Happy holiday travels,
And bring mittens if you intend to carry a turkey any farther than Grocery Store -> Car or Car -> House. Unless you want the Fard staring at you and your fowl for an uncomfortably long amount of time.

I am currently taking a break from blogging, for a couple reasons - the first being that I got really busy and have several things in my life that are requiring a lot of energy (all good things...!) and also because I want to transition this blog to more of a "present-tense," so I think a break will make that easier, rather than attempting to transition in just a few days. In the meantime, I just started writing for Seattle Picks, so you can get a little taste of The Fard there!

Illa likka,