To get to work in DC do so in a very courteous manner. On one of my first mornings here, I got to the bus stop earlier than anyone else, put in my headphones and tuned out. When the bus arrived, I glanced back and noticed a whole group of people behind me in a very specific configuration - they had arranged themselves in a straight line, all facing in the same direction, with about 2 feet of space in between each person. Had I not known any better, I would have thought they had broken off a marching formation. I've been noticing this all the time and even took a picture when I wasn't the first one to arrive to the bus stop, however, because there were only two people ahead of me, the pristine structure was not quite as impressive.
Today, I visited an apartment for another friend and really hit it off with the landlord. It turned out that she's Mongolian and loves Russians, so we spoke Russian for a bit while she showed me around. Though she's a bit younger, she reminded me a great deal of my mom - she had been a doctor in Mongolia and goes back to visit family, but when asked about why she moved here, she shrugged and said, "everyone wants to live here." We bonded over an appreciation for Russian food - although she has more of it than I do - and "druzhba narodov," or the brotherly relationship of our respective nations in their Communist past. As I was leaving, she gave me a piece of my favorite Russian candy! I know, maybe taking candy from strangers is not the best idea, but I couldn't resist. I couldn't resist devouring it the moment I left the apartment either, but fortunately for the purposes of this blog, it's the kind of candy for which the wrapper can be reconstructed to look like the candy is still inside - something we did back in elementary school to fool each other into accepting an empty candy wrapper.
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