The Men on the Bus

Its a typical day of work, and I'm commuting home at rush hour. I'm getting on a mostly full circulator bus in Georgetown. As I step onto the bus, I spy a seat. A young 22-28 year old preppy man in business casual is sitting next to the window, comfortably slouching back in his seat, legs apart, earbuds in his head, and the seat next to him is open.

Now in this man's mind, he has played his cards right. He has sufficiently spread out enough on the bench that it is the last forward facing seat left. People can read his body language, they know that he is really saying "don't sit here, this is my space".

I'm not intimidated by these people. I see it all the time. Women play this game as well, putting their bags on the seat next to them. I even have my own game plan. I make eye contact with the people getting on the bus, and usually that makes them feel just weird enough to choose to keep walking past me and find a different seat.

But there comes the time in every regular bus-rider's journey when the bus begins to fill up and you realize the seat next to you is the last seat left. You must be polite and make room. Women pick up their bags and put them in their laps. People scoot over, to make sure they are not taking up too much space. I smile at the person coming toward me saying "Yes, please sit here".

So in this particular story, I go to sit beside the sprawled out young man. Only, he doesn't move one inch. I literally have to carefully slide in and hang off the edge to sit there. I don't understand it, this is just bad bus ettiquite.

And this story repeats itself over and over in varying ways. I don't understand why self-important young men seem to be the ONLY people who don't follow the rules of bus manners. Many times, it even happens the other way around. I will be the one sitting first, and some man will come sit next to me and force me to scoot to the edge of my seat because spreads out on top of me the second he sits down.

What's worse is, I know they only do this because I'm a woman. If a guy sat down next to them, they would immediately scoot over. Its like they think I don't deserve a whole seat. It drives me nuts.

So for those men out there, those ultimate offenders, I though I'd write out the unsaid rules of the bus, in case you really are just that stupid:

1) The seats in the front are for the elderly and disabled - this means you shouldn't sit here unless they are the only seats left. If you are sitting there and an elderly person gets on the bus, you should get up automatically. Don't assume because the sweet old lady isn't asking for your seat that she doesn't want to sit down.
2) Unspoken rule for pregnant women - NEVER make them stand, come on people!
3)Move to the back of the bus- when it is rush hour and you are standing on the bus, just move all the way back. Young men are notoriously bad at this as well. They stake out their ground by the back door and look all pissed off when you ask them to move.
4) If you have to talk on your cell phone, do so quietly
5) Sit on the inside seats close to the window first
6) Put your bag in your lap.
7) You only get 1 seat per person, get over it!

-M.E.

We are grown-ups?

The past week has been a whirlwind of fun and excitement. Beginning on Wednesday and lasting through Sunday, Z and I got to spend the week with a whole host of great college friends who were in town for wedding activities.

One of the things that I noticed this weekend is that sometime over the past 3 years, we have all become grown-ups. I'm not exactly sure when this transition happened, but I do vividly remember how different life was for all of us just 2 short years ago, during the first year after graduation.

No one really prepares college students for life after school. For most of us in our short lives, the first 1-2 years out of school have gone on record as the most difficult of our lives. Suddenly being dropped in the "real world" without rules, timelines, goals, and direction can feel like falling into an infinite abyss. Managing the expectations of where our teenage selves thought we would be at 22-23 and reality was extremely difficult. Navigating the very beginning of our working lives during the greatest financial crisis since the great depression felt like paddling against the current, when the best we could hope for was not to drown.

We worked jobs we didn't like. We worked at restaurants, and as administrative assistants, and as interns. We felt under-employed and under-appreciated. We missed our community and friendships as we spread out accross the country in pursuit of work. We spent countless hours on the phone, recounting the past, the good times of being in school. We were not sure if we would ever realize our dreams or find contentment in our careers.

But somewhere in the past year or so, we've found our way. We've found jobs that could turn into careers, started graduate school, gotten married, discovered community. I'm not saying things are perfect, but we are all on a path that no longer feels like a dead-end. We are hopeful again and ready to take on the future together, and that is a wonderful thing.

I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with all of you, and I have nothing but excitment for where your lives are going and for the next time we are together again.

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Burnett. May your lives be filled with happiness together!

-M.E.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for:

-My spontaneous dad, who decided yesterday that he would get on a plane from TX this evening to come see Harry Potter with me and hang out for the weekend
-The generosity within my church community
-My workplace, where I feel equally appreciated and challenged to grow
-The cold-front that is moving in
-A husband that wants to help me cook
-That today I have a relaxing dinner with good friends to look forward to
-The ability to resurrect one of my FAVORITE recipes from summer camp as a girl, thanks to a former camp friend's blog
-Having one of my closest friends as one of my closest neighbors

Hope you all have a restful and fun weekends!

-M.E.

Introverts

My own introversion is something I think about quite often (as an introspective intorvert will do). In a culture that is extrovert-loving, it can be difficult to be an introvert.

Although I was never overtly told that being an introvert is negative, I have often felt that way. Our society seems to value extroverted qualities such as assertiveness, out-goingness, ability to make friends easily, networking, and loud leadership more than it values the introverted traits of thoughtfulness, insightfulness, and quiet leadership.

As I've grown up and learned to love myself I've been able to see the value of my introversion and to recognize that some of the things I love most about myself stem from this very personality trait. I get lost in comtemplation, I think before I speak, I am calm, conscientious, compassionate, and introspective. I excel at individual tasks, enjoy time alone and in small groups, and love getting lost in the worlds of books, movies and TV.  I don't have a million friends, but the friendships I have are deep and long lasting.

I recently found an amazing blog about introversion called Quiet that can be found here

On that blog I recently saw a post about Introversion in the chuch and I found it valuable and interesting and I wanted to share a quote from it here:

"Even more dangerous is the tendency of evangelical churches to unintentionally exalt extroverted qualities as the “ideals” of faithfulness. Too often “ideal” Christians are social and gregarious, with an overt passion and enthusiasm. They find it easy to share the gospel with strangers, eagerly invite people into their homes, participate in a wide variety of activities, and quickly assume leadership responsibilities. Those are wonderful qualities, and our churches suffer when we don’t have those sorts of people, but if these qualities epitomize the Christian life, many of us introverts are left feeling excluded and spiritually inadequate. Or we wear ourselves out from constantly masquerading as extroverts."
Reverend Adam McHugh, author of the book, “Introverts in the Church,” and the blog, http://www.introvertedchurch.com/

There have definitely been times when I have felt inadequate spiritually because of my personality. But it is at those times that Moses has been the greatest comfort to me - the greatest Christian example of a servant of God, a great prophet who when asked to convince Pharoah to let his people go replies, "“Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” Exodus 4:10. Moses was unsure that he could lead, but the Lord assured him that introverts are powerful with God by their side.

-M.E.

Back in Action

We're back from an amazing Canadian vacation/road trip to Quebec City and Montreal.

Both cities were beautiful and enchanting in their own ways. Quebec City is a very sleepy town filled with history. It was quaint, charming and quite relaxing. Plus we had a view of the whole city from our hotel room, can't get much better than that.

On the third day of the trip we headed over to Montreal. It is a vibrant, fun and culturally rich place which we really enjoyed exploring. Here are some of the trip highlights:

1) Shopping along cobblestone streets in buildings from the early 1800s
2) Watching soldiers march in funny hats
3) Enjoying a drink on our terrace overlooking all of Quebec City
4) Exploring the archeological ruins of old Montreal
5) Climbing to the top of Mount Royal
6) Seeing a waterfall that is taller than Niagara Falls!
7) Playing with giant chess pieces

8) Seeing an incredible cathedral all lit up!
9) Going to the beach without leaving the city
10) Learning that I LOVE ESCARGOT!
11) Enjoying some of the best french/quebecois food we've ever had
12) Seeing Cirqu Du Soleil in the famous blue and yellow tent

And much much more! More photos to come later via facebook and flickr as Zach uploads them. Glad to be back, but really enjoyed the vacation!

-M.E.

Thankful Thursday

This week has been great,  I have so much to be thankful for:

I'm thankful for

-My mom's job, which sends her to DC
-that I have time to take off to be with her
-the pool at the Washington Hilton
-a quiet week at work
-D.C. dept of public works, who kindly towed our illegally parked car to a legal spot in our neighborhood instead of to the impound lot
-that next week is vacation!!!
-friends who want to hang out with Milo while we're gone

-M.E.

Delicious

There's nothing quite as delicious as mozzerella di bufala on a pizza.

I used to think I didn't like pizza that much. That was before I moved to DC, and my idea of pizza was delivery from Papa John's or a Red Barron out of the freezer. These pizzas cannot even claim to be the same category of food as the delicious napoli pizzas I have found in D.C. and become obsessed with. And I really am obsessed, I think the pizza average in the Margolis home is at least 3 times a month.

So as I'm sitting at my desk on a rare not-so-busy Tuesday dreaming about pizza I thought I'd share some of my favorite places in the district to eat some pie.

1) 2 Amy's - All time favorite, best margarita pizze in the city; on Food & Wine's top 10 in the country
Update - The new number 2 is Mia's pizza in Bethesda. Tried it for the first time recently and man is it good!
2) Il Canale - A little known delicious pizza spot in Georgetown.
3) Red Rocks - In Columbia heights, good ingredients, consistent quality, and a great atmosphere
4) Matchbox - doesn't exactly fall into the napoli pizza realm, but their creative pizzas are most delicious

Here are some pictures from our last trip to 2 Amy's to wet your appetite:

-M.E.