A Chat with Rose

So I’m going to start this out by explaining that I sleep very very well on the couch. It is a magical couch. A magical couch that gives very good sleep - like a fairy.

In other words, apparently this weekend trip to Connecticut – oh yeah, btw, last weekend we went to Connecticut – exhausted me. Makes sense, 20 hours in a car in a period of 60 hours would wear out most people. Today is the first day I can bend my neck again, and yesterday afternoon I thought I would punch someone because I was so hungry/in reality just so tired.

So, I woke up tired today. Also my arches are hurting because I am walking in terrible shoes so much (you needed to know that) and it was lightly drizzling. So I decided to take the bus into the metro instead of walking there. The point, my friends, is that as soon as I walk up to the stop that is directly in front of my building, a kindly asian woman steps up next to me and proceeds to chatter for the next thirty minutes. It was wonderful.

Apparently this woman is the Thaiwanese diplomat for the ministry of education and therefore she was very interested in where I went to school. She spoke of her sons, one who is just graduating from high school and the other who has graduated from an Ohio university and must go back to Thaiwan for their mandatory army service. For a minute I was worried she was going to try to set me up with him.

She talked about how fabulous she thought the Bay Bridge was, how the GPS took her to the wrong spot in Annapolis and therefore she turned around and went home without seeing the Naval Academy, and how she still has not gone up to Baltimore. We bonded over how our fathers refused to teach us their native languages, and how her son learned English so well because he too is a chatterbox, just like her.

Rose, the diplomat, also talked about her previous service in Australia and how the kangaroos were so big they damage your car when you run into them – like deer. She was also, apparently, stationed in Saudi Arabia. Her husband is currently stationed in Canada.

This is yet another reason why I love living here. Because I can wake up tired and end up having a thirty minute conversation with a friendly, strong and smart Thaiwanese Diplomat. Thanks DC. You rock!