Tiny details

I have travelled plenty and lived all over the place, growing up as an Army Brat. People often ask me if I had a favorite place, and really I don't. If anything, I realized that people are basically the same everywhere, that one tends to find friends and activities that reflect one's own interests and personality, and that there is beauty and adventure all over the place.

So, my observations on the funny things about DC are just that - funny. I have had a great time exploring this place, trying new foods, and meeting new people (who are all basically the same as me and everyone else, of course!). With so much sameness, it's the difference of a few tiny details that make a new place interesting. And strike me as funny.

- Fusion Food: Ethiopian-Tex-Mex, Colombian-Mexican, Turkish-Greek-Iranian, Chinese-Pizza-Subs, Ethiopian-Peruvian, Brazilian-Sushi, Japanese-Chinese-Korean. These are just the restaurants I walk by each day on my way to work.

- My hair + humidity = BIG. As the day wears on it just gets curlier and bigger.

- Shoes. The women here like to wear fancy shoes. Super sexy high-heeled shoes that they walk all around in. Not a practical shoe in sight (excepting my Teva flip-flops, of course). They are nice to look at and surely keep the local Podiatrists in sail boats.

- Sexy. It's not just shoes. DC women really do it up right - hair, make-up, dresses, jewelry. And that's for a 102 degree Tuesday. In Portland it feels like we go through a fair amount of effort trying to look like we didn't put any effort into our look. I just don't see Portland women walking 18 blocks in stiletto heels and lipstick.

- Tourists. Somehow I did not realize how humming with tourists DC would be. I suppose it DOES makes sense that the nation's capital would be a popular family summer vacation destination. All the famous DC sites are within walking distance of each other, so tourists are really concentrated in one place. It just so happens to also be the flat, safe-to-run-alone place, and the free outdoor movies on Monday night place, and the Friday night outdoor Jazz place. There are a lot of slow-moving, awe-struck people to negotiate. I am certainly NOT inspired to come back with kids to visit in the heat amongst the sweaty throng any time soon.

- Theft. Clothes stores have door security guards and want to keep my purse in a cabinet by the door. The grocery store clerk always comes around from behind the check out stand to assess whether I am keeping any items out of her sight. Because buying $50 of organic fruits and vegetables is an elaborate decoy to steal a pack of Juicy Fruit?

- Taxation without Representation. It's printed on the license plates. My American history knowledge fails me here.

- Trash. There's not a lot of it. The streets and sidewalks are surprisingly clean. Even the houses-all-boarded-up streets and the streets that have bullet-proof glass protecting employees from their patrons.

- Cops. There ARE a lot of them. I see them everywhere. Maybe they are all busy seeking out and picking up road-side litter while the H&Ms hire security guards and the neighborhood shops install bullet-proof glass.

- Idling. People hanging out in their idling cars. Parallel parked on a (litter-free) neighborhood street, with their lights all off, just sitting quietly in their running cars. As I walk past them on my way home, alone at night (with my hair all curly big), I tell myself they are just listening to the end of an interesting NPR broadcast on the return of the wolf population to Montana. Right?? Where ARE those ubiquitous cops when I'm walking home at night??

- Bunnies. They are everywhere, like squirrels or pigeons. DC has bunnies!

Those are the tiny details that I will remember about DC. A tiny, detailed Fusion of Food, Big Hairy Tourists, Sexy Shoes, Trash, Cops, and Idling Bunnies.