First things first -- if you haven't seen this yet, check out how Gawker called Adit a "bearded Ellen Degeneres" (he and Priyanka are about 2/3's of the way down the page): http://gawker.com/5540100/scoring-sundays-nuptials-everyone-who-got-married-this-week-went-to-harvard
Despite bemoaning the fact that I should have arrived in London fourteen hours ago, I had a v. lovely day in our nation's capital. I slept for a little over eight hours, which was unfortunately marred by the fact that my dinner last night consisted only of a mocha, and so I spent most of the night dreaming that I was running from the Nazis. But, I dragged myself out of my dreams and into my company's Washington office, where I spent the day preparing for my trip and taking care of a variety of tings.
I wasn't as productive as I should/could have been because I went to what turned into a ridiculously long lunch. Originally, the lunch was just supposed to be Vidya and Ritu, but I invited myself when I found out that I was stranded here; I then invited Katrina, since she's also working at our company's Washington office, and Vidya invited Adit and Priyanka, who in turn invited one of Priyanka's friends. We went to Zaytinya, which is a relatively upscale Mediterranean small-plates restaurant a few blocks from the DC office. It lived up to the hype; while waiting for Adit and Priyanka, we started with a Turkish cheese that I absolutely adored and a bean dish that I would have loved had it not sneakily assaulted me with dillweed (which I cannot eat after being plagued by it in Ukraine). I then went off-script and ordered a chicken schwarma sandwich, but I was glad I did -- the sandwich was one of the best I've had, it came with excellent fries, and I still got to try a couple of the other dishes that the rest of the group ordered. We finished up with strong Turkish coffees, and after over two hours of hanging out, we all sort of waddled/rolled away from the restaurant feeling like it was perhaps a mistake to continue to ridiculous eating levels of the weekend.
It was excellent to see everyone again, but really, the 'saying goodbye to Adit' events are getting to be a bit much. It feels like I've been saying goodbye to him for a month, which has been super fun and ridiculous, and I wouldn't wish away any of the events -- but the ramp-up in the festivities is just going to make it even harder when I return to California and his particular brand of mayhem is no longer there. But, that probably explains why it feels like I've been in DC forever -- the wedding was just a continuation of the long, slow, goodbye, as will be his arrival in California in June and his trip through Iowa in July. But, I'm glad I got to see him and many of my other friends in relaxed contexts over the past couple of days, even if I should be waking up in London in a couple of hours instead of sitting in DC.
After lunch, I slogged for awhile longer, then called to United to ask about economy plus seating (I had paid for it on my original ticket and they didn't give it to me for the rebook to Paris). This ticket agent was clearly 10x more competent than the last one, and got me onto the same flight number that I should have taken yesterday, instead leaving for London tomorrow night. That means I get into London Wednesday morning, and don't have to deal with taking a train from Paris to London. It's a gamble, of course, since they could close the airport again, but it's a risk I'm going to take. So, I'll spend tomorrow working in DC, and then leave for the airport sometime late afternoon in hopes that my flight will actually depart.
Tonight, I had dinner with Vidya and her friend Lauren from the program that she did last year. Lauren lives near Eastern Market, which seems like a cool neighborhood; sadly, she first suggested Mediterranean food (which we had today), then wanted to take us to Matchbox (which was had yesterday), but we ended up at Belga Cafe, which serves Belgian food. Luckily, it was a far cry from the Dutch pannekoeken that filled me with such hatred a few years ago; but unluckily, that meant another relatively large meal as a cap to a series of large meals. Despite that, it was nice to meet Lauren, and good to continue hanging out with Vidya before I leave for a couple of weeks.
And now, I desperately need to sleep; I have a sore throat, which I thought was the remnants of karaoke/sugarcane drain, but it's not getting better, and I'm hoping that sleep will cure what ails me. Goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment