My morning started off with a double snooze, quick email check, shower, and packing my life back into my duffel bag. I then proceeded to my car, which had a wonderful present waiting for me! Whoever had parked behind me was a terrible, inconsiderate driver (or he just wasn't awake when he left this morning; I'm using a neutral "he") and there is a nice scratch mark on my left bumper. Unfortunate.
After quickly getting over the scratched bumper, I got on the road with my handy dandy GPS. 8 minutes to the embassy? RIGHT. Luckily, I knew it would take longer. 29 minutes to be exact. And after I arrived, I found out they only accept certified money orders. So I searched for banks near the embassy and one was pretty much right there. As I drove around the block (literally, I drove in a square) I found out it was only an ATM. So I pulled over to check the GPS again. There was no way to differentiate banks from ATMs. After calling Kyle and Mom, I finally had a bank (there are no Fifth Thirds in this area apparently) a block away.
Since I was so flustered, I walked into the wrong building and got as far as the inside of the elevator before realizing I should probably leave. There was construction going on right between this building and my car. So the construction workers got to watch me exit the building and walk right next door. Awesomely, I walked into the door that said "Pull" and could not help but laugh at myself. Literally laugh. I was charged $10 for a $70 money order since I did not have a Bank of America account; luckily (and I don't know how because I paid lots of tolls on my way here yesterday) I had $81. After spending almost everything I had, I knew I needed to withdraw some money before getting back in the car. However, I was so concerned about the amount of traffic I decided to enter the car through the passenger side and climb into the drivers' seat. As soon as I sat down I realized the ATM was not inside my car. That would have been convenient. So with all of the construction workers watching the crazy girl who went in the wrong building, walked into a door, and climbed into her car through the passenger door, I jumped back out of my car and got some dinero from the ATM. $3 charge for not being a Bank of America account holder. $13 in fees today. Man oh man.
After all of this excitement, I headed back to the Ethiopian Embassy; the building is really beautiful - as are all of the embassies on International Drive! I liked passing by and saying in my head "Jordan, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Israel". Someday, I will be traveling the world as a physician; maybe I will be back on International Drive to get a Visa or two. From the time I gave them my paperwork to the time I received my passport, I was able to read the first chapter of Arising and people watch/listen to the heavy Amharic accent - a whole 15 minutes! How wonderful! I recieved a two year Visa, which means I will not have to renew my Visa while I am there. Double wonderful! I also realized that it has been a while since I've been around people with accents. Dr. Doho's Cameroonian accent was two years ago and I cannot think of another accent that I've had to decipher in the past few years. That in itself is very depressing.
After leaving the Embassy, I sat in the car and could not decide what to do next. I really want to buy at least one pair of TOMS before I leave (navy canvas) and there is a retailer just 3 miles north of the Embassy, but I was really sick of DC traffic at this point, so I decided to head to Whole Foods by Nazy's apartment. Unfortunately, I am really terrible at following the GPS's commands so I missed Q Street and ended up in a traffic circle and took a different road and in the end...I was actually closer than the GPS was going to make me go. I really do not understand that machine. Anyways, in the end I made it safely to Whole Foods, grabbed some lunch (two rolls and a fruit drink - I promise I normally eat more than this), and then drove a block over to Nazy's road. I found a parking spot and then took a deep breath. What a morning!
The next part of my day was spent in Starbucks. Two Tall Vanilla Chais, lots of gchatting, and a bathroom break later - I had an interesting experience. My parking was only for 2 hours, so before leaving to move the car I tried using the restroom. There is a key and since it was at the counter, I took it and opened the bathroom door without knocking. It made sense because if there is a locked door and the key is 20 feet away from the door, there must not be anyone inside. But there was. I saw a bag and a blanket on the ground in front of the door, apologized, and closed the door. I then waited and waited, but the woman did not come out. Then another woman came and waited behind me. We had been there at least 5 minutes, me having been there for around 7, and I decided to give up and move my car. Moving my car consisted of moving it to the other side of the one-lane one-way street, two spots ahead of where it had been parked - perfect.
As I re-entered Starbucks, a woman was screaming at the cashier and other workers about their poor service, asking if they would treat any other customer this way. It was overwhelming, and loud. Apparently they eventually opened the bathroom door and asked her to leave after knocking for a really long time without getting any response. She had been washing her feet in the sink. I felt bad that she was kicked out, but the cashier made a good point: she was not a paying customer and by Starbucks policy, you're supposed to be a customer to use the restroom. And from what it sounded like, they had been very straight-forward with her, not rude, so why did she have to yell at them? Also, while she was taking an extra long time in the bathroom, there were three paying customers waiting in line (the mens' key got locked in the mens' room so there was a guy waiting to use the womens' room). That could have been disastrous!
After bonding with the Starbucks workers, I ordered my second Tall Vanilla Chai. I don't know if the cashier was distracted or what but when he repeated my order to the lady making the drink he said it was a Grande and then looked directly at me. I ordered a Tall, not a Grande. Honestly, I don't like drinking Grandes: they taste different and they are too big. So, either he did it on purpose or it was really an honest mistake - we shall never know.
The next part of my adventure was semi-entertaining. Some more love-hate relationship with my GPS: "Make U-turn" [in middle of busy street]. But this time, I listened. It was awesome! I pulled right into the first spot I found, which happened to be many houses down from Sasha's, but I didn't want to pass the house and then do that all over again if all the spots were full. I love Sasha so much! Our awesome hallway conversations in the house, Ultimate practices and tournaments, asking questions over the showers...good times. We had girl time tonight with her roommate's friends; we watched The First Wives' Club. Honestly, I would not recommend the movie, but it was a fun way to pass the time. In the past week, 4 out of the 6 girls in the house tonight had experienced a break-up. It was kind of depressing.
All in all, today was kind of crazy and definitely very long. I've been awake for 19 hours and I'm definitely ready for bed! Hopefully tomorrow will not include any driving in the city. Yay DC!
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