in full swing

Since I'm making very minimal progress on a memo I'm supposed to complete by Monday, I might as well take a break and blog. I'm sitting at my neighborhood Dunkin' Donuts having enjoyed a "Watermelon Coolata" on an oppressively hot day. Total grams from sugar? 61.

I'm full swing into "Summer Sequence 2," which is thankfully much more qualitative and less quantitative than the last. I am having a blast in "Communications and Public Policy" which mainly consists of reading journal articles on political science, social policy and governance (domestic and foreign), which we then discuss in class. I'm in heaven. My other course, "Introduction to Public Policy" is more about developing an adequate analytical lens through which to evaluate and recommend policy solutions given different social problems. This, in my opinion, is another winner of a class. This is why I came to grad school: to learn how to make difficult decisions while trying to balance budget constraints, politics, equity and feasibility of implementation. It's certainly still a lot of work but it's ultimately rewarding and fulfilling.

Strengthening weak muscles

Since this Master of Public Affairs program is one calendar year (accelerated), there's considerable pressure to get your sh*t together, and get it together quickly. I need to "pick a lane," so to speak, in the next month or so. There is the more technical, quantitative lane, or the more qualitative, advocacy-oriented lane. I've already established that I'm stronger in the latter and weaker in the former. So should I play to my strengths or risk going out of my comfort zone?

For the past few weeks I have been hitting the gym (at 7am, may I add) with my classmate David. It's the first time I've done any serious weight training since 2015 (shoutout to Andreas!). Consequently getting back into the groove has been a bit of a struggle. I can barely lift five pounds for a triceps drill, curl 20 lbs or squat the bar (45 lb). After every session my muscles riot and are sore for days. I laugh when I hit failure at eight reps. "Believe," I urge myself, laughing, as David looks on and also laughs.

Metaphorically, I think of the left side of my brain like I think of my atrophied muscles struggling to wake up after a long slumber. There's potential there, but I have to exert a considerable amount of will to use them in any sustained capacity. After the first week of statistics and economics I was in full-on panic mode. "I hate this!!" was my frequent inner monologue. By week four, though I was by no means achieving proficiency in any of the presented concepts, I was able to celebrate the accomplishment of surviving the course (see my last post) and appreciate the fact that I learned something (which, all things considered, is better than nothing). So despite the fact that quantitative reasoning doesn't come naturally to me, and despite the fact that I don't particularly enjoy it, I am seriously considering continuing down the left-brained path knowing full well that I will struggle the entire time.

One drawback of being an overachiever is that it's tough for me to not be the top of the class. I remember in elementary school I used to love that when we got our math packets my peers would automatically congregate around me to work through things because they trusted my general competence with the material. If I go down the data-driven policy track, I need to be okay with just being in the middle of the pack or *gasp* at the bottom. I'm considering a fall semester full of technical electives (budgeting, GIS and Python). Is this irrational or inadvisable?

This week the instructor of the Python course held an information session where he summarized a daunting menu of concepts and projects (I started feeling anxious as he advanced through each subsequent Power Point slide). Afterwards I went up to speak with him. "Hi, I'm April, I talked to you on the phone earlier this year about the course." His face lit up in recognition. "Oh yeah! Hi April, so glad you decided to come to Brown." When I expressed my trepidation about the course (I specifically asked what supports were in place for students throughout the semester), Prof. Prasad assured me that there would be two course assistants and that he was more than happy to help students out personally. "We want you to succeed," he assured me.

That statement really stuck with me. In what other situation will I have such a safe environment in which to make mistakes, stumble and fail, knowing someone will be there to help? If I am going to really go out of my depth, I think now is the time to do it.

Other miscellaneous stuff

Apart from all these existential musings, though, I've just been living a regular life and enjoying it immensely:

• We have had the enormous privilege of hearing from practitioners who are working in local government, private consulting and non-profits. I am so fond of these passionate eggheads. One of them literally said, "There is an event horizon at the singularity," and I had to stifle a laugh. They also bring the heart. Someone in international development today advised, "Listen so deeply that you invite the person you are with to share." That rocked me to my core. "My soul feels hugged right now," I confessed to my classmate Suhaib following that session.
• It has been really, really hot this week. Not only are temperatures in the mid 80s to low 90s, to add insult to injury, humidity sometimes hovers around 92 percent. Are you kidding me?? "I feel like I could box the air!" David proclaimed to me as we stepped out from the Dunkin' Donuts into the night. I finally caved and purchased a window-mounted air conditioning unit for my room, so it's manageable. Today I entered the living room and cried, "Oh my god! It is so hot out here! Practically tropical!"
• Visitors!! Sometimes I get a little homesick being out here on the East Coast, so seeing folks from the West Coast makes my heart so happy. I met Marie in college and now she's in the D.C. area. She was able to stop by on her way to Boston with her husband, Jackson. It was lovely to catch up with her (the last time I saw her was in April when doing college tours). And you know we took full advantage and played Pokemon Go together. We caught three Zapdos each and Jackson even got a shiny one!
  
• I also had the pleasure of seeing the Shimada family, who also stopped by on their way to Boston. It was so nice to see them!! They brought the chill bay area vibes. We got boba and I honestly felt like I was back in California. Cry!! I gotta get back there ASAP.
• Speaking of travel, on the 18th I'm headed to Johannesburg, South Africa, for 10 days as part of the MPA program. Our host site is the Public Affairs Research Institute which conducts analyses on government institutions and their (dys)functions. Right up my alley! Moreover South Africa is in a period of tremendous change and transition with the recent ouster of former president and known kleptocrat Jacob Zuma. I'll have access to WiFi so will do my best to provide some brief updates while I'm there. I'm really looking forward to rooming with my classmates Nya and Jill (I requested that one day we all wear our jumpsuits) and getting to know Africa. This will be my first time to the continent! 

Other things I like: A roundup

Movie: Sorry to Bother You (dir. Boots Riley)
Music: All Blue by Jade Novah
Article: "The Business of Being Gwyneth Paltrow" by Taffy Brodesser-Akner
TV: Zumbo's Just Desserts

Until next time!

making up for lost time

It was a tough four weeks for sure, but I can now share the good news that I survived statistics and economics*! I deserve a t-shirt.

Or, alternatively:

It's been five days since I completed the three-hour final exam and words cannot fully describe how drastically my mood has transformed since then. When under tremendous stress, I tend to become withdrawn and prone to crying because I get discouraged and defeated. After we received our final grades on Tuesday, though, I became a much more pleasant person to be around. I was also able to get out of the bubble of home to campus I'd been living in for the past month.

More adventures in Boston

Connor and I took a selfie on the T because my mom expressly requested one via text.

Wednesday I was so excited to try out the commuter rail that goes from Providence to downtown Boston for the first time. Being from Seattle, which is light on transportation infrastructure, I thought it was absolutely luxurious. I had a booth to myself on the second story and caught up on the Sunday paper in the hour it takes to get to Back Bay.

First stop in Boston? Pressed Juicery on Newbury Street. Close friends know I'm obsessed with the franchise which has a location in downtown Seattle (first floor of Westlake). With a coconut freeze and my favorite beet & ginger juice in hand, I was in my happy place. My cousin Connor thought the vegan freeze (they can't call it "soft serve ice cream" since technically it contains no dairy) was okay but spluttered when trying the juice because it was so aggressively ginger forward (I love the burn).

We then went to the Fenway area where Red Sox fans were in full force for the game against the Texas Rangers that night. Connor showed me one of his favorite places, Blackbird Doughnuts, which had a fantastic upscale artisanal feel and delicious cake doughnuts--maybe the best I've ever had (eat your heart out Top Pot). We then tried out Tiger Mama, a pan-Asian restaurant that was giving me serious Belltown vibes (vertical gardens, neon lights, overpriced cocktails and all!). They played a lot of tracks from The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill which was a definite plus.

It has been so fun to have family nearby! I saw Connor in April when deciding on graduate schools, then in May when I moved here, and this was my last chance to see him before he heads back to Illinois to await the approval of his visa to work in Japan for the next year. I am sure an exciting adventure awaits him there.

It's great to be a tourist

On Friday I went on a road trip with a couple of classmates to Quincy, Dorchester and Boston for dim sum, chè (I miss Bambu) and art! The Museum of Fine Arts was so incredible; I could have spent hours there. I loved reading all the notes about the artists, their intention, technique and the times in which they lived. Creative people are so interesting!! I'm still not a huge fan of abstract art, though.

Obligatory photo at the Museum of Fine Arts. 

Don't trust these heauxs. I asked David to take a picture of me and look what he does smh

On the way to and from RI to MA, David had the playlist "on lock" with rap and R&B hits from the early 2000s to present (we listened to "In My Feelings" by Drake and "I Like It" by Cardi B ft. Bad Bunny and J Balvin multiple times). It feels so foreign to have so much free time and to spend that free time "having fun" but I'm enjoying it for as long as I can!

Classes start up again tomorrow and I will be taking an intro to policy course and a communications course. After such a math-heavy month, I will take memo writing any day!

*Addendum: Coping methods for surviving statistics and economics

1. Cry: I only cried twice but it helped tremendously.
2. Write home: Venting to friends and family back home was so comforting and encouraging. They helped me keep everything in perspective.
3. Find a good study group: I'm so thankful for mine!!
   
4. Eat good food: To soothe myself I cooked my favorite foods from growing up (chicken teriyaki, tofu turkey casserole, oyako don, chicken curry) and it was quite effective in temporarily curbing my anxiety.
5. Try not to compare: My classmates that tended to speak up in class were the ones who had a knack for math or who had taken advanced coursework in statistics and economics. I had to realize they didn't represent the general student body and I had to be okay working on things at my own pace.
6. Take the "L": When I ran out of time, I sometimes did poorly in quizzes or labs but in the long run those sorts of losses were fine.
7. Remember that all suffering is temporary.

Until next time!

the little engine that could

In the past four days I have aged 20 years... -me to my best friend Rachel

One of the curses of taking a semester's worth of graduate-level statistics and economics squeezed into one month is that the sheer volume of material covered is not accompanied by the appropriate amount of time for me to digest and master it. One of the blessings, though, is that I'm already, essentially, halfway through the course. Thank God. Whew.

After the first week of instruction, I was feeling very defeated and discouraged. To add insult to injury, over the weekend we had two problem sets, one for statistics and one for economics, that were driving me up the wall! 

The assignments themselves were pretty interesting and relevant. We were analyzing the change in global public debt following the financial crisis in 2007-2008, the success of universities to provide pathways to economic mobility to low-income students, the accuracy of HIV tests to provide true positives and true negatives, the total cost of hurricanes (damage cost) in the U.S., and the effects of rent control measures and taxes on specific goods. However, multiple times throughout the weekend I became very frustrated as I got "stuck" on parts of certain problems. It was a lot of trial and error trying to get the math right and trying to figure out how to accomplish the things I wanted to through Excel. Excel is still my best frenemy (but thanks for the keyboard shortcuts, Gretchen!). 

But worry not! The purpose of this blog post is not just to complain about my first world problems of "struggling" in my graduate studies at a selective private university. Friday night I had a soul-healing conversation with a friend who is not in the Master of Public Affairs program. Over some delicious Korean fried chicken wings and drumsticks, I told her all about my first week and she was so empathetic. It was nice to sit back, laugh, and talk about feelings rather than numbers!! What a breath of fresh air. Thanks, Ellen!

I'm also incredibly thankful to have found some classmates to work on the problem sets with, even if that meant working with my classmate for an hour on the hurricanes problem, only to find out that we were doing all of the math wrong. What matters is that we arrived at the correct answers eventually. There's something so satisfying about putting in the hours to persevere and finally figuring it out in the end. 

I still had to skip church on Sunday and work non-stop through 1:00am Monday to complete everything, but the sense of accomplishment I feel now that we've gotten our grades back? Priceless.

I would also be remiss to neglect thanking the folks back home who were able to both pray for me and cheer me on from afar. My dad gave me a pep talk on Sunday morning that helped me power through the tears. Shauna Malwae-Tweep, you're my inspiration. 

This week I've spent my free time slowly working through math problems that we work through in class and the problems that are a part of online quizzes we take before class. I get stressed out when I'm in a group of people and everyone seems to be rocketing through questions when I'm still on part (1)(a). I've come to an acceptance that I complete things at slower pace than others, and that's okay. This may come back to haunt me when trying to complete the final exam in the time limit of three hours, but I won't worry about that for now. As Jesus said, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." He knew what he was talking about!!

In terms of school-life balance, I'm still working on it... I will try and have "fun" this weekend, I guess. Frivolity? Never heard of it!!

Until next time...

a steep learning curve

"God be with us all..." -me to my fellow classmates

This one-month joint economics and statistics course is no joke! Today was the first day of instruction and in the course of 14 hours I have already experienced both joy and despair.

I started bright and early, meeting a classmate at 8:00am to complete the assigned readings. I did poorly on one of the timed assessments meant to see how much we had understood from the reading, which rattled me. We then had two hours of lecture on descriptive statistics (histograms, mean, median, mode, standard deviation), and I found it difficult to keep up. At first I attempted to raise my hand to answer the professor's questions, but after getting as much wrong as I had gotten right, I decided to just sit there and kept my damn mouth shut.

I had one moment of passing self-doubt that maybe I just wasn't cut out of this kind of work because it did not come to me easily. I felt panicked at the possibility that even with my best effort (putting in time and dedication to study and practice), I might still not be able to do well in this course (or other quantitative courses in the fall).

The afternoon was much better than the morning because I was able to understand more about probabilities than I had been able to grasp about descriptive statistics in the morning. It was also helpful to work through some practice problems after class and thankfully, I started arriving at the correct answers.

A student who graduated from the program this year advised me that in this next month I would need to "pick and choose my battles." I interpreted that to mean that it's likely that I won't be able to do all the assigned readings as thoroughly as I'd like, nor get as good of a score on pre-class assessments as I'd want, nor perfectly complete lab exercises as I'd wish. Because statistics and economics are not my strong suit, I will need to be okay with "passing" rather than "exceeding expectations" (though I can't mess up too much--we're not allowed to get lower than a 3.0 in any course in order to graduate!).

So I put this into practice today.

• From 8:00am-10:00am I studied
• From 10:00am-12:00pm I was in lecture
• From 12:00pm-12:30pm I ate lunch
• From 12:30pm-2:00pm I studied
• From 2:00pm-4:00pm I was in lecture
• From 4:00pm-6:30pm I studied.

When I got home to eat dinner, rather than working relentlessly from 7pm-10pm, I decided to walk to the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner tomorrow (spaghetti squash primavera with quinoa if you were wondering). That tiny break outside in the sun, listening to some of my favorite music, was so therapeutic. Could I have spent that time studying? Sure! I'm glad that I didn't.

Tomorrow will be four hours of lecture on economic concepts and methods. So far it seems a little bit easier to understand than statistics, but it's too early to tell.

This next month will be so challenging! I already know that I will struggle. Nevertheless I am resolved to try and not give up, even when it gets tough.

Thank you so much for your text messages, emails, letters and postcards! They do wonders for my morale.

Until next time...

the calm before the storm

Fun times in Providence, Newport and Boston

It's been about a week since arriving in New England and what an adventure it has been already!

Mom, Dad and I had a fun time exploring Providence and the nearby town, Newport, which has some incredible historic mansions. But most exciting of all, while we were eating lunch, guess who was also there? It was none other than the U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse! I couldn't believe it and was completely starstruck! Since he often works closely with Senator Maria Cantwell on environmental legislative issues, I had watched him multiple times on C-SPAN 2 delivering speeches on the Senate floor. Nothing compares to seeing him in real life, though! Wow, what a great way to start out this trip.

 

Saturday was an opportunity to be the ultimate tourists in Boston with my cousin Connor, who's originally from Chicago but living in the area currently. I had to beg my dad not to go on the Duck Tour though we did have lunch at the bar that the sitcom Cheers is based on. Most important, though, is that we clocked in over 15,000 steps! 

On Sunday we visited Providence Presbyterian Church, which is where I'm considering attending during my time at Brown. I met a lot of nice people and found some fun connections. One woman went to Regent College, which is where my pastor in Seattle went! She is also on staff with Intervarsity. 

Later I showed my parents around Brown's campus, though I can't say I know it very well. I'm living within walking distance of the Watson Institute, where a majority of my classes will be. I'm living on the second floor of a house with a couple of graduate students. Overall it's a really nice setup! 

Stray observations from orientation

This entire week is dedicated to Master of Public Affairs student orientation before we dive into economics and statistics next week. The first two days have been jam packed--I've left the house at 8:00am and gotten back around 8:00pm. Here are some of my first impressions:

• I find it both amusing and charming to be surrounded by so many eggheads. Everywhere I look, another egghead. I am among my people!!
• Brown is very different from the University of Washington. I don't know what else to say other than I am receiving a cultural education in New England old money. It's fascinating.
• The professors here are honestly very inspiring to hear from and confirm that I'm in the right place. Without question they possess extraordinary intellect but what has impressed me most has been their clear sense of passion for effecting positive change.

I sense there will be both tremendous opportunity as well as challenge as I go through this next year. I am genuinely looking forward to learning all that I can and am enjoying this new environment.

Thanks for reading! Bye!

Catch up

So, it's been a while! Where do I even begin? I guess I can start by saying that I'm going to graduate school on the East Coast.

What?!

Yeah, I know. I decided to be pretty private about the whole thing because I wasn't sure if I'd be accepted to any of the schools I applied to or if I would ultimately decide to enroll. It's honestly been such an emotional rollercoaster, but I'm grateful for all of it.

"We'll see...."

The past six months have been a lesson in taking steps of faith and being surprised by the result. I decided to apply to graduate school out of a hunger to learn more, to build some quantitative skills, and to explore the possibility of pivoting from public administration to public policy research. Call me a delusional idiot but I only applied to some of the best policy schools in the nation (but was prudent enough to not even try for UChicago and Berkeley; they quant too hard for this chick). My reasoning was, if I get rejected from each and every school, that's a clear signal from God that heading in this direction was clearly not meant to be.

Writing application essays was pretty great; I like writing and being self-reflective, so it didn't feel like a chore though I did exert my best effort in composing them. It forced me to answer the questions of Why do I want this? and Do I really want this? I'd like to think I constructed some compelling arguments.

But the waiting... Oh my word. There was a two-month delay until I heard back from one school, then I waited another two months to hear back from the other two. I didn't spend every single day in self-doubt and self-recrimination over my application materials, but let's be real, it crossed my mind on a regular basis.

Schools these days deliver their admissions decisions in such a needlessly stressful way. All three schools sent an automated, neutrally-worded email directing me to log into their application portal. In the ten seconds that elapsed between clicking the link, logging in and viewing the admissions decision, my heart was about to explode out of my chest!! When I received the offer of admission from each school, I immediately popped up from my desk and roamed the halls, looking for Pat (my certified "work mom" who completed letters of recommendation for me). I think I had a crazed look in my eye because coworkers would stop me and ask, "Are you okay?" With shaky breath I would assure them so, all the while thinking, where the hell was Pat???! I couldn't wait to tell her.

Those moments were absolutely surreal. I was living in a dream... And then the financial reality hit.

The true meaning of "cost prohibitive"

I'm not saying that I recommend this method, but as I decided which schools to apply to, I decided not to dwell too much on the total costs of each program, thinking I would cross that bridge when I came to it. My logic was that if God was going to open the door, there would be some sort of financial aid package that would lessen the enormous blow of the cost of living and tuition. Also, why prematurely sweat the costs of a program to which I might not even be admitted?

In other words, I assumed things would simply work out. I mean, things ultimately did "work out," but not in the straightforward way that my mind assumed they would.

Once I received the offers of admission, I started to crunch the numbers, and my jaw dropped all the way to the floor. What even the hell was I thinking? In the words of my mentor Terry, "I mean, I know you've saved, but not that much!" We both laughed at that because, well, it's true.

Graduate school is a foreign world to me. In a purely Utilitarian sense, I wasn't sure if the net benefits exceeded the net costs. I started asking around, and had no shortage of friends and family with their own "debt stories": how they decided to take the plunge and whether they ultimately regretted it. I also started to conduct research in earnest into these three programs, reviewing the curriculum (testing for rigor and relevancy), grilling current students and reading up on faculty. I came to the conclusion that I could not make an informed decision without going out and physically visiting each of the three schools for their admitted student events.

"Comparative perspective"

Let's just say that New York, Providence and Cambridge are all very, very different places. I had a blast exploring, observing cultural norms and comparing public transportation systems (fun fact: I had never been to any of these places before). The programs themselves were also quite varied. "So have you completed your aggregate scoring of all three schools based on multiple criteria?" my coworker Gretchen inquired. "I haven't set the weighted scores just yet," I joked. No such spreadsheet exists, but you can be assured that I was keeping a mental score of each program's strengths and weaknesses, and it was changing by the day.

Despite three months of lead-up filled with agonizing over the enrollment decision, it wasn't that tough to make in the end. I'm old enough to know that there's no "perfect" program that's made "just for me," but taking the major factors into account, listening to to my heart and observing multiple signs of confirmation from God, Brown was the one.

Joyous liminality

I leave for Providence on May 30! I'm in that unique in-between place of wrapping up things at work, reflecting on the past, thanking God for the blessings of the present, mourning leaving Seattle and the people I love, and lining up all the practicalities of a cross-country move. In all this God has faithfully provided.

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. [S]he who goes out weeping, carrying seeds to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with [her]" (Psalm 126:6).

I've definitely gone through difficult times in the past, but I'm grateful for times like these: of plenty, favor, joy and adventure.

2017 in 12 photos

Read Curious George with my niece and nephew in CA.

Met Charlie Brown in Santa Rosa.

Hosted family in Seattle.

Attended a live podcast taping (HIGHLIGHT).

Experienced the power of "60 mph" winds.

Enjoyed the rare convergence of all out of town relatives.

Climbed to the top of a six-story lighthouse in Spain.

Saw Mariah Carey in concert.

Went to the Pink Door with our Chicago/East Bay relatives.

Heard from [redacted] at the Paramount Theater (don't @ me).

Picked oranges with the CA nieces.

Chilled in Oakland with my nephew.

A love letter to London's public transport

Public transportation is truly a thing of wonder. When I was in college, I had a U-Pass, which gave me unlimited rides on Metro and Sound Transit, and I took full advantage of it. On Fridays I would go on excursions to Sand Point, downtown, South Seattle or Ballard; on the bus it would often take me up to an hour to arrive at my destination but I considered it all a part of my "urban pilgrimage." Since that time, King County has expanded its transportation infrastructure to not only include local and express buses, but Link Light Rail and downtown streetcars as well. I'm pretty proud of our public transpo, but I must tell you, it's nothing compared to London.

King County's Link Light Rail: One line, 77k daily ridership

London Underground: 11 lines, 4.8M daily ridership

London public transport, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Stratford to London Fields

Our first day outing to London we decided to park and ride from Stratford station, which is located near the stadiums constructed for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Little did we know that it was the weekend of the World Athletic Championshps, where Usain Bolt was soon to run his last competitive race. Needless to say, the place was a zoo. In order to catch the tube to downtown London, we had to walk through one of the largest indoor/outdoor malls I have ever seen in my entire life: Westfield Stratford City.

We made our painfully slow way through the heart of the mall, shoulder to shoulder with the enormous and unending crowd. Bear in mind, we were with Naomi's family, and they have three small children, and had never been into the city before. When we got to the station, we had to get a couple floors underground to actually catch the tube--and unfortunately the lift was broken. So we lifted the double stroller and the children through a series of escalators and stairs (it really did feel like a labyrinth) to hop onto the Central Line.

One thing I learned about the tube is that they keep some lines up better than others. The Central Line is definitely not as well kept as others. It is physically small. Riders sit in rows facing each other with one aisle for people to stand. The seats are upholstered with a vibrant pattern that looks like it came out of the late 90s. Also, it has no air conditioning and since we were there in mid-August it was muggy, so all the windows were open. Thus, the whole way in, we could hear every scrape of metal and bump along the tracks. It was so un-glamorous. I loved it.

When we got to Bethnal Green, we ended up walking a little over a mile to get to Broadway Market and London Fields. I played "I spy" the entire way with Naomi's niece, though she says "My spy with my little eye," which is one of the cutest things ever.

London Fields where we met a lot of hilarious local kids on the playground

We ended up catching a bus from Hackney to get to Blackfriars, and like the tourists we are, the first thing we did was run up the stairs and sit in the very front, which, of course, is the best place to take photos and Snapchat selfies.

Being hella cheesy

I must say, the ride was exhilarating. Some "local youths" sat behind us, conversing loudly with much profanity and mentions of alcohol/drug use. And I saw a billboard for Jay-Z/Craig David, the gherkin and St. Paul's! 

Epping to South Bank

Our second time into the city, we took the Central Line again, but this time decided to park and ride from Epping, which is further from the city than Stratford. Epping definitely felt more like a suburb, and I enjoyed the part of the ride looking out into neighborhoods and industrial zones before we plunged into the darkness of the underground tunnel.

One thing you need to know is that we were going to see Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe, and since I had no notion of what the dress code might be, I was in a sheath dress with 2" heels (turns out I was WAY overdressed; major fail). Well, we ended up having to transfer from the underground to a double-decker bus. However, when we got to the bus stop, it was not in operation due to construction! So we started walking up to the next stop and watched our bus peel off when we were less than half a block away.

"We still have time," I reasoned, as we waited for the next one to arrive. The show started at 19:00, so even though we weren't getting there right when the doors opened to get the best spot in the yard (we got tickets where you stand in front of the stage the entire time, kind of like a mosh pit without the lingering fear of getting trampled to death), I figured we'd be fine.

The bus dropped us off near the Thames, and then we had another 10 minute walk. When we got to the venue, the lobby was entirely empty. I should have known then that something was off, but in my mind we still had time to spare. When I gave my name to the guy at the box office, he said, "The first act started about 15 minutes ago but if you go through those doors and to the left there should still be plenty of room." I blinked several times. "Wait, you mean it already started? I thought it started at 19:00 and that doors opened at 18:30!" He explained to me that the play started at 18:30; the doors had opened at 18:00. We had missed the beginning of the play! "I was wondering why you were so chill," he added, and I gave him my best self-deprecating shrug as we ran up the stairs to catch what was left of the play. "Americans," I'm sure he muttered to himself.

 
Slightly frazzled from the lengthy commute, I nonetheless greatly enjoyed the play. It was pretty funny, if a bit absurd. Next time, though, I'm wearing Keds.

Heathrow to Stepney Green

My last public transport story is my first solo trip in the city on my way back from Madrid. Flying from Madrid to Heathrow was kind of fun, actually. I had tons of time to kill at the airport, which worked out because the line for passport control was huge. It was an unexpected blessing to be able to speak to a couple of ladies next to me in line (who were from Central America) in my Mexican accent. They understood me (I was getting tired of the funny looks I kept getting in Spain because of the verbs and idioms I use) and their accents felt like home.

(Another aside that has nothing to do with public transportation: Spanish vending machines are on a whole other level! I purchased a smoked salmon sandwich on poppyseed bread... from a vending machine. Is there some way we can get these kinds of boutique offerings in the U.S.???)

When I touched down at Heathrow I followed the signs for the Heathrow Express, which is more or less a bullet train that gets you to London in less than half the time it might take through traditional routes. The first thing that was strange to me, was that they didn't ask for my fare; I just hopped onto the train, stowed my luggage on the rack and chilled. I kept waiting for some security guard to escort me off the train and arrest me. Turns out that they check your fare partway through the ride, kind of like they do on the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter. Apparently they're really trusting!

Heathrow Express is NOT paying me to say this but it was honestly one of the most luxurious mass transit rides I've ever experienced. You can watch the news on a small flatscreen, charge your phone, connect to complimentary WiFi and enjoy the smooth as silk ride. I think my dad would like the Heathrow Express. It's like the Cadillac of trains.

From there I transferred at Paddington station to the Hammersmith & City Line to Stepney Green to get to 40 Winks, a very unique and memorable B&B. Paddington station is HUGE. It's also hugely under construction. The first thing I noticed when I got off the train was there were tons of staff people just standing there, waiting to help clueless travelers like me. A man greeted me, then looked at me with some pity. He had to break the bad news that there was no working lift to the platform, so I would need to lug my rolling check-in, rolling carry-on and a backpack up a couple flights' worth of stairs. "It's okay!" I assured him as I walked away. "I'm strong!" I lied.

Dear reader, may I share a word of advice with you? If you travel in London, pack light. When entering an underground station, you place your oyster card on a sensor that opens gates swinging inward. Well, when I tried to go through with all my luggage, I wasn't fast enough because the gates closed on my check-in bag. I yelped, trying to pull the surprisingly strong gates apart so I could extricate it. A man behind me immediately tried to help; trying to push the luggage through but it just seemed to make the gates close even harder. As I was frantically working with him on this, my check-in luggage and backpack fell over onto the ground with a dramatic crash. By then the man had waved over a transport staff, who used her card to open the gates. I scrambled to pick up my other bag and guy with a European accent asked, "Are you all right?" I must have looked distraught. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I insisted, more embarrassed than anything as I headed to the lift to the platform.

Another reason to pack light: When I got on the tube, I had to stand at first and it was a nightmare. Spinner luggage is great for getting around in airports with smooth, pristine, polished stone floors, but my bags rolled around with a mind of their own at every stop along the tube route, much to my chagrin. When I managed to get a seat, I assumed an assortment of different positions to keep my luggage stationary with marginal success. Thankfully, the Hammersmith & City Line is much more spacious and better kept than the District Line so I didn't feel like I was being too annoying with all my luggage.

As we neared the downtown stations, a Chinese British couple (or so I assumed based on their appearance and accents) stepped onto the train and sat down next to me. They were smartly dressed and had their Starbucks in hand. The guy pulled out an enormous iPad and started fiddling with it.

At some point during the journey, one of them spilled their latte, creating an ever-growing pool of light brown liquid right in the middle of the train. The guy seemed pretty pained and embarrassed about it, so I dug through my backpack and handed them half of the travel-size pack of tissues that my mom had given me (thanks, Mom). He scrambled to mop up what he could as she kept insisting that it wasn't a big deal. When the train arrived at their stop, I noticed the guy hanging around near the door. He paused briefly. "Thank you," he said in his British accent. "Oh yeah, no prob," I replied.

When I finally got to Stepney Green I made my way to the exit only to find... they didn't have a lift. As I sighed, preparing myself mentally for the climb with my bags, which at this point felt like they were full of literal rocks, a guy stopped and offered to carry the largest one for me! It ended up being three flights up to the street surface level, so I was so grateful for his help.

I then rolled my way through Mile End another 15 minutes as the sun was going down. I really appreciated the paint at every sidewalk intersection with guidance for out of towners like me: "LOOK RIGHT."

After such a long day of travel, it was wonderful to come home to 40 Winks, change my clothes and charge my phone. My exhaustion, however, didn't keep me from venturing out again to get a little something sweet. :)

Comparative Religion

I spent months planning things to do and see during our trip. I made a list of things that seemed interesting and began culling it to only include the must-sees. At the top of my list were cathedrals: a Catholic one in Spain and an Episcopalian one in England. I had gone to mass in Mexico and Episcopalian services in the States, so I knew a little bit of what to expect, but couldn't wait to attend services and experience it all firsthand.

Santiago de Compostela

I heard about this ancient Catholic pilgrimage site a while ago and had a desire to visit. It was about an hour drive from where we were staying on the coast. I had planned to attend mass at 9:00am and arrived with minutes to spare. Since Santiago de Compostela receives visitors from all over the world, I didn't realize that there would be multiple masses held in different parts of the cathedral at the same time. I ran to a small chapel where I heard singing, but discovered quickly that I had witnessed the tail-end of the German mass. Some of the people there asked me in German if I spoke German and I just shrugged. I asked the priest in Spanish where the Spanish mass was and he didn't know! Too hilarious. So I zipped out of there and thankfully found another chapel where they were holding mass in castellano.

It was a grand room with a dome four stories high and an ornate gold altar. Glass doors shielded it from the throng of visitors and a sign disallowed photography... so I was with people who were there to worship God, not take selfies. I came in while the priest was in the middle of the homily and he was encouraging parishioners to be faithful to God wherever the journey of life may take us. They had readings from the Old Testament, the gospels and Acts; a time of prayer; and a time for communion. After mass concluded I stayed to pray, and it was so special to have such a quiet, peaceful place to talk to God. Before I knew it another mass began! I decided to stick around and was happy to find that the presiding priest enunciated his words more than the last one had, which meant I better understood the homily this time around.

When I go to cathedrals, especially ones as ancient as Santiago de Compostela, I like to think about all the generations of people before me who have knelt there praying to God. It makes me think of Revelation 8:4 which talks about the incense along with the prayers of the saints that rise to him. God has been faithful to generations of people seeking him and he hears all our prayers.

I took a guided tour of the cathedral where we literally ascended to the roof, walking and standing on it as our tour guide explained the history of the place. I loved my tour guide's accent because it took me back to my days at the University of Washington, where I had a couple of young and hip Spanish teachers from Madrid and Barcelona who spoke like her. She explained that pilgrims would come west from the area near the Pyrenees and as a token of their journey, they received shells which they wore around their necks as a pendant. She explained that when pilgrims arrived they would, as a symbol of starting a new chapter of their lives having gone on this pilgrimage, would surrender their clothes to be burned and would receive new, white ones. She told us that regardless of social status, everyone received the same white clothes.

The cathedral museum had centuries' worth of religious art--sculptures, paintings and tapestries. Much of the depictions were of events occurring in the gospels and I enjoyed seeing the artist's interpretation and reflecting upon the story itself.

It was such a joy to experience God and worship him in Spain.

St. Martin-in-the-Fields

Towards the end of my trip I had one glorious, super-packed day in London. Someone from my home church had recommended going to visit St. Martin-in-the-Fields, which is Anglican (Church of England), so I attended their evening prayer service. St. James Cathedral in downtown Seattle is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, but I must say that St. Martin in the fields quite nearly surpasses it. Adherence to the Church of England is well on the decline (recent surveys show 15% of Britons identify as Anglican). Similar to the trends of mainline denominations in the U.S., most attendees were older adults, and though the cathedral was vast in size and had two stories worth of seating, I would say there were about 20 of us present.

A soprano soloist accompanied by a pianist sang some beautiful hymns. It was great. I love high church so much. The priest did readings from the Old Testament and gospels. She read the story of David and Saul when David was in the cave with him and could have taken his life. It was a poignant reminder that as tempting as it may be to take justice into our own hands, we must ultimately leave it in God's.

We had spent much of the day hustling to and fro in the city (we had walked for an hour or so downtown along the Thames, I got through about 1/6 of the National Gallery, we visited Daunt Books and survived the zoo that is Piccadilly Circus), so it was a great change of pace to be in a quiet, reflective space. I really liked being able to pray with other people, with the written-out prayers (we prayed the bolded text, just like we sometimes do at my home church), and to sing along with some hymns that I didn't know.

It was such a joy to experience God and worship him in England.

This is another of the many things I loved about travelling in England and Spain. More to come...