I’m experiencing somewhat of a weekend to weekday culture shock today. I had one of those weekends that just gelled. On Friday night a lovely cooking journey into Southern Indian cuisine with a friend led to a spontaneous bike ride to the new Woody Allen movie with a not so inspiring title (VickiChristinaBarcelona), but a very alluring plot and cast. Saturday morning I slowly emerged from the womb of my bed, made a gourmet egg sandwich, and then went to Wicker Park (the park two blocks from my house) for some morning time reading. By noon I was stretching out my body and push the limits of my will power in my favorite yoga class at Cheetah Gym (though there are still many more to try). While I realize that being a liberal young adult living in a hip part of Chicago is pretty much synonymous with saying “I do yoga.” But as cliché as it is, I am so happy for the first time in my life to be consistently practicing yoga, not just saying how much I wish I could get into it. I feel my body thanking me. My knee rarely hurts during or after yoga and my mind is forced to stop creating, organizing, and completing to-do lists. I just have to stop, breath, and hope that I can make it through the hour in one piece. Luckily, I always do, and come out feeling stronger and healthier. I’ve only been able to skate once since being in Chicago, but it was an amazing experience. I felt more in shape on the ice after not skating for months due to the yoga and biking I’ve been doing. I hope to integrate skating back into my life in some capacity, but I am thankful that I have found some more convenient pastimes for my body to engage in.
Saturday afternoon found me eating good veggie eats at the Handlebar “biker” (cyclist) bar near my house with a good friend from college and strolling through Humboldt Park. Saturday evening commenced with roommate bonding where we all pitched in to cook a delicious meal followed by a fabulous gathering of some random friends my roommate and I have acquired. After a rather late night, Sunday became the day of grocery shopping, errands, and also a little more reading in Wicker Park. Spending time in Wicker Park is similar to spending time on a college “quad,” though the mix of people is a bit more diverse. The park is definitely a social center of the neighborhood. On any nice weather day people are guaranteed to be sunbathing, playing random lawn games, tossing a Frisbee, playing pick-up soccer or softball or basketball, picking fights, grilling out, sitting in a circle of friends surrounded by a circle of all their bikes… It’s a lovely place. The weather here is changing oh so slightly, giving a little nod to fall. I got to wear sweats and a sweatshirt in the park Sunday evening, and found myself getting a little chilly. Oh, how I love seasons!
So my action packed weekend gave way to Monday. Monday has been fine, but I seriously have felt myself somewhat disoriented by the transition of weekend to work week. I put in my first long day at the office—10 hours! I’m working extra so I can leave early on Friday to go canvas for Obama in Cincy this weekend. It was rewarding to get a lot of work done and feel my creative juices flowing as I get more responsibility, but I am a little too high from my weekend to get descriptive about quality assessment of health care. I do promise to muse on my work life in the near future, but for now, I am pretty pleased to just relax into the fall breeze that seems to be bringing a heartier social life my way.
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