I'm happy we met

happy belated Black Friday and early cyber Monday (because I don't celebrate the white supremacist destruction of native lands that is Thanksgiving)! what a weird week it has been. the holidays are not the same when you don't spend it with other people. thankfully I wasn't the only one not going home for the break. I spent pretty much every day with Saira.

little background, we meet through this school organization called UniteUW during early fall start, and now we're best friends. we're actually the same person. Who knew a Vietnamese girl from Wisconsin and an Indian girl born in Texas would end up meeting in Seattle and realize that they were actually twins in another life. it's pretty great.

in all seriousness, this was one of the happiest weeks here yet. I had a lot of interaction with the homeless homies. on Sunday, I got up to the beautiful crisp air and clear sky and joined my Viet fam in Pioneer Square to give out supplies to the homeless; I was on sock duty and boy were they pumped to get some socks. there were so many sweet people -- some crazy people, like the woman who lifted up her shirt to show us some scars -- but mostly kind/grateful people. afterwards, I rushed into the church building knowing that the angel that is Dawn G. came to visit WA and made a stop by the U to see me. it's a thing where whenever we end up in each other's area, we plan a last minute visit to see each other. Some of the best days begin with an overly excited run across a room into Dawn's arms, followed my near tears and "Oh my goodness, omigoodness, omigoodness". She is freaking wonderful. SOOOO blessed we got to spend all day catching up while I showed her all my favorite spots on campus. just when I was missing all my Utah peeps she comes, and now I don't miss that life all too terribly. well that just set my week on a high.

Monday I felt like I needed to do some good, so after work and a nice little run I headed back to Pioneer Square alone at night (Kristina was trying to get me to bring her pepper spray but I was like nah I got dis) to help out at my new favorite place: Bread of Life Mission. We served over 120 people a warm meal, which was a record according to Lorenzo who waved his clicker in the air. but more importantly, I got to meet Fe (a woman who just moved from the UK a few weeks ago and said I reminded her of her daughter who was my same age) and Tim (who volunteered at BoL a lot before he moved to Cali, but recently moved back and also used to live in South Africa, and wanted to celebrate his birthday by coming to help). They are some of the kindest people I have every met. Before starting to serve the meals, we were talking about the people here. Tim was saying how the purpose of the Mission was to help them out but hopefully that one day they could turn their lives back around and become independent again. He told us a story about how some of the guys who used to come here said 'hi' to him in an elevator and he had no idea who they were; they remembered him because he was at BoL serving them. they told him that it was ok that he didn't remember, because they weren't the same people they used to be. they got off the streets. they got jobs. they were working hard and living better lives. Fe said something so simple and profound: "If you want a happy life, you work hard." life isn't free, and the good things definitely have a cost. at the end of the night, they offered to walk me back to the link station. pioneer square was lit with all the Christmas decorations, it was beautiful. when we got to they station they gave me a hug; we said our goodbyes and hoped we'd see each other again.

after that experience, I was so excited to go back and when the opportunity to go again on Tuesday with Circle K came, we took it. I invited Saira to go with me. We met Reiane who's the CKI secretary, and I swear she is the most adorable compassionate human being. that night, we broke another record and were able to help 135 people. the hour went by fast and the people were amazing and fun to be with; I'm really happy I brought Saira because she was in love by the end.

Wednesday, the campus was nearly empty because classes were pretty much done for the break. Saira and I decided to make a trip to Kerry Park which ended up being a mini photo shoot in front of the Seattle skyline at night. the city is amazing. then we pretended to be upper class suburban moms and shopped through Trader Joe's in Queen Anne. I discovered my love for ginger beer, and Saira found the best salad a health nut could indulge in. good stuff.

For turkey day, we had plans to go with a group for dinner at Buca's but it ended up being just us two all fancied up to eat a giant plate of rigatoni and a brownie ice cream sundae that was bigger than my whole head. after dinner we decided to walk off our food babies and chill in the empty red square in our sweatpants. late night chats in pjs are what great friendships are made of. we ended our perfectly classy night by watching deadpool on an illegal movie site.

I was so tired the next morning because of the major food coma. but we still made it to the macy's thanksgiving parade in Westlake with Nick and Chloe from UniteUW. this city has an obsession with dogs, because multiple sections of the parade were dedicated solely to specific breeds and their owners. cute but wow go dawgs. black friday shopping is a total scam these days, but my best purchase was fun socks from the SockShop on the Ave.

Saturday ended my 38 hour work week. thank goooooodness. Saira and I headed back to Westlake mall, where they were doing some fun Christmas thing where fake snow indoors was required. we were just there to see Coco (YES. US COLLEGE GIRLS LOVE DISNEY STILL). 100/10 recommend it. such. an. amazing. movie. then we movie jumped to watch part of Thor... honestly not my fav hero. then we ran through the link station and missed it by 2 seconds. it's all good though because the DAWGS WON THE APPLE CUP WOOOOO GO TEAM!!!!!!

this week was full of awesome encounters with rad people, and part of my heart hurts when I realize that some of them I might not meet again and eventually they will all leave. but I think this design is kind of beautiful because it makes every second we're with them more meaningful. what are the odds that they came into our lives at this time and place and said what they said?? 1/7,000,000,000+. so yeah, another week down, another lesson learned, another thing to look forward to.

also the song "Life" by the Avett Brothers (your ears are now blessed)