observations

people stare at me now. i know, because i catch them. both men and women are transfixed by my girth. they also smile when i catch them; i like that a lot. there's something about a pregnant lady that makes people happy, and when that emotion is shared, it's a welcome surprise.

men don't give up their seats on BART unless requested directly. i haven't yet asked a man, but my friend kevin has, and they move quickly when he does it. the other day i was focused on getting a seat--any seat--fast, and when i saw a man move, i ducked, swiveled, and pivoted into the vacant seat, only to see that he was giving it up for ANOTHER pregnant lady. i couldn't believe i had stolen one of my peep's seats. even more astounding was that she registered my seniority in trimesters, nodded, and gave me the look that everything was ok.

and then a woman offered her a seat.

culture braid

tonight on the bus i sat near a man speaking hindi on his cell phone, and just when i had nestled into the cadence of his speech patterns, the edgy recognizable spurts of english broke through for the span of a phrase, then retreated to his native tongue.

i love hearing people blend languages, cultures, and histories. i'm used to moments like these on the bus, the most common of which are the twists and turns of spanish and english. later during the same night, a german woman cooed to her child, and then responded in english to her seat mate.

what stuck with me though, was one of the english phrases peeking through hindi, "he has conquered lots of things--Texas, Turkey, Christianity, and Muslim."

indeed.

change in commute

a couple weeks ago the muni system implemented new lines and changed some lines, which resulted in crappy lines and people standing in lines.

as one of the line standers who learned that allowing an entire hour for my commute still might not get me to work on time, i decided to try my feet at walking to work.

and i've been doing it ever since!

turns out it takes around 30-35 minutes to walk to work, and although it isn't a particularly stimulating walk in the visual department, it's not strenuous, and it's a nice to way to start and end the day. PLUS, my sedentary train ride took 45 minutes!

here's my walk, mapped.