マルコ１０

Sunday.

It's my second Sunday here in San Francisco, and today was nothing less than wonderful. I woke up to the sound of heavy rain and sharp winds, and smooth grey light. I hopped on the train right across the street from campus and headed out into town. Public transportation has never felt more convenient, and from the moment I stepped onto the subway I felt at ease. I was worried that one way or another, I'd get myself lost in this big city, but everything is pretty much spelled out, at least while riding the train, to where that'd be a little bit hard to do. Once I was done worrying over that,  I did find myself a little nervous to be going back to Reality in San Francisco, even though I'd visited just six short months ago.

Reality in San Francisco is at the Swedish American Hall out in the Castro district of SF. The building is quaint and darling, with low light. It hold the air of what a person once mentioned to me, " A real church." Of course they'd put their foot in their mouth not too shortly after. My apprehension in returning was mostly that I, being one who at first can be very shy (and who isn't?) would walk in alone and walk out alone, having enjoyed the sermon no less. I was fortunate to run into almost all of the friends I'd made six months ago when I visited the first time. It was wonderful to see them again, and be introduced to all of their friends. Now I feel like I have millions of potential friendships at this church, and I am looking forward to going again. 

The teaching today was intense, as it usually is at Reality. We discussed God's view of divorce and marriage. Being unmarried, at first, I did wonder if this topic had anything to offer me besides the knowledge of how God feels on the particular subject. What I understood in the end, was that marriage isn't about our personal happiness. It's something far bigger than that, and something that I won't be able to explain for a long time, I think. When I try to express the emotion and thought that goes into the deep sanctity of marriage all that comes to mind is Jesus' words, "What God has joined together, let no man separate." I'm going to let this truth sit in my mind for a while, and try to understand it more. 

After church was over I jumped on the train again, and headed further into downtown to buy my required attire for Ballet class. I stopped at SF Dance wear down on Mission, a cute little store that had walls reminding me of BIG5 but full of yoga-like clothing, and of course, every ballet and dance essential you could think of.  All I needed was a leotard, pink tights, and pink shoes, and some leg warmers for my comfort. The tights and leg warmers were easy to find, but when it came to the leotard and shoes I knew I was going to need some help. The staff in the store was already swamped with 10 year-old girls trying on pointe shoes. They just stared at me awkwardly as I poke through the leotards, trying to find one that I thought was my size. I'm lucky I have some sort of common sense to find my own size of leotard with out help, otherwise I would be here, with a big problem. 

The shoes, I finally worked up the courage to ask the lady at the register if she'd help me find them. It turned out she is going to State her self and knew my instructor (did this automatically include a discount for me? No, unfortunately haha.), so it was nice to find some common ground with someone in the sea of middle aged men, monster parents and their teeny brats that just seared me like ahi tuna with their beady little eyes. But never mind the uncomfortable experience. I am officially a ballerina!

See?

That's about as official as it will get, everyone. 

After that, I searched for food. The funny thing about Market St., on a Sunday, is that even Peet's Coffee can be closed. In Santa Barbara, this is almost unheard of. So my endeavors to find sushi (yes I had sushi on the brain!!) failed miserably as places mostly open only Monday thru Friday. This was much to my dismay after being disappointed four times, I was ready to just go home. But on my way to the station I passed by a cute little coffee shop on the corner called Bread and Cocoa. I stepped inside to be invited warmly by a young lady who seemed in charge of the place. The establishment reminds of me a cuter South Coast Deli, with lots of tin and wood in the fixtures and furniture. There was a full espresso bar, where the espresso is made to order in "the way of Napoli" and a magnificent selection of sandwiches, soups, salads, and of course, cocoa. 

I couldn't resist the nice ring to the words "chocolate chai", which I paired with a tuna melt. One way or another, I would have tuna. My first sip of the soy chocolate chai sent me back a good month and a half into Christmas, which tones of masala, sweet vanilla, spicy clove, all smoothed over by dark chocolate ganache. Yes, it was delicious. The tuna melt was made with slices of tuna, chopped and mixed with a light mayo and slathered over havarti cheese. Everything was magnificent, from the service to the food, and even a pretty decent price for the generous portions of food. I'd love to go back again very soon. 

 

And then it was time to return home. One thing I love about the M line is how quickly I can get from downtown to State. It must've been no more than at fifteen-minute ride. The rest of my day will be enjoyed doing homework, which I have a lot of. Truly, I am loving life up here.