I am Rose

أنا وردة

I am Rose, but in Arabic you can call me Werda (that's the translation into Arabic transliterated into English)

Werda in the elevator (with bike helmet)

I was going to write a post about Arabic class but tonight I'm actually much more excited about the fact that just survived my very first night time urban bike ride.

Since the sun set today at 6:30 and it's only going to keep setting earlier and earlier, I wanted to make sure that I took the opportunity on a nice warm day to try out my normal route in the darkness.  Of course, I had this super snazzy and totally cool vest on.

Tried to take a pic with flash - this is what I got!

One thing that I overestimated (underestimated? Hmm well in any case I got it wrong) was the amount of light along my path. I thought that there were more street lights and didn't realize that the light on the front of my bike is a flashing light, not a solid beam.

So it was quite dark. I was visible to drivers but the bumps in the road weren't always visible to me. I only had a few teeth-jarring encounters with manholes though because i know the route very well and what to avoid even if I can't see it.

I set out at about 9, arrived home around 9:30 and now I'm snuggled up on the couch with a glass of wine and an episode of a Madam Secretary feeling like I earned them!