NEW YORK, NY!!!

The Big Apple. (Yum! Haha, just kidding, late night humor, lol) One of the top 3 largest cities in the world...it's where you'll find all sorts of unexpected surprises. I mean, people from every country of the world flock there to see the sites. The streets are bustling with people speaking all sorts of languages, wearing all sorts of fashions, and honking cars on every street intersection. It's great fun! I think it was love at first step off the train for me.

I went to New York with my IT project small group and we attacked New York in a day and a half. That city didn't know what hit it! The first thing the four of us girls did Friday night was hop on a subway and ride to dinner in the heart of a quaint part of town. The place was called Cafe Mingala (which means Cafe Hello--haha, very friendly) and the waitor's name was Sidd. We shared a rice pasta and duck dish and a vegetable and rice dish along with some tasty naan bread. When the first course was done Sidd brought us a plate of fresh orange slices. Then we strolled around and saw central park and the metropolitan art museum from the outside and Times Square at night, which was a gorgeous display of lights and digital moving billboards and flashing colors.

The next morning we arrived by subway again at the South side of town. We saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from a distance and walked through a pretty flower garden to a little bakery where we bought lunch and sat under a tree to enjoy it. Then we walked and took the subway over to Ground Zero. It wasn't as much of a mess as I thought, it was basically a huge construction job with a big construction fence around it. But nontheless, seeing it for real was kind of breathtaking. I can't believe its been almost 7 years since the day I sat in my class as a high school freshman staring in shock at the TV screen as the twin towers collapsed and sent dust and rubble flying for blocks. There were construction tunnels you could walk through to see over and around the fence and there was a plaque with an immense list of names of the lives lost in the 9/11 attacks and some billboards on the rubble site to commemmorate the events.

It was hot and sticky in New York by that time and we headed into a huge Financial something or other building to escape the heat and while trying to find restrooms we found a huge indoor amphitheater with marble steps, huge victorian windows that took up the whole back wall, palm trees--and a huge crowd cheering and yelling at the latin ballroom dance competition going on. It was crazy, I never would have expected to find all that inside that building, lol. Then in the same building we found an Italian Gelato shop and satisfied our sweet tooths. MMM, my chocolate and dulce de leche gelato was amazing! Walking out of the building 3 young ladies from Israel stopped and asked for help with directions and we talked with them for a while. Haha, I asked if I could say "Shalom!" when they said they were Jewish and they were excited, so that was fun. Next we headed towards ChinaTown! Holla! Haha, it was a blast, but it was CRAZY!! There were so many people on the sidewalks and in the shops, I could barely move, or breath. If you so much as glanced at a bracelet or scarf, a chinese shopkeeper would come invade your personal space and say, "which color you like? you like bracret? 15 dolla." I learned that if you liked something you looked at, you ask the nearest shopkeeper how much and when they say "20 dolla", you immediately put the item back and say, thank you, and start walking away. Haha, and then a moment later, they shout, "for you, 15 dolla!" Then you go back and say, "I'll pay 10 dolla" and then they say, "okay, okay, 10 dolla fo you". And that's how that's done! Haha, it was fun, I got some good stuff.

So, we walked around China town with all its craziness and cheap clothes and strange smells and then meandered around little Italy which smelled AMAZING of course and the majority comprised of quaint little outdoor cafes and restaurants. We stopped at the nearest pizza joint complete with graffitied one person bathroom and all. The pizza was great. New York style HUGE slices with pretty much anything you wanted for toppings.

We stopped in a little Tibetan store and bought some sweet sandals and started talking to the store owner and he told us an incredible story. He's from a higher class Tibetan family who were imprisoned for no reason really other than communism in a Chinese prison when he was 10. He was there for 10 years until he escaped and walked over the mountains into India where he stayed for a while before coming to the city. Then we talked about all kinds of stuff like happiness and forgiveness, I wish we had had more time to talk with him. He said we were'nt like other people because we were actually interested in him and what he was saying. He said people just don't listen to each other anymore. I enjoyed listening to him, we all did.

Later we hit up the big stores and did some classic New York style shopping. New York is the home of the largest Macy's on earth, which is 6 stories. It was ridiculous. And every other big chain store is at least 2 or 3 stories, like H & M and Forever 21. By that time it was 9pm and we had to be back at the train station to meet the other small groups and ride back to the vans and drive the 2 and a half hours back to Philly. I was so exhausted I slept on the ride home. And this morning got to sleep in. It was glorious. This afternoon just our small group did some exploring around Philly looking at Independance hall and other fun historical stuff and waiting in a very long line at one of the best Philly Cheesesteak hookups in town and plopping down on some sidewalk sitting against a building since there was no seating at the place, which is called Pat's by the way. It was probably one of my favorite memories with my small group so far.

The rest of today was spent studying for our perspectives midterm and taking it online and then finishing up the readings and workbook and quiz for tomorrow. So now I am spent and going to go to bed since I have to go to class in the morning--which by the way is getting better and better. I thought the first lesson blew me away, but Friday's lesson REALLY blew me away. I'm looking forward to the rest of the lessons.