NY adventures w5-w8

Dear jumjum...

Continuing with my NY adventure log... This is so super overdue and I barely remember most of the details, but here we go:

Week 5

I was craving barbequed beef so Raphie and I headed to Koreatown, Instead of beef, I ended up getting seafood soup- just as good! Then we checked out Union Square and Whole Foods. I decided to walk for almost an hour to St Patrick's Cathedral for sunset mass.

Mum demanded that I ask someone to take a picture of me.

On Sunday I had brunch with Mika's friends Audrey and Sherra in Brooklyn. It was crazy hot and we had to wait in the sun for a seat. And I finally crossed the Brooklyn Bridge :)

W6

Visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I thought I'd be there for 2 hours max but the place is huge, and super interesting. I like visiting museums but this one really takes the cake. It took my amateur appreciation of art to a whole new dimension! So glad I went alone so I could make erratic circles back to the pieces I liked the most.

My favourite sculpture! Even though it's just the rough model for the real thing.

http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/236118

W7

Woke up early to avoid the midday sun while walking the High Line. Had a cronut at the Dominique Ansel Bakery (second trip there since they ran out of cronuts on my first, but they are way too sweet for my liking).

I went to Chinatown for the sole purpose of visiting a cheap optical shop to buy contact lenses, and I was really surprised how big Chinatown is, and how much it resembled HK. It even SMELLS like China. It has that Chinese herby aroma, with aunties yelling in the outdoor wetmarket stalls...

Hung out with supervisor's family again, this time at a bar in a park near our apartments. Emma had just started walking and was determined to explore as much as she could, so we took turns being dragged around by the baby, supporting her by her tiny hands.

W8

I finally got to visit Bibble & Sip, the place I knew I HAD to visit even before I arrived in NY because it is known for its matcha puffs, and I am a matcha fanatic! It certainly didn't disappoint. Raphie and I tried getting our makeup done at Sephora, but they used such a heavy hand on me and I had to remove most of it to avoid looking like a panda.

W9

This weekend was basically dedicated to studying for the GREs. I chose a brunch spot near the apartment and studied the whole afternoon.

That Thursday the lab had a farewell dinner for one of the labmates, and we headed to a rooftop bar after dinner. Since half of my labmates were older and married, I was pretty sure that I'd be home by midnight. But I guess it was their first night off in a long time, because they were so determined to party! I was falling asleep by 3am while they were still going strong... AND everyone was back at work in the lab the next day, some at 9am xD

*atm*

Dream log

Dear jumjum...

Last night, I had a dream that is definitely one of my weirdest, and most vivid. Here's what I remember from it:

First, I was in my experimental lab, being scolded severely by my supervisor for screwing up. (The past experiments have not been running smoothly, and although all my past and present supervisors seem to have saintly patience, I am terrified of getting yelled at) I was trying to calm down, warning myself repeatedly that I simply cannot cry!

The next thing I know, we were running. And by we, I mean me and the children. It was like a scene out of any one of the Mysterious Benedict Society books, where they're usually running in a complex from other children, Mr Curtain's minions. Although it felt like they could do us serious harm, I knew that I would not really die, you know? Like in any kid's movie: when they're in danger, you feel the suspense; but really, you know they'll be OK. It was like that, except I was among them too.

We were running down stairwells and dragging the smallest kids along. At one point I was crouching behind a line of chairs trying to let the kids crouching in front of the chairs know that they shouldn't worry, we were behind them (what logic?!) And the bad kids came into the room and shot them. With some laser beam guns. I wasn't upset at all, it was more like, oh well, let's go look for other children then.

The next scene I remember is when the authorities had arrived. And we were still chilling out at the crime scene like it was Gerko on a Saturday. There were huge packs of minced meat in plastic seal bags, and my senior told me that I need to help identify the bodies. =O I wasn't even freaked out, just annoyed that I had work to do. Somehow, I magically knew whose meat each bag contained. One of them was a large rectangular pack with a rice + beans layer. I turned to my friends behind me and went, "Oh, do you guys know who had Mexican for lunch?" And THAT'S how we identified that body.

And do you know who had Mexican takeout for lunch in real life yesterday? 

ME.

*atm*

NY Adventures w0-w4

Dear jumjum...

Fact: Students on exchange are always more adventurous than the full time kids. For my three months in NY, I promised myself that I would go 'adventuring' at least every Saturday. So here's my one month log:

Week 0

It was my first day in NY, and Raphie brought me downtown to shop. Our first stop was to visit the three level Victoria's Secret store. I entered with no intention of buying anything, but...undergarments are a necessity! We walked past the Empire State Building (it was less grand that I expected, at least on ground level). We also visited Trader Joe's for groceries. It is my favourite grocery store (cheaper goods and great environment), and we now go there every fortnight.

Crazy shoe shopping

The next day, Will brought us around the Columbia campus. That was nice but not really interesting, except for the huge and fancy library.

On Friday, my computational lab supervisor invited me to a duanwujie party at his apartment. I was really touched and surprised, since he had only known me for a week. He has the cutest little daughters, and the elder one is so friendly- she dragged out a huge bag of all her artwork and made me go through it with her one-by-one. It's cute because she speaks in a mix of English, Mandarin and Spanish. The other Chinese students from our floor were also there, and I wrapped dumplings for the first time along with all of them who seemed to have been doing it all their lives. Their zongzi is so different from the ones I'm used to- instead of the savoury ones we get in Malaysia, they only have sweet red dates in theirs (and it's pretty good!). I've just Googled it to see what Wikipedia has to say- apparently savoury zongjis are from Southern China, and the Northern Chinese like it sweet. Makes sense now. I didn't think Malaysian Chinese left China long enough to alter a dish so drastically!

Week 1

I needed more clothes, so we checked out Century 21. It's a department store that sells discounted branded and non brand goods, but it isn't really my style of clothes. We also visited the World Trade Center memorial site since it was nearby. 

We then walked half an hour up to a famous bakery that sells cronuts, only to be told that they usually are sold out by noon =.= We then walked through Greenwich Village to get dinner, and I got to satisfy my Princess Diaries fascination!

Week 2

The moment my HK aunt knew that I was going to NY, she highly recommended that I shopat The Mills at Jersey Gardens. It's build on a tax free area or something and all the branded stores there are on crazy discounts. I took a bus to cross over to Jersey. It was one of the most satisfying shopping experiences.

On Sunday, I finally went to Times Square (smaller and smellier than I expected) and a tiny portion of Central Park.

Week 3

I took the free Staten Island Ferry that goes past the Statue of Liberty (I'm too cheap to pay for the ferries that lets you off on the island with the statue). Since I was already there, I wanted to explore Staten Island too. It was super quiet compared to the city. I had lunch at a highly-rated Sri Lankan restaurant and visited my first brewery. 

When I needed to take a bus to the beach, I realised that (1) my Metrocard was out of credit and (2) the buses only take coins. I bought some Mediterranean pastry at a shop and asked for change in coins, but the cashier insisted that she can only give me a dollar in coins. So I popped into the next shop to buy a Twinkies for the remainder (at least I had something to eat on the beach). It was worth it, though. They had a huge stretch of sand and even though there was so many people, a large portion of the beach was unoccupied. It was my first time alone at the beach and I really missed my family and friends, looking at the happy groups of people around me. 

On Friday, my wetlab supervisor (I just realised that most of my social events happen to be on Fridays) invited me to have a drink with his family at a nearby bar, after he found out that I have not been out after 9 pm in NY (he assured me that the area I live in- his area too- we live on the same street; is generally safe enough). It was a very fresh experience for me. His wife is super friendly, and from what she knows, I know that my supervisor talks to her about me. They were chilling with their 11-month old toddler in a noisy bar, completely unfazed. In fact, when I first walked in, the baby was happily crawling around the bar floor. My parents would have freaked out! My supervisor has a more laid-back style of parenting, which I admire but doubt that I will be able to achieve. Later into the night, a whole group of their Spanish community showed up, and I had my first double-cheek-kiss greeting (oh, except from the late Father Leo Chang, who kissed all the kids after church), and met some interesting people; all while the baby slept soundly in her stroller! I think for my parents, a huge portion of their social events were cut out once they had babies xD

Week 4

Per my supervisor's wife suggestion, I visited Willamsburg, Brooklyn. It's the hip part of town, with artists' flea markets and little hipster shops. 

Oddly, I was looking for a gaaidanzai + ice cream shop. Odd because gaaidanzais are a HK food, but I saw a video someone shared on FB that morning and I was craving it. :) Anyway, this 'shop' was in the middle of a park, and when instead of a shop, I found that it was the Brooklyn Flea, which is like a mini food festival thing held in the summer. There were so many people and cute and funky food, exactly the kind of food I fancy. For the first time ever, I joined a long-ass line and waited 45 minutes for the gaaidanzai + ice cream thing. 

 

For the price and the wait, I don't think it was worthy; but it was a matcha gaaidanzai, and YA KNOW my knees go weak for matcha. The park had a nice view of the NYC skyline across the river, and since I was already acting so basic, lining up for trendy dessert and all, I decided to take my first ever food pic (that I didn't prepare myself):

*atm*

A Chain of Events

Dear jumjum...

For the 4th of July holidays, I decided to cave in my room and watch movies. While filling the kettle, I dropped my phone into the sink (stupid!)...right into the only thing in the sink: a bowl full of water. My phone was functional, but wouldn't charge. In fact, it started to anti-charge: the longer I plugged it in, the more the power drained from the battery. I tried to incubate it in rice (legend has it that this attracts the Asians, who will fix it for you), but to no avail.

I forgot how disabled I am without a phone. Without an alarm clock, I woke up with 15 minutes to get ready. Ironically, my desk clock decided that it was the perfect morning to go haywire. I thought I woke up with ample time to get ready and was so relieved, until I turned my laptop on and happened to glance at the time. Thanks a lot, clockie. I brought both my backpack and sling bag to work, in addition to my phone charger, three-pin-to-two-pin adapter, and powerbank (at this point, phoney was flat, and I knew I would have to charge it after repair). I ended up leaving work in a hurry, stuffing everything I needed from my backpack to my sling bag, since I planned to leave my heavy-ass laptop at work. 






I located the phone repair shop from the addresses I copied down (no mean feat, this girl is totally reliant on her GPS), and they took an hour to repair it. I then met with Mika's friends for an awesome Thai dinner, and then my first ever musical afterwards: Fiddler on the Roof! I was thoroughly entertained by the singing and Russian dancing. I was riding back on the subway in happy contentment until I realised....



...that I had left my key in my backpack, at the lab. !!!

Thank goodness my flatmate was still awake to let me in. She told me that I can call maintenance to open my room door for me, with a $30 fee. After spending money to repair my phone AND watch a play, I was hesitant. Luckily for me, my flatmate just had someone stay over recently, and she has yet to put away the electrically-powered self inflatable bed in the living room. So other than no jumjum to hug and sleeping in the same clothes, I wasn't really roughing it out at all.

I woke up in a pretty good mood, until I was waiting for the shuttle bus and felt something down my back. It was my necklace, broken and dangling off my shoulder...and the pendant was nowhere to be found. I was super panicky and upset, because Val and Zac got it for me for my 21st, and it meant a lot to me. Apparently Zac had a hand in choosing it, which is a rare and precious occurrence. I decided to miss the bus and tried in vain to retrace my steps and find it, until I called Mum and she forbade me to. I felt super sad because I usually take off my necklaces in my room and keep it in a specific spot, but since I was not in my room (indirectly due to my carelessness of dropping my phone, leading to me bringing the phone repair stuff, and not my keys), I decided to leave it on. I must have pulled on the chain in my sleep and weakened it. Gahhhhh. I did consider taking it off, but I was afraid that I would lose it, since I didn't have a proper place for it. Fat lot of difference that made! It was small and dainty and right up my alley. And... I think that it cost them a lot. :(

The only silver lining to this is how my family reacted to this, and how they comforted the spoilt cry baby of the family. In hindsight, I am very spoilt. Thanks again for the awesome present, siblings. We may have parted ways but I will always remember it and the love that came with it!

*atm*