Crap!

There was a spanking new Expedit bookshelf unit sitting downstairs in the garbage/recycling room but I was alone and could not lift the unit up myself! DAMMIT! So 30mins later, when I went to put my laundry into the dryer - it was gone. And 10 mins later, one of my room-mates came home from school. $#^%&^*@.

NYC - NJ - LI Adventures

Weekend highlights
Damien Hirst's Shark
NYC Rain
Rice Pudding for dessert
NJ IKEA stress
The LIRR
DS Lite Entertainment
I learned Sudoku
The sucky NY Islander Game
Yakitori supper
Another awesome weekend with my boy!

He's here again!

Lexington and 57th 3:40pm - Window shopping
here's something incredibly romantic walking around NYC in the sprinkly rain.

Things I see/feel/hear/smell while commuting around NYC

• ALWAYS an ambulance, fire engine or police car with their sirens on (it doesn't help that I live near both a fire hall and a hospital)
• Buskers - some showing their wares of creativity, others simply just showing off their wares, and ones who shameless just ask for spare change (aka beggars but I'm trying to be PC here)
• The glorious smell of puke (like I did this morning while walking to school) somewhere on the sidewalk, where you constantly look around while waiting to cross the road, to see where the disgusting smell is emanating.
• The dripperty drip of an air conditioner - note: this is a regular experience, you've never truly experienced New York until you experience a semi-cold drip of some liquid
• and you're not quite sure if it was air-con condensation or someone's spit or bird crap.
• The bumps and sidewalk stepping while trying to get anywhere. I'm not quite sure why but everyone here seems to walk faster which in turn makes you walk faster, when really you don't have any reason to. I feel compelled to rush everywhere I go, on the bus, the street and in the subway.
• Dogs - lots of dogs. And dog poo too. It seems in the big city of New York, people are so hurried and busy that they barely have time to social relationships of any genuine kind. The result? Fuzzy, loyal, four-legged companions, by the dozens, all over every single park, tree and green space you can imagine. I miss Digby...
• Men in suits after 5pm, walking around with their pressed, crisp shirts in clear laundry bags.
• Women in suits before 9am, walking around in flip flops with their heels in their work bags.
• High school kids at 3pm, swarming all over the bus stops, subways - screaming, yelling, simply being a nuisance.
• Coffee/tea/pastry vendors all over the city in the morning - I know one I always go to outside my school who cheerfully wishes me "Good morning", calls me "Gorgeous" and serves me my tea or coffee and my jelly doughnut every Tuesday morning. Nothing makes your morning, when someone calls you "Gorgeous" even when you're wearing yesterday's stinky tee and no makeup. Hee!

Out of place?

Being Asian, I realise I'm a minority in North America. Growing up in Singapore, I'm not a stranger to multiculturalism or racial diversity and moving to Vancouver, I embraced the multiculturalism prevalent in my new home. Now, moving to New York, I am once again surrounded by people from different cultures and countries but never once, did I ever feel out of place at any point in time, until today...

Scenario 1:
I was invited to a Korean church service by a classmate of mine. I consider myself to be an easy-going and an open minded individual so I cheerfully went, knowing that the service would be entirely in Korean! I was told though, that there would be a translation of sorts via headset but unfortunately, it didn't work! So I went through the entire service in Korean! Being Singaporean, I always thought I had the upperhand being able to speak English while living in North America - while many Asian immigrants struggle in this area. But today while at service, I truly felt out of place. Not understanding the sermon or what people were saying or sharing really felt awkward, jarringly awkward. However, the congregation was extremely friendly and nice and made me feel comfortable, especially when everyone of them spoke English!

Scenario 2:
I was at the Apple Store in SoHo and while I was waiting, I did what I usually do when I'm bored - I people-watch. After about 10 minutes of observing, I came to realise that I was surrounded by gay couples. There was a lesbian couple sitting next to me, a gay couple infront of me and behind me. There was a gay guy with his friend in the skinniest jeans and beautifully tweezed eyebrows walking around the area I was waiting in. His gay companion, carrying the latest YSL bag, a pashmina wrapped around his neck and True Religion jeans. Boy, did I feel out of place. Here I was, straight and happily straight, I felt awkward being the only straight person in the small square feet of space around me. Awkward...

I'm in Boston

once again, for Canadian Thanksgiving with two fifths of the Lee clan - its Turkey hunting and debauchery in the kitchen! Hahahaha!

Chinatown is growing on me...

So every other weekend or so Jordan makes his bus trip from Boston down to New York City - what has now become the reliable, safe and clean Chinatown bus has become a bi-weekly occurence, whether its me going up or him coming down. For Jordan's part of the journey (which I'm sure he'll blog about one day) it starts off at South Station, where there is a bus depot, T stop and train station all nicely laid out in what would be best described as a Grand Central station fashion or even close to Main Street Terminal in downtown Vancouver. Needless to say, its clean, organized and well-laid out with signs, gate numbers and escalators etc.

Enter NYC, the Lucky Star bus as well as the Fung Wah bus snails across the Manhattan bridge and you enter Chinatown, only to realise that when they told you its the Chinatown bus, it literally means the Chinatown bus, right smack in the middle of Chinatown. You get off the bus and you're greeted by the sights, sounds and smells of what is Chinatown NY - the largest Chinatown in North America. It seems no one speaks English here and there is no such thing as a clean street - not even 1 square inch. Of course, once you find the person you're meeting here (ie. me) getting home is another feat in itself.

You drag your rollerboard down uneven pavements, through crowds shopping and chattering asian aunties and uncles. You drag yourself and your luggage down the stairs into the Subway station where it reeks of raw, wet fish from the market above. Ahhh..the smells of a wet market are really the signs which let you know you're in Chinatown once you arrive in the subway station. Then its the jostling to get into the subway itself while an old chinese man plays the "er hu" and fills the station with its piercing acoustics.

Chinatown in NY is not for the faint hearted.

And I'm slowly becoming accustomed to NY's loudness, especially since I'm in Chinatown every other weekend either going to Boston or receiving Jordan who's coming here. (but really, NY is loud, too loud if you ask me) Today, I attempted to go grocery shopping at Dynasty Supermarket for the 2nd time. The 1st time was, well, culture shock for me. I was with my Dad and it was my 1st week in NY - overwhelmed by the city itself and then being lost in the largest Chinatown in North America, my experience grocery shopping was not a good one. Being used to the large and very clean TNT in Vancouver - Dynasty was a let-down. I admit, I took TNT supermarket for granted big time. I couldn't even find a decent packet milk tea! And such a limited selection of snacks, condiments and drinks. But my 2nd attempt today, proved to be a little more successful.

I found: Lipton's packet milk tea and MILO!!!! I felt like I hit the jackpot! Milo! I can have my milo in the mornings now! I happily picked up some other groceries and was on my way home. So, Chinatown isn't so bad really...it just takes a little getting used to and being familiar with wet-market smells.