USA

By the time I arrived in DC I was completely dead. Having said a teary farewell to Ange in JFK I headed back to the hotel to send some emails and finish off final packing. Because my second bag had yet to arrive (owing to the monumental cock-up at Charlotte), I had to fill my suitcase and hand luggage to the max to fit it all in. This meant that at the airport I had to pay a US$20 charge as my bag was over 50lbs (59lbs to be exact). Ah well, if that’s the only charge I pay the whole trip, that’s fine!

I overestimated the amount of time required to check in and pass security so I ended up with an hour spare at JFK airport to surf the net and relax.

I arrived into Dulles at 5pm and Jen (a friend of Claudia’s from Cambridge that I met when I visited Claudia) picked me up. For the next 10 days I’ll be staying at her place in Fairfax, VA. It’s a fair way out of DC, but it’s close to the Metro, and I’m eternally grateful to Jen for letting me stay for such a long time!

Within about 10 minutes we were chatting like old friends, sharing stories about traveling and the like. Ah, good times!

I spent the next two days bumming around the house. I think the furthest I ventured was the grocery store nearby, and even that was under semi-duress! I think I really needed it, because I was fine sleeping 12+ hours, which even I’m not so used to! I sorted through all my luggage and decided on what to keep and what to discard, and I answered all my emails. I even began blogging again – after a long long time!

Ciao for now!

Spent the morning running our bags to Suk’s place at Little Neck. Dropped them off, and then headed into NYC for one last time to visit the Natural History Museum with Jainy and Sharon.

This museum is awesome (and awesomely huge)! It’s one of the world’s most popular museums, and when you enter it, it is not hard to see why. It houses some amazing sections on space, oceans, and cultures. We only had a few hours there, so we focused on space (including a visit to the Planetarium) and foreign cultures. I could have spent days in the Asian history section – it was so detailed! Each separate culture in the region was represented and explained. So refreshing!

We left at 5pm, which meant time to go back to our hotel to pack and sleep. After all, we have to be up at 4am tomorrow morning for our flight to Cancun.

Photos from NYC #1

Photos from NYC #2

Along with Claire and Suk, Ange and I knew three other people in NYC. Daniel is from Chile and studied with me at UBC. Jainita is from Singapore and I also know her from UBC. Jenny was school captain at HGHS with Ange and is in NYC on vacation from McGill, where she is on exchange. Phew! Once again: it’s a very very small world out there.

So, because we only had a few days left, we decided to start early and meet with Daniel and Jainy for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This place is HUGE and it’s impossible to see all of it (or even a respectable amount of it) in one day, let alone a morning. So we tried out best, and managed to see the very impressive Egyptian displays (including a temple!) as well as the Asian art and some of the more modern artwork.

We then went on to have more peppermint hot chocolates and mochas at Starbucks. This is definitely my new favourite drink! Mmm… just thinking about it now warms me! Haha, I should definitely be a Starbucks spokesman! We said farewell to Daniel here, as he was off to the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular and we were off to the UN. The next time I’ll see Daniel will be in LA at Disneyland on my very last day travelling. Spooky, eh?

The UN building and tour were our final tourist destination for today. Both were amazing, and I spent the entire time enthralled. It is, after all, somewhere I would love to work sometime in the future. The building itself is built on international land, and belongs to all member states of the United Nations. It’s surprisingly old (I think 30-40 years) and the interior shows it. They were recarpeting when we visited. Seeing all the chambers and what not – just being there really – was for me fascinating. I strongly believe it’s the best chance we have at a world government and is worth all we throw at it. Unfortunately, it seems to become bogged down in the same red tape that constricts all other governments, only on a much larger scale.

We had dinner on 86th at a Chinese place called “Ollie’s”. Not exactly your typical Chinese name, but the food was authentic and so yummy! There I met Ange’s friend Jenny and her friend from McGill. It was great to talk Canada again and meet some of Ange’s friends – in New York! I even got to try Xiao Lon Bao again – after FAR too long (the last time was my last day in Singapore in 2005). This stuff is fantastic – I’m such an egg! That’s it, I’m going to listen to Wu Bai now. I’ll be in my room!

The rest of the evening was spent frantically repacking our suitcases to leave at Suk’s place. I have FAR too much stuff, which is a shame because I can’t sort out what to discard, and what to take with me. That’s what I have Angela and my dad for – saves me shipping charges

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

After waking up at 11, Ange and I exchanged presents. From me, Ange received traditional Canadian earrings, the aforementioned cat messenger bag, and a book on love. In return, Ange (and her family) gave me Ankh earrings, a Body Shop shaving kit, an Aussie bottle top, Jelly Bellys and a Darrel Lea Christmas Pudding. Those things are so dense!!

Given that it was Christmas Day, and we were in New York, we did the traditional thing – a walk in Central Park! Unfortunately it wasn’t snowing, so I have yet to fulfil my need to have a white Christmas. It was, however, only mildly cold (about 5 degrees), so really perfect weather (!) for a walk! Haha, never thought I’d say that, eh?

We walked around Shakespeare’s Garden, and Belvedere Castle, through to the Lake and saw the Alice in Wonderland statue. It’s a mammoth park – covering a block across and about 50 long. It’s dissected by a few arterial roads, but mostly it’s just footpaths and parkland. It always seems to amaze people that such a Park could exist in NYC, and I was definitely no different. Even though it was winter and most of the trees had lost their leaves, it was still so quiet and relaxing.

Although it was overcast, it held off raining until we were safely out of the park and down Fifth Ave. Even though 99% of all shops were closed (although being NYC, the Jewish, Chinese and Muslim shops remained open!), there were hundreds of people out, admiring all the Christmas windows. Mostly couples and singles, but some families also made an appearance. The most interesting time was passing the Apple store on Fifth Ave. It’s the one that made global headlines (along with everything Apple does!), because the entire store is underground, with only a large glass cube above ground. It’s an awesome store, open 24/7, 365 days a year. So understandably, it was mobbed with people buying iPods, MacBooks and everything else. Walking in there, you can see why they’ve done so well – it’s all there on display for you to freely use. No one is pestering you to buy and it just works. It even managed to move Ange one step closer to buying one!

Ange and I had been invited to Suk’s house in Little Neck for Christmas dinner. Suk is a good friend of both of us from Sydney. She studies with Lyndal and also knows Matt (through Sociology I think). Small world, eh? Anyway, off we went on the LIRR to Suk’s place and had an excellent Korean dinner, complete with Kimchi and so many nice noodle dishes. Suk has just arrived back in New York for an internship at the UN on behalf of the Korean delegation. Talk about lucky, eh?! Her brother is in high school in New York, and her mother was heading back to South Korea tomorrow. So we caught them at an interesting time – Suk had just come home and Suk’s mum was just about to leave again.