(no subject)
Despite some interesting border crossing experiences, here I am in one piece. Going in to the U.S. I had a customs dude with a hugely enormous gun interrogate me about my program of study. There was a huge framed poster of Dick Cheney on the wall, and the gun dude very slowly asked each and every single non-white person "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?". Gross. On my way back, Canada didn't want to let me back in because my reasons for staying an extra day were seemingly suspicious. I had to, at four in the morning, gather all my stuff and dump it out so Mr. Customs Man could inspect and count my items before letting me go. Thanks for the warm welcome home, Canada!
THURSDAY
I arrived in Philly on my birthday after a 14 hour bus ride by myself, hence I looked like a dirtbag extraordinaire. We headed to South Street (or as I say with my newfound American accent that just won't quit, "Saoth Street") for some Govindas action.
Holy. God. Best analog sandwiches in life. Pascale and I split a "chicken cheesesteak" thing that had "cheese" sauce and gravy (my favourite) and some pepper"steak" thing (her favourite). Each of these pieces were HALF of a sandwich. So much fooood!
We split a ginormous fruit smoothie!
My birthday cake was a really yummy spicy piece of pumpkin "cheese"cake.
Apparently my mouth is just too tiny for such bready analog sandwiches. Tis a problem that would plague me all trip!
We fed the Philly birds Philly pretzels!
Whole Foods action! We love vegan donuts! We love Vitamin Water! We love Tings! I love riding on carts!
I forget what this place was called, but it was really beautiful. And full of bike parts. We saw it on our way to an amazing record store. I bought the new Belle & Sebastian for TWELVE DOLLARS! It makes me angry that Americans are so unappreciative of their cheap music prices.
We went to Kingdom of Vegetarians, famed home of $10 all you can eat vegan dim sum, for dinner. I vetoed the dim sum choice declaring IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I WANT VEGAN FISH AND I WILLL HAVE VEGAN FISH! We ended up with really yummy "pork" fried rice as pictured above, "chicken" balls, "shrimp" with caramelized walnuts, vegan "fish" and vegetables in ginger sauce, and General Tao's tofu. My fortune cookie revealed to me that I have a "quiet and unobtrusive nature". It was pretty disappointing as far as fortunes go.
Despite the amazing food, we made the call to head back to Brooklyn early. I was really happy about the choice.
FRIDAY
In the morning, we woke up wide eyed and refreshed. Pascale played a game of basketball with the boys. Tasha and I sat on the sidelines sharing a yummy bagel.
Not that it was ever a secret, but I really love huge floppy hats. I didn't buy it, but I was tempted.
I procured yet another adorable Brooklyn Industries shirt!
...and this dress from Beacon's Closet, which Tasha and Pascale actually had to talk me into buying. According to Justin I look like a "polka dot princess" in it!
We saw these cakes and I said "PLEASE MAKE ME THESE FOR MY NEXT BIRTHDAY!". I wasn't joking. I love the cake sand. And the writhing.
I know Tasha and Pascale hate this photo, but I had to post it because it was taken about two seconds before we randomly sort-of ran into Jonah going into / coming out of the Bedford Ave. subway stop! It would have been so serendipitous if only we had, you know, actually seen him.
We made our way over to Chinatown where I bought this cheapy necklace. I love it. I pretty much did not love anything else about the Chinatown excursion, including the huge groups of loud people, overwhelming smells, not being able to find a place to pee, terrifyingly small staircases, sketchy elevators, fearing I had Toxic Shock Syndrome, and so on.
Shortly after we got back from the horrible Chinatown outing, Jonah called and made his way over to Bushwick where we had snacks until everyone got home and a huge game of dodgeball commenced! It was so hilarious and it felt really homey and familiar to sit there watching everyone attack each other! Goodness, I love the Brooklyn kids! I was still feeling really under the weather from earlier in the day, and had to mostly sit on the sidelines. But it was a lovely time all the same!
My um, "dodgeball wounds", however? Not such a good time.
SATURDAY
In the morning we did some errands before Tasha and Pascale were to depart.
On the way we played with this adorable puppy named "Fluffy". He kept nibbling my hand and giving me little puppy kisses!
Manhattan stinks. Here I am putting on my best face.
So tough!
...
And that's where the photos inexplicably stop. I will flounder ever so without the aid of pictures as a storytelling device! You've been warned!
We took the subway back to Bushwick where we hung out in The Archive until Jonah and Mebus joined the party. We all sat on a bench outside of Brooklyn Natural and snacked and played with various dogs. Tasha and Pascale were Ottawa-bound and we said our goodbyes. Jonah and I headed to a park that had a teeny subway play area and many mighty fountains. Angry park worker men informed us that it was closing, so we had to leave. However, after hopping a teeny fence, we found ourselves in the midst of an even greater city park! It had many fireflies buzzing around and sparkling in the dark sky, benches aplenty, a labyrinth-esque design, and even sporadic fireworks in the background!
SUNDAY
I headed over to Williamsburg where I found a sleepy and disoriented Jonah. We eventually made our way over to the "baggle" shop (not before I had been subjected to ample amounts of silly classic rock!) for "cream cheese" deliciousness and the best cream soda ever in life. We didn't have the presence of mind to go to a museum, so we ended up having a relaxed and wandery theory nerds kind of a day. Which in all honesty, I was perfectly content to be doing after the stresses of Manhattan earlier in the weekend. We made our way to yet another park, this time beside some weird giant industrial tower of doom. We went to the Free Store. We commented on the local architecture. We went to Food Swings and stuffed ourselves full of chocolate peanut butter soymilkshakes, "chicken" wings, nuggets, "fish" sticks, and a "chicken" caesar sandwich. On our way back to where he was staying, we walked past this really great park where there was some kind of indie rock / hardcore kid soccer baseball game going on. With time to spare before my bus was due to leave, we got to talk about books and be chatty little theory nerds once again!
After some very unnecessarily stressful subway navigation, we miraculously arrived at my terminal as it was a a mere three minutes before the bus was to depart! We said our goodbyes and I said goodbye to New York as I stole the very last available bus seat. Ah ha!
I got in at 7:00am this morning. Needless to say, I needed a whole lot of caffeine at work today.
THURSDAY
I arrived in Philly on my birthday after a 14 hour bus ride by myself, hence I looked like a dirtbag extraordinaire. We headed to South Street (or as I say with my newfound American accent that just won't quit, "Saoth Street") for some Govindas action.
Holy. God. Best analog sandwiches in life. Pascale and I split a "chicken cheesesteak" thing that had "cheese" sauce and gravy (my favourite) and some pepper"steak" thing (her favourite). Each of these pieces were HALF of a sandwich. So much fooood!
We split a ginormous fruit smoothie!
My birthday cake was a really yummy spicy piece of pumpkin "cheese"cake.
Apparently my mouth is just too tiny for such bready analog sandwiches. Tis a problem that would plague me all trip!
We fed the Philly birds Philly pretzels!
Whole Foods action! We love vegan donuts! We love Vitamin Water! We love Tings! I love riding on carts!
I forget what this place was called, but it was really beautiful. And full of bike parts. We saw it on our way to an amazing record store. I bought the new Belle & Sebastian for TWELVE DOLLARS! It makes me angry that Americans are so unappreciative of their cheap music prices.
We went to Kingdom of Vegetarians, famed home of $10 all you can eat vegan dim sum, for dinner. I vetoed the dim sum choice declaring IT'S MY BIRTHDAY AND I WANT VEGAN FISH AND I WILLL HAVE VEGAN FISH! We ended up with really yummy "pork" fried rice as pictured above, "chicken" balls, "shrimp" with caramelized walnuts, vegan "fish" and vegetables in ginger sauce, and General Tao's tofu. My fortune cookie revealed to me that I have a "quiet and unobtrusive nature". It was pretty disappointing as far as fortunes go.
Despite the amazing food, we made the call to head back to Brooklyn early. I was really happy about the choice.
FRIDAY
In the morning, we woke up wide eyed and refreshed. Pascale played a game of basketball with the boys. Tasha and I sat on the sidelines sharing a yummy bagel.
Not that it was ever a secret, but I really love huge floppy hats. I didn't buy it, but I was tempted.
I procured yet another adorable Brooklyn Industries shirt!
...and this dress from Beacon's Closet, which Tasha and Pascale actually had to talk me into buying. According to Justin I look like a "polka dot princess" in it!
We saw these cakes and I said "PLEASE MAKE ME THESE FOR MY NEXT BIRTHDAY!". I wasn't joking. I love the cake sand. And the writhing.
I know Tasha and Pascale hate this photo, but I had to post it because it was taken about two seconds before we randomly sort-of ran into Jonah going into / coming out of the Bedford Ave. subway stop! It would have been so serendipitous if only we had, you know, actually seen him.
We made our way over to Chinatown where I bought this cheapy necklace. I love it. I pretty much did not love anything else about the Chinatown excursion, including the huge groups of loud people, overwhelming smells, not being able to find a place to pee, terrifyingly small staircases, sketchy elevators, fearing I had Toxic Shock Syndrome, and so on.
Shortly after we got back from the horrible Chinatown outing, Jonah called and made his way over to Bushwick where we had snacks until everyone got home and a huge game of dodgeball commenced! It was so hilarious and it felt really homey and familiar to sit there watching everyone attack each other! Goodness, I love the Brooklyn kids! I was still feeling really under the weather from earlier in the day, and had to mostly sit on the sidelines. But it was a lovely time all the same!
My um, "dodgeball wounds", however? Not such a good time.
SATURDAY
In the morning we did some errands before Tasha and Pascale were to depart.
On the way we played with this adorable puppy named "Fluffy". He kept nibbling my hand and giving me little puppy kisses!
Manhattan stinks. Here I am putting on my best face.
So tough!
...
And that's where the photos inexplicably stop. I will flounder ever so without the aid of pictures as a storytelling device! You've been warned!
We took the subway back to Bushwick where we hung out in The Archive until Jonah and Mebus joined the party. We all sat on a bench outside of Brooklyn Natural and snacked and played with various dogs. Tasha and Pascale were Ottawa-bound and we said our goodbyes. Jonah and I headed to a park that had a teeny subway play area and many mighty fountains. Angry park worker men informed us that it was closing, so we had to leave. However, after hopping a teeny fence, we found ourselves in the midst of an even greater city park! It had many fireflies buzzing around and sparkling in the dark sky, benches aplenty, a labyrinth-esque design, and even sporadic fireworks in the background!
SUNDAY
I headed over to Williamsburg where I found a sleepy and disoriented Jonah. We eventually made our way over to the "baggle" shop (not before I had been subjected to ample amounts of silly classic rock!) for "cream cheese" deliciousness and the best cream soda ever in life. We didn't have the presence of mind to go to a museum, so we ended up having a relaxed and wandery theory nerds kind of a day. Which in all honesty, I was perfectly content to be doing after the stresses of Manhattan earlier in the weekend. We made our way to yet another park, this time beside some weird giant industrial tower of doom. We went to the Free Store. We commented on the local architecture. We went to Food Swings and stuffed ourselves full of chocolate peanut butter soymilkshakes, "chicken" wings, nuggets, "fish" sticks, and a "chicken" caesar sandwich. On our way back to where he was staying, we walked past this really great park where there was some kind of indie rock / hardcore kid soccer baseball game going on. With time to spare before my bus was due to leave, we got to talk about books and be chatty little theory nerds once again!
After some very unnecessarily stressful subway navigation, we miraculously arrived at my terminal as it was a a mere three minutes before the bus was to depart! We said our goodbyes and I said goodbye to New York as I stole the very last available bus seat. Ah ha!
I got in at 7:00am this morning. Needless to say, I needed a whole lot of caffeine at work today.