late New York report
This is a bit late, but I spent most of the days after in a state of comatose, movies, and biking. Last... Sunday, I went with mom to NY via a charter bus under a Vietnamese group. Boy, did I feel awkward. Not only did I squeeze in a nice half hour's worth of sleep, I didn't know my mother-language as well as I did when I was a tot. Oh man, the joys of Americanization, ha ha.
Nonetheless, I was a cranky pile of bollocks and it didn't help that there was a baby on-board, as well as... Vietnamese opera. Oh god. Why the hell did they blast it on the speakers while some people were trying to sleep? I was especially irritated since the speaker was right above my head and itouch headphones don't do jack shit for soundproofing.
Click to viewYeahno, as much as I love opera and some Chinese opera, I just can't stomach Vietnamese singing. It's not like we're well-known for our singing prowess, anyway.
The morning trip was a haze, I was drifting in and out, while I was jostled by my mom from her restless legs, getting ear-raped from Viet opera and a screaming baby, and feeling awkward since the old ladies next to us kept on staring at me.
Eventually, we arrived in New Jersey, where we can purchase tickets to tour the Statue and Ellis Island. I honestly didn't want to go, since I went there before, but my mom insisted, so I went along. Oh boy, as nice as the boat ride was, the Statue was pretty nice, but I guess seeing it before jaded my initial impression when I saw it the first time back when I was eleven or twelve. I did feel funny when the tour guide said it was a gift from France to America to improve their relations. /fangirlfail
In the end, my mom did indeed feel regretful since it only left us with three hours for Chinatown and we were mostly there for the food. Oh god, street vendors and dim sum and seafood unffffff. We came home with some duck, a fuckton of pastries, and various exotic fruits. Oh baby.
I bought a few well-made Tokidoki fakes and some gifts for friends, as well as a content stomach. I also discovered the joys of haggling. One funny story involved my mom and her haggling. So I was about to get this backpack, the offering price was $25. I suggested $18 and my mom interrupted with a $15 offer. The lady and my mother kept on arguing back and forth about it, before the saleslady snapped and yelled at her for being cheap. So she stormed off and the lady huffed to be about how my sister was really cheap. Ha ha, I thought that was hilarious. The thing I found most interesting was as we were riding around NY in the bus, you can see how vastly different each little section was. And there were cars EVERYWHERE. Like people would walk next to the cars since the sidewalks were swarmed or something.
The people there looked different too, which was also interesting. Fashions were definitely different compared to where I live; there seemed to be a larger diversity of ethnics as well. I liked that there was so many differences, but I wouldn't want to live there. New York's extremely fast-moving, my city is average, and the countryside is slow.
The most amusing thing I saw was this one man. He looked like one of those blonde European models with nicely disheveled hair and a well-defined face. Since the tour bus is pretty big, I only saw his upper body at first, so I thought the dress-shirt looked very nice on him. Then as the bus moved along, it revealed a pair of black short shorts and then black calf-length socks and finally, a pair of purple slip-ons.
Very unexpected.
Anyway, in conclusion, I'm not sure I will return to New York City for another go, much like an ex-boyfriend that I got together again for a night and then regretted it later. Perhaps I'll visit Buffalo, but mostly, I want to go back to Canada and see more of the provinces.