ny...yes again.....and again

[yenchan]

*sigh* How to put two amazing weekends into words. Excuse the incoherency - I’m still trying to recover from the awesomesauceness.



WEEKEND ONE

• Rode the Chinatown bus by myself for the first time
  
• Arrived in NY and met up with a friend for a yummy lunch at the famous Joe’s Shanghai (soup dumplings = YUM, 30mins waiting line not so much)
  
• Went to the 4C workshop by myself (I feel so grown up) and GOT TO MEET WONG FU PRODUCTIONS/RYAN HIGA/FAR EAST MOVEMENT/JENNIFER CHUNG/LYDIA PEAK (FROM QUEST CREW)/WORLDISMARBLE . If I had to describe that experience in one word it’d be inspirational. Looking at them I see people my age doing something they really love and enjoy. Making the most of their life. Not only did I get to meet them, I interacted with them and had a conversation. They were very sweet, down to earth and very very very encouraging. They’re just regular people with dreams and are trying their best and working their butts off to make it come true. I really liked what Jennifer said - “my world is a musical” “something we learned today - is to walk in confidence” But hands down the most inspiring was my talk with Lan (@worldismarble). We struck up a conversation outside the bathroom (of all places) and before I know it, she was encouraging me to continue pursuing the arts and was very enthusiastically giving me suggestions. It was the little push that I needed to stick to my guns and keep creativity/art in my life. Best part was - she remembered my name the next night!! Seriously, is there something in the water in NY/CA that makes the people so awesome and nice?
  
• Woke up early the next morning and went by myself to explore East village. I went through about 4 japanese markets, looked at all the cute bento supplies/Japanese cosmetic stuff, ate my first salmon onigiri (yum!)…browsed little accessory shops and tried on random girly stuff - it was my ideal morning. I remember sitting outside a little Japanese pastry shop eating my green tea custard bun, sipping my green tea au lait watching the world walk by and just sighing to myself. I felt so content - I have no words for it.
  
• ISA concert. It was EPIC. Great performances, amazing people…surprising once in a lifetime moments (still squeezing over it). Can’t ask for more. Oh, and I made a new friend to boot! ^^
  
• My new friend took me to a yummy Italian place in Little Italy and we crowned off the night with the love of my life: rice pudding. There’s a place in NY that specializes in rice pudding (think: the pinkberry of rice pudding). I need to make this city my home. Or at least open a franchise in DC.
  

WEEKEND TWO

• We took the 2am Chinatown bus to NY (reason#1290398343 why my friends rule: they put up with my crazy ideas)
  
• Fresh off the bus we walked from Chinatown > Little Italy > SoHo > NoHo > East Village - to have breakfast at the little Japanese pastery shop - I finally had my first okonomiyaki (Japanese savory egg pancake) and it was oh.so.worth the wait.
  
• Our other friend met us at the subway entrance (aww) and together we checked into our so.expensive.we’re.gonna.freaken.steal.the.towels-hotel
  
• Our next stop was Koreantown where we loaded up on facial products at the awesome smelling TheFaceShop and got a tipoff from some locals for an amazing Korean restaurant. We ordered a boiling beef stew, a bibimbap style pork hotpot and a cooling noodle soup. And what is friendship without lots of giving and sharing?
  
• Time to cover the west side of Manhattan from Greenwich to Chelsea. We made a brief stop into the yuppie town of Chelsea Market where the food is high class, but you pay an arm and a leg for it. I gave away my ability to walk for the weekend in exchange for the legendary creamy hot chocolate from Jasque. Think chocolate heaven on earth.
  
• High Line Park - NYC’s secret garden. <3<3<3 I don’t want to say anymore because I want it to be a well kept secret ~__^ Thanks for sharing that special spot with us friend.
  
• Thoroughly pooped, back to Times Square we go so we can officially call ourselves tourists. After a crazy round of the weird lighted stage where everyone sat around and watched nothing (seriously) and a way overpriced M&M store we head back to our hotel. We’re antisocial homebodies at heart.
  
• A warm hearted night of revealed secrets (*dramatic gasps*), open hearts, funny facials and sweet snuggling. I was ssooo tired my eye literally drooped closed, but I stayed mentally awake and kept my ears&mouth open because it was a slumber party and heart-to-heart not to be missed. I <3 you guys.
  
• Waking up, lazily getting ready….pimping ourselves in the mirror…I love that we’re vertically proportionate ^^…it’s like our friendship was meant to be
  
• No trip to NY would be complete without a high class style brunch outside in gorgeous sunny weather. And what could be more high class then the Upper East Side? EJs - yummyness all around.
  
• A well meant attempt at biking around central park led to a biking tour (where we sat in the back and paid someone to do the work for us - the perks of being high class) around Central Park. Crazy driver had us, literally, clinging onto each other for dear life. It was a fun (if not kinda life threatening) way to explore Central Park and we learned a lot of cool facts. FYI: strawberry Field does not contain strawberries.
  
• Korean massage *insert audible sighs of delight* With our bodies feeling like mush, we sat at a Korean café with some bingsoo and just made more audible sighs of glee.
  
• Finally forced to move, we sojourned to our dinner spot - a quaint little Italian café in Chelsea where people began packing in as soon as they opened. We were a little early so our wanderings took us to a wonderful surprise finding - another quaint secret garden where the local couples get cozy. That’s why I love NYC. Secrets to be discovered around every corner.
  
• And after 7 trips to NYC, I finally got to eat my Italian pistasccio&hazelnut gelato (ohmygoshsooogood) in little Italy at the famous Ferrera. My NYC experience is complete.
  

I know there’s no way my random bullet points could’ve conveyed the love and joy I experienced from these trips and how incredibly thankful I felt to the friends (new and old) that accompanied me. There’s a lot I’m trying to figure out in my life - with plenty of doubts and fears. But with memories like these, it gives me hope that I’ve probably been doing something right. So maybe, just maybe, the future will be ok too.