This Christmas weekend has been busier than usual for me, which wasn't a bad thing. I love driving, so it was kind of exciting to do so much traveling to visit with people. My fun started on Friday with a trip to Honesdale, PA, for a surprise going away party for my friend, Mark. He is moving to Chicago to live with a friend and work as a computer programmer. I came to town a bit early to run errands with Beth before venturing over to Mark's. It was great to see many old friends from high school again. I hadn't seen most of them since June or July, so I enjoyed catching up with everybody, including Cara, Mark, Shaun, Joe, Beth, Heather, and Allaina.
Following this little get together, I ventured back to East Burg to meet up with my friend, Teresa. I hadn't seen her since May, so I was really excited to spend time catching up. This visit to her house of course involved being poked and prodded by her mother who was wondering if "Flaca" has been eating enough. I also got scolded for not coming to visit, even though Teresa hasn't been home. Most of this discussion was of course in Spanish because her mom is convinced that I am fluent...the funniest part is that she'll talk to Teresa in English, who is actually fluent in Spanish. Makes me laugh every time. We relaxed watching a movie and talking about what we've been up to lately. Teresa also showed me all of the food that her mom had stocked up for her two day stay, which included a large leg of lamb that I was tempted to use as a club.
On Christmas eve, I ventured up to my parent's mountain in Galilee, PA. This was quite relaxing and involved eating, baking cookies, and a nap. My brother made it home for a tasty steak dinner before we all went to the Tabernacle Bible Church in Honesdale for the Christmas Eve Worship Service. It was very well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed the selection of hymns for the evening. Following the service, I promptly booked it back to my apartment in East Stroudsburg in order to meet up with Rhi and Seamus so that we could go to Midnight Mass at Our Lady of Victory in Tannersville, PA. I actually ended up traveling separately because I was dealing with some sporadic stabbing pains in my stomach. Thankfully it got to a point where it didn't get any worse, even though it didn't get any better for a time, so I was able to make it in time for the carols at 11:30pm. I was intrigued by the Catholic traditions that took place during the service, but I think my favorite part of it involved kicking off Christmas listening to the tolling of church bells. I made it home by 1:15am and I followed my brother's orders and opened my trunk to find my presents from him, which included a framed bag from when we went to Shakespeare and Company in Paris, a framed picture of East German soldier, Conrad Schumann, escaping to West Germany (he knows I love history), the book Choices, and a poster from the Switchfoot/Relient K concert we went to back in 2008. All around, some pretty epic gifts in my book. I then finished putting up the Christmas lights before Rhi, Seamus, and I all dozed off to episodes of Lock Up.
I got up around 8am to venture down to Hellertown, PA, in order to attend the Christmas service at Saucon Bible Fellowship Church. Pastor taught about how Jesus is our healing servant and that His birth and ministry fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah 53. After the service, I picked out two poinsettias to give to my mom before driving back to East Stroudsburg for a quick nap and to chat with Rhi and Seamus. Apparently they devoured all but three of the Christmas cookies I brought down from my parents, so I promised to steal some more for them. I finally made my way back to Galilee, with two brief detours in Honesdale. I decided to go up to Irving Cliff to get some pictures of town and I also stopped in Central Park to get some pictures. For those of you who don't know, the man who wrote the lyrics to the song Winter Wonderland, Dick Smith, was from Honesdale and it is said that his inspiration for the song was snow-covered Central Park.
I reached Galilee around 3:45pm and was greeted by my parents. We chatted a bit before opening presents. I was pretty excited for the toaster oven/rotisserie that my dad got me. I'm pretty stoked to try and cook a chicken now! About an hour later Nick arrived in his usual pre-zombie state. Being a nurse, sleep isn't always on the top of the list of activities. He opened his gifts and my dad tested out the RC helicopter he got. I was amused that he flew it right into the tree. Soon Anita joined us for a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and broccoli, which was followed by cookies and chocolate. We topped off the evening by watching the Packers game. All in all, a very busy Christmas weekend, but probably the most content I've felt in years, which is promising for me. Now it's off to rest my eyes and see what tomorrow brings. Possibly some indoor soccer, but maybe just a bum day on the couch.
New York City is probably my favorite city to wander around. In my numerous trips there combined, I have walked from Battery Park all the way to 106th & Broadway. I have never lived in New York City, but I think I morph into a New Yorker every time I travel there. This includes booking it (power-walking) everywhere and crossing the street even when I'm not supposed to as long as there is no traffic that might run me over. Yesterday, since the weather was nice, I decided to drive down to Hoboken, NJ, to take the PATH into New York City. This was a change to my usual parking in Dover, NJ, and taking the train to Penn Station. But, hey, I enjoy a bit of variety in my life.
Anyways, I decided to take the PATH to the World Trade Center because I enjoy wandering the un-gridded streets that comprise the southern tip of Manhattan. It's so easy to get lost that you are always bound to discover something new by accident, whether it's the gothic architecture of a church, traditional Chinese, or cobblestone streets from the New Amsterdam era. As soon as I left the station, I the new Freedom Tower loomed in front of me. Last year my roommate and I saw it when the structure was halfway complete. Now all of the floors have been built and the windows have been inserted up to about the 52nd floor. I then took the walkway on Vessey St. over West St. just for kicks. This actually gave me a nice distant view of the new 9/11 Memorial. I then decided to turn around and head back to Church St. and walk downtown towards St. Paul's Chapel. I continued down to 195 Broadway, which houses what I consider one of the fanciest Starbucks' in the city. Don't worry, I wasn't stopping for coffee because we all know that I only drink that in Europe; instead I was utilizing my knowledge of every Starbucks has a bathroom and bathrooms are quite scarce in the Big Apple. I soon continued my way down Church St. past Century 21, which was decked out in red vertical tube lights. I then made a left to wander east on Liberty St., which apparently borders Zuccotti Park. Once I realized this, the line of cops on the sidewalk made a bit more sense to me.
After the park, I decided to head uptown on Broadway. I came across the Woolworth Building and got a picture of the exterior; a sign announced that tourists were not permitted inside the Woolworth. I decided to veer off onto Reade Street because the architecture of the Catholic Church of St. Andrew's caught my eye. Since I found myself on Centre St., I of course got distracted by the Court House, which is where scenes from Law and Order are occasionally filmed. I took Centre St. passed Collect Pond Park all the way to Canal St. I wandered west on Canal before deciding to take Mercer St. uptown. Part of me wishes I could have oriented myself better so that I could have wandered the heart of Little Italy, but I was very excited to find Mercer St. to be old cobblestone. I was soon at West Houston St. diagonally across from the Angelika Film Center and Cafe. I continued uptown until I reached Bleecker St., which is where I decided to venture east for a couple blocks.
Once I found Broadway, I followed that uptown passed Grace Church, to Union Square. The German in me was instantly sucked in by the Christmas Market. Sure the sign said "Holiday Market", but I'm tired of being stifled by the politically correct. Anyways, I wandered around some of the booths and found the most amazing knit hat ever. It contained my two favorite colors (red and orange), was a mohawk, and had fleece-lined ear coverings. I kept coming back to it and finally bought it for myself as an early Christmas gift. I then wandered past the German Delights and continued my way through the square to Park Ave. I followed Park up to 35th, which is where I decided to head west to Herald Square and Macy's. I took in all of the window displays and singing salvation army men.
After gazing upon the windows, I was then approached by a woman who asked me if I was a sports fan. I replied "yes" and she wanted to know if I followed the New York Giants or had an opinion on the coach. I'm not a Giants fan, but I do feel that Coughlin has a temper. She then excitedly asked if I minded being filmed for a poll on the coach. After determining that this was just random and fun, I took the microphone and said my piece. For those interested in what I had to say, fast forward to 1:06 of this YouTube clip.
I then decided to wander into Macy's and take a look at their displays. I was videotaping just inside the entrance and promptly had some woman from security tell me that I was not allowed to do that. I settled for just taking pictures after that, but am quite amused by the fact that pictures are allowed, but not videos. I've always wondered why that is, so if anybody out there knows the answer, please inform me. I wandered the first floor, but promptly got tired of the large crowd and decided to leave. I looked at a few more window displays before venturing up Broadway to 42nd St. and Times Square. I always enjoy seeing this part of town lit up. As I passed the Walgreens, I noticed a large crowd standing outside the door. I ambled over to it and found out that apparently Heidi Klum was inside. I'm not one to really get excited over celebrities because I just view them as highly publicized normal human beings, but since I had nowhere else to go at the time, I stood around for kicks. Eventually we were informed that she left through another exit and asked to disperse. I wandered up Broadway again until I reached Radio City Music Hall. I always enjoy the colorful lights and displays that are along the street and fountains in this area. After snapping a few photos and video, I ventured over to the crowd gathering alongside the music hall. After waiting about 10 minutes and having my bag checked, we were allowed to go get our spots in Rockefeller Plaza for the Christmas Tree lighting. Mind you, it was 4:30pm and the tree wasn't going to be lit until 9pm, but this was one of those once in a lifetime occurrences that I felt the need to take advantage of. I thankfully was smart enough to pack a book and granola bars, so I sat on the curb in my fenced in area for a couple hours reading to pass the time. I made passing comments to some of the people next to me, but had no conversation of substance.
At 7pm, Al Roker came out on stage to do his announcing gig. He announced the "live performance" of Michael Buble, which was really all of us watching a previously recorded tape done the week prior. From where I was, it was hard to know how many of the performances were actually live or previously recorded. Anyways, during commercial breaks, the crowd was encouraged to cheer loudly once the hosts came back to be taped. It was mildly amusing. I did see Donald Trump, though, and I'm convinced that he uses wax to hold down his comb-over so the wind doesn't blow it in every direction.
Finally, after hours of waiting, the countdown to light the tree began. Mayor Bloomberg did the honors, and it sparkled brilliantly, just as expected. I was very glad to be able to cross something off of my bucket list, but in hindsight, it's definitely much smarter to watch the event from home. I then had to figure out how to get outside of the fences and crowd, which took about a half hour. I made my way to the Rockefeller Center subway station to take the F train to 34th St. Once there, I wandered down to 7th Ave before looping back to 33rd St. and 6th Ave to take the PATH back to Hoboken. Once in Hoboken, I went back to the garage on Hudson St. and 2nd St. where my car was parked on the 6th floor and drove the one hour and 45 minutes back to Stroudsburg. All in all, it was a great experience and led to me falling into a very deep sleep for the night.
This Christmas weekend has been busier than usual for me, which wasn't a bad thing. I love driving, so it was kind of exciting to do so much traveling to visit with people. My fun started on Friday with a trip to Honesdale, PA, for a surprise going away party for my friend, Mark. He is moving to Chicago to live with a friend and work as a computer programmer. I came to town a bit early to run errands with Beth before venturing over to Mark's. It was great to see many old friends from high school again. I hadn't seen most of them since June or July, so I enjoyed catching up with everybody, including Cara, Mark, Shaun, Joe, Beth, Heather, and Allaina.
Following this little get together, I ventured back to East Burg to meet up with my friend, Teresa. I hadn't seen her since May, so I was really excited to spend time catching up. This visit to her house of course involved being poked and prodded by her mother who was wondering if "Flaca" has been eating enough. I also got scolded for not coming to visit, even though Teresa hasn't been home. Most of this discussion was of course in Spanish because her mom is convinced that I am fluent...the funniest part is that she'll talk to Teresa in English, who is actually fluent in Spanish. Makes me laugh every time. We relaxed watching a movie and talking about what we've been up to lately. Teresa also showed me all of the food that her mom had stocked up for her two day stay, which included a large leg of lamb that I was tempted to use as a club.
I got up around 8am to venture down to Hellertown, PA, in order to attend the Christmas service at Saucon Bible Fellowship Church. Pastor taught about how Jesus is our healing servant and that His birth and ministry fulfilled prophecy from Isaiah 53. After the service, I picked out two poinsettias to give to my mom before driving back to East Stroudsburg for a quick nap and to chat with Rhi and Seamus. Apparently they devoured all but three of the Christmas cookies I brought down from my parents, so I promised to steal some more for them. I finally made my way back to Galilee, with two brief detours in Honesdale. I decided to go up to Irving Cliff to get some pictures of town and I also stopped in Central Park to get some pictures. For those of you who don't know, the man who wrote the lyrics to the song Winter Wonderland, Dick Smith, was from Honesdale and it is said that his inspiration for the song was snow-covered Central Park.
I reached Galilee around 3:45pm and was greeted by my parents. We chatted a bit before opening presents. I was pretty excited for the toaster oven/rotisserie that my dad got me. I'm pretty stoked to try and cook a chicken now! About an hour later Nick arrived in his usual pre-zombie state. Being a nurse, sleep isn't always on the top of the list of activities. He opened his gifts and my dad tested out the RC helicopter he got. I was amused that he flew it right into the tree. Soon Anita joined us for a delicious dinner of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and broccoli, which was followed by cookies and chocolate. We topped off the evening by watching the Packers game. All in all, a very busy Christmas weekend, but probably the most content I've felt in years, which is promising for me. Now it's off to rest my eyes and see what tomorrow brings. Possibly some indoor soccer, but maybe just a bum day on the couch.
