Seananigans

I just got back from the Northeast where I spent 6 days traveling and visiting many amazing sites. I stayed the first three nights in Brooklyn, New York with my cousin Amanda who graciously let me stay with her in an extra bedroom in a typical northeastern city apartment for FREE :). Then the next two nights I stayed in Baltimore with my travel partner Jiao's married friends who used to go to Texas State, but now live in Baltimore where the wife is teaching as a professor of Geography there. Also for free :) The main expenses were for public transportation which is relatively low, so we made out pretty well.



My friend Jiao approached me more than a month ago and invited me to go to New York. She had found a way to travel very cheaply! $200 round-trip plane tickets. Can't beat that. We flew into Philadelphia on Tuesday, December 16th. I seem to knack for always getting into good conversations / discussions with strangers on long trips that I take.

I spoke with a flight attendant named Robert who was a very nice gay man who was recently married in Palm Springs, Florida. We talked for awhile and he gave me many ideas for things to do while in New York.

When we arrived in Philadelphia we quickly got on to a train bringing us into inner city Philly where we were to catch a bus to go to New York. On the way to New York on the bus I sat next to a man named Scott who was an interior architect who helped transform peoples existing home into a more luxury abode. He talked extensively about his iPhone and his love for it. To him and his work, it was absolutely essential. He used it to take photos of his work to send to perspective clients, he checked his email, set calendar events / reminders, and no longer had a need for buying a newspaper as he could get everything for free through the internet (particularly the New York Times). He is the boss of his "company" and has about 10 workers under him.

New York - 2008
Winter in New York City, New York. Average temperature 37°F.


This was my first time in New York! My time here gave me only enough to realize I would love to go back. Our bus dropped us off in Chinatown in Manhattan. It was snowing! And I had no idea where to go. There were lots of people and lots of foreign signs. When I got off I noticed a guy leaning against a building on the corner of the street we were on. He must have been there for 10 minutes. Just as we started walking he got up to walk off. But almost as if he knew we were lost, he turned to ask if we needed help. We were hungry and he pointed us to a restaurant nearby where we were happy to get inside out of the cold and eat. And he was right, it was very good. We sat next to a group of Asians who looked like they were possibly Vietnamese and another group of New Yorkers who were having a jovial time. I found out people in New York are very nice and friendly. Not what I expected. People greeted each person and gave hugs and kisses. And it is a very culturally diverse area.

After dinner we connected with my cousin Amanda who just got out of her last final for the semester. She explained to us how to get to her apartment. Thus began our experience with the New York subway system--something we would become quite acquainted with over the next 3 days. At first it seemed quite confusing, but slowly we got the hang of it. We had to get on one subway, go several stations down then jump onto another train and make sure it was going in the correct direction.


When we got off it was still snowing. We sort of knew where Amanda's apartment was but we didn't know how far it was. We ended up walking for about 25 minutes while it was snowing decently heavy on us carrying 20 pound luggage. Finally we made it! Amanda greeted us and we entered in to her WARM apartment and she showed us the room we were to be staying in. We unloaded and Amanda's boyfriend Ben was there. They are both excellent! Very warm, friendly and we chatted and joked around for about 25 minutes. Amanda's apartment is like the ones I see in TV. You enter in through a high staircase, leading inside a building where there are about 3 floors each with a set of three rooms on each floor belonging to an individual tenant. Amanda had the 2nd floor with 3 bedrooms. She occupied one, a guy she leased to named Emil (a student of acting from Denmark) occupied another, then there was an empty bedroom where her french roommate recently moved out. We got to occupy that one! We were very blessed to get to stay there for free. A hotel in New York is extremely expensive. Jiao and I made plans for the next day, then we crashed. We had been up since 5AM and traveling all day.

The next morning we woke up around 9. I went to a nearby corner store and bought some cereal. We eventually got out of the apt and heading to the Natural History Museum in Manhattan. We were guided by a short French woman who was awesome! She gave a fantastic tour and we got to see a lot of dinosaur fossils which I haven't seen much since I was younger and it is SO fascinating to me.

Later we strolled through Central Park a HUGE park right in the middle of the city. Very pretty park and very different terrain - rocky and moderately forested. We saw squirrels, but definitely not Texas squirrels. These little guys has a nice gray coat to go with their brown. I guess because of the colder terrain. Also lots of birds bopped all around us. Both squirrels and birds were moderately tame. One squirrel came right up to my hand and checked for food before scurrying off. The birds would also come within a foot of us.

Next we decided to walk down 5th avenue, which is kind of of like the "main" street that runs thru new york city. We stopped at several stores where everything was way to expensive. We saw a plastic key chain decorated with lots of dangling pendants being sold for $350. Probably costing less than $10 to produce. Ridiculous. A guy outside was collecting money for the homeless population. I gave him what change I had, and I told him how crazy the prices were. He agreed and expressed his sadness and frustration that people can buy hundreds or thousands of dollars on merchandise but would not give a quarter to the homeless fund - people turning a blind eye. It is very sad. I should have given more.


Next we stopped in the glorious Saint Patrick's Cathedral - the largest church I have ever been in - beautifully adorned and outlined by huge 100 foot plus arches with hundreds of candles surrounding the area. I am slightly bothered by some of what I consider material excess, but overall it was a spectacular sight.


Afterwards we went over to Time Square - the center of lights and activity. Huge 50+ foot electronic screens displayed different advertisements and people all around snapped photos - including me.

We took lots of fun photos here, but by this time it was dinner time and we were to meet my cousin Amanda, her boyfriend Ben, and brother Emerson at a Indian restaurant called Amin's. I ate some good chicken and curry dish and learned how to say "thank you" in Indian. It sounds like "So-korea".

Afterwards, Jiao and I got dropped off at "Super Food Town" a nearby grocery store, to get some fruits and foods for the next days. We got back, planned for the next day then crashed. Another full and long day.

"The unexamined life is not worth living" - Socrates

I believe this is a true statement. I do these blogs to help me examine my interesting life :)

December has been an interesting and good month. December 1st marked my dad's 58th birthday. We celebrated by going to Los Cucos and ate of this giant platter of fajitas and toppings. That night was also very interesting in that we had a smiling moon. Two planets neared the moon - venus and jupiter - for a couple of days, and gave us a very interesting a beautiful view.

During these first few days in December I also participated in a dodge ball tournament, set up by my friend Clay Smallwood - Team Dominate. Although we failed to dominate, we did make it to the quarter finals, knocked out by a team that was likely less physically able, but played much smarter. They played back and not as aggressive. They caught our balls and didn't allow us to hit them by staying back. We tried to rely on our athleticism which had got us through the first through games successfully.


This December also brought three cool experiences. The progressive dinner, where we joined several other campus ministry leaders and went to their respective buildings and ate food together and got to know each other a little bit better. What a great idea! We need more interaction b/w our ministries. Also we had our yearly Snow Ball banquet at the UCM. I went as Sherlock Holmes. I got a neat jacket from good will and borrowed a pipe from my friend Austin Dykes (which I still need to return). Also Sights and Sounds, a yearly San Marcos event and carnival where they decorate with beautiful lights, have a live nativity scene, music, food, and rides.

December has also brought about my final classes for this semester and at Texas State University. Tomorrow I will take my last final! My final final, one could say. At least for my undergraduate degree. While I am not graduating until May, next semester I will be embarking on my student internship, which is another very important topic!!

I will be working at an elementary school with a program called Communities in School, or CIS. My placement will be at Rahe Bulverde Elementary school, under the guidance of Kyle Jankowski, who I am really exciting to be working with. Kyle is young, energetic, very good with the kids and staff, and has his masters in counseling which is a subject I am very interested in and wanted to learn more. He incorporates counseling and group play therapy sessions with kids on a daily level working on behavioral issues (character building), social issues and social skills, kids whose parents are divorced, etc. I am very excited about the learning opportunity this will provide. Kyle was apparently a former youth pastor and has a huge heart for kids.

What will I be doing? I will be working with all age levels at this school from Kindergarten to 5th grades! The kids in the CIS program have to qualify for the program which includes they are on reduced price lunches, have had significant behavioral issues and more. Basically kids they label "at risk" - which as one person asked a pertinent question, "aren't all kids at risk"? Other activities will be homework tutoring and help for all ages, 1st grade spelling, kindergarten divorce class, and lots of continual documentation. I am excited! I start on January 21st. The downside? The commute is an hour, and I have to be there at 7AM. This means I have to leave by 6 which means i need to get up around 5AM!! But this is when both of my parents wake up, so this means they will feed me breakfast! Got to look at the positive.

Ahh! And this brings me to another major point. Another transition... moving back in with my parents. As part of my awesome internship experience, I get $0 cash for a semester of work. This means I will have no income, as I will have to quit my actual, wonderful, paying job in order to have time for this 5-day a week internship, plus all the school work I have to do as part of my field class requirements. Fortunately I have parents who live so close. And I get along with my parents pretty well -- most of the time :) I will get to play a lot more tennis at our neighboring tennis courts, and get free and delicious home cooked meals. That is positive. And hopefully this will give me time to work out possible issues with parents and get to know each other and learn to care more for each other on a daily level. This will be new.

Tomorrow at 2PM I have my last final - Practice III with Gerald McKimmey - my favorite teacher at Texas State University, and likely that I have ever had. I will miss this class! I will miss being very plugged into the UCM-Wesley and getting to daily hang out with friends.

Tuesday, Dec. 16th, I leave to fly into Philedelphia where I will spend 6 days visiting New York, Washington DC, Baltimore, and surrounding areas. This will be my first time in that area. I went to DC as a kid, but remember little. I have never been to new york city. I am blessed with family and friends up there that will allow me to stay for free. Baller! I will likely spend 3 nights in New York and 2 in Baltimore.

I come back on Sunday evening, Dec. 21st. I will work, spend Christmas with my family, and new years in texas. Then January 5th I get to go snow skiing with a group of friends! Yeah! I am excited.