Hello Hello
Hey guys, I returned yesterday from the East Coast after visiting various most of the family from my mom's side. We spent 10 days on the East Coast, 6 in NYC and 4 in DC. It all went something like this.
Day1- So right after school, I get home and after an hour or so, we leave the house at 4:30 to catch a 6pm flight to Newark, NJ. I'm knocked out on the plane and catatonic until arrival in Newark. It's morning ( 6;30) and I realize that, 4 layers with a 3 pound denim jacket coupled with pants, woolen socks and semi-boots are simply not enough to beat the cold weather. Dad goes rent a minivan ( Honda Windstar I think), and off we go to New York. Basically, we spend the whole morning driving to Kingston, NY ( Birthplace) and seeing the old house in Kingston, seeing my old babysitter and meeting my mom's old coworkers ( think 70+ years old) for a meal.
Then off we go again and the drive is really really long. On the way, we stopped by some old apple farms. THe apples on the East Coast are really really really tasty. They're crunchy and tart yet weirdly sweet. It's different from the Fuji apples that I normally eat here. Well anyways, the first day ended with a whole lotta driving and nothing much else.
Day2 Nothing much today either. Ate brunch with friends of grandparents and then went to my dad's old college and then we went to Long Island to my parent's friend's house. Had dinner there, was rather large, 20 + people, and like 6 kids. WE were all sent down to the basement.
Day3 Today was definitely one of the more interesting days. We walked around in Manhattan today and I went to the Wall Street area. Damn. It was so somber, right there in the middle of the business district. There was a hole. You know all those pictures with the New York skyline bristling with lights and the Twin Towers standing there like giants guarding entry into the capitalistic heaven of the world. It was gone. IN it's place was a pit. A s story pit with constrution crews working and rebuilding into whatever it is that New York wanted. This experience wasn;t quite as disturbing as I expected. I half expected to swoon or something at the graveness of the loss, but it didn;t really hit me. All i could think was, in one day, two of the proudest structures were toppled. In one day, when it took years to build. What did get me sick was all the vendors. They were standing there with PC made mosaics passing as artist drawings, cheap moving pictures (you know, the type that they have in chinese restaurants except they're of waterfalls and scenery), books and t-shirts all saying remember 9-11. THe worst part was that this junk was being sold right there at the scene. They were pushing these items. It felt like they were fouling the sanctity of the area, but I couldn;t exatly pinpoint the feeling. THe fact that most of these items were probably "Made in China" made me even more disgusted?, sad?, sick? I don't know.
Of course, afterwards, I explored downtown and I realized what a suburbanite I was. Imagine the ocean as Alameda, now imagine a sardine can. There were thousands of people on one street alone. THe streets were crowded beyond belief, there were people everywhere. I must admit, I was sorta frightened by the amount of people that could fit in such an area. THen something caught my eye. The stores that sold counterfeits ( you know, the stores with the racks upon racks of purses and lingerie and belts and cologne and DVD's and all sorts of knick knacks going for the, comparitively, the price of dirt) suddenly close down. The owner would zip a screen across their goods and close shop. I was hella confused. It was the middle of the day and there were a great ocean of people. I walk a few more blocks and there they are, the cops. I stop and realize that all the owners that chop chopped were busy ocmmunicating on their cell. Omigod, I realize, they must have huge networks and eyes posted almost everywhere to keep an eye on the cops. It's almost funny in a way when I see one of those eyes sitting there on a chair on a corner, just talking away. I pass by and hear them say it's fine, it's fine. Maybe it's just my biasness from the realization but damn... they're connected.
Day4 , day 5 and day 6. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Boing days. We spent this time in DC and it was boring except for the new constitutional musem. The effects of 9-11 are also seen here. All the major streets are closed meaning a hour commute to leave DC. And another hour to get in, meaning 2 hours of wasted time everyday because the majoy arteries of atraffic are cordoned of by the USDS. THe only thoughts that I garnered from these days spent in DC is that the Holocaust museum is huge and new and pristine and almost all the other monuments are in some form of disrepair. Yea, I went to the HOlocaust museum and the first thing i notice is how it's made. It's dark and stuff. They had an exhibit on Anne Frank and I really dunno. It was weird in an odd way. I know that I'm supposed to feel for the Jews and stuff but I just couldn't. IN the Anne Frank exhibit, I kept thinking, to what extent are the Jews of Israel and the Jews of America using the Holocaust as a political sword. It feels so out there and so blatantly screaming "Remeber the Holocaust" and turning to use to indoctrinate the American folk. I remember I conversation I had with a friend regarding the Holocaust after seeing SChindler's list. THe Holocaust was being politicized. There's a difference between remembering an event and turning it into a thing that has lost it's potency in raw emotional power. I feel it's sorta like the way Lusitania was being used. Perhaps in the next century, historians will write of the Holocaust as something initially powerful that became corrupted and bastardized and eventually lost its power. I just don;t know.
I return to base later on to my dad's best friends place and I realize something else. The Jews are everywhere in this part of town. Strangest thing is, they keep to themselves. THe Orthodox jews are scary. They wear those long black trench coats, top hats and shawls and ear hair. It's frightening to approach them. Of course, it doesn;t make it any easier that they have whole schools named for their rabbis and for their donors. I mean, in the middle of Chinatown, you see a Rabbi Chaim Mitzva(h) school. You see public schools endorsed by them. They have thier hebrew schools and their normal schools and I wonder how much I actually know about Jews. I mean, to those Jews, you have have to be part of Judaism to be a Jew, and you have to be a Jew (I think from the mother's and father's side) to be part of that Judaism. It's a closed circle. MY dad says that eventually this rigid circle will be broken and they will be assimilated into American culture, but that someday seems really far away when you see troops of them marching to the syanagogue on saturdays and there are nary another soul walking the streets.
Day7 THursday, Went to Philadelphia. Had Philadelphia cheese steak ( very overrated) in Geno's and PAt's. Supposed to be world renown places. Went to the Philly Mint. Got two coins. ( pennies) Was very boring. THen later at night went back to new York, this time staying at my aunt's place.
Day8 Friday Spent time in China town. Went to empire state. Had the fucking craziest lunch in the world. WE went to Carnegie Deli. AS you can see, a simple sandwich runs in the 10's and close to the 20's. Yah. I was thinking that my parents were crazy to want to go there for lunch, but I figured heyi t's your money, if I get a meal, then o yea. So my mom orders two sandwiches that comes out to $30. Mind you, no chips, no soda, nothing except two pickles, some mustard and two sandwichs. Now, you must be wondering, what on earth the sandwiches looked like. Now imagine this lady as a slice of bread and this guy here sandwiched between a set of them and you get a Carnegie Deli Sandwich. Note the amount of pure plesaureable carnivorous ecstasy if one could partake of that ... that thing.
day9 Staurday. Took the SAT II chinese. had lunch with family. Had to leave NY. Arrive at 11pm in Alameda. Yay. Hoorah. Virigl has returned!!!!
Day1- So right after school, I get home and after an hour or so, we leave the house at 4:30 to catch a 6pm flight to Newark, NJ. I'm knocked out on the plane and catatonic until arrival in Newark. It's morning ( 6;30) and I realize that, 4 layers with a 3 pound denim jacket coupled with pants, woolen socks and semi-boots are simply not enough to beat the cold weather. Dad goes rent a minivan ( Honda Windstar I think), and off we go to New York. Basically, we spend the whole morning driving to Kingston, NY ( Birthplace) and seeing the old house in Kingston, seeing my old babysitter and meeting my mom's old coworkers ( think 70+ years old) for a meal.
Then off we go again and the drive is really really long. On the way, we stopped by some old apple farms. THe apples on the East Coast are really really really tasty. They're crunchy and tart yet weirdly sweet. It's different from the Fuji apples that I normally eat here. Well anyways, the first day ended with a whole lotta driving and nothing much else.
Day2 Nothing much today either. Ate brunch with friends of grandparents and then went to my dad's old college and then we went to Long Island to my parent's friend's house. Had dinner there, was rather large, 20 + people, and like 6 kids. WE were all sent down to the basement.
Day3 Today was definitely one of the more interesting days. We walked around in Manhattan today and I went to the Wall Street area. Damn. It was so somber, right there in the middle of the business district. There was a hole. You know all those pictures with the New York skyline bristling with lights and the Twin Towers standing there like giants guarding entry into the capitalistic heaven of the world. It was gone. IN it's place was a pit. A s story pit with constrution crews working and rebuilding into whatever it is that New York wanted. This experience wasn;t quite as disturbing as I expected. I half expected to swoon or something at the graveness of the loss, but it didn;t really hit me. All i could think was, in one day, two of the proudest structures were toppled. In one day, when it took years to build. What did get me sick was all the vendors. They were standing there with PC made mosaics passing as artist drawings, cheap moving pictures (you know, the type that they have in chinese restaurants except they're of waterfalls and scenery), books and t-shirts all saying remember 9-11. THe worst part was that this junk was being sold right there at the scene. They were pushing these items. It felt like they were fouling the sanctity of the area, but I couldn;t exatly pinpoint the feeling. THe fact that most of these items were probably "Made in China" made me even more disgusted?, sad?, sick? I don't know.
Of course, afterwards, I explored downtown and I realized what a suburbanite I was. Imagine the ocean as Alameda, now imagine a sardine can. There were thousands of people on one street alone. THe streets were crowded beyond belief, there were people everywhere. I must admit, I was sorta frightened by the amount of people that could fit in such an area. THen something caught my eye. The stores that sold counterfeits ( you know, the stores with the racks upon racks of purses and lingerie and belts and cologne and DVD's and all sorts of knick knacks going for the, comparitively, the price of dirt) suddenly close down. The owner would zip a screen across their goods and close shop. I was hella confused. It was the middle of the day and there were a great ocean of people. I walk a few more blocks and there they are, the cops. I stop and realize that all the owners that chop chopped were busy ocmmunicating on their cell. Omigod, I realize, they must have huge networks and eyes posted almost everywhere to keep an eye on the cops. It's almost funny in a way when I see one of those eyes sitting there on a chair on a corner, just talking away. I pass by and hear them say it's fine, it's fine. Maybe it's just my biasness from the realization but damn... they're connected.
Day4 , day 5 and day 6. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Boing days. We spent this time in DC and it was boring except for the new constitutional musem. The effects of 9-11 are also seen here. All the major streets are closed meaning a hour commute to leave DC. And another hour to get in, meaning 2 hours of wasted time everyday because the majoy arteries of atraffic are cordoned of by the USDS. THe only thoughts that I garnered from these days spent in DC is that the Holocaust museum is huge and new and pristine and almost all the other monuments are in some form of disrepair. Yea, I went to the HOlocaust museum and the first thing i notice is how it's made. It's dark and stuff. They had an exhibit on Anne Frank and I really dunno. It was weird in an odd way. I know that I'm supposed to feel for the Jews and stuff but I just couldn't. IN the Anne Frank exhibit, I kept thinking, to what extent are the Jews of Israel and the Jews of America using the Holocaust as a political sword. It feels so out there and so blatantly screaming "Remeber the Holocaust" and turning to use to indoctrinate the American folk. I remember I conversation I had with a friend regarding the Holocaust after seeing SChindler's list. THe Holocaust was being politicized. There's a difference between remembering an event and turning it into a thing that has lost it's potency in raw emotional power. I feel it's sorta like the way Lusitania was being used. Perhaps in the next century, historians will write of the Holocaust as something initially powerful that became corrupted and bastardized and eventually lost its power. I just don;t know.
I return to base later on to my dad's best friends place and I realize something else. The Jews are everywhere in this part of town. Strangest thing is, they keep to themselves. THe Orthodox jews are scary. They wear those long black trench coats, top hats and shawls and ear hair. It's frightening to approach them. Of course, it doesn;t make it any easier that they have whole schools named for their rabbis and for their donors. I mean, in the middle of Chinatown, you see a Rabbi Chaim Mitzva(h) school. You see public schools endorsed by them. They have thier hebrew schools and their normal schools and I wonder how much I actually know about Jews. I mean, to those Jews, you have have to be part of Judaism to be a Jew, and you have to be a Jew (I think from the mother's and father's side) to be part of that Judaism. It's a closed circle. MY dad says that eventually this rigid circle will be broken and they will be assimilated into American culture, but that someday seems really far away when you see troops of them marching to the syanagogue on saturdays and there are nary another soul walking the streets.
Day7 THursday, Went to Philadelphia. Had Philadelphia cheese steak ( very overrated) in Geno's and PAt's. Supposed to be world renown places. Went to the Philly Mint. Got two coins. ( pennies) Was very boring. THen later at night went back to new York, this time staying at my aunt's place.
Day8 Friday Spent time in China town. Went to empire state. Had the fucking craziest lunch in the world. WE went to Carnegie Deli. AS you can see, a simple sandwich runs in the 10's and close to the 20's. Yah. I was thinking that my parents were crazy to want to go there for lunch, but I figured heyi t's your money, if I get a meal, then o yea. So my mom orders two sandwiches that comes out to $30. Mind you, no chips, no soda, nothing except two pickles, some mustard and two sandwichs. Now, you must be wondering, what on earth the sandwiches looked like. Now imagine this lady as a slice of bread and this guy here sandwiched between a set of them and you get a Carnegie Deli Sandwich. Note the amount of pure plesaureable carnivorous ecstasy if one could partake of that ... that thing.
day9 Staurday. Took the SAT II chinese. had lunch with family. Had to leave NY. Arrive at 11pm in Alameda. Yay. Hoorah. Virigl has returned!!!!
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