Haha it's been a while since my last entry. Not that I've been super busy (well, a little maybe), just pure laziness and devoid of motivation, I guess. When you are away in a foreign land, there are so many interesting things that you can blog about. Just too many such that it gets too overwhelming when you give yourself a little break; you don't know where to start again. So before the "hiatus" prolongs, I shall do a blog summary of what's been happening in my life since October. Haha, so my mum will also know that I'm "alive and well"! (:
So I went down to Brooklyn twice. The first time I went with two really wonderful Korean female friends of mine. We went to Brooklyn Tabernacle--this church which is really well-known in NYC for their choir and music--for a Tuesday night prayer meeting. They have such a beautiful place--similar to Times Square Church, they acquired an old theatre and spruced it up. To be honest, that was the first ever authentic prayer meeting I've ever been to. There was a time of worship with only four back-up singers and a reduced band. Nonetheless, the voices and music sounded so wholesome and the harmonies were rich. We were each given a prayer slip later on, containing a prayer request from someone whom we didn't know. I presume all the prayer requests that were made to the church that week were printed out and disseminated to attendees to accord individual attention to during the meeting. I found it great that members were able to be involved in prayer for other members. Such a great way to promote unity and awareness of existing needs in church! This way, the burden gets shared among members and does not simply fall upon the shoulders of church leaders.
The second time I went down to Brooklyn was last Sunday. This time we both went down with our Singaporean friend to check out the "Atlantic Antic", an annual fair where they block up a huge stretch of Atlantic Avenue and have stalls lined up on two sides of the street--something like our Pasar Malam but a whole lot fancier. It was so long! There were so many stalls selling all kinds of stuff; odds and ends like old furniture, jewelry, t-shirts (haha the Obama ones are everywhere!), etc. were on sale. Macy's had a corner selling shoes and offering foot massage. There was also this bus museum, where kids were allowed to hop on old vintage buses to play and snap pictures. Beautiful balloons with Elmo and Spongebob were everywhere. And as usual, New Yorkers brought their little (and some not so little) pooches out as they walked down Atlantic Avenue. The weather was cloudy, but cool and not too cold. And the food, wow, there were dozen of stalls along the street, but they kind of repeat--like our Pasar Malam but food looks more high-class heh. They had some restaurants setting up makeshift kitchens and serving fancy stuff outdoors. We ate oysters and had this roast pork sandwich (nothing near our sio bah, but good nonetheless!). I had a corndog which cost me USD5!!! Haha, more high class and upmarket then ours alright...
Our real purpose in Brooklyn however, was not to visit the fair. Rather, that Sunday, Paul Baloche (this kinda famous worship-leader, songwriter) was ministering at Brooklyn Tabernacle with their awesome choir. So he was there, and so we decided that it'll be a fantastic time to pop into their service to see what it's like, especially since so many people have recommended that place to me. It was good, but I guess the food in my stomach was digesting and I felt a little sleepy, hence I couldn't fully immerse myself in the entire experience. Haha, but Paul was great. The authenticity in his worship-leading and the songs that he sang (actually one song in particular) were inspiring. What do I mean by that? Well, someone was very inspired by it, and determined to buy a guitar subsequently (before that, the will to buy one was there, but after Paul's guitar-playing it was probably enhanced by a great deal). We've been on a guitar-hunt for few weeks now--went to the guitar centre in Manhattan twice, and the one in Brooklyn once. Probably go down to the one in Manhattan tonight and buy one once and for all.
Last stop on the excursion to Brooklyn was a trip to Target--haha, how could we not go to Target yah? We don't have one near campus so it's always great to see one when we are out and about. They sell all sorts of stuff and very cheap too. We finally bought a rice cooker and will probably be cooking rice soon. This Saturday we'll be heading down to Chinatown for dinner with a couple of Chinese friends. And most likely we'll get some groceries too---Chinese vegetables!!!! They only sell western "stir-fry" in the grocery stores near campus. Anyway, we gave up a meal at Grimaldi's--this famous pizza place near the Brooklyn Bridge which is a famous tourist sight--and ice-cream at the Ice-Cream Factory beside it, to visit Target. So we'll probably go back to Brooklyn again.
Woah, I haven't even got to other events beyond our Brooklyn adventures. Well, what else is happening? Hmm...we found a gem in East Village! After heading down to the guitar centre last Saturday, we walked toward East Village hoping to get some good and genuine Jap food. East Village is like a bohemian place, similar to our Holland V in Singapore. It's lovely! And there are several Jap eateries there that seem very authentic. After browsing through menus and deciding between various options, we went to one that was filling up with people rather quickly. The deco of the eatery had such a huge Jap flavor, and the people working in it were all Jap, so we figured that it'll be good. They had these vintage Jap posters on the wall (there was one with a nude woman!!! haha Japanese are known to be kinky), and some 60s Jap music playing in the background (I would describe it as in the genre of the Doremon theme song). The food was super cheap!!! And the portions were just nice. I had a Tanin Don (beef and egg with rice). It was very yummy cos' the sauce from the beef had penetrated the egg causing it to be so tasty and flavorful. Haha it was an unforgettable gastronomic experience! I couldn't help but rave about it throughout our subway trip back to campus. We'll definitely be going back to East Village to get our dose of Jap food.
Had meals with a couple of friends this week too. We went to this Vietnamese place with my course-mate from Taiwan and her brother, and had a wonderful time just laughing and chatting. The four of us were all psych majors!!! And are all studying psychology now. So there was so much to talk about... psychology, being non-American (a lot about this actually!), etc. Haha, and I was really impressed with my Mandarin! I spoke much more fluently than I expected myself to. That was Wednesday evening. On Tuesday night, we met another friend for dessert at this Hungarian pastry shop on Amsterdam Avenue. The pastries were nice but really je lah after a while. But overall, the pastries were delectable and the place was crowded for a weekday night. In fact, I bumped into my Korean friend who was studying there. She's such a lovely girl and a devoted Christian. I had a nice and long chat with her on the subway when we were going back to Manhattan from Brooklyn. It's really fantastic to meet people who have so much in common with you.
Okay, I shall stop here for now. I need to continue on my paper. Hopefully, I'll get back to blogging soon. Maybe next time, I'll be blogging about the guitar. Haha.
Two beautiful songs of praise...
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