Week Eleven

This was an especially fabulous week, especially the weekend. On Monday (the 13th) I went into the DC Central Kitchen again to help make meals that will be distributed to local shelters. In the afternoon I went to the local rec center and went swimming with the girls. It was great to get in the water again after a long winter. On Tuesday we went to a screening of the movie 17 Again. We got free tickets to see it before it came out in regular theaters but we had to get there about two hours early and wait. It was fun though,playing cards and making friends in line, and I really enjoyed the movie.
On Wednesday I went into the inner city school again and learned that these kids do not know math. Some of the kids (6th graders) had to think about questions as simple as what is 3 plus 2. A lot of them were counting on there fingers when trying to figure out multiplication problems like 3 times 5. I was really surprised and often wonder how these kids are going to make it in the real world. In the evening I went to mutual (church youth group) where we learned how to salsa dance. I had fun learning the basics and trying to dance.


Flower display at Macy's

Here's where the real excitement starts. On Thursday afternoon Eby and I took the bus to New York. My aunt Kris' parents (Vern and Toni Todd)are on a couples misson at the LDS temple in Manhattan and have an apartment right next to it. They very generously allowed Eby and I to stay with them for the weekend. From the apartment we walked to Times Square on Friday where we saw all the fun stores, including a Toys "R" Us with a ferris wheel inside, FAO shwarts with it giant piano, and the M&M store with its huge Elvis M&M. We also saw the world's largest Macy's, the Empire State building, Radio City music hall,the stores on 5th ave, and Central Park. In the evening we were able to attend a recital at Julliard by two student there, one playing the cello and the other the piano. It was quite amazing.



On Saturday we got up and took the Subway uptown. The New York subway is a lot dirtier and more confusing from the DC metro, but we managed allright. We saw Ground Zero, Trinity Church (from National Treasure, Wall St., and a view of the Statue of Liberty from Battery Park.


This street in Chinatown looked really cool with these red lanterns. We think there must have been a parade or wedding or something because there was also confetti all over the street. It looked really cool when the street sweeper came and stirred it all up, making the air sparkle with confetti.

We spent a lot of the day in Chinatown, wandering around the streets. It's pretty big, but I still like San Francisco's Chinatwon better. When we were about to leave, the guy walked next to us and mumbeled "Coach, Chanel, you want hand bag." Eby and I had already bought our knockoff Coach and Dulce and Gabbanna, but McKell wanted us to get her a purse while we were there. So we looked back at the asian guy and said sure. We followed him a couple of block (all with lots of people- no dark alleys) to this little shop he pointed out. We followed a woman to the back room which was lined with purses. After much persuasion and haggling we got McKell her Prada purse, probably stolen then went to leave. The lady who sold it to us told us if anyone asked where we got it- it wasn't there. We wandered the streets some more, passing through Soho on our way to the subway station. Eby had to work on Monday, so she went home Saturday afternoon. After we dropped her at the bus stop, the Todds (the couple we stayed with) and I walked across the Brooklyn bridge. After those two days of walking I was exhauseted, but it was definetly worth it.



On Sunday morning I went to church at the local ward. It was neat because I had to go through the temple doors then up the elevator to get to the chapel. In the afternoon I wandered around Central Park, watching the street performers and enjoying the nice weather. It is so neat how beautiful of a park it is set in the middle of such a busy city.
I spent Monday with the Todds, hitting up a few more places before I had to go. We went to a cute little grocercy store and Riverside park, both seen in the movie "You've got Mail." We also went to the place where John Lennon was shot and saw the gate he was walking out of when it happened. Afterwards we took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and past Ellis Island. That was neat to see up close. I spent most the rest of the day (about 5 hours) on the bus back to DC. I had a really fun time in New York, being able to experience the city and see a lot of cool places. I have been having so much fun that its weird to think that I'll be coming home in less than two weeks. Well, I better go make the most of my time.