The First 24 Hours

Here I am, in the Big Apple. I cannot even begin to describe the feeling of being back in a big city. It's like being home, but without the overprotective parents or free home-cooked meals. I felt like a New Yorker the moment I stepped off of the plane, and was completely at ease.

Let me talk a bit about the flight. This is the first time I have ever flown with Delta Airlines. I have five luggages (I'm a pack rat) and two of them are very much overweight. I also have 4 guinea pigs to carry with me as carry-ons. All of these special circumstances cost me about $700. There goes my entire paycheck. Booo.

It was a 5 hour and 30 minutes flight... which means, a lot of free time to be stuck in a very tiny space. I usually would read a magazine, watch the in-flight movies, or relax with my Nintendo DS. However, I was severely sleep deprived (thanks to my tendency to procrastinate on packing) and decided to just nap. That was unsuccessful, because Delta has an in-flight trivia challenge where everyone on the flight can play against each other. As a trivia enthusiast, I immediately logged on. (Why didn't they have this technology when I was on my 16 hour pan-Pacific flights from Hong Kong??)

Anyway, it was fun. I spent the whole flight competing with others. Let me tell you, it is mighty useful to know that Beethoven is famous for his 5th Symphony, that there are nine layers to Dante's Inferno, and that Kenny gets killed in every South Park episode. At one point I was number 1 on their All Time Top 10 list. Yay for my 15 minutes of fame among 150 strangers. I hope Ken Jennings is proud of me.

I took a cab to my vacation rental. It took about fifteen minutes to get to where I needed to go because of the rush hour traffic. With my mom's help, I hauled all 5 heavy luggages up to my 4th floor apartment. I hope I will lose some weight after doing the stairs here for a month... it definitely was a good work out.

I have attached some pictures here for you to look at. I am settled in for now. I am now looking for a more permanent place for October and beyond, while also going to job interviews. I sure hope things will fall into place soon. I still have my Sacramento phone number, so call me whenever you need to. I will get a P.O. Box in a bit and I will give you that address, in case you want to send me mail = ) *hint hint*

The bag to the left is from one of the larger pharmacy chain stores here in NYC called Duane Reade. They are like the Rite Aid of New York. They can be found every two to three blocks. I have also visited a CVS Pharmacy (which bought out Longs in California), and passed by a Rite Aid. Is there really a need for so many pharmacy/drug stores in such a cramped city?

But then again, do they really need a Bank of America ATM vestibule on every other block? There are more BoA ATMs in NYC than Starbucks. That's pretty scary. I also saw all the banks of my childhood on one street: CitiBank, HSBC, Bank of America. NYC really takes me right back to my baby-days. I am suddenly home sick for Hong Kong.

Now I would really like to point out one particularly cool thing that I have discovered about NYC. Look at the picture below. These are hard plastic take-out containers. The great thing about these is that they are sturdy (like tupperware), washable, and microwave safe. This means that after I have finished with my food, I can just wash these containers and re-use them as tupperware. Davis restaurants should really consider switching to this environment-friendly alternative. I am definitely keeping mine. (Free Tupperware!) I am also impressed at how well these containers retain heat. Our Chinese take-out was steaming hot even after sitting in an air-conditioned room for an hour. Yay for awesome containers. (I have a thing for containers... like bags. That's why I have so many bags.)

Check back often for updates! I am going to hit Chinatown and Midtown this weekend. I am definitely very interested in checking out the local cafes and restaurants. So many choices! I wish I have money to eat out every day. I can't believe I found a Burmese restaurant! (Hungry for some mo-hing-ah [Burmese fish noodle soup]) and and and Thai, and Malaysian, and Japanese, Korean, Indian, Mediterranean, Polish, Italian, Mexican, and a ton more. I love love love this city!

Now I just need a permanent housing and a job... then life will be good = )

Miss you all!