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xenomundus
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Name: Jay
Country: China
Metro: Nanning
Interests: Graphic design, art, comics, anime and animation, web design and Flash progamming, puzzle and adventure games, reading, bicycling, linguistics and learning Chinese.
Member Since:
10/14/2004
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| Not much happening these days. I've been visiting friends in southern Iowa, and just chillaxing on the farm. Next week I'm going to Missouri for a week at camp in the Ozark mountains, then to visit Justin, and friends in Kansas and Oklahoma.
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| Also in today's news, Justin should be having his knee surgery today, and will be recuperating in Kansas for the next few weeks.
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| The last seven days I've been in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, my first time to the East Coast (not counting Florida a long time ago). I flew out there to meet Maria, a friend I had been emailing ever since I found out earlier this year that she's taught English and studied Mandarin in Southern China for five years now. She's currently taking care of her grandfather in Pennsylvania, but plans to return to China as soon as she can.
She and her parents showed me a great time while I was there. We hiked the Ricketts Glen Park waterfalls (see above), and drove around the green mountains dotted with old farmhouses, barns, and covered bridges (below). It feels quite a bit like Iowa, but nothing's flat or oriented toward compass directions.
While visiting an aunt, I went down the street to photograph "The Mayor," a large tom turkey that acts like he owns the town. He came right up to me, dragging his wings and displaying every feather, then followed me back to the car, peeping peevishly the whole way.
Over the weekend, Maria and I drove though Philladelphia to Atlantic City and hit the beach, which wasn't that picturesque, and had a funnel cake like you're supposed to (my first). Then the next day her parents took us up to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, which are actually in New Jersey waters. We found out that you can't go near the Statue without buying tickets two days in advance, but when we asked a tinsmith doing a demonstration of the construction process, he slipped us all passes, with the provision that we watch his show.
So, we got to see the museum with the original implements and photographs and publications from the time, then go up to the base and look though a glass ceiling into the Statue itself. The scaffolding is pretty cramped and you can see why they don't let people up there anymore. To guard against terrorism, the ferries that took us to the islands had airport-type security, and the Statue itself had that plus a bomb material particle sniffer.
Here are the views of Lady Liberty you never see on postcards:
New York was very cool, there really isn't that kind of architecture anywhere else I've been except Chicago. We took a taxi and saw Times Square, had New York-style pizza, then walked to Grand Central Station and saw the Chrysler Building (below), one of my favorite structures in the world (I'm into Art Deco). We found people in NYC were actually pretty helpful – at least policemen, doormen, drivers, and other tourists.
Maria and I had a good time reminiscing about the good old days in China, and anticipating all the pickled chicken feet we're going to eat when we each get back (well, okay, maybe not, but definitely some fried rice and sizzling beef). A Chinese couple she knows in Pennsylvania took us out to Pizza Hut, and we got to use our Mandarin again. Maria does just fine in Chinese, and reads much better than I do – it's her English that needs help. She'll forget, and tawlk about cawffee sometimes...
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| The other day my parents and we boys went to a nearby town for their 222 breakfast special – two eggs, two slices of toast, and two strips of bacon for $2.22. Afterwards, we walked down the street and saw the animated marquee in front of the bank which flashed the time, temperature, and the message, "PEOPLE SERVICES WILL BE FLUSHING HYDRANTS THIS WEEK!" Who says nothing happens in Iowa?
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| Justin found out that it is a complete tear. While he can still walk and run with it like this, they said if he wants to play sports again, he should have it repaired. He is able to get a reduced rate at a sports clinic, so he plans to do that, but hasn't decided to do it now, or wait till winter when there is less for him to do.
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