On Wednesday, I was updated from the Shanghai Expo, USA Pavilion of my travel plans and visa/passport requirements. Apparently, we also have uniforms. I really hope our uniforms look like Team USA's uniform at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Slick. Cross my fingers!
Friday, for work, I visited the Marriott Marquis with my managers again to discuss the ARF's future with Marriott for conventions, meetings, etc. We had lunch with the global sales rep at the upstairs restaurant. Almost exploded with the amount of food I ate, hey, it was a free lunch. One of the managers and I decided to walk from Times Square back to our workplace so we could walk past Bryant Park, the location of Fashion Week!
My manager and I are going to attempt to go to Vera Wang's show tomorrow morning. I love working in this industry! Well, I'll have to let you know if I get to make it in...
After work on Friday, I walked with Anneken down to Union Square where I went shopping before I met up with her and her roommates for Vietnamese dinner! Didn't end up buying anything since the trends these days have been...well not my style. Around 7 I headed on the L train to Williamsburg and met up with "Heineken" and her roommates and other friends. After enjoying a yummy meal at Bep, meaning kitchen in Vietnamese, on Bedford Ave. we headed back to the apartment where one of Anneken's roommates, Jack, received a text message about a warehouse party. I have to find out how to get on these text message mailing lists! Where are the raves??
The warehouse party was in the middle of nowhere, side of the freeway with a guy hanging around outside shuffling us into the building. There were four separate rooms in the warehouse with live music in two rooms, and djs in the other two. The decor was like Valentine's day on crack.
We danced for so long I couldn't even stand anymore. At 3:30am we finally decided to leave, but of course on our way home we had to get pizza. Then, we played Wii until about 5 am. Get some more exercise before bed!
I snuck out 11am on Saturday morning since everyone was still asleep. I went home, showered really quickly, so I could meet up with Kelley to go watch the Vandy game at Kings Head Tavern. We stayed til the end of the game, in which they won. While I don't really care for basketball, or college sports for that matter, a benefit for the trip was that I found Vanessa's dumplings, a suggestion from my roommate. 5 pot stickers for $1.29. Too good to be true? Nay! Decent bubble tea for $2.50! Soup = $1.00+.
What was funny was that a girl next to our table asked if the bubble tea was good, I answered that it was decent for its price and I said "I hope that I would know since I've drank probably over 1,000 bubble teas in the past decade." She said, "I'm from SF, I hope I would too". We talked about the bay area and I asked if she went to school in NY. She answered..."I actually go to Smith College.". I was amazed and told her I just graduated from Smith in January! What a small world to be at a small restaurant in NYC, and to get on the topic about bubble tea, only to find out we attended the same college. Crazy.
Saturday night, Kelley and I were planning on going on a pre-valentine's cruise, since this valentine's day was my first "Single's awareness day", and I am actually quite happy about that. In Lady Gaga's words, "I'm a free bitch baby"! We were waiting in line when I saw the french friends that I met during the Superbowl Sunday party. They were leaving and said that the boat smelled and it was all old couples. So, we all decided to leave, and we ran into Annabelle and her boyfriend on the way out. We headed to the meatpacking district, which was my first time in the area and I absolutely loved it! They took us to Provacateur, a lounge on the rooftop of Hotel Gansevoort. It was beautiful, but no one was dancing, so of course the Europeans, Kelley and I showed them what it was all about. I LOVED the DJ, he played EVERYTHING I love. Also, I ran into ANOTHER Smithie! Two Smithies in one day, what a small world!
We only stayed til about 2, since Aliss, one of the girl's, who is also a model, was STARVING, since she hadn't eaten all day... We went to POP burger, which has the cutest little burgers, and even though they weren't the best burgers I've had, they sat well in my tummy at that hour in the morning. POP burger was also part club (?) in the back so they were playing house music, which also sat well with me :)
Yesterday, CHINESE NEW YEAR and Valentine's day was really eventful. I met up with Annabelle and her bf on Canal street, where confetti adorned the strees, poppers and firecrackers filled my ears, and hoards of people hindered my movement. While yesterday was the official new year, most of the parades and celebrations are next week. But, I was able to show Annabelle and Yaniv what Chinatown was all about. I took them to Taipan bakery, which has one of the best eggtarts in the city, and TianRen tea, one of the best bubble teas in the area. Both were on Mott Street/Canal where most of the dragon dances were. There were many pairs of dragons dancing from store to store, symbolizing "protection" and prosperity for the new year.
After a couple hours, I met up with Kelley and showed her around the same parts, but were later invited to Regina's apartment for Chinese New Year dinner! I had bought some 年糕 or stick rice cake previously. I brought them over to share with everyone else. There were around 10 of us scrammed into her apartment, but it was good to spend CNY with others and spread the culture and history of Chinese New Year. We had crab, lobster, 炒米粉，汤圆，年糕，炒白菜，等等。
After dinner, Kelley and I wanted to go see Valentine's Day the movie, but everything was sold out until 11:30 so we hung around Union Square until 11. The movie was a lot better than we had expected, but we came to the conclusion that we are "easily entertained" and that people have way too high expectations for something that is a pastime. What a great ending to my first single vday! :)
Today was a pretty relaxed day. Another movie, The Lightning Thief. I had low expectations from the ratings, also knowing that the movie was fairly different from the book. But, I was pleasantly surprised. The cast included some famous actors such as Pierce Brosnan and Uma Therman. Of course it diverged from the book's storyline, but I have suggested that my brother watch it since he has finished the entire books series.
After the movie, I walked down to Union Square to grocery shop at an always over crowded Trader Joe's. No matter how crowded it is and how unpleasant the shopping experience, I always go back for their amazing products for even more amazing prices.
Now I am back, very satisfied with my long weekend, praying to go to Vera Wang's show tomorrow, and watching Canada kick Switzerland's ass 10-1.
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