Exquisite life

離要離開Boston剩下不到幾個禮拜了，瞬間發現還有好多想吃、想玩的地方，
離開前其實是很忙的、要忙打包、賣家具、運車、還有跟所有朋友say goodbye，把所有沒吃過沒玩過的地方都再走一遭，因此當Linda告訴我6.22在Spectacle Island上有一個小jazz concert時，我考慮一下，就決定把最後一次有機會闖蕩紐約的週末給空了下來，嗯～紐約未來多的是時間去，但這個小島的爵士音樂會應該不是常常有的吧...
到了21日晚上跟Linda double confirm時間的時候，Linda居然說報告可能寫不完、恐怕無法成行，哇！這可不行咧～還我紐約行來～最後阿～好人Linda最後還是被我說服，乖乖利用週六晚上和週日早上寫功課，我們約12pm在碼頭那裡會合....

Celtics Game at Bar
Celtics Parade
Commencement
Not easy to get along with families
Packing
UPS lost package
Online ordering (Vornado, Coffee machine)
Furniture selling
BC graduation certificate
Spetacle island
Boston Public Lib.
Canada Trip (lost passports)
Bahamas
LA trip
all the restaurants articles

Pajama Night
    We had a pajama party in the last night.
   
    The weather was beautiful until 9pm, after we had fried fish on the beach. It stared pouring after several thunders and lightnings. Thunders really scared me. Seriously, I didn't want to be hit by the lightening. However, Melissa, Elsa and Pinar didn't care that much cuz they had no clues about what will happen in the next minute-- you bet, the heavy showers. People who live in upper North U.S., or let's say, Boston, seldom have thunders and lightnings. There's no 熱雷雨(or thunder shower). However,people from the tropical or sub-tropical areas are so familiar with this phenomenon.  We brought the umbrellas with us and still walked to marketplace. We would like to have some drinks such as Bahama Mama or other cocktails. Pinar wanna try coconut drinks. After fooling around for a while, it did start rain like crazy. So we decided to have a pajama party indoors.
    The electricity was shut down for a while. After it came back again, we gathered in our room and talked at random about anything under the sun. We "reviewed" gossips of classmates and exchanged opinions. It really amazed me cuz I never realized some Americans do have some "affairs" behind the scenes.
    I suggested to review the vocabularies and some Greece, Turkish we learned in the trip. Pinar then suggested to exchange "dirty words" among different languages. We did have more fun in learning bad words. Especially, it was really really fun when we realized the hand gesture of American's "I get your nose" equals to Turkish  "fuck u" . It will be the last gesture I would never forget in my life.
Dessert fans
    Girls can always eat desserts no matter what they have for regular meals. it happened to our last night in Bahamas as well.
    After having fatty fried fish and conch,we want to try the traditional Bahams desserts. All of us claimed that we should have to share since we were already too full, thus I got one "mouth watering guava duff" and one "coconut tart". Both desserts were amazing so that we finished both in a few minutes. They were both sugary, however, we all loved them! After a period of silence, I ordered another two for us. It was scary that we still finished them quickly. Girls' power...errrr.......unbelievable!
(To be continued )
Melissa's regular life
Pinar's sun burned

Due to some reasons, I didn't go to Bahamas with my roommate during the spring break. Instead, I went there with 3 classmates + one first year MBA(Joanna).  It was a memorable experience to go traveling with friends with different backgrounds.
(Five of us speak 4 different mother tongues.)
It's Elsa who initiated the plan and Pinar picked up the package. We chosen the Grand Bahamas Island, Freeport, instead of Nassue, the capital of Bahamas. I just followed up and asked Melissa and Joanna to join this small group.
The weather was not as good as we had expected. But Pinar accidentally got tanned.She claimed she never get tanned after 8 years old back in Turkey. However, she could not tell the intensity of sun here due to strong winds here. More correctly, she was burned, not just tanned.
There are lots of interesting things to tell...
1. Pinar's anxiety
Still remembered when the first night Pinar and Elsa arrived, Pinar was so anxious about looking for a GOOD restaurant. They both well-dressed compared to our easy negligence. I guessed Pinar would be the only one who checked the map hardly and tried to make a reservation on gourmet.  Of course, she finally realized that we don't have to be in a rush in this tiny tropical island. She ended up with laughs and mild temper.
2. Zorbas
We stopped by this restaurants at least 5 times in 4 full days. Zorbas offered great Greek food with lots of options. You can get whatever you want without eating the same thing in a week. The environment is nice and most important, all the waitresses love me!! haha....
3. Picking up new words
Only Elsa and Melissa are native Americans, so whenever "international students" got questions, we dared to ask any stupid questions. The first question both Pinar and I asked was "What is grouper?".
"An ugly fish" answered by Melissa.
WHat? Okay.If you know Melissa, then you will understand she is telling you something that's sooo correct. In the following days, I learned lots of strange words such as periwinkle, vulture, conch, mousaka, dolmath and pasticho. The most difficult pronunciation is "hula a loop lozza". It sounds like a joke.....The most interesting words we will never forget are "cleavage, droppy, saggy and perky".
4.Jumping Pictures
I strongly recommended them to jump on the beach. Okay, taking jumping pictures are very common in Asia but not here. We were the only ones who did jump and take photos in Bahamas. All of my friends finally agreed to jump with me and we did have lots of fun. After posting them on to the FB, ppl in BC started to talk to me " Wawa, I saw your jumping pictures. They are good ones. I love it! " Even Melissa was recognized by one of my friends because she took funny pictures with me. :P  HAha.. what an amazing impact!
(To be continued)
Pajama Night (dirty words)
Gossip
Dessert fans
Melissa's regular life
Pinar's sun burned
.....

Although I didn't sleep a lot yesterday, I woke up at 9am this morning.
It's a huge improvement since I always wake up at 10ish after coming back from LA. I think I got a sleeping problem recently--could not fall asleep even when I am really tired. Even though I take sleeping pill almost every night and have coffee or vitamin B in the morning, it didn't help. Friends also say "Wawa, you look so tired". So, what's wrong with me? I really don't have no clues.
Perhaps  the desire to have Carrot cake is so strong or perhaps I want to prove that I can wake up by myself without Pinar's morning call, I opened my eyes at 7:58am in the beginning. OMG! It's amazing! Although only after a second, I decided to go to bed again. Still, it's memorable to me.
I didn't arrive too late to Pinar's. Actually I just parked right after Malissa's car. Ha.. Elsa wasn't show up yet! We are early!
Melissa had a sleeping problem too. She is the one who usually has very stfick life discipline--  always goes to bed before 12am and wake up at 6am no matter when does she go to bed last night. Joanna and I tried hard to change her sleeping cycle when we were in Bahamas, but it only gave Melissa more pain. Then I do realize that some people can't revise their life cycle easily like me. So, when I met her on MSN at 1:30am last night, it's really a surprise to me, Tell you what, I even went to bed earlier then she did!  Unfortunately, she still woke up early and went to a run. OMG, poor poor Melissa!
Anyway, Elsa did bring a really nice carrot cake, and it's big too. The cake really saved me from hungry. Pinar nicely cooked Turkish coffee for me although I destroyed the "Turkish coffee form" accidentally...  hhaa... Don't blame on me, I just didn't know why it took such a long time to make a good coffee and why the coffee grounds came up to the surface.
Corey came a bit later. He was not on our original guest list. However, he was soooo lucky to get in cuz he wanted to check Pinar's furnitures! Joanna came in even  later cuz she needed to go to field trip of CIRM class.
We did have fun there but time is not always enough. So I ordered a Curry Pork Katsu Bento(咖哩炸豬排飯) from Fin's and ate at Pinar's. The Bento is so good and I ended up with going to school late again. (Melissa left earlier cuz she had a lunch box in school.)
The boring class is not that boring today and it ended up at 4:15pm. Why it happened? Remember, this weekend class is full of part-time MBAs. They typically need to take a half day off to join the class and some of them don't have patience. Surprisingly, there's a woman who interrupted the class around 3:45 and said: "Professor, just want you let you know that there's a red sox v.s. Yankee's game tonight. You know, many of us are commuters and you know the traffic will be so bad at that time. So, could you finish the class a little bit earlier? I know the game starts at 7, but I really don't want to be caught by traffic."
WOW....Then you know how Bostonians see RED SOX game!!
Professor also surprised me! ":Let's warp up the class a quarter after 4. How about that ?"
Damn!! Firstly,  if you are going to call it a day that early, then i probably can go to see the baseball game in Fenway.
Secondly, if you are going to finish the class that early then you should let us know earlier too. Thus I will have more time to plan my night and get friends ready on-time.
Finally, what a shitty solution? ! Listen, we paid $3300 USD for a class here. How come we finish the class without really learning something valuable??
===To be continued,, I didn't have time to check what I wrote now. Good nite! ====

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在小小波士頓待久了，想念的總是大城市多樣化的美食，特別是美味的甜點...
紐約的多元文化，即可滿足舌尖的慾望....
Rice to riches
有種類繁多的米布丁，全世界僅紐約一家分店，I would like to have it in the near future.
Ceci Cela Patisserie

我愛紐約，除了路上往來有型有氣質漂亮的男女、櫥窗裡美好的風景、多元的文化以外，還有餐盤裡美好的事物。
友人L對吃得品味不是我在說的好，推薦我和已經畢業的學姐和朋友到曼哈頓極西的Greenwich（格林威治村）的法國小餐廳AOC享受豐盛的brunch...
首先，cafe au lait 用貨真價實的碗公裝的，French toast不是蓋得，洋蔥湯可能太晚喝了就soso，PASTA和另一到菜也都在水準之上，重點是店經理（或老闆）是個長得還不錯的法國帥哥，三不五時來 跟我們哈啦兩句（我們家的Vivian會法文）

最近碰到很多低潮的事情，整個心情大受影響，
因此週三上完一個鳥課、開完社團的會議，趕緊印了灰狗巴士的車票開車回家，
利用短短20分鐘的時間收拾了一個登機箱的行李，千鈞一髮之際跳上了很難等的公車轉搭地鐵去車站搭車啦...
抵達紐約不願具名善心人士L小姐家已經是半夜一點多，要上班的他還得打開大門迎接我、給我一杯營養美味的味增湯，從胃暖到心裡，也覺得溫度提升許多。
隔天約正午才出門，迎接我的是紐約的陽光，藍藍的天空擠在小小的空間裡，卻覺得異常的舒服ऀ（唷～親愛的各位，雖然有藍天白雲，但當時的氣溫可是零下八度C窩）
將BAHAMAS的簽證所需文件送件，自己找了家小酒館享受了一份賣相極類似台式炒麵但味道還不錯的義大利麵，也很順利地跟六年沒見的朋友聯絡上（國中小學時合唱團的同學、也是台大校友）友人J非常熱情的邀請我去哥大晃晃，不但詳細解說這個超級名校的建築景觀、在時間非常不充裕的情況下，盛情邀約我去一家哥大附近的一家匈牙利咖啡館感受一下騷人墨客集聚的的氛圍....
聊到開心處，我也一時興起和朋友去聆聽一場當代藝術的講座，會後不但享受到精緻的佳餚、認識了新朋友，還居然跟藝術家們有了互動！在紐約的生活果然不同凡響！
會後朋友提醒今天是元宵節，她的新朋友邀請他去湯圓party，此時已經八點多，party也都要散場了，我們幾乎是用小跑步的轉搭了兩回地鐵，從第五大到跑到極東南Little East附近的朋友家。
到J朋友家之前有個兩個小插曲，讓我很感動，
一是有個黑人在地鐵上拿著刊物（報紙）說要替某慈善事業募款，一份45cents，
在大都市裡這樣的情形很多，有時候人們會募款、有時候是行乞或是各種奇怪的說法，尋求乘客掏錢的各種手段，我和身邊的朋友碰到這種情況，幾乎是能避則避，
But to my surprise，這位從波士頓搬到紐約也近兩年的小紐約客居然立即掏出零錢要贊助此活動，
她說：既然是有販賣刊物，我傾向覺得是真的募款，這樣的零錢不是很多但也許可幫助到別人...
其二是當我們搭乘第二段地鐵的空檔被一個本來在拉小提琴的黑人街頭藝人拉住，
這小黑長得非常和善，一直拉朋友去拿他的小提琴，而我身旁這位哥大的准博士生居然也接過了這一把琴...
黑人很殷勤地教導朋友怎麼樣擺正確的姿勢弄旋，製造出聲響，其中的樂趣自不在話下，
後來我也被拉去拉一下小提琴（儘管我當年只學了拉兒歌而已）
許多路人也覺得有趣地幫我們照了些相片...
最後我們是丟了小費給他，這位演奏家表現得非常不好意思，說他主動邀請我們來玩他的琴目的並不是要賺取我們的tips的....
anyway，讓我很impressed的是這位已經在國外待了五六年的朋友，在這樣現實的環境下，卻還很有讓我說不出來的親切感與人情味，在我內心已經受到打擊的此時，她有如陽光般溫暖的態度，包括很臨時和我見面、且熱情地帶我東奔西走各場合（我本來只打算跟她喝杯咖啡聊聊天）、與素昧平生的人的互動，還有在這樣浪費的城市裡卻仍然很有環保的概念（隨身帶環保袋）真的是很不容易的事情。
出國一年多，看到的留學生也多了，老實說剛開始來一年後的人，大多是會越變越現實、越來越冷漠，漸漸地為自己想到越來越多、替別人想得則越來越少，和陌生人（例如店員）的交談變少、視線接觸變短（免得貼人家冷屁股），同情心也日漸荒蕪....
在這裡必須和不同種族（特別是白人）競爭，沒有人因為你的母語不是英文而會對你有比較優惠的待遇，大家都站在同一個水平線上跑，而我常常看到（感覺到）真心對待人、不計較不求回報的人並不會就得到別人的尊敬與感情。出了國，大家說好聽是什麼事情都算得清清楚楚，說難聽點，就是華人的傳統忘了、但美國人的好處也不見得學了多少。
在不同的國家與城市裡，最精明的人是自私的、不吃虧的，功利主義必須發揮到極致才會不受到傷害，
但在我這位唸過美國兩所top10 schools的朋友身上，我怎麼會看到一絲絲的濃濃的家鄉味呢？難到在這樣無情的環境之下，保有赤子之心並未不可能？
我們抵達時，湯圓party早已結束，只剩下主人與冷的水餃和湯圓，
可不知為什麼，主修表演的主人（身份是演員）對於我這位陌生的客人和僅見過一次的J卻也敞開心胸與我們開懷的天南地北亂聊，直至夜幕低垂....
這個晚上，我瞭解了儘管你以為你是人群中最孤獨的那一個，但驀然回首處，卻總有比你更驚豔的風景等著你去發掘，然當你自信滿滿以為披荊斬棘地向前走就可以看到更美麗的花圃時，卻總是遺忘了那些美好的事物也是總是跟隨著你但你卻總是忙到沒時間或忘了低頭看看這些寶藏了。

昨晚開始變天，狂風呼呼的吹，陣勢就像是大颱風天一樣，
落葉滿天飛舞，飛沙走石的....
上學途中看到數千數萬片的落葉在空中狂舞，
不知道是該讚嘆大自然的奇妙還是驚懼是不是有什麼恐怖的東西也跟著落葉一起飛上天?!
幸好躲在車子裡，不用擔心出門一趟就變成瘋婆子啦！！