Today we arrived bright and early at Trinity Soup Kitchen, only to learn that they had an excess amount of volunteers due to MLK Day. The woman in charge “gave us a day off!”
We just ate lunch at Lenny’s, and we’re enjoying the sunshine in Washington Square Park. We’ll head to Central Park for an MLK Day walking tour this afternoon.
Now before you get too enthralled with this entry..I must warn you that I have very little knowledge of the geography of New York City, and I will do my best with my last 1 and half days of city experience. =]
(1-16) We settled into a surprisingly comfortable and well situated hostel upon arrival in the city yesterday afternoon. We were lucky to catch some good weather for our first half day, and our navigation expert, Jess, got us here easily. All being hungry from our travels, we made it one of our first efforts to find a filling and cheap meal in the city. With the wonderful resource of Amber’s iphone, we found a fabulous little local chain called “The Hummus Place.” Although a few of us could not pronounce the names of our meals, we were all pleasantly surprised at how delicious and satisfying it was!
We topped off the night was a tour around the electrifying Times Square. People, lights, and sights galore, it was hard to feel tired or bored. We tried our hand at schmoozing ticket prices, got to fill our noses with the aroma of chocolate at the M&Ms and Hershey’s stores, and even got a few pictures with David Blaine.
Needless to say, after all of this we were exhausted and enjoyed curling up into bed with books and music for the night.
(1-17) This morning, our “cultural” day off, we tried to get off to a quick start and beat the oncoming rain. After a few of the group took a nice run through Central Park, we enjoyed a quick breakfast and boarded the subway going downtown; destination Bryant Park.
We got off the train and stared from afar at the city public library, subconsciously steering clear :). We watched the ice skaters shimmy around the crowded rink in the park and stared at the overwhelmingly tall buildings surrounding us. We were disappointed to find that the infamous Wich’craft cafe in the park that we had heard so much about, only had peanut butter hot chocolate left..but then scurried towards Rockefeller Center. We were drawn in by the copious number of flags surrounding yet another ice rink, and spent some more time people watching.
We had heard stories of the huge Anthropology store, and had to give it a try while we were there. For those of us who were not frequent visitors, the art and energy of the place was a cool break from the cold. By the time we left, the skies had opened up so we dodged in and out a few stores before we decided it was time to move on to the next adventure.
The Met sounded all too inviting while we were navigating the wet and cold streets of downtown, so we once again, boarded the subway and made our way up Central Park. With a lucky addition of a seasoned New York City veteran, we got there and were able to enjoy the exhibited before closing. We broke up to hit all of the rooms, some of us to Van Gogh, others to Modern Art, and even others to Oceanic and African Art. Our time there pasted all too quickly, and we came back to the hostel to plan out dinner and the rest of the night. We had a delicious home-cooked pasta and garlic bread meal and retired for games and relaxation.
Tomorrow we head to our first sight of service bright and early! Pray for some sunshine!
Peace Be..
-ASB New York
The ASB teams traveling to Chicago, New York, the Dominican Republic, and Ecuador have arrived safely at their destinations!
We’ve had a busy day so far in the big apple. Some of us started off with a jog around central park. Then we enjoyed a team breakfast at the hostel. Now we’re trying to stay dry by window shopping on 5th Avenue before we head to the Met for the afternoon.
