“We’ll meet again, Don’t know where,don’t know when, But I know we’ll meet again, some sunny day.” - Vera Lynn

IT'S FINALLY FRIDAY!

Also ha, Boris
Johnson showed up

Unfortunately - my boss didn't come in so my Friday wasn't the greatest in terms of doing anything substantive or really, anything at all.

So I just sat around and just did some reading about SEA...I was trying to learn more for myself.

At lunch, I headed out to coffee and talked to another girl from Canada and just sat around and talked to her. It was a good break - and a good way to learn from someone else and their experiences.

Afterwards, I met up with another friend and we headed over to a small area where there was a bunch of seating by his work and we sat and talked for a while.

That's the president of the General
Assembly!

I got to see a lot of people today at lunch. But also I realized that the sun not only kind of sucks the energy out of me but it actually gave me a huge headache afterwards - maybe I was just dehydrated?

The weather's too hot outside man.

I sat around work til about 5:30 reading more about SEA and reading some academic papers, but most people in the office had left since our big head honcho boss told us that we could all leave for 3pm because there just wasn't work to do. It was nice.

So I headed downstairs to the main area, outside on the patio beside the UN building where we were going to a farewell party for a UN Security Guard who had been working at the UN since he was 18. EIGHTEEN.

That's insane. He was dedicated to his job.

I could tell that everyone loved him.

We had a bunch of food, drinks and great music to both dance to and enjoy! I danced and had fun with

Farewell, farewell

some friends and made some new security officer friends (this is how you do it right?). One of them even ended up giving me a really awesome security pin!

Afterwards, we headed out to my friend's place in Brooklyn where she was having her farewell party on the rooftop, and then afterwards, we headed out to a bar where I didn't end up getting home until 4am.

All in all, a bumping evening to make up for a boring morning/afternoon.

“Je suis comme ça. Ou j'oublie tout de suite ou je n'oublie jamais." Samuel Beckett

Yesterday was a bad night and this morning was a bad morning. The heat was too much for me and I couldn't fall asleep. In the morning it was so bad I woke up sweating. At 6am.

I lied in bed, read some news and did nothing for a bit. Then I was so bored I got up and started getting ready for work (in this original post I actually wrote school - this is how tired my mind is).

I mean - aside from the burns on my fingers.

I actually burned some of my fingers pretty bad on a pot at home so when I got to work, I asked around for a first aid kit.

Turns out none of the floors have one. If I want a simple band-aid, I'd have to go down to the fifth floor medical floor. I just wanted some burn cream so they sent me down to the Medical unit.

It was my first time there. In fact, I think it was one of the first times an intern or anyone I have actually ever known working at the UN had to go to the medical unit. It was interesting. It was super early, around 8:40 so when I went in, the guy told me I could either wait 20 minutes for the nurse to come back or I stay until 9, so I left.

Cheese and fruit and champagne :D 

At around 9, I went back downstairs and had to wait to see a doctor (yes they sent me to a doctor even though I literally just asked for burn cream like polysporin) who pulled out a chart and started asking me what was wrong.

I explained to her what was wrong. She just looked at me, put away all her charts and just gave me the burn cream. I think she was a bit disappointed (I wonder how many people actually know about the medical clinic, let alone go there?)

She actually applied it on me so I was quite grateful.

Afterwards, I did a little bit of work and then headed over to a nearby coffee place to meet with my professor.

When I got there, he was having a meeting with a delegate from a large state. And he had already had meetings with several other Member States.

I feel like I was the only person he met up with that wasn't a country or member state...

We had a very good, short talk and then afterwards I had to run off to a meeting (busy, busy in the life of a UN intern).

Drinks at the DL

I went back to the office and worked on some research for one of the big projects I was doing until about lunch. Didn't actually end up taking lunch since it was so busy in the office...

Afterwards, we put out surprise cheese, fruits and prosecco for Bastille day for our French colleagues in the office. It was pretty jolly.

We cleaned up and worked a bit more. Afterwards, a colleague and I headed over to the Delegate's lounge where we enjoyed some French special drinks and sat around and talked for a bit. 

Afterwards, I headed over to meet up with some friends at the bar where we sat around and enjoyed each other's company.

I headed home but had to wait to be let in, since I had a visitor who had my keys, and it was the first time I had ever been so harassed on the streets, I had three people tell me to "smile more" and make unnecessary comments as well as try to touch my things. 

I cannot believe how disgusting it was. Do people really think that is justifiable at all? Like that's okay? It's not. 

Kind of a bad end to a good day.

"Culture drives great results." - Jack Welch

Today I woke up kind of late and cleaned up around the house. I was a bit tired so I wanted to rest a bit, but there was stuff going on!

I made myself some breakfast, watched some more Scrubs (I just love cheesy stuff like this) and then headed out.

It was a dark and busy Bastille day celebration...

Today, right beside the park, was the Bastille day celebration! I walked up the street, enjoying the view and the weather and met up with a friend. We walked through the crowded streets, tasted some delicious samples and kept walking.

It was packed with so much French spirit! Especially because the Euro cup was on and France was playing against Portugal. There was a huge TV set up on the other side of the festival, where people were all sitting down enjoying the show. It was quite cute but I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was less packed with people... But it was still nice to walk around, listen to the legit french accents and all the people selling french food.

How did I know that it was real french food? They took a huge piece of butter and smeared it between the pan and the crepe while they were making it. Too hardcore for me man. Too hardcore.

And I still wonder how they're so fit!

Afterwards, I took the bus down and walked around for a bit before hopping onto the Subway to Williamsburg where I met up with a few of my friends (again, Canadians, I guess we all just miss home?) and we headed over to the GiglioFeast held every July. In case you are wondering, this is what the site says about the Festival:

"The story, which is passed on through the generations on both sides of the Atlantic, is that around 410 AD, North African pirates overran the town of Nola. In the chaos, Bishop Paolino was able to flee into the countryside with some of the children. Upon his return, Paolino learned, from a sobbing widow that many of the young men, her son included, had been abducted into slavery. Moved to compassion, Paolino offered himself in exchange for the boy and was ferried off, a prisoner of the brigands. While in North Africa, word of the courage and self-sacrifice of Paolino spread and became known to a certain Turkish sultan. Taken with the tale of altruism, the sultan intervened, negotiating for the freedom of this holy man. Through the sultan 's efforts, Paolino and his paesani, were freed.

FRIENDS :D Behind us there is the tower

Overjoyed by his safe return, the entire town greeted him carrying lilies, symbolic of love and purity. That joyous homecoming jubilee is considered the very first observance of what would develop into an annual sacred event. Through the years, various trade guilds farmer (ortolano), butcher (beccaio), tailor (sarto), breadmaker (panettiere), blacksmith (fabbra), cobblers (calzolaio), deli merchants (salumiere), and wine makers (bettoliere) ) began to compete to produce the most sensational display of lilies. Over time, these displays became more flamboyant.

Today, although still called lilies (gigli), they have evolved into huge flower-laden steeples of wood, 82 feet in height. In Nola, these gigli structures and a boat (la barca) are carried through the streets on the shoulders of hundreds of men, in remembrance of the return of Paolino to Nola. The atmosphere is quite competitive and each guild hires the best lifters they can secure, because the carrying of the gigli is judged. Creativity of construction and musical accompaniment is also scrutinized even after the formal competition ends, and the men of Nola carry and dance the gigli throughout the night."

Add caption

We went over and saw a tower up top with people singing on it... but also a fake boat where people were singing and playing guitar! It was pretty cool. Unfortunately, the festival itself was super small, with mostly like touristy food carts and carnival games (that are totally a rip off, my friend shot a whole star except for ONE small corner and he didn't get a prize).

We decided to head out after that and grab some food to eat. We headed to a place called Pop's which has a lot of comfort food so of course, I ordered some cheesy fries (with 'American' cheese) and some BBQ wings.

We grabbed some drinks and headed up to a friend's Rooftop where there was another party going on.

We played some card games and then the other party came over to hang out with us and talk. It was a pretty good time sitting around, talking and just enjoying the atmosphere.

Great way to end a week with the relaxation.

"I would love to be the poet laureate of Coney Island." Thornton Wilder

Cool, but empty if you go too early

I woke up fairly early this morning and I ended up doing laundry stuff for almost two hours.

Yes. Two hours (Well I mean I was watching Scrubs a lot too).

I had to rehang laundry, fold stuff up and then iron so many clothes (I don't like ironing, it's actually the worst).

My friend messaged me since we were all going to go to Coney Island but it would take a STRAIGHT HOUR to get there.

I LOVE FUNNEL CAKE

But what's even more odd is that my friend, who lives in Brooklyn (which is where Coney Island is), had to train over to Manhattan and then train back over to Coney. Ridiculous, seriously, they need to build a new Subway line that actually connects more of Brooklyn in a way that makes more sense.

I took a bus down (since there were two other things I wanted to take a quick look at) and ran into the Arab Festival on my way there as well as the Wiccan festival, where people were either all dressed up or pretty much doing what they usually do.

It was their 100th this
year! So they actually
sold their hot dogs for
their 1916 price 5 cents
for just one day

Both were really cool events, but I think I went there way too early because there were close to no people hanging out at the festivals... But the food looked and smelled amazing.

It was too bad I made myself breakfast - I'll have to think twice before making breakfast again!

I hopped on a train to Coney Island (if you take the bus and then the train, you have a two hour free transfer!) and sat there for about 40 minutes reading this book, called "You are a Badass." It was supposed to be one of those self motivation books, but I saw it more as a cheesy book... I mean a lot of the things that were written in there weren't super substantial or thought out and I felt a lot of it was mostly common sense. Oh well.

When I got off, my friend and I were kind of hungry so we went to Nathan's

This tiny thing held two people
all the way under water.

(yes, the original hot dog place in New York) and grabbed some cheesy bacon fries, hot dog and onion rings. We sat there for a bit and then met up with (another Canadian) friend and then walked around the Amusement park.

The park and attractions themselves were quite old but they looked so fun. It wasn't packed (especially for a Saturday afternoon) since the weather didn't look that nice and even I had to pull out a sweater (earlier on in the day, I had worn shorts but quickly realized my mistake and switched into pants and grabbed a sweater) and wear it.

A lot of it got destroyed during the hurricane..

We walked a lot on the boardwalk, just talking and enjoying the view until we headed back to meet with (yet another Canadian) friend. We all went to the first place we saw and grabbed some funnel cake.

It was amazing. Tasted like childhood and diabetes.

That was... until we just ate too much of it. It was a surprisingly big portion and I swear I was 20% funnel cake when I finished up.

We headed over to the pier, which had a gorgeous view of Coney Island, the beach as well as the whole amusement park and just admired the view for a bit. It was quite nice just walking and enjoying.

Happy happy! Except buddy in the top left.

Afterwards, we decided that our tummys were settled and we headed over to the gigantic ferris wheel because at the front, the slogan of the wheel was "We don't make 'em like this anymore!" Which ... I mean... is this a good thing? Is this something that you should be proud to advertise? I don't understand why it was up there.

and bought our ($8!!) tickets. It was interesting

We decided not to go on the regular seats but the ones on the inside that actually sloshed around and fell forward and backwards like rollarcoasters (best of both worlds right?).

It was pretty awesome. We could see everything and it was wonderfully high up. I really enjoyed being up there and enjoying the ride.

Unfortunately, it came to a quick stop - two rotations around and we were done...

The beach.

We headed back to Manhattan afterwards and I talked to my buddy, who told me about this really cool idea about public and private partnerships in terms of housing and having private corporations or condo companies build things like shelters (for example, there is a condo in Leslieville being built that is also rebuilding the Red Door Shelter there, [which is awesome, since it is a women's and children shelter, but I wish other shelters recieved as much support as this one did]).

When we got to Manhattan, we chilled for a bit before going out to buy drinks, flowers and cupcakes for a friend's birthday!

Our friend lived in Upper Manhattan and he invited us over to see his big, beautiful insane apartment. It was gorgeous. To say the least.

We drank, sat around, talked and just enjoyed. At one point I just started feeling cold and my friend had walked over in the rain, so we sat by the "fire" which is an electric one and just enjoyed the heat while we ate pizza and enjoyed.

At one point, someone said that they didn't see colour, so we named me the blob.

So anytime I spoke, the blob had spoken. It was pretty hilarious actually.

I ended up ubering home from a long and wonderfully fun night! (Walking was too much after a day at Coney Island)

"I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade... And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party." - Ron White

She took me out for
a burger :) 

Today was a good way to a very relaxed week. I went in early, did some work by formatting of some documents (they figured out I'm pretty good at formatting stuff and Microsoft word so this is pretty much my whole life now).

At lunch, I met up with someone who I had met randomly in the General Assembly halls! She noticed my Canada pin and just had to say hi to me. So I just had to say hi and e-mail her back.

She's actually super cool, she's working with an observer organization and used to be a former MP and held several Minister portfolios. Best part was, she was so easy to talk to and super down to earth! The only issue is that it was a bit hot outside... Like swelteringly so.

Afterwards, I headed back to work, and although I have been getting a lot of

Oh my lord was there
just so much food.

small projects, I don't have too much long term stuff going on with my life right now. So it's some pretty sporadic work where I do what I can when I can and then I have long periods of downtime. Makes me feel kind of useless so I've just kind of taken it upon myself to, when I'm at my desk and not trying to attend a cool conference, I just look up issues related to sexual exploitation and abuse. It's been pretty good to read about.

Afterwork, I met up with a friend who was going to be interning at the UN and started his first day on Monday! So I knew I had to make his first day in New York a memorable one.

I took him on a bit of a mini tour of Mid New York, through Grand Central, Bryant Park and some other places. It was a good but a short tour. We headed over to the UN after the tour, met up with some of the Canadian Mission interns and went in (since you have to find someone with a D badge to let you in). We had to go over to the

Beautiful view of the building I work in!

other side and grab some "Delegate's Lounge" passes and give our IDs, but we didn't even end up going there.

Instead... We went to the Dining Room. Where there was a HUGE party for Venezuela.

Their independence day was on the past Tuesday, right after Fourth of July, but because it was so slack (and because Venezuela parties so hard) they planned their party for Friday night!

It was pretty amazing. I'm lucky I went with my "diplomat friends" (they're interns at their own missions but they get a D badge because they've gone through all the proper security and they work for the mission) since I got in with no problems.

Some of the Crew

As I went in, they gave me a bar of chocolate, a calendar and ... oddly enough, a Venezuelan DVD

(That I need to watch ASAP, I mean, that's pretty cool right?).

It was decorated beautifully, with the colours of the flag (red, yellow and blue) and there was lovely live salsa and dancing music, open bars and a table full of Venezuelan food on top of the appetisers that were being handed out. It was pretty bomb diggity.

More of the crew <3

I got to introduce my friend to a flurry of other people (don't think he remembers half the people's names) and danced and talked for a long time. Oddly enough, this was the first party where I was stopped so much by people wanting to talk to me *weirdos.*

I headed home after the few hours there and skyped with loved ones and then did my laundry. Not an exciting end to an exciting Friday, but a solid need-to-do kind of end.

"Voting is the expression of our commitment to ourselves, one another, this country and this world." - Sharon Salzberg

Today I started off at work a bit late and was exhausted. Bad way to start the week guys - protip, don't party hop no matter how cool you think it is. Even if it's events with diplomats and delegates. Though I didn't feel bad or anything, I was actually just tired.

I went into work and started doing a bit of research... and then started getting e-mails for this project and I had no idea what it was or what was happening.

Turns out I got put out on a team for a new project and I had no idea.

This, this is how work should be! I made a template of it quite quickly and sent it back to my boss (Don't ask questions, just do).

I didn't have too, too much to do actually, so I ended up going down to the General Assembly to where the Security Council elections were being held (which is why they've been hosting so many parties and doing so much promo work - to get themselves elected onto the council.

When I got there, it was on break, they were tallying the first results of the votes. What was supposed to be 45 minutes actually ended up being over an hour of counting (and I guess recounting votes). I noticed that on every single Member state's table, there was some sort of gift or other from every single member state. There were bags of candy, water, gifts galore, just as a last ditch effort to win over delegate's votes.

So who won the security council seats?

Capitalism.

I sat and listened to the various delegations win their seats. It was quite interesting actually, since these countries actually have to be voted in by 2/3rds majority and the 5 empty seats are decided by the region that nominates them (so Europe nominated Sweden, Italy and the Netherlands while Asia had Thailand and Kazakhstan, for example).

Security Council seats

It was tense. After the first round, only 3 seats were filled and the rest were not.

After the second, only 4 seats were filled and it was a race between the Netherlands and Italy. The twitter campaigning was fierce. I had to go back to work though, so I headed back upstairs, only to be sent down to the basement to grab something. I actually ran into a few other people (and it was quite nice to see them since I had seen some of them already in the security council)f and ENDED UP GRABBING SOME SANDWICHES.

100% this is how life should be lived.

I kept up with the voting a bit via twitter (you can also live stream stuff if it's an open meeting) and found out that the Dutch and the Italians were tying each other. Hard. They had 3 more rounds of voting that all ended in either 94-96 or 95-95. Dead tie, when does that ever even happen?! How crazy is that?

In the end, they made a real diplomatic situation. They decided that they would split the two-year term (which thank god, because there was one time in 1979 where they had a 3-month process voting with over 155 polls and it was between Colombia and Cuba and eventually gave it to Mexico).

The very sparsely spread amount of people there

Good for them because I don't think they would be able to afford to bribe gift the diplomats for 3 months.

After work, I headed out a bit late and joined a friend in the Delegate's Lounge where we sat and talked for a bit and then were joined by another friend.

We then headed up to the dining room where many people were actually lining up to get inside sincethere was an "After party" of all the candidates. It was actually quite empty, not a lot of people and no speeches or music. But it was nice to stand around and talk and met some new people

It actually ended on time while people were being kicked out...

After the parties I had had last night... this was unfortunately 'boring.'

"It's easy to impress me. I don't need a fancy party to be happy. Just good friends, good food, and good laughs. I'm happy. I'm satisfied. I'm content." Maria Sharapova

ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment
event and reception

I woke up pretty early this morning and went into a Prevention for Sexual Exploitation and Abuse meeting that started at 8:30am and was hosted by the IOM and IASC (They're both really great groups). My friends were there already and so I sat down beside them and listened to the meeting.

It was actually a great meeting and it looked like the AFPs had done a lot of substantive work through collaboration with each other and the UN. It was great to also see that some of the issues and problems that they brought up were actually problems that our office is already proactively trying to solve!

After the meeting, I headed back to work and worked on a bit of a project I was assigned on, had some lunch in my office and then stayed at work until late. 

Other than the meeting, it was a fairly uneventful day at work... That is until the evening.

Oh my god, I've never been to so many events in one night.

Law of the Sea has been going on for
a while and they had some pretty
awesome food for their reception

I was planning on going to the reception for Humanitarian Affairs which was going to be hosted by the Swiss Mission, but I ended up going to 4 different events that night.

The first even was a reception for the Law of the Sea, and interestingly enough, they had smoked
salmon and shrimp (how is that for law of the sea) and a bunch of different foods and snacks.

As we were enjoying the event, a bunch of my friends actually passed by with gift bags from the Dutch Mission. I asked them where they went and they told me there was ANOTHER reception/party being held by the Dutch Mission (Not another DJ
sadly). So my friends and I headed up and man, it was a cool reception. It was, again, in the dining room and the first thing you got when you walked in was freshly made Stroopwafels. How cool is that?! God, they were so good. I can still taste the freshness.

There was (another) open bar with some specially mixed drinks as well as (the normal) wine and other stuff. Outside, there were a bunch of people partying and enjoying the vibes there. They even had a live jazz band playing! All around, people were giving out hor d'eourves and drinks and it was just a fun event. Met up with two of my fellow Canadian friends from the Mission and we just stood around and enjoyed each other's company.

The Dutch reception!

Afterwards, we headed out and got these amazing gift bags that had this thing called a "waka waka power" charger. It is a solar powered battery that runs off of solar power and doubles as a flashlight. It is designed by a Dutch person and for every one waka waka power bought, one is donated to a community that needs it (Mostly in Africa where they do not have as many resources or much access to electricity). 

Man the Dutch dropped a lot of money on this. I know I mentioned this before, but the elections are seriously ridiculous with the amount of money these member states spend. I mean seriously, this money could go back to your own economy or your own social needs. (Although I did benefit from it so I don't know if I can complain that much).

On the other end of the same hall there was a reception for the the Humanitarian affairs segment
. They had a lot of people and hor d'oeurves as well and they had some Swiss Lindt chocolate on the tables everywhere. It was quite cute. It was a proper reception where people were actually standing around and discussing all these different things and different ideas related to the Humanitarian affairs event. 

Earlier on at the Dutch event, we caught wind of another party being hosted. Another Mission, the Khazakstani one, was hosting an event at the Plaza Hotel.

Yes. That's right, I wrote Plaza hotel. The big, beautiful, ridiculously fancy and expensive one in front of Central Park. 

The plaque for the Khazakstani Mission

Kazakhstan wanted a seat on the Security Council. Really Bad.

Oh, in case you're wondering why these missions are having these free gelato, free espresso, free DJ Hardwell, Midsummer festival events? 

In the lead up to the Security Council Voting tomorrow, everyone is trying their best to secure and procure votes by doing all these events. 

Yup.

You know, you wonder who wins after these events, and seriously, my only answer for you is capitalism.

We headed over to the Kazakhstani Mission event at the Plaza where they had rented out the most beautiful and gorgeous Conference room. In the middle and on the sides, there were fully stocked open bars, on the sides were hot buffets with roast beef and roast turkey, potatoes and vegetables and in the back was a dessert section.

I had eaten so much tonight at all my events that I felt sick. It was the most I've ever eaten I think my whole life and probably the first time since I've come to New York that I've actually left plate on my food (It was a horrible feeling I will make sure never to do that again). 

But the event was amazing, we found a table to put our food and drinks down and got to watch this pop star sing (really well) songs in Kazakhstani and in English and just in general had a really great time dancing.

Fun photo and dancing 

There was an 80 year old lady there as well tearing it up on the dance floor and it was AMAZING to see, my god, I hope I have as much spirit and energy as her one day! 

We danced for a while and then headed out (with these cute gift bags that had Khazak Chocolate as well as a cute little handmade horse (since they are known for their horses). 

We ended up going to the bar for a bit afterwards to talk and sing (to live music) and then headed home... (late - bad idea)

This was not a normal Monday and I'm really glad that because I took the chance to try to go the Swiss event, I was able to experience and attend so many others. I was able to learn a bit more about the UN system and what it's all about. It was cool.

Honestly not how I expected the day to go.

I though I was going to go home early. 

But it's the unplanned days that turn out the best right?

“What people do in their own homes is their business, and you can choose to love whoever you love.” -Jay Z

My window this weekend 

I woke up extra early this morning and couldn't fall back asleep. But that was okay, since I was super excited to go watch some pride stuff! I called some friends and family this morning (since I had what I rarely have - time) and then got ready for the day.

As the morning progressed, the street got busier and busier. There were balloons and floats outside of my window... to the point where the walls looked like they were all different colours. It was quite nice. My friend came over and then both headed over to a friend's to have some chocolate chip banana pancake breakfast with all the works.

Everyone just hanging outside

It was delicious. Some of the Scandinavian girls had brought some pastries and it was quite good. We had a good time talking. But since it was about time for the parade to start, my friend and I headed out to try to get a good spot to see it.

We stayed there for about two hours, joined by two other people and saw some pretty awesome stuff. It was a great parade, you could tell that there was a lot of effort being put into it. 

Fun fun fun <3

But at the same time, I'm also kind of upset because I feel like Pride has also become very corporate. There were many corporations and big businesses there who were supporting pride (and that's great, don't get me wrong) but they were also giving out a lot of promotional stuff. I don't like the idea that pride is being used to sell or advertise these companies...
But I mean I can't complain. A lot of them do sponsor and help out with events for pride, which make them possible.

After the parade, we headed down to the festival where we were hit by a surge of free condoms, lubricant and other stuff. 

Pride flag!

It was pretty intense. We walked around the whole area and I just gotta say, I don't think I've ever gotten so much stuff my whole life.

I even got a t-shirt from Uniqlo for pete's sake! 

It was great walking around, seeing stuff and experiencing how New York celebrates pride. I saw so many colours, and people just yelling Happy Pride! It was awesome.

Pride festival

They had some performers performing karaoke on one side as well as people just partying it up on the street. 

We walked around for a bit more and then headed over to Christopher Street by Stonewall Inn where we caught the end of the parade. We stood there for about three more hours and it went LONG, it was supposed to end at 6 but at 7, we were still there.

We ended up heading back home and for myself, I made some dinner, sat down and watched "Maid in Manhattan" which is an interesting... movie... but cool because the whole thing was filmed a few blocks from where I live here now!

Hahahaha

All in all, a good day to go out and do stuff as well as relaxing with a movie.

Guess this was a pretty short post actually, but don't worry, many pictures will follow!

"Everybody says 'Good Morning' in Harlem because it's true! And that's lovely."- Marcia Gay Harden

The emptiest I've ever
seen Grand Central 

Today was a day where I woke up very early, it was my first time doing a walking tour in quite a while! (I feel like I haven't done very many in the last little while) and I started by day off by eating, playing a bit with the puppy dog and then I headed out.

I looked at google maps and it told me to take the shuttle from Grand Central to Times Square but because it was one of those places where I'd have to swipe my card, I didn't want to pay twice to take the metro (considering it is about a 5 minute walk) and I walked out and walked over there myself.

Unfortunately, I took the wrong train...(Well the right one kind of) because the train I was actually looking for was the express, but I took the local, which stopped everywhere at like every stop. Thank god, I was able to get off the
train and get on another one which was express up the Harlem. 

When I got off the train, I actually ran into the exact person I needed, who was taking the tour with me! Talk about good timing. 

The mural outside the hospital 

We started off the tour in front of the Harlem public library across the street from the hospital. 

We walked around just a few blocks, but in those few blocks, we learned a lot. 

The first thing was saw was the gigantic mural on the hospital, it was one of Sammy David Jr. He was born in Harlem and one of the first ever Black men to perform solo. 

We kept walking and stopped by a beautiful church where we learned about
the differences between Negro Spiritual and Gospel music. 

New York had a campaign
to plant 1 million trees

Gospel music is music that is sung in churches to spread the word of the Lord, whereas Negro Spiritual music was a sneaky underground way to warn runaway slaves. It was all part of the underground railroad. 

Now back during this time, it was illegal for two slaves to speak without white Illegal to congregate or worship without a white person around - the white slave owners were afraid of an uprising or death. All the lyrics in the music would be laced with meaning. The songs could mean anything from a meeting tonight or as soon as full moon.The song "Wade in the water" was a warning. The song meant that the other slaves knew of someone's arrival in the underground
railroad and that there were dogs chasing their scent. So to get rid of the scent, they had to "wade" in the water by the river bank. 

One of the beautiful
churches in Harlem,

We reached a corner where there used to be the renaissance ball room, which used to be a really cool ball room, but was torn down a few years ago and is now being built as "affordable housing." 

Where is affordable housing you may ask?

It is two people making "$84,000" and above. Yes. $84G. How ridiculous is that? They take the medium income of what people in New York State makes. 

Yeah,

"Affordable Housing"
and what used
to be a ballroom.

New York has a lot of poor and homeless people, but they have a heck of a lot of rich people too. 

Don't worry though - 10% of the building will be for the poor - those making $45 grand or less a year. People wonder why there are so many homeless people.

Harlem wasn't always like this though, a scary, shady, dark area. Back in the 1700s, Hamilton actually lived in Harlem, and it was a place for the rich! That's why the sidewalks were so wide! Franklin Roosevelt even purchased everything north and East of Central park. The wealthy would go to Harlem like it was their Hamptons, there were sunny summer homes with huge sidewalks. Stanford White, the person who designed the arch in Washington were no cars or electricity). However, because Harlem was actually too expensive for a while, many homes were vacant for quite a while.

One of Historically
black schools

Square Park, loved beaux art and French Renaissance, so he designed many of the buildings in Harlem to look just as beautiful and big. People would actually ride uptown in a horse and buggy about three hours to get to Harlem (since there

In 1892, Ellis Island opened up as a federal immigration system and thus started the clash of East and West immigrants. The wealthy would go downtown for an opera or a ballet and the poor would be there, asking for money. 

So the wealthy went uptown. 

Of course, running away, this will solve all the problems and the poor will disappear right?

Anyway. 

Graffiti to bring
awareness to breast
cancer

To ensure the abolition of slavery in all of the U.S., Lincoln pushed for passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Congress passed it by the necessary two-thirds vote on January 31, 1865, and it was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. Now, every baby could learn to read and white, including black babies. When they came of age, they'd go to a Historically Black Colleges and University and went on to become doctors, lawyers or engineers. Now that they had money, they started moving up to Harlem and buying up the real estate. Unfortunately, the mortgage doubled...but these black groups paid it in cash. 

One of the streets, "Strives Road" was meant to teach the importance of recycling the black dollar. When you needed a dentist, you went to a black dentist. When you needed an Obgyn, you went to a black Obgyn. The money stayed in the community, it never went out and they thrived. One of the best examples of this was "Black Wall Street" during the early 20
th century. That is until the Tulsa race riot of 1921, in which white residents massacred black residents and, in just a few hours, razed the neighbourhood. You can look at Www.beforetheydied.com to learn about some of the people killed.

Great indie book store

We took a bit of a break at a coffee shop and I went into my bag and found a bag of jerky (yes, welcome to Wendy) and talked to the lady for a little bit. It's interesting, I found out from her that if I ever want to be a tour guide, I have to be able to pass a state exam and be licensed. Something I've never heard of before, but I think it's a good idea so that a bunch of weird random people do not come about and try to lead tourists astray. It makes me feel better.

We passed by these apartment buildings and we learned the story of Robert Smalls.

Now, back in the day, black people were not allowed to fight in wars - let alone black slaves. 

So Smalls was one of eight slaves on a portion of a steamer's crew. During a stopover along the South Carolina coast, the three white crewmen failed to follow the procedure to remain on board at all times and decided to leave the slaves on the boat and dock on land. 

Our tour guide outside
Bille Holiday's bar

Smalls took his wife, some slaves and the boat. He piloted it past five confederate ships, Smalls flew all the correct flags requesting safe passage through Confederate waters. Entering Union territory, Smalls surrendered Planter to the Union’s USS Onward. Smalls also gave Union forces Confederate signal codes and maps showing underwater mine placement. The value of the ship and its cargo was $30,000. Later, Smalls met with Pres. Abraham Lincoln. The pilot told Lincoln that black soldiers “will be better fighters than whites” because the blacks will be “fighting for their freedom.

He became the Union navy’s first black ship captain in 1863, ultimately fighting in 17 battles. Smalls returned to Beaufort after the war and entered politics, serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for four years and, later, the South Carolina state senate.

Apartments for the Black soldiers

It was interesting as these houses held the 269 regiment. They built these houses because they did not want the black soldiers living with the white soldiers. 

Unfortunately, the black soldiers were also very badly trained. Because they were not trusted with
guns, they trained with broomsticks and mop handles. However, they were so successful that they actually did not lose when they fought the Germans. They were called "hell fighters." 

These veterans were not invited to the veterans parade so they ended up doing their own parade. 

We even got to go
through a really cool
fire station

The YMCA in the area is also super cool. During the Spring break, because of the issue of children drowning, the YMCA will teach kids how to swim. The line is insane. It is also Bill Clinton's designated gym! 

We also passed by a small jazz bar (a real jazz bar) where Billie Holiday. After auditioning as a dancer, without even looking up, they said "next" and then she asked if she could sing. She did and at the end of the tune she got 150$ in tips for a job that paid $18 a week. This was in Swing Street, during the Harlem renaissance. 

The hotel

There were restaurants and bars here where you could find a lot of music. But they had to be careful because they were scared of cops, so at one of the clubs, people were to knock three times and then cough a specific way. The cough changed every night so they had to know if they wanted to get in. 

We walked by a food place called "Sylvia's" which is known as the best comfort place in New York to grab food. Comfort food is not from the West indies, Africa, or anywhere else. It is from America. It is slavery food. And as a slave, you took home only the undesirable foods, so the gizzards, the thighs, grits, whatever. 

We walked by some more places, and we stopped in a Square where we saw the Waldorf Astoria of Harlem, which was called Ebb place, it was the place for parties and everything. It was, as the young people say, lit up. 

Apollo Theatre

We ended the tour by going to the Apollo theatre which was originally a burlesque house but is now a theatre, where Ella Fitzgerald got her start and first started skiddled daddled."
doing the "

After the tour, my friend and I went over to Sylvia's where we grabbed some real comfort food. I ordered the chicken and waffles with a nice homemade beer while she grabbed some catfish and grits. 

Both were delicious. Oh my god, they were done beautifully and well. Fried to a golden crisp without the soggy-ness and the waffles were delicious. Crunchy, soft, fluffy and they let me douse it in syrup *heaven,*

We started walking back over to the metro and visited a sexual education fair

The best place. 

where people were trying to promote safe sex. They were handing out a lot of condoms and other stuff... It was interesting to see. I was actually really happy that they even had an event like that there, it meant that the community knew and recognized that there was this issue going on and was trying to promote the prevention of both teen pregnancy and the spread of STIs. 

Afterwards, we headed over to this really cute bookstore that is run by volunteers and donations. This is one of the very few small independent stores that are truly independent because of what they believe in rather than it being the most trendy or popular thing there. I really respected them for that. I donated some money for a sticker and then was on my way.

SO GOOD, FRIED CHICKEN AND
WAFFLES

We headed into the metro where we entered into the train to go down to Williamsburg. Here we were just walking down the street when all of a sudden, we were given these free cookie/baguette sticks which were AMAZING. They were from the same company that gave me the box of cookies before. Before anyone says anything about how I always get free food all the time (I'm not denying this at all) I have to say, this company is promoting hard, spreading cheer and giving stuff out to people so that they can enjoy it. Michel et Augustin really believe in the idea of word of mouth and spreading the joy through people just simply enjoying and telling their friends.

Beautiful market

This is a company I can get behind. They have an open house on the first Thursday of every month so
I'm going to try my best to go and check it out and give them my support! 

We headed over to the Williamburg Bridge, where there was an Artists' market and a place where they were show casing all the art and differently foods that people in Brooklyn made and it was super cool! A lot of the artwork was beautiful and I really enjoyed
sampling all the foods around there!

HOW CUTE
ARE THESE
BOXES?!

When we finished up, we walked over to the grocery store where we grabbed some drinks and some food to hang out with later that evening. We headed back to her place in Williamsburg which has an amazing and beautiful view! 

We headed up to her rooftop to relax (I got to chill in the hammock and then again on the chairs by the edge) and read a book. When another friend came by to hang out, we all sat around and enjoyed the atmosphere and the fun! 

We were joined by another person and then we decided to grab some Chinese food take out, which was DELICIOUS and came in these tiny and cute little boxes and ate on the rooftop, talked and enjoyed each other's company.

All in all a good, enjoyable night.