Who would you be?

This Saturday Dulce and I drove out to Pennsylvania again for a lovely and civilized "ride in the country" like proper young ladies ought to do. The weather was gorgeous and the trees were having their peak color. Good boys!

We picked a nice little mountain to climb which turned out to be called Flagstaff Mountain on top of which there is Flagstaff banquet hall (logical). Took nice pictures from the top:



We had lunch on the bottom of the "Mountain" in a little town called Jim Thorpe. My beer was flat, it was annoying. We walked around a bit, the town was pretty sad. There were a bunch of senior citizens and many young couples on their "sex weekends" I wonder what were they even doing outside of their hotel rooms...? Anyway, Dulce and I had a great time discussing everyone, their choices fo make-up, boyfriends, and clothes. (Not many approvals were granted by the way.)

I must mention something that was HORRIBLE! I really hope people would google it and read my bad review. Cyber Cafe, is the WORST PLACE I have EVER been in my ENTIRE life!!! Places like that remind me that competition in the business world sure is a GOOD thing. First of all, my latte was COLD. After asking the lady to reheat it for me, she disappeared with it for about half hour only to come back with a slightly warmer version. It took FOREVER to order, FOREVER to get our pumpkin cake. Which by the way was STILL FROZEN so much so that the ICE was CRUNCHING in the mouth!!! I don't know why we didn't just walk out... maybe because we couldn't even believe such horror was happening! The lady had 2 customers!!! Us and these other people and she kept running up and down the room looking all flustered. The whole experience was just so horrible that I had to write about it in hopes or saving another human being from undergoing the same torture. DON'T GO THERE!!!

Ufff... ok, I feel better now.

Dulce and I were talking about what we would do if we HAD to live in Jim Thorpe. Well, she would have worked in the famous Asa Packer mansion (who was a rail road tycoon, and now the mansion is a B&B.) For some reason I said I would have worked in an insurance office... don't know why... I did claim as my boyfriend the guy that gives rafting lessons on the Leigh river! Dulce agreed that he would have been a good choice... I think she was even a bit jealous that I thought to pick him. We almost got into a fist fight over him!! (haha just kidding)

I don't know is it just me that always wonders who and what I would be like if I lived in a different town...? I am always thinking what it would be like to live say... in Guyana! on a very small island... or .... you name it! (That's what I wonder when I read all of your blogs!) Plus, I just can't stop being fascinated why "the grass always seems to be greener"? Why is it like that? I'd love to hear what country(island) would you love to see yourself live in and why?? (Of course amazingly I know that some of you have already asked yourselves this question and made the move!!)

And just to leave you with something inspirational... here are more pictures of PUMPKINS!! Come-on! What's an autumn day without some friendly pumpkins!?

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...your eyes

FALCON EYES

You have Falcon
Eyes!
Positive Traits: Adventurous,
Brave, Creative, Kind, Loving
Negative
Traits: Apathetic, Carefree, Indifferent,
Distant, Withdrawn

Your eyes are the windows to your soul. What type of eyes do you have?
brought to you by Quizilla

Just a few comments about the above picture... firstly that girl needs some brow-threading IMMEDIATELY, she also needs to use some Visene (to get the red out)- actually, I personally prefer Bush & Lomb brand. I do like the sparkles...

I found it on Caribbean Colors blog.

Updates: This weekend was awesome though, I went to this little town in PA took pictures, saw more pumpkins! (Took MORE pictures of the pumpkins) I'll be putting it all up soon. Happy daylight saving time I guess, hope no one forgot!!!

Update on the Orphanage trip: I FINALLY received my volunteer info from this organization in Dominican Republic. I'm getting pretty excited. By the way, do you know how hard it is to track down these directors? Its crazy, people don't return your calls or emails... but I'm glad I didn't take it personally, because they're busy since these non profits are pretty small and the directors have full time jobs somewhere else. I love how all the applications are very lengthy with a full page dedicated on listing all the terrible things that could happen to you on the trip (death and dismemberment included)- wow. I realize there are risks to traveling, but I live in NY, there are probably more of a risk of death and dismemberment during my daily rush hour commute than anywhere else in Latin America.

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Ok, this may seem trivial... but I LOVE my citrus flavored toothpaste!!!

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Oh that city life...!

The ever so sexy Mr. Highcontrast was in town yesterday, which is always a great treat! Jazz and I met up with him at a Pipa's. It's this super cozy tapas restaurant.

The food was great, and the portions were perfect to share!

We had:

1. GAMBAS AL AJILLO - shrimp with garlic, olive oil, paprika and chiles

2. SAUTEED BABY CHORIZO - with sherry, olive oil and chiles

3. PULPO GALLEGO - octopus sautéed with calamata olives,
roasted potatoes, and smoked paprika

4. PIQUILLOS - sweet peppers stuffed with crabmeat and shrimp

5. Little "Buffalos" -I forgot what they were called... but they're on the picture above!

6. A Huge mound of various olives!!! - I LOVE olives (with pitts of course)

and for dessert...

COCONUT TREMBLEQUE - coconut custard with passion fruit gelatin, tapioca sauce and mint oil

(The dessert was very delicate, but I was not crazy for the tapioca sauce.)

Funny thing was that this turned out to be a CATALAN restaurant!!! (And we remember how I used to have "issues" withCataloniaa.) I loved the place though, I'll definitely be back.

Besides the food the atmosphere was nice and cozy big dark woo tables and benches with red pillows. The place was really busy with the afterwork crowd, and of course a large percentage of that crowd were girls in their early twenties in their first jobs, happy to be in doing the "manhattan living" constantly looking around with their huge eyes and flopping eyelashes, for a guy to take back to their tini-tiny room and make some dents in the limp footon mattresss.

That's manhattan for you! The girls are nuts because there is a clear shortage of men. According to City-Data: male population is 3,794,204 (47.4%), female is 4,214,074 (52.6%). I gotta move to Kodiac ALASKA!!! Males: 3,379 (53.3%), Females: 2,955 (46.7%). Another curious fact: average commute to work- 9.8 minutes!!!!

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Zee Girl-Woman ez très sexy, non?

Can two people from two different cultures really communicate?

Ok, how about this question:

What do you consider a "different" culture??

I don't like to ponder upon things. As you are aware, I'm pro-action, where "thinking" is NOT an action. So we are going to take a look at a practical situation.

Nicholas...Oh Nicholas, is giving me some reason to think that he is trying to STEREOTYPE me!!!! ME! You CAN'T stereotype ME! I pride myself on learning about different cultures and having friends all over the globe. Sure its fun to say things like: oh, Latin people are always late, Italian boys are attached to their mamma's, Scandinavians are ALL blonde, Barcelonians are... well, never mind, and Americans are all geography challenged.

"Geography challenged" is the one I'd like to address. Today he tried to explain to me that MUNICH was towards the south of Germany in a region called Bavaria... "Noooo REALLY!?... But wait... where is Germany again? Near Mexico??" AND he said that he was giving me credit by assuming that my knowledge of Europe was better than the average American who would not even know that Munich was a city in Germany. Come on dude, here in America we all know Munich... that's where you drink those HUGE beers, how can we not know!?! Right?!! So yes, I would have much rather preferred the stereotype of the "beer drinking Americans" than those that do now know their basic geography. (And I did mention to him that I like to travel a lot.)

This is just one example, there are other. At first I guess I was annoyed, but than, I began playing into it ... like I asked him if Zurich was also near Munich... and by his answer I realized that he was actually serious, (because he graciously explained that Zurich was in fact a "bit" east of Munich... than he suggested the distance in kilometers, of course including the equivalent in Miles for my benefit). Little does he know is that I'm not "totally"American and even though I've been living here a looooong time, I still think in meter, letters and centimeters.

Yes, I love to act blonde-like, but that's all in good fun. So basically, with Nicholas I now take every little chance I get to feed his "American" stereotype of me. He is now effectively convinced that I'm "blondly" dumb, would be completely lost if dropped of somewhere in the middle for Europe... and, please, go ahead add on all the other stereotypes Europeans come up with to describe Americans. (I know them all very well, because I MADE UP half of them myself!) Its always strange to be on the OTHER side.

This seemingly negative picture that he has of me, has NOT however prevented Nicholas to put forth an invitation for me to come out to Germany and that he would like to show me the "real and fun" Germany. (That cat!) I think here probably lies the real question. What CULTURE do men belong to??? Because judging by the way they ALL behave, they seem to all come form the SAME nation. Or planet? I know he is making fun of my supposed "handicaps" yet the invitation to show me around has still been put forward... (This phenomenon of men liking dumb women is just surprising every time.)

I realize for now it is just a "matter of speaking" invitation, but in case you are wondering I, as a "matter of speaking" I'm not terribly opposed to the idea of a fly by in Germany...

So you tell me; the question above asks: can two people from different cultures really communicate? Furthermore do men and women in general belong to the same "culture"??

PS: Above I chose a picture of the great BB, Bridgette Bardot, who perfectly embodied the "girl-woman" way of being that is apparently what all men have been going crazy over since the beginning of time...

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New York Life

Dining

Pipa Tapas Restaurant near Union Square
5 9th and Gansevoort Hotel in Meat Packing District
Sushi Samba in the Village
Cats Cafe in Brooklyn on Emons Ave

Going Out

Le Souk and Chinese #1 near ABC city
Turkish Restaurant near Le Souk
City Wedding

West Broadway - Diva bar -cheering the Brasilian team - world cup 2006

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Happy 100!!!

I was going to post something else, but we have BREAKING news here! Today is the birthday of our beloved Staten Island Ferry! 100 years! Sure I complain about the commute and the coffee all the time, but the reality is that the ferry puts me in a good mood. Something about watching the waves calms you down (medical fact) and just in general boat rides are fun!

So this morning there were these ladies dressed in last century outfits (and I don't mean the 1990's, like the beginning of last century) and they were giving out the wonderful commemorative post cards that I have graciously scanned in for your benefit, please see above.

I almost charged right by them, as I usually do by anyone who tries to give me a pamphlet, which many politicians and their staff do. "Come on! Do you NOT see me juggling my book, my umbrella, my steaming hot coffee!??! Do I look like I have six hands!? More importantly- do I look LIKE I CARE???" Ok, today however, I doubled back and sweetly told the lady to kindly stick the postcard under my free armpit. "Thank you, you have a good morning!"

Glad I did, because it was pretty amusing. The little history lesson about the very first ferry ride, on inside the postcard was a nice little read.

Here it is if anyone has a magnifying glass and would like to zoom in.

It basically describes the "first voyage" and how one of the boats was called "old lady", don't know why since it was the FIRST voyage. Apparently ferry fits 2000 people, that's nuts! What's funny is that the back then mayor promised "to break down the barriers of Nature" to unite New Yorkers bla bla. And then he went on to congratulate the people on being part of the "greatest city in the world" bla bla, crowd applauds for 2 minutes. That's a LONG time.

Anyway, cute, I enjoyed it. I saw people also setting up stuff in the terminal... maybe they'll give out free food for the trip back! I'd go for a sweet little marzipan replica of the orange ferryboat...

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