Monday, December 14, 2009

My Thanksgiving


Thanksgiving is one of the U.S’s national holidays. Americans celebrate Thanksgiving every year on the fourth Thursday in November. This year Thanksgiving was on November 26th and it was the second Thanksgiving I’ve celebrated in the U.S, but I did it alone this time. Caroline had gone to Australia, Jolyon and the kids had gone to Pennsylvania, and I ended up alone in DC. However I decided to spend my lonely Thanksgiving in New York City, because my friends Andy, Jackie and Dean have a beautiful place with three bedrooms in the East Village, and they all had gone to somewhere else for Thanksgiving, so I ended up at their place all by myself.

MVP is the bus that I always take to NYC, and now I have made friends with them. It is nice to have a friend who sells bus tickets, because I can buy the bus ticket anytime and they always sell it to me at the normal price. Often on holidays other companies increase their prices, but this company always sells to me at the regular price. After I bought the bus ticket, my left eye started moving nonstop, and I knew in that moment something not good would happen... (I’m not very superstitious, but I am believe in sight so when my right eye moves I believe something good will happen to me, and if my left eye moves I believe something bad will happen to me).
After I bought the bus ticket I went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. After I finished lunch the restaurant gave me the bill and a fortune cookie (that’s my favorite part of going to a Chinese restaurant the free fortune cookie). I opened the fortune cookie and it said “Your luck has been changed today” (I often think I am a lucky girl). Suddenly my left eye moved again. I was thinking about changing my plans, I didn’t really want to go to NYC anymore after I had a feeling that a bad thing would be happening to me, but I already had bought the round trip ticket and there was no point for me to be in DC alone, so I decided to go to NYC anyway.

I got on the bus and sat in the seat without moving, but my left eye was still moving and it really worried me. Before the bus took off I pulled out my bag and started to do my GED schoolwork that I thought I had brought with me, but all the homework that I had brought was just a normal exercise that I had printed from the internet to practice on, not the one that the school had given to me. I was so upset with myself… because I needed to finish that homework by the end of this week, so that I can get ready to finish my GED! But I brought the wrong one! Then I thought… “Maybe that was my bad luck for today” “Well… at least I am safe”.

Just as the bus was ready to take off the driver told me to move from my seat because I was sitting in the front (I always sit in the front, that’s why I like that bus!!!). Someone broke the front seat just before I got on and they needed to fix it before they took off. I told myself silently “OK, that was another piece of bad luck I got today, but at least physically I’m fine.”

I’ve arrived in New York City at 7:30 p.m. and I took a taxi to the East Village as I often do. I was very tired after I arrived at the apartment. However I wanted to have a nice time, so after I dropped off my bag I went straight to Times Square but this time I took the train instead of a taxi, because I wanted to save a little bit on my expenses. I always take taxis around NYC, and I spend way too much for transportation. It took four trains for me to get to Times Square (I got on the wrong train, no surprise!!) I kept asking people and looking at the map (it seemed easy) but I still got on the wrong train. That’s the main reason I always take a taxi, it is expensive but it’s easier for me. After I got off the fourth train I finally found Times Square!
I walked around Times Square and sat down on the top of the big stair in the middle of Times Square with hundreds of other people and I was feeling so relaxed…. After half an hour’s relaxing in the middle of the beautiful city, I thought “Hummm… I’m over thinking about bad luck happening to me this time, now I am fine… I should not think too much next time.”
When I was sitting at Times Square, there were couples who sat in front of me, talking lovers languages and kissing in front of me, I couldn’t stop watching them, but at the same time I felt sad, they all had partners and I had to sit alone so I decided to get out of there and keep walking around Times Square. While I was walking I saw a camera shop. I am about to buy myself a new camera; because my old one is broken (it dropped from twelve floors to the ground when I was in NYC for Halloween). I need a new camera badly so I went to a shop around Times Square but they weren’t friendly so I just left. Then I was hungry so I went to eat at a nice place around Times Square. I had cocktails and a good dinner and looked at people passing by, it was very relaxing for me. But in that moment something came into my head, oh…the place I was sitting in was the same place I met my ex-Luis Moya “the first guy I had ever spent time with when I moved to the U.S.” So all the memories came back to me, and that made me even sadder.
The next day I went for a long walk, and got lost in the middle of the city the whole time… I was holding the map but I still got lost (because I often hold the map on the wrong side) I passed a lot of shops so I went into one of them and bought myself more shoes, more jewelry and more clothes (even though I already have too many, oh… well… I’m a woman) that’s what I tell myself when I feel I shop too much, “I’m a woman!!”
In my view here are what most women are like: “women shop when they sad to make them feel happy. And they shop when they happy; because they are feeling good and they want to enjoy that feeling. And they shop even more when they are bored and have nothing to do. And I think that is way too much, but as long as you are happy it is always the right thing to do. Remember women we’re making money by working very hard if it could use to make you smile, doesn’t matter how much it’s worthy.
The good thing about my shopping is, the more I shop, the more profit I can make … because I have to shop so that I can understand what I can sell…!!

After I finished shopping I went back home, dressed up very nicely went out to have a nice dinner with me, myself and I again! I went to a very nice restaurant call Pizzain(I’m not sure if I spell it correctly) had some delicious food and three classes of red wine, talked to new people, then went home and went to sleep.
It was a nice evening, I made new friends at the restaurant where I had dinner; they gave me a very delicious cake for desert without charge. They asked me to come back there the next time I am in NYC and said they would take care of me. I will have to go back there again the next time, of course, but I will bring my friends with me… (see! That’s how business works, if you are good to your customers they will bring you cash).

I woke up the next day and I took a taxi straight to the bus station. The bus left at 1:45 p.m. but on the way back to DC we were stuck in traffic for four hours (big accident), then after the bus got out of the traffic, one of the bus’s wheels went flat, and the bus driver didn’t have an extra wheel to change so all the passengers had to wait until help arrived. When the passengers in the bus learned that they had to wait (but not certain for how long) everyone started calling their family and friends about the delay, except me because I didn’t have anyone to report to. I just sat in one place and thought ,“if I die here no one will know and no one will care, because I didn’t have any immediate family here, my DC family had all gone to different places” and it made me even sadder, but all I said to myself was “Whatever…”


I sat on the bus from 1:45 p.m. until 3a.m. without breakfast, lunch or dinner.
I arrived home and was really exhausted, so I just went straight to sleep without eating anything. That was really the worst trip I ever had since I’ve moved to U.S.

Next time I’ll believe my sight and fortune cookie!!!